September 22, 2008
WE OPENED THE SEASON HERE WITH A SALAMANDER, whom I’d fished from the little pool out back while mucking out debris. Trusty garden helper and small-game handler Susan held him for his portrait, and we both enjoyed the moment (not sure he did), a special kickoff to spring. This week, as we began fall cleanup, another omen: The littlest frogboy ever hijacked a ride indoors.
“Susan,” I hollered, “I need a hand…literally.” And so as she got him ready for his photo op, extracting him from the bromeliad he was hiding in (the one that used to outside, not inside, the kitchen door), I ran for the camera.
He was hard to key out in the guidebooks, frankly (a step I always take when I meet a new frogboy). He was tiny like a spring peeper, but lacked the typical dark X pattern on his back that they have. And he was too small (and in the wrong ‘hood by many, many miles) to be anything else, or so it seemed.
But finally, thanks to the University of Michigan’s Museum of Zoology website, I got the secret: He’s a yearling gray treefrog, which accounts for his mere half-adult size. Read more about this changeable creature, whom we gently returned to the place where the houseplant had been, and watched as he hopped through the grass and up a large leaf nearby.
I live for these serendipities: When we began opening up the garden, we were served an Eastern Spotted salamander; when we began closing it, a gray treefrog. Bookends on an eventful debut blogging season, with a red newt and a lot of big, sexy frogboys in between. Magic.
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Who's Gardening Here?
from martha to just margaret
I was so blessed to visit and document many of the nation’s finest homemade gardens for 15 years for ‘Martha Stewart Living,’ first as its garden editor and then as editorial director for the company. The list of places we were proud to publish included my own upstate New York home a few years back. Take a tour of how it looked then. Want to know more about me? Or read what Anne Raver said in June in The New York Times, calling A Way to Garden “the best (garden blog) I’d ever seen.” Adrian Higgins of The Washington Post was similarly kind. And so was Martha, on her TV show.
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Why Do You Garden?
One of the most popular questions at A Way to Garden: Why do you garden? A bunch of us answered in a stream of comments, and there's great other stuff on the Forums. Just in case you'd like to tell us why, too (or have a good read about what makes the rest of us tick).
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December Garden Chores
All based on my Zone 5B Berkshire/Hudson Valley location; adjust accordingly.
THE PAUSE THAT REFRESHES: Gardeners, like their gardens, benefit from a bit of dormancy, and the time is upon us. Enjoy it. Seed-catalog season gets going in earnest later in the month, so early December is prime time to inventory leftover seeds and store them in a cool, dry place. A friend stashes his in the fridge, first sealing in zipper bags with the air squeezed out, then placing the bags in a sealed plastic box rather than have strays get lost among the yogurt and mayonnaise.
Toss those more than a few years old and make a list of what you’ll need. Not that any act of self-control stops me from ordering yet another gourd or pumpkin variety, or some oddity I simply must have or perish. My list of favoirite sources is in the right-hand sidebar of every page here.
Position your seed-shopping easy chair to point out the window, where there are still riches: berries, bark, new birds. Did you join Project Feederwatch yet?
Mole patrol continues: I am still setting out mousetraps under boxes, buckets or cans in the gardens where I see any activity, to rid them from my beds and borders.
HOUSEPLANTS
KEEP AN EYE OUT for signs of houseplant pests like spider mites, mealybugs, and scale insects. If tackled before they get out of hand, nonchemical methods are usually successful: a simple shower, insecticidal soap spray (as directed on label) or with the most tenacious (like mealybugs) sometimes an alcohol swab and Q-tip. Overwatering is the biggest risk to houseplants in winter…go easy.
START A POT OF PAPERWHITES in potting soil or pebbles and water, and stagger forcing of another batch every couple of weeks for a winterlong display.
WAKE UP WELL-RESTED amaryllis bulbs by watering once, placing in a bright spot, and waiting for them to respond. If no dice in a couple of weeks, water again…but don’t repeatedly water an unresponsive bulb or it may rot. It will tell you when it’s ready for action.
TREES & SHRUBS
CLEAR TURF OR WEEDS from the area right around the trunks of fruit trees and ornamentals to reduce winter damage by rodents. Hardware cloth collars should be in place year-round as well.
BE EXTRA-VIGILANT cleaning up under fruit trees, as fallen fruit and foliage allowed to overwinter invites added troubles next season.
ALWAYS BE on the lookout for dead, damaged, diseased wood in trees and shrubs and prune them out as discovered. This is especially important before winter arrives with its harsher weather, where weaknesses left in place invite tearing and unnecessary extra damage. Remove suckers and water sprouts, too.
VEGETABLE, FRUIT & HERBS
FLOWER GARDEN
PROTECT ROSES FROM WINTER damage by mounding up their crowns with a 6- to 12-inch layer of soil before the ground freezes. After all is frozen, add a layer of leaf mulch to further insulate.
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Brief but Juicy
ultimate garden no-no’s
WHEN SOMEONE ASKED in a comment about my point of view on using landscape fabric, the fuse was quickly lit: NO! I said. NO! I’ve rounded up some no-no’s we’ve posted collectively so far, but I bet by now there are a few more things to bitch about. Grab a lawn chair and a cold drink, and we can fester together. Sure beats weeding (which ought to be a garden no-no).
lose anything lately?
THE SAYING GOES THAT a thing of beauty is a joy forever. I guess “forever” in this case is in the mind’s eye. My darling, oldest bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora) went down for the count in July, or at least half of it did, and I had already seen the death knell for a couple of my 10 crabapples. Jeez.
true love, really
LOOK, I HAVE A THING for frogs. Call it my little fetish. An issue. Whatever. My general obsession notwithstanding, I’ve finally met THE ONE FOR ME.
hail the stewartia
I LIKE PLANTS THAT EARN THEIR KEEP. By that I mean they do more than a week or two of showing off; they look good in more than a single moment, or season. The small-ish to medium trees in the genus Stewartia are a good bet if that’s the kind of multi-season interest you are looking for. Sound good?
more, more, more clematis
WHEN I SEE ‘POLISH SPIRIT’ CLAMBERING up and through the golden Chamaecyparis in late spring-into-summer, I realize I have a serious Clematis shortage around here. Not in the Chamaecyparis, specifically, but in lots of other places where things look a little dull. I’ve got a penchant for growing vines up and over otherwise-dull shrubbery, you see.
can-do pruning
REPEAT AFTER ME: I can prune. I can prune. If you follow this simple method for starters, your woody plants will thank you.
the ‘other’ peonies
JUNE WAS PEONY TIME, the big raucous kind of peony time, but just before that another kind of peony you might want to consider adopting did its subtler, wonderful thing.
which lilac to plant?
SO MANY LILACS, so little space. Browse a glossary of some of my favorites before you shop—maybe you’ll like them, too.
non-blooming peonies?
Did your peonies not cooperate—was there not a good crop of flower buds, and you don’t know why? This came up on the Forums, and here’s the dish.
twist-off ticks
I AM COMING IN everyday with at least a tick or two on me; not embedded, thankfully, so far, but it's only a matter of time. But I am prepared. Are you?
anything but forsythia
I guess I have a thing against forsythia…even though I have several specimens of it along the fringes of my property. But there are better choices for spring color among shrubs.
surprise (avian) visitors
If you make a garden for birds, or even plant a crabapple or two (or ten), you never know who’ll show up.
magnolias to love
THEY’RE MEMORIES NOW but I couldn't garden without magnolias. Want to know more about the queen of the spring-blooming trees?
order in the garden
I AM LABELING my plants, I am. As memory fades, out comes the label machine, just in the nick. Saved by the Dymo. You can be, too.
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Buried Treasure
I NOTICE THAT BLOGGING results in some rich but buried treasure: great stuff in a comment thread you may not see; interesting topics on the forums that perhaps you haven't visited.
Subjects ranging from feeding and pruning Hydrangeas and pruning clematis, to entertaining (read: ranting) lists and lists of garden no-no’s (not just mine!).
Pick a click, and enjoy. Better yet, CHIME IN yourself. Up in the nav bar…that's right, GO FOR IT: our Q&A FORUMS.
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Your First Visit? Take a Walk.
IF YOU MISSED THE UNFOLDING OF SPRING in our garden, take a series of walks with us, one in April and another in May, even if it means being in the past and out of the moment. I know, not very Buddhist, but it will help you get acquainted. Or just browse through our photo galleries of favorite plants now gone by. Enjoy.
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Sources
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Compost, Compost, Compost
I am as proud of my compost heap as I am of any part of my garden. It is the archaeological record of my garden past; it is the stuff from which future gardens will arise. Composting’s also a topic I read a lot about, and lately it's from sources like these: Garden Organic, a 50-year-old British charity; Journey to Forever (don’t worry, not some into-the-bunker survivalist cult); and the vast Cornell Composting web archive. Dig in.
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frost calculator
Global-warming black humor aside, gardeners need to know their frost dates—the first and the last in an “average” year—to be able to plan when to sow or transplant what. The frost-date calculator from Victory Seed Company’s website helps.
the mother list
Thanks to Tony Avent, plant hunter and proprietor of Plant Delights Nursery, for sharing the list of all lists—every horticultural link you’d need or want.
a gardener's best friend
You are not alone. The national network of cooperative extension services is a lifeline for gardeners; find yours and join now. No excuses!
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The weather is key, but forget those commercial sites and TV channels. Ask the all-knowing NOAA instead. At least our government is doing one thing right. A Way to Garden Archives
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He’s a darling little frog. Thank you for showing him so we can get a close up view.
I am fascinated with tree frogs, how cool to have held one. They are simply amazing. Thank you for sharing him or her.
I love frogs. Always have. I’m so glad to see that they are your “spokes folks”.
Welcome, Charlotte. Love the expression “spokes folks.” Thank you for that, and for visiting. See you soon again.
Great pictures! Little frogs are so adorable! They used to appear on my deck sometimes but I didn’t see them this year.
Frogs caused my lurking at your site. That one is beautiful. I’m trying to encourage more in my tiny courtyard here In New Orleans. I thought I saw an odd fly one day on the bricks, but on looking closer, realized it was a tiny brown frog with a black “V” on its back. I often wondered if that was an adult. Your pictures are inspiring.
Hi Margaret, I’m love with that little guy!
Margaret, I meant in love with that little guy!
Margaret…Your frogs are cuter than mine. You might enjoy looking at a frog that took up residence in a tub at my New Jersey home in July. ~ Rosemary
http://contentinacottage.blogspot.com/2008/07/my-new-bff-best-frog-friend.html
if you have frogs, then you must have a snake or two. the snakes that share their property with me, jake and son of jake, love frogs.
FROGS!! This is just too cute — great picture.
The tiny tree frogs often “stick” to the windows on our French doors, giving us a great opportunity to see them up close. Yesterday, I found a very large toad in the garden, tucked up in the butterfly ginger. There is another one that lives in the dry streambed who watches me whenever I pull weeds out from the rocks. I also had a bright orange Eastern Mud Salamander hidden in the ice plant back in the early spring. Wildlife watching is certainly fun! Cameron
I want cute frogs. In TX, we just get big ugly toads. Boo hiss!
Frogboy for President!
Welcome, Porter…and thanks for the positive feedback. He really was adorable, and like the size of my thumbnail.
Welcome also to Naomi, and likewise thank you for the compliment on the pictures. I am trying…photography is not my expertise, but it’s very enjoyable and I am learning. It is fascinating from your comment and the others here already (Melinda’s, Cameron’s, Rosemary’s…) to think of the diversity in these creatures. I worry when I read how pressured they are all around the world.
@Chris: Yes, snakes live in the garden as well. Not so crazy about them, but respect them and would never hurt one. Somehow disinclined to crawl around photographing them as I do the frogs… :)
So cute!
You already saw our bull frog friend http://belleadorn.blogspot.com/2008/09/latest-critter-catches-bunny-bull-frog.html
So here’s a link to a post with a couple of our tree frogs http://belleadorn.blogspot.com/2008/05/tree-frog.html
Thanks for the research you have here, interesting. Tina
wonderful post, reminds me of all the living treasures we have come across in our own garden over the years. Beautiful images too.
Welcome, 5preciousthings, all the way from Scotland. I am glad to see you here and hope you will stop back again soon.
The photo of him on the leaf is so adorable. He’s pondering life and his lessons learned…
My garden is a home for an assortment of various sized toads. They are not a cute as your tree frog but they have a kind of weird and funny charm. I am fascinated by them. They each have their own territory and seem to be watching me as intently and as intelligently as I watch them. I believe that they were put on this earth to reassure us that God does have a sense of humor.
He’s a beaut and a perfect ending to a beautiful season!
animal planet, copake falls edition. loves it.
Welcome, Dizzydog. A wonderful way of expressing it: Yes, toads are humor incarnate. The Latin name for the genus they are in, Bufo, also strikes me as funny somehow. I have a giant of a toad in my barn, and another under the stoop by the house, and I adore them. And you are right: they watch us like we watch them, or appear to. Thanks for visiting.
End of the season? Fall may have arrived on Monday morning, but we have a long way to go before we can write the end to this garden year.
Indeed, Gardenboy. I believe in a 365-day garden, as you know. It’s the official start of the “cleanup” season for me, the end/closing of the tender parts of the garden…but by no means an end.
I love measuring the year with experiences in nature instead of a calendar. Now I need to get to work on my cleanup.
I had two bright green tiny tree frogs for two years in my back yard (Dallas,TX). I had no idea where they came from and sadly they disappeared this year. But, I do remember the excitement of their sightings.
This lil frogboy is too cute to boot!
i hope this doesn’t mean you have finished blogging for the season! Your blog is my daily treat.
@Laura: No, I figured you wouldn’t let me off the hook that easy. We have a long way to go together, all of us: We must clean up the spent bits, and revel in the stuff that’s still to come. A year-round deal I guess here, huh? Maybe a little slower now through February than March to September was, but at least a couple of days a week of new stuff even in the quietest of times. And you never know, I may get energized and post more in winter than I think.
We love our amphibians here in the Pacific Northwest. In 2007 the pacific chorus frog was actually named the State amphibian. I copied the below information from the internet. They are, in my experience, hard to photograph, so I appauld your efforts and the results. I have one of a frog landing on a very large orange pumpkin, but it is a bit fuzzy.
State Amphibian
Pseudacris regilla
In 2007, the Pacific chorus frog was designated as the official amphibian of the State of Washington.
Because Pacific chorus frogs live in every county in the state and on both sides of the Cascades, they are an excellent choice as an emblem for the whole state. The Pacific chorus frog is charming and makes beautiful sounds. Less than two inches long, they swell their throat sacs to three times the size of their heads to send their calls into the night. This amphibian is useful because it eats insects, including mosquitoes. It is recognizable by the black stripe through the eye to the shoulder, and can be brown, tan, grey or green. A native amphibian, it is preyed upon by bullfrogs, snakes, raccoons, shorebirds, hawks and ducks.
A third grade class at Boston Harbor Grade School in north Olympia, demonstrated excellent knowledge about the political process in making this proposal to the Legislature as the project involved science, research, art, and persuasive writing.