Friday, July 10, 2015

Mystery Varmint Identified and some flower pictures

Well, it is another wet day in the Ozarks.  We have had 1/2 inch of rain in the early hours and more is due this afternoon before a drier and much hotter spell.  Maybe the heat will dry out our swamps.  Tractors can't get into the fields  until some of this wet  goes away.

Mystery Varmint:

Mystery solved.  We got the beast out of the trap (after it was deceased) and I hosed it off.  Now you can see the rings around the tail and a faint white around the  eyes.  It is a raccoon that will catch no more of our chickens!



Water is now standing even deeper in the west yard.

This is the newly named Kerria Bed (for the kerria japonica pleniflora bush)


 I planted a few  white vinca at the edges, wish I had done more:
 Finally, for the first time a a few years, I planted zinnias which are just now opening:
 The next are some close-ups of the blooms:


 I even managed a second later planting hoping that the flowers would last longer:
Note the three small lavenders at the edges.  I think I have 5 or so planted at the edges of this bed.
 This is also the bed where I recently managed to get the clematis up on a small circle of green welded wire:
I forget the name of the variety but it is a Type 3 that you cut down each year.  I have another growing the an Alba Rose.
 This is the middle of the bed where you can see the ferny cosmos that will come on later.
 and of course, my old standby, self-seeded flowering tobacco, nicotiana sylvestris, that is everywhere!

The kerria is in a rebloom period now:

I have Max out taking pictures of Willow and her new baby (another Willow story coming) and the lane that is full of water now.

I think  I will make soap today.  We are getting low again.

10 comments:

  1. I would never have known that was a raccoon. Funny how I rely on colors for identification.

    Your garden looks beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Gail. I had about given up on it being a raccoon too. More critters or one critter has been after Willow and son!

      Delete
  2. Glenda,

    No more dead chickens!!!! Good bye Mr./Mrs. Raccoon!!! Lovely flowers, I just adore Zinnia's. I have them planted every where around our our rental home.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sandy, there will be more raccoons and possums and others to follow I am sure!

      Hope your zinnias do fantastic for you. They have more pure colors than any other annual in my opinion.

      Delete
  3. I woke this morning thinking about that critter. 'Maybe it was a fox,' I thought and then the computer service was down and I couldn't look at it again.

    Your zinnias are great. I have ONE blossom and it is school bus yellow. I always hope for oranges and pinks like yours.

    Every year I intend to have nicotiana, too and it did not happen again this year. (You have to scatter seeds one time to have reseeders.) I do have a single N. alata reseeder. It will seed the garden if I pay attention later on.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jean, another critter story today...............

      I have found that once you plant nicotiana sylvestris and Kiss me over the Garden Gate, you will be blessed (sometimes overly so) for many years afterward.

      If you need seeds email me.

      Delete
  4. We didn't get rain today, but had plenty fall yesterday here in mid-MO. Your flower gardens are so pretty. I usually plant zinnias and sunflowers, but the garden stayed too wet this year. I miss those colorful zinnias! Have a nice weekend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheryl, I barely got mine in time and the two sunflowers I have were courtesy of the birds. I have had red sunflower seeds to plant for so long they are probably no longer viable!

      Hope your weekend is sunny and bright!

      Delete
  5. I always plant zinnias because they make such nice cut flowers to bring inside. This year our weather has been way too cool for them. I planted a whole raised bed of them (5 different varieties) just so I would have bouquets for the house. Right now the plants are only two inches high! I'll be lucky to see any blooms before frost!

    I never tire looking at your lovely plantings and flowers. Keep the pictures coming, please.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am sorry your year has been too cool for zinnias; ours has been almost too wet for anything. So far, the zinnias are making it.

      Thank you for visiting.....more pictures are coming.

      Delete