Sacred Datura

This beautiful weather here in Texas is just making the garden grow in leaps and bounds. Everything is just shooting up and as long as we get a shower or two in the future, this years Pond Tour on June 9/10 looks like it will be outstanding.I have more roses this year than I have ever seen. They are growing in abundance. I have red’s and yellows and yesterday, I bought a white one just because I liked how it looks. The Sacred Datura are already beginning to flower which seems a bit early compared to other years. They have large white bell-like flowers that are easily six inches big. They only last a day and then wither down until the next one comes out. They are actually members of the Nightshade family and all parts of the plant is poisonous.

The Jasmine is supposed to be flowering at this time of the year but I lost so much of it in the drought, that there are only a few flowers showing up. Normally, one almost gets giddy with their strong scent bit not this time around. Oh well, can’t have it all.

I have finally finished mulching the entire yard or at least all of the flower beds. I had to make six trips with my trailer and used 6 cubic yards total. It took a while because of the abundant vegetation. Next year, I am going to wait for the first frost to knock everything down and then I am going to mulch. Sure will be a lot easier. The only major thing I want to do before the Pond Tour is to add crushed granite to the walkways. That won’t take long as compared to the mulch, the gravel is plain sailing.

The latest report on the Koi in three of the ponds is that they are still doing their mating thing and knocking each other around and at the same time, doing their best to destroy their chosen plants. When they are through, eventually, I will have to get in the ponds to clean up the mess.

Red Eared Slider Turtle

Yesterday, while I was finishing up unloading the trailer, which I park outside the garden in the driveway, I walked back for yet one more load pulling my trusty hand cart and there was this red slider turtle in front of me. This one is about five inches big and was exceptionally clean. I don’t know where or how long he has been on his walkabout but I picked him up and placed him in one of the ponds to joint the other three turtles that I have there. This morning, my little tearaway dachshund, Richie, was kicking up an awful fuss down the very bottom of the garden. He does that for squirrels and buzzards but this time, it was a little more frantic so I wandered down there to see him busy attacking the new turtle who of course, was withdrawn into his shell. He had managed to get out of the pond that I put him in yesterday and was obviously quite determined to continue on his walkabout. I picked him up and put him back into the smaller of the ponds where there are no other turtles. I don’t know if turtles are territorial so this time I figured he could have the pond to himself.

It wasn’t fifteen minutes later that Richie was barking again and lo and behold, he had found the turtle who had just climbed out of the small pond. Talk about determination. So, we now have him in a pond that is a little more but not impossible, to get out of keeping one of the other turtles company. it will be interesting to see how long he stays.

Tufted Titmouse

I noticed a pair of Tufted Titmouse showing an interest in the nest box that  one of my young soccer players, Dominick Mauro, had made    and passed on to me. This is the first birds that I have seen to take any interest in any of the nest boxes scattered around my garden. Something to keep an eye on.All in all, yesterday was an extremely good day as for me, there are no bad days unless I lose one of my pets. All things being equal, I have a great life. I finished mulching the yard, I found the turtle, I saw the Tufted Titmouse looking at the nest box, no one cut in front of me or otherwise teed me off, Manchester United beat Queen’s Park Rangers 2-0 and to top it off, Arsenal beat Manchester City by a single goal increasing Manchester United’s lead at the top of the table to eight points with six games to go.

Who could ask for a better day or a better life…