See, this is why ProfessorRoush can't have a nice, simple garden filled with perfect plants and idyllic moments. Aside from minor problems like runaway fire, punishing winds, late snows, early freezes, deep winter cold, and searing summer sun, it is things like these that try my soul. Do you see it? Click on the picture to enlarge it and look again!
At roughly 6:45 a.m. this morning, after the lovely Bella had been outside, explored the premises, and "watered" the yard, and after I had eaten my morning cereal, I looked out the back window to assess the morning and saw this lovely rabbit still-frozen among the daylilies. It must have seen me step up to the window because it didn't move in the minute it took me to retrieve my phone and compose the shot, nor did it move until after I stepped away. Well, presumably it moved after I stepped away. Maybe it's still sitting there for all I know.
This is probably the same lagomorph, or a member of a tribe of furry-pawed thumpers, that eat the first daylilies that come up each year, nipping anything green to the ground until the shear mass of spring foliage overwhelms their gluttony and stomach capacities. And likely the same creature that nipped off the first sprouts of my beloved
'Yellow Dream' Orienpet lilies in front last week. Nothing, it seems, is sacred from these monsters, except perhaps the sprouting peonies. I don't know what it is about peonies, but the fauna in my garden, deer, rabbits and mice all, leave the peonies alone. I would be grateful, but the invading horde probably is executing a demoralization campaign, allowing my hopes to raise and then be inevitably crushed by a late-May storm that flattens the peonies and my dreams in a single night. Do other gardeners believe the native fauna and climate are both conspiring against them, or is it just paranoid little-old-me?
I would arm myself with a suitably-scoped assault device or perhaps a Sherman tank and take these out, but speaking of weather collusion, there are bigger battles and disappointments on my horizon. Currently, my lilacs and redbuds are blooming at full glory and beauty and the forecast two days away is for a low of 27ºF and snow.
Sigh.
I have given up the Stump Garden to another monk this year since I ahve too much n my plate, so the amount of critters ruining my plans goes down this year since the other gardens are behind a fence or in Courtyards, though raccoons and groundhogs and rabbits will still attack. At least the deer will stay at bay!
ReplyDeleteI'm not excited about this week's weather. I am hoping I don't lose too much. I am not super worried about the Vegetable garden because the plants out there should take it, but if it gets too cold in the Courtyards, I might lose some good plants!