From commentor JeffG166:
The heavy rain turned the crape myrtle into a weeping crape myrtle in the first photo.
The second photo is the butternut squash vine that started in the compost pile. I moved it to the present location. The rain has spurred it on to eat the backyard.
Not sure I will get any squash. The squirrels have tried eating a few of the green ones. They don’t like them but it doesn’t stop them from trying.
======
Our ever-helpful OzarkHillbilly sent along this article from the Guardian. The species mentioned are not quite specific for most of us, but I found it encouraging regardless… “The frogs may be gone, but life goes on: how I regained my faith in gardening for wildlife”:
More than two decades ago, I had the honour of running the world’s last (possibly only) frog telephone helpline. No, this is not a set-up for a punchline. It was a real service. Gardeners would grab the Yellow Pages, dial the frog helpline number and physically manifest, using their voice, sentences most of us would type into Google today: “If I dig a pond, will frogs come?” callers would ask, or: “How can I make my garden more attractive to amphibians?”
My role was simple. I was to fire these callers into action, offering realistic guidance on how gardens could be made more suitable for wildlife, especially frogs. Froglife, the charity that owned the helpline, saw in gardens a way for more amphibian habitats to be secured, away from the countryside which was then (and is still) being ravaged by pollution, land-use changes and more. And so, paid a minimum-wage salary, I spoke to 9,000 callers over a period of about three years.
It was perhaps the best job I ever had. In my spare time, I turned our small concrete backyard into a nature oasis, with two ponds for amphibians. In the years that followed, barely a day would go by when I wouldn’t see a frog stirring or hear the distinctive “plop” of one diving for cover as I walked past the pond. Some years, we had 15 frogs at a time; in spring, the bigger pond became a theatre for raucous, slimy sex. It was like a seasonal soap opera.
Until it wasn’t. Because, as of 2024, all the frogs are gone and no frog helpline can save me from despair. As far as I can tell, the cause of this mass-mortality event was twofold: first, many frogs locally were hit by the heatwave of 2022, which saw temperatures soar to 40C; then came Storm Noa in April 2023, which washed countless blobs of neighbourhood spawn, pairs of frogs still coupling, downstream in a deluge of broiling turbidity. The frogs are gone. And so, naturally, I find myself in a reflective mood. Bluntly, I wonder, was it all worth it? Did my little wildlife garden ever really help, in the long term, frogs and other local wildlife? Were my efforts futile?
First, the good news. Data about the impact the wildlife gardening movement has had on species is limited, but there are many sources that suggest it has been broadly positive. “In the 1970s, garden birdfeeders were dominated by only two species – house sparrow and starling,” says Mike Toms of the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). “Today, a much broader range of species is commonly seen taking advantage of the growing variety of supplementary foods on offer – particularly for goldfinch and wood pigeon.” According to BTO data, feeding opportunities in many British gardens have enabled one species of migratory bird, the blackcap, to evolve new migration routes that divert through our gardens as if they were calorie-rich service stations, which in a way, they are.
Wildlife gardening efforts in the past few decades are likely to have been important to amphibians, too. “There are around half a million ponds in the British countryside and a range of sources suggest that UK gardeners have created a further 2 to 3 million garden ponds,” says Jeremy Biggs of Freshwater Habitats Trust, a charity seeking to reverse wildlife declines in rivers, lakes and ponds. “Between 5% and 10% of these ponds support nationally threatened species, including great crested newts and common toads, which can’t be a bad thing.”…
According to Kate Bradbury, author of the recent wildlife gardening memoir One Garden Against the World, my worries about amphibians have seen me fall into (what she calls) an “eco-anxiety sinkhole” that isn’t helpful to anyone. “I pretty much tell people who are despairing to hold on in there, to keep going, and to focus on what is here over what isn’t, which I try to do myself,” she says. “But yes, it can be pretty miserable.”…
So what is the best wildlife gardening advice in 2024? Wildlife charities have plenty of suggestions. Now that some insects no longer hibernate through the winter, for instance, Buglife is keen to see wildlife gardening become more of a year-round activity, where carefully chosen nectar-producing plants are available in every season to suit the appetite of the species most in need. Mike Toms of the BTO thinks messaging about diseases is important in wildlife gardening literature, pointing to recent declines in greenfinches and chaffinches linked to diseases transmitted, in part, via garden birdfeeders. Butterfly Conservation wants to encourage those without large, manicured gardens to do their bit: those with a balcony or a small patio can still help wildlife through pots filled with the nectar-rich flowers and food plants (such as nasturtiums) that butterflies can use to complete their lifecycle…
“Gardening is unlikely to stop climate change,” says Kate Bradbury, “but backyard nature can connect us with the natural world, making us more aware of the destruction all around us – tuning us into the life systems that support us. I see that as a good thing.”
The youthful, wet-behind-the-ears helpline operator in me stirs. I start to feel slightly more optimistic. With any luck, new frogs will find their way to my patch one of these days. But if they don’t, there’s still plenty to occupy my time. My community is about more than just this one amphibian, I am learning. I poke my head out of my eco-anxiety hole; I step out of the bunker.
***********
Still got another week’s post or two lined up, but I could use some more pictures, if anyone’s been saving them.
What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
Expletive Deleted
I’m in the UK and trying to make my garden more wildlife friendly, so this resonates – in the two years since we moved there definitely seems to be an increase in hedgehogs, and my birdfeeders are always busy. My tiny container pond isn’t likely to attract frogs but I did rescue one from the street recently so hopefully when I get my second, slightly larger pond going it will get visitors.
You do wonder if it matters in the long run, but in the short term, on a nice day when its busy with life, it’s very satisfying.
satby
You’re making me miss the hardy crepe myrtle I left behind in Michigan JeffG! Though the people who purchased my house apparently cut down all the trees I planted. And what kind of hibiscus is growing below?
Another thing I miss from that time was the wetland pond next door, teeming with frogs peeping in the spring. They were really loud during mating season. I had a smaller pond I had put in, and it attracted a large number of frogs too.
Jeffg166
@satby:
I don’t know what the hibiscus is. It’s in my neighbor’s garden and the seeds either blew into the garden or birds dropped them. I have to dig lots of them out every year or I would be overrun with them.
The Crape Myrtle in the photo grew from a seed that germinated where it sits.
Jeffg166
I notice years ago year round gardening starting in Philadelphia. As a kid the growing season was from May 31st to September 14th. Now it goes on and on.
I put violas in the boxes on the porch and one large pot siting next to the porch in the autumn. They used to die to the ground then come back in spring. Now they live and grow through the winter. Any mild sunny day I might see a honey bee on them even in January.
satby
@Jeffg166: Unless we have a polar vortex many of the plants in the beds on my south facing wall of my house barely go dormant. I’ve covered the smaller shrubs for winter and in early spring find lots of new growth from over winter. Which gets frazzled by the late frosts anyway. I’m hoping for a good hard freeze this year, if only to kill the bugs.
edit: those are probably old fashioned Rose of Sharon hibiscus then, the older varieties really self propagated with a vengence. They normally live 15 years or so, surrounded by a thicket of offspring if you let them.
Princess
I found the comment about feeders and birds in the 70s very interesting. I was talking just the other day about how I see so many more different species, including raptors, than I remember from my childhood in my urban garden. I wonder if it is backyard feeders or the end of ddt that is the cause.
p.a
I know leaving leafpiles in at least some areas is a good way to protect the base of a natural food chain. In my little patch of urban hellhole (h/t atrios) over the last 20 years I’ve seen a changeover from spotted to redback salamanders, from slugs to snails. And I didn’t see many salamanders this year. The last 2-3 years here in RI the urban cottontail population has boomed, despite the presence of city coyotes. Next year I’ll have to fence the veggie garden.
Gloria DryGarden
This article about frogs is very soothing. I really love frogs.
There are such stories about nearly extinct species, one male in this valley, a female in the next valley, and they can’t get together.
I was recently offered some toads from a farm in n Colo, they promised that the toads eat x# of mice per year. That would be a boon.
usually in July or August in Colorado, we get a little monsoon, and it rains some for a few weeks. Not this year. We did get a few sprinkles the last 2 weeks, but it was in someone else’s neighborhood, that they got a few tenths if an inch. I think it’s been mostly freckles on the sidewalk here. Sparse. My unwatered hollyhocks aren’t even doing it. With luck, the Japanese beetles will suffer greatly.
Jay
@Princess:
In urban areas, it’s both.
In a bunch of rural area’s, it’s rewilding and the verge.
When T and I bought the place in the hills, ( overgrazed, barn cats, unmanaged, etc) we almost never saw a birb, because birbs arn’t real.
A couple of years of reseeding, letting the land lie fallow, managing the woodlands,
Birb’s, lot’s of Birb’s.
From Junco’s to Sandhill Cranes, Great Grey Owl’s hunting in the winter, a Snowy Owl one winter, hawk’s nesting, hummingbird infestations.
One drought summer, clouds of grasshoppers moving up the valley like smoke in the sky. Just as they crossed halfway through the Bertie’s property, I noticed thousands of birds taking to the sky from our property.
The Haughton’s lost half their hay and grain crops to the grasshoppers, we lost nothing. Anywhere off our property, grasshoppers that year were a plague, ( unless I was fishing), on our property, it was a normal, (sort of*) year.
*That year, Bumblebee watch informed me we had 17 different species of Bumblebee’s, 4 of which were considered extinct in our area. It’s a cell app, take a photo of a Bumblebee, geotag it, global experts tell you what it is and log it.
Good thing that I would walk the property in the spring with a sugarwater bottle and a table spoon, pick up bumblebee’s, warm them up in my hands and feed them. I also put in 1200 bumblebee winter nests, a specific type of clay pot buried a few inches in the soil.
satby
Last week we had glorious weather, which I was only able to enjoy sporadically between the sick cat monitoring and the roof on my house being replaced. Turns out the psycho who owned the place since the early 70s did his own roofing as well as his own wildly out of code plumbing and electrical work. There were 7 layers of shingles on the roof, in some patches 8 layers (<<Ozark bait). It rained debris around here for two days. This coming week is bringing back the horrible hot, humid weather until Friday. The first frost can’t get here fast enough for me. Over this summer.
OzarkHillbilly
Believe it or not, my problem with wildlife in the garden is not too few, but too many. Sucks to be me.
We’ve always had plenty of frogs and toads, but the Zen garden pond has become a focal point for them, making me very happy. Especially during spring when the trills of mating frogs becomes deafening.
By the time I had plugged all the holes in my *rabbit denial system*, the rabbits had damned near destroyed my bean plants. I’m getting few now, just enough to throw in the fermenting croc. On the bright side other than a half chewed green mater a squirrel had left on the top rail of my gate as a “Fuck You” message, they have left my maters alone. Which I appreciate as I only have 10 or 11 plants and it’s nice to be able to let them ripen on the vine. The squashbugs have not yet found my Romanesco zucchini, Luxury Pie pumpkins, or the Rugosa Friulana which is a new to me summer squash I am hoping I get to try.
** otherwise known as a fence, tho in reality it’s 3 or 4 different kinds of fencing, everything from stones to 1″ chickenwire to 2×4 welded wire to… You get the idea.
My pollinators are all very happy with the the flowers I planted for them, which makes me very happy. This past week my wife took the youngest GD for a walk-about around the driveway island which I have let go wild. The Mrs said Vivi was absolutely entranced by all the flutterbys flitting from one flower to the next.
Gloria DryGarden
@Jay: sand hill cranes, hummers ! I can’t imagine an infestation. I only get a few sightings per year.
Hand feeding bumblebees!
I usually have lots of bees, bumblebees, but I need to read more about this extra care you give them.
OzarkHillbilly
Haysoos crispo, 3 is the max. I’m surprised it didn’t just collapse from all that weight.
Gloria DryGarden
@OzarkHillbilly: bunny rabbits. So cute. So very destructive. One spring I watched one bite the heads off some tulips that hadn’t opened yet.
Momentary
My mid Wales farm has a lot of ancient outbuildings heavily overgrown with foliage, so despite the presence of two avid hunter farm cats it supports a ton of birds. Most glamorous is the breeding family of barn owls in the barn rafters, they are wonderful to see in the evenings. Lots of little brown bats, too.
My garage is open to a sheep shelter at the back and while in previous years its rafters were favoured territory for great tit nests, this year it has been taken over by swifts, which is great from a conservation breeding perspective, but has covered all the farm equipment with bird shit. Figuring this fall we’ll get a mesh screen up to exclude them from the machinery area while keeping the sheep area available for them.
One thing I regret is that in ten years I’ve never seen a hedgehog here, even though it should be hedgehog heaven. I do very much suspect badgers are the problem as we have plenty of those.
Gvg
Pollution in the water causes severe mutations in amphibians and thus species decline. Banning lead in gasoline and other air and water pollution controls in the 70’s lead to significant water quality improvements in Florida and rebounds in amphibians such as frogs and also things that eat them like birds. Alligators and turtles came back. Also a bunch of fish which help control mosquitoes better. Better isn’t the same as no mosquitoes though.
Later on we discovered loving bats and bat houses for mosquitoes eating. Icky bats now have bat festivals and no one seems to remember when they weren’t popular.
It’s been a very hot summer for me and I guess it’s age but I have had some issues with dehydration. Learning to be very strict with myself is hard. Not enough time to get all my garden task done what with real life job and all. Oh well, I have fun.
Raven
We have several crepe myrtle’s including one in the front of our house. It has grown incredibly over the past decade and its roots pushed up our brick sidewalk to the point it was a real hazard to me. We had a concrete sidewalk put in with rebar and we hope it lasts. We also have a stand of 5 in the back and, while they are pretty, they are getting so tall that they may impact the garden, I hate them but my opinion means nothing!
oldster
@OzarkHillbilly:
“…just enough to throw in the fermenting croc.”
Fermented croc sounds like Hakarl, the Icelandic dish made from shark meat that has been left to rot for months. Should be a hit in the Everglades!
OzarkHillbilly
Boy, does that sound familiar.
Geo Wilcox
We have 22.6 acres in rural SE IN. We took what was marginal farm land and planted a forest on one half and let the other go fallow. We planted some trees on the second plot but mostly let the natural volunteers grow up. We have lots of black walnut, mostly from us chucking the “seeds” all over the place, that grow in there with more every year. Lots of box elder, a nice nursery tree. We also have thickets of black raspberry and wild plum trees. It’s very pretty all year round. BUT we have a lot fewer birds at the feeders than when we first moved here because we let all their native foods grow so they don’t need the black sunflower seeds as much. When we first moved here we’d get hundreds of birds at the feeders especially during the winter months, now if I get 40 all day it’s a big deal. Honestly I would rather not have to feed them but I do like seeing them bring their new babies to the feeders so they know they are there.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: I know 3 is the max, and we’ve had a few heavy wet large snows since I’ve lived here, so I’m surprised it didn’t collapse either. Some of the cracks in the interior walls make more sense now.
Gloria DryGarden
@Gvg: I learned from hiking in the desert, and from catering jobs, that I do better if I add a few shakes of salt to my water. Seems to stick better. Tastes like mineral water, not bad.
CarolM
Those are beautiful pictures, JeffG! I love seeing lush gardens in urban areas. I moved to a rural area in southern Maine almost 4 years ago, and I have been trying to re-wild our plot of land by adding native perennials as much as possible. Unfortunately the neighborhood woodchuck had some babies this year and they went after many of these flowers; all my coneflowers, black-eyed Susan’s, New England asters and most of the bee balm plants are eaten as soon as new shoots appear. I am trying to fill in the gardens with more of the plants that do well and that they don’t seem to like to nibble on. My main goal is to feed the hummingbirds instead, and I was devastated to lose the bee balm but happy to see the birds visit the blue vervain and penstemon, so I’ll add more of those plants for next year.
WaterGirl
@Raven:
*Only when it’s related to gardening.
kalakal
I’ve always admired people who can make a beautiful garden in a small urban space. I can’t do it, I’m more a plantaholic than a gardener
When I lived in Yorkshire about 15 years ago I had a small pond, it was heaven for newts and frogs. One thing I did learn was how important it is to keep bird feeders clean in a wet climate. Pinellas in Fl is frog heaven, they sing their little hearts out every night this time of year.
TBone
@Jay: Gloria Drygarden sent me to the solace of your comment here and I am grateful. I mourn my days immersed in the outdoors, which were taken from me by ticks and a virus.
I needed that 💚
TBone
I miss seeing these bright orange QT pies, they were prolific in our forests once upon a time…
https://naturetreasurehunt.com/2017/08/07/featured-fauna-the-eastern-newt-in-pennsylvania/
Jeffg166
@Raven: You could cut them back. Some people are horrified by that idea. I have a number I cut back every year to keep them from getting too big.
The one in the photo I have trimmed a bit but haven’t done a major cut back.
My vegetable garden days are over. It helps keep the back cooler by not letting the sun hit the back concrete wall.
Jeffg166
@CarolM: Eventually you will figure out what will work. They may not be the plant you want but they will survive the critters.
Gloria DryGarden
@CarolM: what kind of penstemon can y grow in Maine, there? Doesn’t it need rocky, daring soil, perhaps a berm?
Trivia Man
@Jay: thank you for the patience and hard work. One person making a difference – one bee at a time.
CarolM
@Jeffg166: Thank you, yes, I’m learning how to co-exist with the wildlife and to focus on the natives that will do well in my yard.
CarolM
@Gloria DryGarden: My soil is really rocky! Penstemon digitalis (foxglove beardtongue) grows very well in the sunny, dry areas of my yard, and I just planted some penstemon hirsutus (hairy beardtongue).
JAM
@Raven: I hate crepe myrtles, too. They take forever to get leaves in spring and it seems like half the branches are dead when they do. Plus, they don’t support wildlife.
JAM
My neighborhood has lots of tree frogs, you can hear them at night but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one.
StringOnAStick
I put in a peach, a pear and a grape this year so my home orchard is now complete; if I had more room I would plant a sweet cherry. The Triple Crown thornless blackberry I planted last year has been cranking out the berries, I made a batch of jam yesterday but mostly we eat them as is. If you wait until they drop into your hand with just a light tug, they have remarkable flavour.