You Know It's Spring When ...

... the frogs congregate in the pond and croak their hearts out to attract the females.

As I prepare this house for sale I realize I need to celebrate the last things I will experience on this property.  

Last night it was an owl call.  I may hear it again, but if I don't it was the last one to be heard while laying in bed falling asleep.

Yesterday while I was pruning, I realized my stewardship of this land is coming to an end.  It was the last time to prune the hibiscus, the hydrangeas, and the Joe Pye weed.

Here they are as they looked last year.  Yesterday they were just sticks,

 

And as the frogs are croaking, its the last spring I will hear them do that from this pond.

Let me share with you the sound and sight.

Well, that didn't work so here's some photos instead.

And this little fellow decided the shortest way to where he was going was through the screen porch.  I watched him try to get through the screen in vain.  Later he appeared inside the screen so he must have found a way in at one of the bases of the beams.  I had to shoo him out with a broom.  He was headed away from the pond.

Joining Saturdays Critters

Now You See Them - Now You Don't

Remember these critters?  The goldfish in my pond?  They were there on Sunday.  I saw them from the deck when we had a campfire and made s'mores.

Here they are earlier this spring on a rainy day.

And here more recently as fuzzy gold shapes in the water.

As of Tuesday, they were gone.

No goldfish to be seen.

I think the heron I saw last week that landed in my backyard momentarily until I startled it, returned and had its fill. 

 I wonder what the absence of the goldfish will do to our lack of mosquitoes?  On the other hand I won't need to run the hose to fill up the pond when we have had no rain for an extended time.  I wonder how long it will be before the heron returns for the frogs?

Filled To the Brim

And it continues to rain!

Above photos taken this morning.  

This afternoon rain has increased.  Here are updated photos.  Sorry for the quality.  These were taken through rain drenched windows.

This is the scupper from our inverted V roof.

Water is trickling over the left side (at 9 o'clock position) of the pond despite the overflow trench on the right (at 2 o'clock position).

A Wish Granted

Remember last week my pining for spring but still wishing for a very cold snap to freeze the pond?  Wish granted!  Cold snap upon us and last night it included snow - 2 inches.

 Here's the pond this morning after I came in from helping Dan shovel the driveway.

Here's the pond now after spending an hour out there cutting the cat tails and hauling them off to the piles in the woods.  It will make for a much neater pond come spring.  True I will still have to trim the irises and the Joe Pye weed and the butterfly bush.  But for those I don't have to venture into water.

I'm sorry for the birds though which liked to take cover amongst the cat tails.  That's another reason not to keep trimming out there.  That and the temps at 22º.

The Pond

It was a hot, humid day today and I was out working in it, too. Came in dripping with sweat but glad I'd spent the time out there. The pond is getting very overgrown but it's not something I can tame very much. Eventually the cat tails and irises will take over completely. Today I trimmed back some of the irises so I can see the water and so the seed pods do not fill the pond with seeds. I weeded as best I could since I was at the limits of my capacity in the heat by that point. It looks a lot better and I got the fountain going. The biggest surprise was seeing two gold fish. The heron didn't get them all.

My Joe Pye weed is the tallest its ever gotten. I keep finding new plants and transplanting them below the pond along the edge of the glen, but I don't think the conditions are wet enough there.

Water hyacinth is in bloom.

These grasses are loving this spot.

The bishop's weed ground cover (gout weed) under the day lilies gets munched on by the ground hog so it isn't an invasive as it is for other people.

I have two colors of stella d'oro lilies on the hillside next to the pond.

Another view of the pond and all the different green textures.

A Tour of the Pond Garden

The Pond Garden is looking beautiful with the blue Siberian irises and yellow water irises blooming. Take a tour with me.

The pond is on the east side of the house (photo below). The window on the right is my study so I have a wonderful view of what goes on there except I seem to miss the heron's visit. Actually today I did see the heron fly in and land on the roof above my window. I thought I'd see it fly down into the pond but the next time I checked it was walking out of the pond and I missed it's fishing expedition. I think its going after the frogs now because when I walked around the pond to take these photos the frogs did not jump into the water like they've done on other days.


Here are some of the plants around the pond: wiegela, lilac,



butterfly bush, hawthorn tree, Siberian irises,

yellow irises which are notorious at spreading, ajuga for the slopes,


a wort with its contrasting yellow leaves and blue flowers.





Water from the scupper on our roof flows into the pond down this rock swale. The grasses here are doing very well.



A phlox below.


Liriope and stella d'oro day lilies define a walkway from the driveway to the backyard.




Joe Pye weed on the right side. It gets bigger ever year.

And here's my study view of it all.