I was cleaning out the Hosta Dell a few days ago on a cool cloudy damp day, and came across someone sleeping in the miniature hostas.
She’s really a very good sized box turtle, about the size of a small canteloupe. She was sleepy, and grumpy because it was cold. Garbo-like, she wanted to be alone.
As I returned to the house from the task, I stopped to admire the new strawberry bed.
We were motivated to raise the bed just because that box turtle and her kin think strawberries are the BEST, ripe or not. Ripe is better, of course, but if all there is is green ones, they will do just fine. So far, we have not discovered a climbing box turtle.
You will note the finely crafted cage resting on top of the wall. That is in honor of all the birds around the place, who also think strawberries are a fine dining experience not to be missed. There are four doors on top that fold open for picking and weeding. The whole thing breaks down into 8 easily carried panels plus one two by four. This is what it looks like when one of the panels is open.
Inside, there are hundreds of strawberries growing and expanding in all their splendor. And not a speck of mold, which is another benefit of raising the beds so they drain well.
In other news, I believe that I have noticed at least 8 different robin nests around the place. The one under the wisteria has babies, the one on the box bush that I featured the other day is still eggs. In the barn, there is a Carolina wren whose eggs are now fuzzy headed babies. I also saw a young fledgling dove the other day as well, so lots of bird activity is going on.
In the front, the irises are just prime. There are dutch irises as well as the bearded irises out there.
In the rain garden, the false indigo is just starting to bloom. Right next to it is an amsonia, which is quite popular with the bumblebees, and there are sphinx moths enjoying it too.
I saw the leopard frog out by the pond yesterday. She deigned to pose for me before leaping off into the jerusalem artichoke patch.
Down by the Hosta Dell, the hen and chicks are propagating. I find these guys to be too cute for words. Bear in mind that the gravel out there is about 1cm in diameter.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a hosta dell without plenty of hostas, would it? This one is looking quite wonderful right now.
Now, I have an area that has approximately five million salvia volunteers that need to be discouraged.
Ta ta for now, then.
i love taking these walks through your garden. can’t wait to taste the strawberries… and will be considering some hostas to add to the irises i need to plant!
Just remember that irises and hostas need different things…. Hostas really prefer to have shade during the hottest part of the year, and lots of regular water. Irises, on the other hand, like a nice sunny location and don’t need that much water.
Hostas originally came from Japan and Korea, where they grew wild on sunny banks. But remember, in those locations, which are quite a bit north of here, it stays much cooler in the summer and they get around 60″ of rain a year. That is why the Hosta Dell is so very happy. It has an arbor to keep it cook AND it gets the benefit of deep root water from the rain garden pond, which is just uphill of it.
thinking of hostas behind my place — outside the lower deck. gets some sun, but mostly shaded by the woods behind me! the irises? front and center, where they can bake in the sun and make me smile when i come home in may!
False Indigo is such an evocative name
What a host of wonderful things surrounding you.