I think I'll start mine today and this weekend, Robin. Even though we are supposed to be cooler this next week. I think the hardy annuals can take it.

I have tons of zinnias, but have heard it is better to sow them directly, as the nigella. So, I may go ahead and direct sow those. Think I'll sow my daturas, if I get them in the mail.

Robin, are cosmos the same as zinnias - should direct sow? I grew them one year, but I don't recall if I direct sowed them or not. Da memory, da memory - its going, going, GONE....

Sunflowers? Okay to do them? Are they considered hardy annuals. Someone told me they self-sow. I know when I used to feed the birds sunflower seeds - they would come up everywhere in the spring, after feeding them in the winter.

I need to go check Trudi's list.

Susan

I have sunflowers sprouting all around my bird feeders. I know a hard freeze would get them, but I'll bet they would make it in jugs.

I didn't know about direct sowing nigella. I just received some in the mail, so I may try both ways. I never sow zinnias. They come up volunteer all over my vegetable garden, and then I just transplant them, usually disposing of several, because there's just too many. Same with the marigolds.

I direct sowed cosmos last year, but our soil is so sandy that it dries out very quickly. Some came up, but not as many as I planted. I'll probably do winter sowing and direct sowing with those, too.

I'll start sowing my hardy annuals this weekend too!

Robin

Nigella is okay to scatter around now. They will self sow and you'll have them for years to come. In other words, the seeds are cold tolerant. They don't get invasive, though, so don't worry about that.

They just prefer to be self-sown because they HATE being transplanted so sow them in place. Same thing with Cosmos and zinnias.

Susan

Robin,

I have very sandy soil, too. They should do very well in sandy soil! If yours didn't come up, I would suspect predators (birds, mice, voles) ate the seeds or it might just have been BAD SEEDS. (Bad seeds! Bad!) I bought several packets of tomato, calendula and german chammomile last year that were no good. That was very frustrating!

I have a lot of voles and it is very frustrating. They have taken out many of my flowers, veggies and several of my roses, including my two prize roses (Scentimental and Double Delight). Ate the roots right off the bottom like someone took a chainsaw and just sheer them off! They bloomed and bloomed every year and I never got pictures of them. On the third year, in May, I got a new camera, and as they had just started to bloom again, I decided to take some photos of them the next morning. I went out and they were all wilted looking. I couldn't believe it! I checked for problems and when I touched the main trunk of the Scentimental rose, the thing fell over and I saw that ALL the roots had been gnawed right off the bottom of the plant! Bad Voles! Bad!

(Between the voles and the skunks and the armadillos, my yard looks like a war zone out there right now. Holes everywhere).

SweetAnnie4u

I guess I don't have voles - holy moly, Miss Annie am I glad of that! Of course, I don't have the gorgeous garden that you do, either. What I wouldn't give for your setting. Ahhh...... Armadillos scare me! I mean, where do you poke them if you have to poke?

Skunks, too. They are so very pretty, but I hear they are carriers of rabies?? You must live south of me. We, on the other hand, do get possum. They scare my daughter half to death when she comes home late at night. The light was off the other night and she came up on the porch, and suddenly something is hissing at her like the devil is after her. She is frantically trying to get in the house. She asked me what it was, and I told her it was probably the possum again. They hiss. My neighbor sets traps for them. But the problem therein once again lies in man. We have driven these wild creatures into our cities by depriving them of their habitat, so I feel sorry for them. I could never kill them.

Susan

Voles look very much like a Guinea pig but mouse brown. They are cute little "mouse-kez" but sure not a gardener's friend. Armadillos are harmless. If you get after them, they roll up into a ball like roly polies. They eat insects, but in getting after those lawn grubs and beetles, they dig up the whole yard. However, they do get rid of the lawn grubs really effectively, and by summer, the yard is mostly healed and you'd never know it looked like Flanders Field in the spring. I normally would go out every morning and rake and rake to fillin the holes, but I am in no shape right now to be doing much of that. I kick some of the dirt back into the holes and pack in down with my walking stick :) That'll fix 'em!
Skunks dig for grubs and worms and insects too. They do carry rabies but do not get it themselves. They are generally friendly little creatures. They purr like cats and like to rub on your legs like cats do, too, and they LOVE cat food. Skunks do not see well, so if you walk up on them, they may not see you right away. If startled, they spray to defend themselves. The ones that come here know I mean them no harm and never act aggressively when I am out in the yard. I am still cautious, don't get me wrong. Not only does their spray stink, but it is blinding if it gets into your eyes, and who in their right mind would chance getting rabies?
O'possums, are dangerous. They have dozens of razor sharp teeth and are very aggressive and have very nasty dispositions. They are also filthy animals and will eat anything. I have seen them burrow into a dead cow and raise their young inside that rotten carcus! Disgusto! They stink and probably would give you a very serious infection if they were to bite you, besides having your flesh ripped off. They are cute, though. Cute little beady eyes. I like watching them chew. "Smack, smack, smack".

I posted some new pictures in my photo album. More in "Country Critters" and a new folder I called, "Wild Things". Have yet to upload the hummingbird pictures, but there are other things there to look at. These are all wild things found on my property. Hope you enjoy looking at them half as much as I do living around them.
I am grateful for what I have been given in my life, no matter how small or humble and thankful for parents and grandparents who taught me to see and appreciate all things in nature - the flora and fauna and rocks!

~ SweetAnnie4u
"Gratitude is the fairest blossom
which springs from the soul".
~Henry Ward Beecher

Will 'possums attack unprovoked? They do hiss, don't they?

Well, I try not to startle when I see any wild animal because I know that jerky, quick movements are more likely to inspire them to attack or respond. But sometimes you just do it in a "knee jerk" fashion, you know?

I did grow up as a country girl in Kansas. We lived on the edge of town. My grandfather had a cabin on the river, where we spent a lot of times. It was very isolated, and we always rode in the boat with him to run limb lines and trot lines. Pulled up a gar one time. Ugh.... He caught a 60-lb yellow cat one time on a trot line. We used to chase horny toads, ring-necks, and catch crayfish a lot. I wrote a poem once in college about the crusty crayfish shells in the glass jars in our garage. LOL! Don't remember much about flowers, though. We veggie gardened a lot, had plum trees, mulberry trees (nasty), roses, irises, honeysuckle, and such. We dressed our own chickens, ate our own eggs, canned our own vegetables.

My sister still lives there. She hates possums and has her husband destroy them whenever she spots them. I just cannot bring myself to destroy animals no matter how distasteful they are - except wasps - wasps have me by the neck. I hate them, and they scare me. I have gotten over some of my fear - of the honey bees and bumble bees. But some of those wasps are as big as sparrows, I swear! Last year, I hung a wasp trap. Did it catch any of them? NO!

They always love my fennel flowers. They swarm and swarm and swarm. I would cut them off, but then I don't get the BSTs. I have to check it frequently to rescue the poor little things because the wasps will kill them. Is there anything I can do to protect the caterpillars? They just want the flowers, not the foliage.

I need another link to your pics, Annie!

Susan

This is a rather intetesting discussion to me since I have these critters and live in the city (suburb). There is a ravine that runs behind our house, and that gives a route to armadillos, snakes, moles, voles, and gophers.

A year ago I lost 9 roses to whatever it was. Just like Annie said, they ate the roots completely. Have you ever use a cage of hardware cloth?

There were 2 armadillos in my yard when I came home one night. I guess they travel in pairs, and that they are looking for food or water. I have heard a lot of jokes about either shooting them, or live trapping. On the Rose Forum people had a laugh about experiences they had trying to live trap armadillos, and then take them to another location.

I really have a problem with putting poison in the ground to kill critters. I wouldn't mind killing them on the spot, like using a mouse trap, but many of these poisons are long acting, and it seems nasty to me to make them sick and suffer before they die. Besides regardless of what people say, I do fear that another animal will get the stuff no matter how careful I am.
Sammy

Ooh, Sammie - I harbor the same thoughts you do about using poisons. I mean, who knows where or how they could end up elsewhere. I mean, if another animal eats them or something, does the poison (systemic), harm them, too? Like a stray cat or dog? I am just reluctant to even handle them or have them around me.

Blech@!)($U@_)#(U%(@#u%)(u$09

Susan

Click on my "My Page" and the link to my PhotoBucket is there.

Moles are insect eaters. The worst thing they do is tunnel, but they don't eat plants or roots. They are actually good for the garden. The eat crickets with great relish.
Good Lil' Moles.
Annie

DO they eat the grubs, too? But, they do tunnel thru plant roots and stuff, don't they? They are oddly kind of cute, too. I'm learning so much from you, Annie.

Susan

Our little brown Eastern Mole (Scalapus aquaticus) makes shallow tunnels in the moist soil after a rain or after you water, searching for earthworms, insect larvae and other prey.

They do not hibernate and stay active all year round. They do not usually tunnel through your plants. It is more likely that gophers & voles access mole tunnels to get to your plants, and then the poor little moles get blamed for the destruction. (Snakes, use those tunnels made by gophers, moles and mice, too.)

So although moles can sure wreak havoc on your lawn, they do a lot of good for gardens by eating gobs of insects and larvae, and aerating the soil. Where they tunnel my soil is the best.

Nonetheless, their tunneling is irritating as heck.

~SweetAnnie4u

So far, I don't have any tunneling, just holes dug by the squirrels, looking for their nuts that they buried. Poor little guys. They don't have much memory - like me.

I know lots of people hate them. But in spring, they are so funny and cute. Love the little ones. Have you ever seen the babies play? They are so cute, cutting up, jumping over each other, turning somersaults. Love to watch them. There must be pecans somewhere around here, because I always have them coming up in my yard, and they are so HARD to pull up.

I just will not mess with my critters.

Susan