Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Last night...

When I pulled into the driveway just after 11pm last night, the smell was overwhelming. The daturas next to the driveway had put on a stunning display. It was dark, so I took a picture this morning. Twenty-one blooms, many are buried in the foliage of sprouted bird seed, zinnias, and weeds. This will become my datura bed. I'll never collect all the seed before they fall to the ground. May as well let it be.



The nicotiana in the same area has come back nicely. I gave it a very hard pruning a few weeks ago. This one has green flowers and very little fragrance. I've been collecting the white and will add it to the edges of this spot next spring.



In January, I stuck cuttings of the brown fig from 6th street. This one was planted in my shrub island over a month ago. The leaves are 4-6" across. It won't fruit this year. I'm expecting it to be well established and should survive the winter.



It's 78 degrees, sunny, and very humid (96%). Thunderstorms are in the forecast this afternoon and evening. 40% chance of rain today. Tomorrow, the chance increases. Bring it on.

10:57am - 82 degrees. It's nasty out there. Inside, it's warm, but I'm determined to not use the a/c this summer. Too cool in the house and it kills me on the concrete at work. Too much time spent at the computer in the store is not good either.

I found a frog in the basement this morning. Toad, frog, I don't know the difference. But I gave it a new home in the perennial bed. Where I pulled a few plants, I spread out some trash bags, put some stones around the edge, and filled it with water. This used to be a tree stump. In less than 2 years, it's gone thanks to all the critters in the soil. The pool is temporary until I find an object that will hold water and work with the feel of the garden. I'm even considering hand forming some concrete in this hole, but that'll have to wait until fall. I just wanted to give the little guy (or gal) a place to sip water and cool off. Hopefully this one will hang around.



6 comments:

LeSan said...

I think your little pool is wonderful! Frogs come and go but once they find your watering hole they will make sure you have a steady supply of them. I love the sound of them in the spring when they sing. Well ok, it's croaking but it's still cool.

Unknown said...

If the rain comes, please send it on to Atlanta when you're finished with it! 95 degrees and just awful here! They keep teasing us with promises of "scattered showers," but nothing for a week or so.....your toad is a lucky guy!

Tom - 7th Street Cottage said...

LeSan, this is the second frog I've put in the perennial bed. The first one I rescued from the garden center at Lowe's. I hope they find each other and mate. I'd love to have lots of slug eaters around.

Tim, we're supposed to get lots of rain tomorrow and Thursday. I hope they're right. Even if those are my days off, I'll be glad to work outside in the rain rather than the sun. Perfect time to move some plants too.

MissyM said...

Love the nicotinia. I've never had luck with that. Hope the rain comes my way too.

Randy Emmitt said...

Tom,

Clearly you have a toad there! We have a pond and have 11 species of frogs and toads here. The datura photos make your garden seem very inviting! Saw some datura in Durham yesterday blooming in a traffic island.

Kris said...

Yep, definitely a toad. Those little guys eat a lot of slugs. :-D