HEN HAPPENINGS: RACCOONS ARE SMART!

I'm probably the only person on Earth with both wild raccoons and a henhouse in the same garden. That's not exactly true anymore since mother raccoon has tired of the constant 'Jane Goodall with Chimpanzees' level of attention I've given to the kits (baby raccoons). So, she moved them down to a neighbor's brush pile. I haven't seen the babies all week.

So, all is well? Hardly! She still loves to stop by to see if she can get inside the chicken run for some free eggs.
BEFORE YOU READ THE REST...Here are the four ways she has broken into the coop.
1. She moved bricks out of the way then pulled back a loose board. I patched that side of the wall.
2. She moved bricks from the OTHER side of the wall since I didn't repair both sides. Geez!
3. She took staples out with her teeth while hanging upside down from the roof. Then she pushed the wire in.
4. She pulled back a piece of loose plastic greenhouse roofing while pushing in chicken wire at the same time! I caught her in the act.  I nailed it all down securely. NOTE: She seems to have no interest in the chickens, only the eggs. My son says she knows if she hurts the hens she'll get no more eggs. Is she that smart? Maybe.
                                                                 ....continued...

I always remove the eggs before dark, but last Sunday she snuck in during the day and ate three...while we were attending church! That's just plain wrong.

Hoot is my lead hen and she told me ALL about it.

So I patched up the brick and wood wall and was feeling pretty smug about it all.

Until....

I found this!

Momma raccoon had used her teeth to take out each staple at the corner of the chicken wire.

She found no eggs, but suddenly I felt like I was playing a chess game with a raccoon.

I put  healthy dog food out for mother raccoon every night so she won't be starving. She's still nursing her 4 kits and needs the extra protein. While on the porch, I open the door and the raccoon and I have 'talks' about the hens and especially the eggs. She makes whimpering noises if I get too close. She is so smart that she KNOWS I own the hens.

She sees me back there at night all the time.

Each day after work I rush to the nest box to see if the eggs are okay.

It's been twelve straight days without any marauding. All my work has paid off.

I have chicken books that tell of stories about raccoons reaching in and grabbing chickens by the neck or legs, then eating them. It gives me chills just to think about it.

I've double wired the roof so all she (or her friends) can grab is more wire.

The cracks in the boards are a full 20 inches (50cm) away from the roost and 5 feet above ground level.

She'd get nothing but air while holding on for dear life.

If you have a friend that suffers from boredom, please go buy them 4 chickens. They shall never be bored again.

Your bored friend will also start to collect chicken art. This will become an obsession.  

They'll also build a hen house for their lovely chickens and this will take all of their freetime.

Well, the chickens are safely roosting and it's time to say good-bye.

****

Oh, by the way, would you like a nice raccoon to take home as a pet?

Perhaps you can give it to your bored friend...the one with the new chickens! LOL

Thanks for stopping by!

David/:0)



HERE THERE BE MONSTERS!

Our plans to visit the zoo today fell through, so I just went out in the garden instead. Here there be MoNsTeRs!
I'll bet your garden has some as well.

MONSTER #1:

Hmmm, wonder who's inside this little pouch?

This is a camphor tree.

It's the caterpillar of the Spicebush swallowtail. It doesn't even hide most days since it looks so much like bird poop. No bird wants to bother investigating any closer. But, if it does...

Yes, dragons do exist. Here's one in my garden. This is what the Spicebush caterpillar looks like head on.

 The adult Spicebush floated by as I was standing over the host plant! They love camphor trees and will visit any garden that has one.

MONSTER #2:

  I think I'll name him SPIKE! Ouch!

I believe this is the caterpillar of the American Painted Lady, Vanessa virginiensis. This one is on a Helichrysum.

Jurassic park meets Tropical Texana. Weird new fronds from the Sago palm (cycad) sets the stage for MONSTER #3.

...and weird blooms from the Aloe saponaria add to the suspense.

MONSTER #3

This little guy loves the front stonewall. I just hope I don't mistake him for a green bean!

They're ready to pick.

"That's not funny!"

MONSTER #4:

Here's our mother raccoon on the back porch last night. Because of the reflective coating in many nocturnal animals, the eyes glow in camera shots. She looks like a monster, but she's ok and we like her.

Do you have any monsters in your garden?

David/:0)



BABY RACCOONS' FIRST NIGHT OUT

I'll spare you the worries, but for right now the baby raccoons are nothing but cute. They are all so curious and we could get right up to them. However, I have to keep reminding myself that they are wild animals and NO TOUCHING is allowed.
I think there are three of them.

Baby number one.

Baby number two!

Momma is on the far right. Raccoon babies are fairly large when they emerge from their den because they have to be strong enough to climb a vertical surface to get out. They climb before they walk!

A baby raccoon's version of hanging ten inside my garden shed.

Out on the greenhouse roof enjoying the night air.

One of only two books in our library on the subject.

Rascal is taking on a whole new meaning these days. It's a book from my childhood.

A quote inside the cover of the book 'Rascal'.

The raccoons are cute, but.....

 life would be a lot easier if we didn't have chickens. Based on tonight's stunts and climbing skills, I've got to put a new, stronger wire on my chicken run. Raccoons are every bit as agile as monkeys (except monkeys can jump).

I watched one of the babies climb head first down a vertical yaupon branch as smooth as a pencil with no problems.

That's it for tonight. Most of you will be counting sheep as you doze off. I'll be counting raccoons!

David/:0)



BOOK REVIEW: PASSALONG PLANTS WILL MAKE YOU SMILE

Chances are half of your grandmother's garden is in this book. Especially if your grandmother gardened in the Southeastern U.S. This jewel of a book won the 1994 Quill & Trowel Award and for good reason; it's fun, full, and familiar. Steven Bender and Felder Rushing take turns telling story after story of plants they've seen in gardens but NEVER sold at any stores. And I'll solve the mystery right up front; you get these plants through knowing other gardeners.

Passalong Plants: 117 Plants with stories and photos.

I never realized how many bulletproof passalongs are in my garden. Perhaps that's why the garden made it through the drought with flying colors.

HERE'S A SAMPLE OF PASSALONGS GROWING AT TROPICAL TEXANA:

Arrowroot (Syngonium) from my mom's garden and from my brother's garden.

Airplane plants from my friend Laurie's garden.

My bottle tree along with native Virginia Creeper vines. I would never think to pass Virginia Creeper along, but it's in the book!

Canna(dark leaves), Elephant ears, and Mexican Firespike are all passalongs here in the Deep South.

They love all the rain we are having.

Lantana is a native passalong and it's in the book.

You have to worry about a plant that has more alias's than many criminals. This one goes by Mexicali rose, Cashmere Bouquet, stinkplant, and Clerodendrum bungei.

I got this shell ginger (Alpinia zerumbet) from my good friend Shirley. It blooms only in mild winters, but the foliage is beautiful and tropical in all seasons.

Walking Iris is quite a talented passalong. It will send out bloom shoots that hop,skip, and jump around your garden. Noone seems to mind. It's in the book.

Finally, daylillies are a nice passalong plant to share with others. I got this one (Vino do Norte)

from my good friend Bill.

And while I'm on the subject, let me Passalong this tip. You'll find other wonderful book reviews in our group thanks to Holley at Roses and Other Gardening Joys. Please go take a look. Thanks, Holley.

Until next month, Happy Garden Book Reviewing!

David/:0)

Sit down a spell and read a garden book!

BEGINNINGS of a TEXAS COTTAGE GARDEN: HAPPY APRIL GBBD

After three months of steady work, the Texas Cottage Garden is finally shaping up. I find inspiration from many gardeners and their gardens. You'll find many of these dynamic diggers & superlative shovelers on my 50 fabulous favorites links. But, alas, at some juncture we have to find our own way and our own style, and especially our own plants that seem to enjoy growing in our plot of earth. Hope you like the Texas Cottage Style. (And special thanks to Cindy at  My Corner of Katy...she has it perfected for those in the Houston area!)

The front yard with xeric agaves, herbs, and flowers in the front and moisture loving perennial flowers in the back.

A work in progress earlier this month

Cape Daisy ~ Euryops pectinatus

Osteospermum series 'Red Velvet'

Lavandula stoechas (I would not recommend this for Houston. I got it as an orphan.)

Salvia x sylvestris 'Blauhugel' (another orphan that may or may not make it here in the heat)

Close up of Salvia Blue Hill ( I hope it makes it! It's a lovely plant)

The gray green foliage of rue. I love this look and the pungent smell. It's a butterfly host as well.

This was a nice mix...native bluebonnets with  Helichrysum thianschanicum. I found some broken blue glass to sprinkle around for added flavor.

My new favorite  flower is Coreopsis grandiflora 'Sunfire'.

The cottage garden green beans are currently in bloom in our front yard. Funny, huh?

A close up of the green beans. They're pretty in their own right.

These Red Pentas are great with yellow and purple flowers and are wonderful nectar sources for butterflies.

These are great colors! Have some new ones just come out in recent years? Why didn't someone call me! LOL

Another new plant I'm trying (see label below). I saw it growing beautifully underneath dappled live oak shade at a Houston Presbyterian church and instantly wanted one. I have plenty of shade for these and I think it spreads by runners. That's OK by me! I love this plant since it goes well with wisteria and blooms all summer.

Here's the label for Indigofera kirilowii. Other sources say it's good for zone 9. That's me.

 I'll show you one bloom from the tropical garden in the back yard. This is the first time this Aechmea bromeliad has bloomed. It's about as exotic as they come. My wife loves it!

Finally an update on the feral cat that showed up in our garden last month. Here it is looking at a white-winged dove.

Turns out that it's not so feral.

It's no longer running away from us. We think at some point it was somebody's pet before being dumped in our neighborhood.

It's very sweet and it's getting along with our other cat so we now have two.

It's so tiny we named it Pip-Squeek or Pip for short. Our other cat is named Pepper or Pep for short.

So now we have Pip and Pep!

That's it for this month. April is the nicest weather month in Texas.

Thank-you Carol, at May Dreams gardens, for inviting us to share our garden flowers each month. Happy Gardening & thanks for stopping by our Texas Cottage Garden.

                                                                               David/:0)