It’s been a soggy week. Rain every day except Friday which was overcast, but at least no constant drip or shower.
It’s May! It’s not been the best May, but it’s a better May than last May. It’s been cool and wet. And wet. Lawns are growing at a rapid pace with all the rain. And weeds.
But when it rains, it’s not like you wanna go and mow the lawn or weed. Because it’s been cool, like low to mid-60s. One day it barely climbed to the upper 50s. I threw on an extra blanket that night!
All the wintered over plants have been pulled outside — out into the light and the rain. They like the rain. They don’t like the cool temps. But they’re growing, slowly. My experiment these past five years of wintering over plants that are really zone 8 and up (and mostly from Austin, Texas) has been fairly successful. I complain about having to find room and drag them inside every late fall, but I like the challenge to keep them going.
I wasn’t able to keep the salvia discolor going (or Andean Silverleaf Sage). I’m not sure what happened. I was successful for three years, but it just up and croaked this winter. So I went in search of another plant and found one grower in California. It arrived yesterday, but it wasn’t alone. This little one jumped out as I opened up the box. Right onto the kitchen table!
I quickly pulled out the critter cage and got it contained. Hmm… Good thing they send plants by priority mail! She jumped around in the plastic cage and stuck to the walls. A tree frog!
of course the only thing to do next was to go to the pet store and find out what to feed it. Luckily they had a worker who loves frogs. She got me set up.
Since Friday it finally stopped raining, I went out to check on the garden to see how things faired.
It is spring. There are robins and starlings collecting nest building materials. The American Goldfinch males are in their full yellow regalia and black caps. The carolina wrens already have babies that fledged. They’re all over the yard. Mei is calling, so I gotta put this diary to bed. I’ll end with this photo
