Oh deer

I was afraid this weekend that a fawn had taken up residence in our yard, after it stayed there overnight. Would it be "our" deer now? Were we to adopt it? Luckily, I needed not answer that question because it finally left in the morning.

Evening

Evening

Evening

Morning (deer in center of picture)

The most wonderful thing has happened in the front: a mystery snapdragon has appeared. The only time I have ever planted a snapdragon (and it was possibly only one) was in 2015! See https://aylwardgarden.blogspot.com/2015/05/spring-planting-front-yard.html

Could that four-years-ago snapdragon be the ancestor of today's snapdragon? Is it silly to get excited about one tiny, possibly immaculately conceived plant? I don't care, I'm thrilled! Wouldn't it be cool if it self-sowed and there were more next year? In the photo below, it is the pinkish-red blossoms at the bottom.

Several weeks ago, I was alarmed about things dying in the garden, but things have turned around. I even think some of my long-ago-sown pepper seeds might be coming up in front of the peony. I wonder if it was just simply too wet through mid-June. It's been a lot drier over the past 1-2 weeks.

Clockwise from crepe myrtle below: sage, rosemary, basil, cilantro.

Below: another couple blooms on my California Poppy 'Alba'! It's described as an annual but a self-sower....let's hope so! Also the self-sown purple Larkspur (being crowded out by the Shasta daisies).

Below, the sweet pea is climbing cooperatively up my netting on the lamp post.

So much winter

The last few weeks have featured a lot of snow and ice, although I must confess I missed some of it because I was warm and deliriously happy on the other side of the world.

On Feb. 20th, we got a snowstorm that featured a brief whiteout.

I was not amused.

The next day, we had ice that covered everything, and was very beautiful, but a slippery mess on the sidewalks and roads.

The deer were undeterred by the ice, of course. Are deer ever deterred by anything?

And today, back from my trip all too briefly, we got a dumping of snow.

I took this picture at dawn, because jet lag.

Our sliding property

A lot of mud has been washing off our garden and onto the sidewalks, and when I saw this tree root exposed at the top of the right-side garden for the first time, I had to admit that it appears that our whole yard is sliding downhill. I suppose without the trees to hold it in place, it is just eroding. Not sure what to do about that, apart from planting more stuff (twist my arm).

The deer are lately making a path directly across our front lawn, in the dark of night.

Accidental tomatoes and other adventures

Select Seeds was selling plants for $5 each so inevitably I bought some.

Three primroses, which are inexplicably blooming now.

Looking at the dark soil spot to the back, there are three new anemones, and then on this side of the lavender (which is not new) is a delphinium.

My beloved foxgloves are looking glorious.

This four-lined plant bug was on Emma's zinnias. I don't want to make the picture too large because yuck.

Remember the dianthus that was mixed in with some sort of super-enthusiastic grass? Well I ripped out the grass, and now it looks *great.* Ha ha,

Here's the other one, looking all alive and whatnot!

For weeks, amidst the zinnias, I have been eyeing some mystery plants. They look like tomatoes, I told myself, but naw, how could they be tomatoes? Must be a look-alike weed. They got bigger, and they still looked like tomatoes. I considered and rejected the idea that tomato seeds might have been mixed in with the zinnia seeds. They got bigger still, and it finally hit me: THESE ARE TOMATOES. And then I came belatedly to the realization that my compost must have had some tomatoes with seeds just waiting for a spot in a garden.

Even if they grow fruit, I fully expect the accursed squirrels to make off with them, but still, it's a little exciting. Since they are amidst the zinnias, they probably feel staked, but I am wondering whether I should truly stake them. But that would be admitting I care, and then I'm just asking for my heart to be broken when tragedy befalls them.

See, this is why I don't grow vegetables.

See also the grassy-looking gypsophila, and the tall cornflower appear poised to bloom.

This is the general scene of Emma's plants (plus tomatoes!). Note the anti-deer spray in the foreground, which has clogged up every spray bottle I've had it in, so I've taken to painting it on the plants, which is a total pain. But darned if I'm going to lose the zinnias, cornflower, and balloon flowers to the wicked deer.

Finally, last year I cut back the Shasta daisy stems, and when they grew back this year, it was to the side of the dead stem stumps. I just pulled those stumps out, and look how beautiful they are!

Garden happenings

The allium looks like it's in a funny spot because it bent over into the topiary.

The foxgloves are starting to bloom!

Note the allium still going strong.

Check out the prints of the wicked deer by my larkspur. Their infringement on my garden is unprecedented. But look: the poppy is blooming!

All three poppy plants looked good this spring, so I'm unclear why only one bloomed. I believe this is the same one that bloomed last year (see May 29, 2017 post) - the one furthest down on the slope. It bloomed a little over a week later this year.

Nibblers

Those naughty deer. They stopped to munch nonchalantly on my bird bush on their way up the hill yesterday. This is my photographic evidence of why that bush looks so scraggly.

Wildlife

First, I must lament that I found an abominable squirrel munching this week on my portulaca. All non-chalant, he was. It was infuriating.

But this was nice - just before I took this picture, the dove was all huddled down and looked exactly like a rock in the wall. It was sort of amazing.

And then these two splendid deer were undeterred by heavy rain this morning and ate their way across our back wall.

Eleven deer

Eleven! You can't see them all in these pictures, but there were indeed eleven.

Frail flowers and flourishing fawns

While the plants in front are doing well on the whole, some of our perennials in back are muddling along.

The hydrangea's blooms are pathetic.

I guess our chewed-up mystery plants were coneflowers? I think? Not exactly thriving, but at least blooming!

I really should weed. Yeah. I really should.

And if they're not all doing great, this may be one of the reasons: here comes the next generation of garden gourmands! Cute, but naughty.

Two fawns and a doe

Unrelated to struggling foliage, I have had my eye on a brown mystery bird when it has appeared very briefly in the yard a few times. It drives me mad not to be able to identify it. I am lately thinking it is a type of wren - perhaps a winter wren? It moves around so much that it's hard to get a good look, much less a photo.