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OT - Magical Garden Moments

10 years ago

One of the pleasures of gardening is that something like an ordinary watering can turn extraordinary just by being in the right place at the right time. I love the little unexpected joys that can pop up. (well, usually! Haha!) What are some of yours?

The other day I was watering and it took me a second to register the low hum...so I look up and there is a hummingbird just hovering about a foot and a half away from me at eye level. We just looked at each other for a few good long moments and then ZOOM! he was gone. It was beautiful.

Another cool moment was I was watering and saw a sudden movement. I was trying to figure out what it was, when I finally see it - the tiniest baby lizard. He was only about an inch long and just the cutest thing. I had accidentally sprayed him with the hose and gave him quite a start! He sat there looking at me like, WTH lady?!

And one to get my heart started - camouflage is a freaky thing. I constantly forget and get WAY too close to my plants without looking for the obvious and not so obvious (a.k.a. sticking your nose in a spider!). I apparently sprayed a hidden grasshopper the size of a 747 and the next thing I know this jumbo jet of an insect is heading right for me!!! AAAGGGH. Magical, but in a very different way. LOL.

Comments (6)

rox146
10 years ago
funny with the hummers...I had on a hibiscus printed baseball hat while in the garden 3 days ago...kept trying to buzz into the real looking flower on my hat....crazy birds, and very territorial we have noticed. roxanne
mksmth zone 7a Tulsa Oklahoma
10 years ago
The other evening when i got home I was out checking on stuff. I bent over to smell my Hearts desire flower and just about stuck my nose on a little praying mantis. I just laughed and said keep up the good work little buddy.

Mike
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Mine are biennial - I was not paying much attention, but now I am, and they do all make green mounds of leaves (maybe 2 ft tall) for a year before they explode into monster things the following year. I have been told that there are modern ones which are not biennial, but I believe the old ones all are. Of course, the year after the huge ones, there will be dozens if not hundreds of seedlings. We just had our gardeners weed them out in one area - that was the second time they did that. I did plant HH on purpose in 2 areas about 25 years ago. They came up for a few years, and then petered out. Those are the areas where I noticed the first ones coming up recently. Some had round leaves, and some had what they called "grape leaf shaped" leaves. The ones growing now have one or the other, or a sort of combination of both. My giant yellow one is in an area where there never were any, but it is right across the driveway from where some were, so I assume that some seeds blew over there. I love plants which just show up on their own. Re flopping over, as I recall the ones I bought and planted on purpose 25 years ago did need to be staked, but these biennial ones I have not DO NOT. My DH occasionally throws a rope around one of them to keep it from blocking the driveway, but they are very sturdy. He told me he tried to cut one of the big stems (no telling what DHs will get up to when you are not looking...), and it was "as hard as bamboo, except not hollow in the middle". I will check out the perennial forum - I added the annual one because I did not know what to call a biennial plant. Jackie
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No-Clue
10 years ago
I wish I had such beautiful moments but no such luck. The other day I walked out and saw what I thought was a snake. I instinctively screamed and startled the thing which turned out to be a lizard. His response was just as spontaneous. He left me a present before running away. I guess you can say I scared the crap out of him. Well he scared me too!
PRO
the_first_kms2
10 years ago
Charlotte the cat after being abandoned in my pot ghetto at two days old.
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This weekend after I woke her from a nap
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rox146
10 years ago
I had a kitten that looked just like that named "GREY-GREY"
elucas101
Original Author
10 years ago
OMG, I love all of these responses!

Rox - too funny about the hummingbird trying to get your hat hibiscus!!! They are VERY territorial, but understandably so - they have to eat about every 10-15 minutes during the day so a food source can be the difference between life and death, and very worth protecting.

HAHA! Mike, that's exactly what I mean - I can be staring RIGHT AT THEM and then stick my face right in their face! I love seeing them out there on patrol, well, after I regain my composure anyway. I have started to like many of the insects more now that I know what they do, and have even declared a truce with the wasps on my plants now that I know they are good guys.

Lynn, I bet as your garden develops you will have more encounters. The more hiding places, water and food sources the more will come - so I bet with more foliage you will see more. I have a hummingbird feeder so that's why they come but I can't do regular bird feeders due to the cats.

K! OMG, I am so glad to see the kitty so happy and healthy! I didn't know you were keeping her, that's awesome :) That is truly a magical moment for you to have found her (and saved such a tiny one!) before it was too late. Love the name - one of my dogs is named Charlotte!

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