Catartis

The Peter Peppers Are Here!

Peter Peppers Drawn and Diddled

Yes! You can grow your own, ladies... I did! Dozens of them.

Yes! They are real and they are fun to diddle. In film and on the puter anyway. My fingers were stinging from chopping a couple to use in dinner tonight. They are hot stuff. Ouch!

Temporary Escapes from Cyberspace

Sometimes I wonder why I bother to put out flowers that will only be gobbled by nasty little buggie things. Japanese beetles shred anything they can eat, snails turn my lilies and hostas to lacework and then there are the ever present white flies. *sigh*

But then the hummingbirds start their midsummer mating rituals on the back patio and the butterflies and dragonflies start to wander in. Suddenly it begins to feel like it was worth planting and picking at plants that will withstand full, hot afternoon sun in Tennessee.

We have had the most adorable little male ruby throat take over our patio as *his turf* in the last few days. He buzzes me when I am by the study window and I can't decide if he has been flirting or fighting. If he was flirting, I am afraid I have been tossed away for another woman, because as of this morning, there has been a small green, lady hummer inspecting what he has to offer.

Our little James Bond Birdie has been graciously letting her inspect his bug supply, feeders and the plant that seems to have her most fascinated. That would be a rather strange and scraggly looking plant with small, salmon colored trumpet flower clusters that smells heavenly. An Agastache Acapulco Orange ... whatever in the heck that might be. I saw it, I liked the smell [and noticed that the butterflies and bumbles liked it in the Home Depot garden shed] so home it came to replace the white petunias which were frying in my hot sun basket.

Potential *Mrs. Bond Birdie* must have inspected every tiny trumpet on the plant this morning. I was picturing her as having tiny white gloves, running them across *his* pad to see if she could rescue it from it's bachelor mess. And somehow, I don't think she cares a bit that Mr. JB Birdie might be a bit of a rouge. I think she's one of those ladies who wants an afternoon of wild sex, followed by flowers galore and sweet treats to eat.

Hopefully, we will be summer hosts for her and her little family soon, and those horrid Japanese beetles will head back underground for another year so my hibiscus blooms won't be pretty only in the mornings and gnawed full of holes by midafternoon.

This too shall pass, I hope. Someone please convince the bluejays that they might be a tasty treat!

One of these days I might even come back to cyberspace, I've just been enjoying *being away* for a bit. We shall return from the garden and other non-computer related activities, soon enough. Right now, I think I might go watch the ritual and squish a few bugs while *THE* Cat soaks up a bit of sun.

Farron
[and a porch-bound, sun worshipping _^OO^_ ]

The Dreaded Beetles Are Back!

Just a quick comment to say that first damage and first few Japanese beetles were spotted about 7:00 AM this morning. And it's still damp and the sun is not on the garden until later in the day. Those little monsters like hot, sunny afternoons, not cool, damp mornings.

Swarms expected soon. Boo Hoo! Farewell to the Roses may come early this year. I am mourning all the little buds that may not be allowed to grow into roses.

Farron

UPDATE: I removed all of the rose bushes down to the canes on June the 6th. Those nasty bugs will not be getting a free lunch inside my patio this year. I believe the roses were allowed a wee bit of dignity in passing instead of having to display ugly, chewed stumps where buds had opened only hours before. Rest in peace little fellas and I hope I will see you for a small blooming spurt in the fall.

There's No Need to Fear.
UnderFrog is Here!

No need to fear unless you are a snail or a slug. This is one snail crunching, slug sucking toad!

Yes, I was corrected, UnderFrog is a toad. We were crushed, UnderToad just doesn't have the same ring to it. Google to the rescue!

I have discovered in my old age that you can prove almost any angle of an argument with Google. [Does that make it the Bible of the internet? Shame on me!! *wink*]

Here is one of several articles I spotted which commented that, "all toads are frogs, but not all frogs are toads."

Please note, there were four snails on his lunch plate a very few minutes ago. I think he's doing a wee bit of digesting before tackling the last one for dessert.

By the way, do frogs/toads/froads burp? Something to ponder while watching this little beastie out the window instead of doing something sensible.

That's all for now,

Farron
[and an indifferent, napping _^..^_ ]

P.S. There is a slightly larger version of the photo hiding behind this little one if you click it.

Frog Alert!!!!

Oh Wow! I could have sworn I saw a frog over by the ewes yesterday and I talked myself out of it. Nah! No frogs here. That despite the fact that we saw a teeny pinkie sized baby on the fence the other night. Tony and I both thought it was just a fluke. That the little guy had gotten lost somehow. Well now I think we must be starting a froggie family on the patio. I certainly hope they don't cook when the temperatures start to rise and the rain dries. [It's well on the way to drying out and being a warm sunny day.]

This shot is right next to the water meter and under the edge of a dwarf aquilegia that is just starting to bloom again after the shock of being recently transplanted.

And I believe the little guy is safe from Tchaikovsky the Mighty Hunter. It's hard to see the tiny froggie in this second shot, so I've added an arrow pointing to his location.

Now look where Mr. T is looking for him. Do you think he missed his mark by a bit? HaHaHa

I had originally started to head out to check the progress of my purple pea sprouts. [hyacinth bean vines to be exact] Right as I was heading out the door, I spotted movement under one of the hollies. In looking closely, I spotted the little guy hidden in the mulch. He's a trusting soul. Even let me pick him up. Does that mean I will soon be covered in warts? Nah, don't think so.

Speaking of purple pea plants, Butzi started hers a bit earlier than I did out in the desert heat and sun. She sent pictures of the sprouts yesterday and then again today...check the difference between May 13th & May 14th!

http://ddhconsulting.home.mindspring.com/beans2.html

Yah! They are doing great. Soon they will be taking over her patio...seriously!

And Butzi, now you can NOT remove that page. It has to stay in place or you will mess up this goofy entry. *grin*

Time to head back to my regular day. Whatever that might bring.

TaTa for Now,

Farron
[and the Mighty Hunter _^..^_]

First Rose, First Color!!

And winner of "which rose has color first," is my sweet, old fashioned climber, Blaze. She's showing color in about four spots today. I see her smirking at the whites on either side of her and the sweet little raspberry colored fellow who hangs in with his sherbert colored blooms and bright, bushy, yellow centers. Old time bush or climber varieties. Those cutting roses are way too fussy for me. Besides, they look pretty in a vase, but I think they are scraggly in the yard.

I should amend that *sweet* comment. This lady has a habit of biting me on a regular basis, but she's delivering the goods, so I forgive her.

The star jasmine is getting ready to go wild as well. A very few buds started opening yesterday. Soon the enclosed patio will be heavy with jasmine scent. Some find it heavy, but Tony and I love it dearly. It's so nice floating on the breeze.

Fingers crossed for those purple peas to sprout. And I am way overdue to try out those seeds from last year's score of *naughty* pepper seeds. Get going, woman. Plant those seeds! Back to play in the mud a bit.

Later....

Farron
[_^..^_ is sleeping in the sun and doesn't care]

Farewell to the Rose Bushes

I have cut away the last of the rose bushes. The little white *almost wild* ones always seem to last the longest. They would last longer if my little nemisises, the dreaded Japanese Beetles, had not started appearing in Tennessee a few years back to gobble them with wild abandon.

The other day, when I was trimming out some of the last of the branches, I decided to grab a camera and catch a shot of one of the last of the little monsters. He had many friends on the roses that day, all munching away and having little buggy sex on my flowers. Ahhhh, one consolation is that they are were all only bug-juice under my nails and on my fingers shortly after the photos were taken. Did I mention that they are slow moving little monsters? They make me miss ol' Ellis the turtle who lived with us for a short time last year. He found stunned Japanese Beetles to be quite a tasty treat. lol

As my buddies & partners in crime will realize by now, much of the reason for this post is to test adding images, using a bit of coding rather than a straight text post, taking up space to see if it blows the layout & adding categories. [grin]

As a side, blog creation related note, for future photos, I believe I should either add them as a link or in the extended entry section to cut down on the weight of this main page. But I wanted to try it this way for the first shot. I also found it easier to upload the image via my good old ftp for the moment. Trying to send if via the built in feature gave me a setup I still needed to edit a bit and it created a new folder inside images/ that I did not specify. As in, it gave me images/photoname.jpg/photoname.jpg. I am quite sure that was caused by some goofy user, but it is NOT what I specified as the code path. It added that blakety blank folder all on it's own. booger! haha

Farron
[aka Squasher of Bugs]