Saturday, February 20, 2010

we got tenants

We've always known that we shared our yard with a passel of animals. We provide water, shelter and a constant source of food for our furry and feathered friends. The home owners association ban on fences allows deer to freely travel between the metroparks through our yards. Some deer even bed in my next door neighbor's day lilies. Well, better his day lilies than our hosta. We have enough hosta so I don't mind a little munching, as long as the deer just visit. It is a wonder to look at the snow with only animal tracks in it. You see travel patterns that can help when we plant new or move old plants. We shoveled a part of our patio to get to the fire wood. I guess some of our tenants appreciated it also.



Big Blue looks so lonely standing out there alone in the snow. Well in a couple or three months it will look big and blue.








10 comments:

Noelle Johnson said...

Seeing animal tracks in the snow is such a joy for me. Since I don't get snow...I enjoy it when you post them for me to see :^)

Lona said...

Well what kind of home police will not even let a person build a pond or a fence. I have noticed that the old stray cat are using my cleaned paths too. These shot legged varmints would have a time trying to get through all of this deep snow. We have had some melting the last two days. It is not safe with all the falling ice outside LOL!

Kyna said...

Hehe, I could just see your face if the WERE bedding down in your hostas lol. You seem kinda protective of those jewels ;)

Susan said...

Jim,
Saw that you are following my garden blog! Thanks for stopping by. Interesting enough I have family in Chardon, Ohio (NE Ohio) so it will be fun to follow your gardening blog!

My father-in-law has lots of deer in his backyard, it is mostly grasses. Mother Nature is his gardener!

Aloha Susan
http://mastergardenerhawaii.blogspot.com/

Sue Swift said...

Hi Jim,
I know people find deer pests - and rabbits, and squirrels and all the rest ... but try gardening on a balcony in the mioddle of a city and see how much you'd love to have them ...

sanddune said...

Jim,
That's a lot of snow you got there. The game tracks are neat.Used to make plaster cast impressions of game tracks in the dirt when I was a boy. Have you ever thought of using one of those game cameras to catch their photos.

debsgarden said...

And there i was last week, all excited over our couple inches of snow! I think one of the great things about being a gardener is sharing our lives with wildlife. We don't have deer, but we do get foxes, owls, rabbits, hawks, squirrels, etc. i love to watch them all!

Jess said...

Boy, its still looking mighty snowy and wintery there. My parents, who live in Virginia, and actually have fences have non-relenting deer. They hop fences, move 'deer fence', and eat deer resistant plants. There are just so many deer there! Hostas have no hope, at all, ever. They can at a field full in one night! I hope that yours make it with deer so close at hand!

Meredith said...

My goodness, Jim, that is a lot of snow.

I love how you can trace the regular travel patterns of the wildlife, as you point out. I recently figured out that with the leaves gone in the forest that envelops us, I can figure out the way the squirrels travel. They don't just jump randomly from tree to tree, but follow recognizable routes over and over -- some of them you might term squirrel superhighways because they all travel them. ;)

Anonymous said...

Hi Jim, I hope the deer do not populate too much. They are beautiful and living with them takes some adjustment. I plant deer resistant in the front yard and I have seen them just walk by. I am saving my orange peels to sprinkle on some veggies I plan to try to grow out front. Deer do not like strong scents. Munching deer will walk by, but starving deer will eat just about anything. They don't look like they will be starving in your area.