September 14, 2016 - The Good the Bad and the Curious

The last day or so we have had country observations of the Good, the Bad and the Curious.  There are simply daily surprises everywhere.

          First the curious:  Coming in from shopping today I notice some critter has been in my floating lettuce. [Water lettuce, Pistia stratiotes, Zone 10].  What is curious about it is I cut a picture of an elegant patio pot that had nothing in it except floating water lettuce. The photo didn’t even have a caption; I think it was a photo selling patio furniture.  But those frilly green floaters captured my attention.  It wasn’t until several years later when I was visiting a water pond store that I spotted them “live” for the first time and I made a mental note to myself. “Self, someday I am going to have me some of those.”

          The week of the Fourth of July I always visit Horn’s Home & Garden here in Forest City to see if I can’t snag something to give the patio a little “refresh or some oomph”.  I was still “hunting” something to fill one of my big patio planters that remained empty.  I hadn’t realized they had water plants this year and I knew exactly what I wanted when I saw the floating lettuce.

          I bought a clear plastic tray, the type you put under potted plants.  My mind guessed at the diameter.  Roger Horn helped me fish out 5 water lettuce and I drove home immediately.  I cultivated the unplanted topsoil in my empty patio pot – took a few handfuls of soil out and slipped the clear plastic tray into the pot.  It fit flush with the edge and was a perfect fit – "YES".  I added water and the floating lettuces looked right at home.  I positioned it at the base of the back steps so that I could view it up close and personal coming and go every day.

          Yet . . . in a few weeks, the leaves started to turn yellow.  It simply couldn’t take that much sun so I “walked” the heavy pot over to the other end of the sidewalk into more shade, gave it a splash of miracle grown and it is happy now.

          Except, when I came in today I noticed one of my water lettuce, I like to call them my floating lettuce was hanging over the edge about 4 inches clinging to the side of the pot.  The long feather root giving it enough ballast that it stayed that way until I plopped it back in the water.  Curious, which critter has been playing “patty fingers” in my floating water lettuce pot?

          Additionally, just a few days ago I had pulled my “pack-rat” notebooks out and was flipping through and stopped at that old torn out clipping from years past with the floating water lettuce.  Curious isn’t it, years later a saved gardening idea comes to fruition finally.

          Next the good: I was taking some prunings to the compost pile and cut through what used to be my original vegetable garden.  I had to abandon it due to the shade encroaching on it.  Along the outside edge had been herbs, flowers and perennials that I had lifted years ago.

          I stopped dead in my tracks – what a surprise to see three of the most beautiful “hurricane lilies” – red spider lily, “Lycoris radiata”.   I had planted some years ago and never saw any sign of them – no leaves, no nothing.  

Now, suddenly I get this lovely surprise.  And, we haven’t had a drop of rain in weeks.  They were simply gorgeous in a scruffy unkempt part of my garden.  I’ll mark them and leave them alone.

          And now for the last surprise, the bad:  Two nights ago we had shrimp.  I had to peel the raw shrimp and my good husband took the peelings to the compost pile at the back fence line.  This is the compost pile where I mix the kitchen vegetable peelings with the undiseased or non-weed clippings.  I let it melt down a year or two before use.  It is a 4 x 4 square of cattle fencing and is about half full.  A portion of it does get late afternoon sun.

          We both do this all the time, walk to the compost pile and toss something on it.     My husband reached to the center and as he was dumping the plate full of shrimp peelings – a large black snake reared up its head as the peelings were dumped on him.  The snake was rather sizeable my husband said with several loops, probably about 5 feet and his tail portion was hanging out the back of the compost bin.  The snakes tongue searched the air – flick, flick, flick.  My husband froze and they had what he called a “stare-down” contest.  The snake had a white belly.  My husband was waiting to see if he was going to come toward him.  But, luckily the snake turned and slowly slithered away.

          My husband came back into the house and said – “You got lucky, I meet our “friend” at the compost pile.”  He gave me the second by second recall of the whole incident ending with, “Good thing he decided to goes his way – because I know I couldn’t out run him.”

          We’ve seen this sleek black fella several times this year.  I was picking up the last of the downed limbs – not too far from the compost pile – and just as I was about to pick up a limb – a black snake rears its head up showing off its white belly.  I know I screamed “SNAKE” and vamoosed out of there.  [It amazes me how fast I can move sometimes.]

Then, one day I am sitting in the shade writing a letter and I spot a feral cat walking curiously in the grass and sit and watch, then move along and sit again.   Whatever was going on was getting closer to me.  I stood up and could see this shiny black snake moving rather quickly through the dark green wet grass – heading my direction – I went around the other direction away from it to safety.  

Earlier this spring we saw [we are certain the same snake] slither in and out of the retaining bricks of my raised bed garden closest to house hunting for lizards or lizard eggs – not sure.    

We call it “bad” yet others have told us:  “Black snakes are good to have around, they eat the mice.”

We think the only “good snakes” are those that stay in other neighbor’s yards.