But spending more time by the road than in our yard. Hopefully they are wise ducks and will be OK. We let the pond fill up again with the rain so maybe they’ll grace us with their presence after all. Here he is by the pond earlier.
Month: May 2012
Frog fate
Found about a dozen tadpoles in the front pond that must have hatched just in time to be missed by the ducks. So we’re back to a handful, that seems more balanced than the hundreds and possibly thousands of eggs that were originally laid.
We cleaned out the backyard pond of excess foliage, so whether the ducks would have returned after Saturday or not, they aren’t coming back here this year. We had to lower the pond level for the maintenance. The ducks were last in the yard about a week ago.
May 2012, seems like summer!
All the deciduous trees and shrubs have provided screen. The weather is warm, to 80 today, but cooler and sunny here near the Sound. The hammock is up and ready for the season .
Tides have turned against the frogs this year. At first there were just a few, then occasionally numerous frogs croaking at night. We had many egg sacs in the front pond, about 6-8 just on the rain chain alone, and we thought we were in for an infestation of biblical proportions. Then the ducks discovered the front yard pond and took care of them all. We’ll have to see if any make it into next year to repopulate the pond.
Now In bloom: Camassia cusickii, Camassia quamash, purple Shooting stars, Iris setosa, Iris tenax, Penstemon rupicola, Penstemon davidsonii, Aquilegia formosa, Aquilegia cerulean, Aquilegia flavescens, Penstemn tolmeii, Iris chrysophylla, Saxifraga oregana, White Brodiaea, Deciduous Rhododendrons. Below, Penstemon tolmeii, Jacob’s-ladder, and Iris chrysophylla, a new iris for me with pale blue and yellow markings on a white background.
Nearly in bloom: deciduous Penstemons, Sea thrift, Heucheras, white Shooting stars (dentatum).
ellensgarden.us 