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 Most of our local ponds are home to many turtles, mostly Midland Painted Turtles and Red-eared Sliders.  Recently, as Marilyn and I were taking some photos at a nearby pond, a large Snapping Turtle pulled itself onto a floating log.

Left: One of the many turtles we saw at the pond.

           The large Snapping Turtle below surprised us as we photographed other turtles at the pond. 

 

"That looks like a potted plant," I said to myself while driving through a nearby park about eight or nine years ago.  I pulled the car over in order to check it out. Sure enough, it was a two foot tall potted Wisteria plant. It must have fallen out of someones truck or car trunk. I picked it up and took it home. I planted it and waited about four years for it to bloom. The first year that it bloomed it only had a few blooms on it, but since then it gets many hundreds of blooms each spring. At right is a photo of one of the foot long blooms. They smell wonderful.

 

                                                 At right is one of the foot-long blooms on our wisteria plant.  

Click on the video below to watch the Red-tail hawk catch and eat a frog.  Read the story of this encounter by clicking here  .

I videoed the hawk in May, 2011. It was an interesting sight.

 

    Click on the Hawk video at left. 

   Play the slideshow below to see my early Spring walk in the woods, many wildflowers. 

 

              Last Autumn's Acorn crop was one of the biuggest ever in this part of the country.

 

Photo at right : A squirrel enjoys an acorn snack. 

 
 

 Each year after I bring the houseplants inside for the season we quarantine them in the downstairs laundry room, just in case they are harboring any pests. This Fall we found this little Spring Peeper, a type of tree frog, in the laundry room. He evidently hitched a ride in on one of the plants. I'm glad we found him before I sprayed the plants with bug spray. I put the little frog outside where he disappeared into the forsythia bush.

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“Let’s go this way,” Marilyn said while we were on a hike this past Summer. It was a well worn path, I usually like the more obscure trails, but I agreed that we should see where the path would lead us.

We walked several hundred yards past stands of Maple, Oak, White Pine, and Hickory trees. Pawpaw trees were also present, but they were bearing no fruit.

 

 

<--  We followed this path to the river. 

 

In unison, we both shouted out “Look!.” As we rounded a sharp bend in the path we saw a river. It appeared to be shallow at the point where we first saw it. “This is the Little Miami River,” I said to Marilyn. We both knew that the Little Miami flowed through this area, we just weren’t sure exactly where.

We hiked upstream a half mile or so. Along the way we saw many interesting sights. Near an area of tall reeds we saw dozens of small frogs, no more than an inch and a half long. As we approached them they jumped into the thickest reeds, although I expected them to jump into the river. I guess they felt safer in the thickets. About fifty feet farther upstream we saw a sight that I recognized. In the muddy sand on the banks of the river was a telltale scrape mark. A scrape about eight inches wide and several feet long. Behind the scrape was a line in the sand about a half inch wide, and along the scrape were many claw prints. “It looks like something was here,” Marilyn said.

“That’s where a turtle climbed out of the water,” I told her. “Probably a Snapper, by the looks of the scrape, you can see where his long tail dragged through the sand behind him." We examined the turtle scrape and then turned back. The terrain ahead was too steep and rocky

 

Neither of us said much as we headed back toward our truck, we listened to the birds, admired the butterflies, and enjoyed the scenery.

We knew that we would return to that spot again someday, which we have done several times. There is always something new to see along the river.

The Little Miami is a fun river to explore.

 

Please watch the "Best Method for propagating Roses" video by Clicking here. 

       BUCKEYES

 Buckeyes are said to bring good luck to anyone who carries one.

Buckeye pods growing on the tree, a pod cracking open, and finally two shiny Buckeyes.

Left: Five-lined skink we saw near the Buckeye tree. 

We live in Ohio, the nickname of which is The Buckeye State. In late August, 2010, Marilyn and I set out on a hike through the woods. We have seen plenty of Buckeye fruit this year but they were not ripe, today the ones we found were ripe. The fruits are a yellowish-brown color with dozens of small spines on them. Inside the fruits of the Buckeye tree are from one to three nuts, or Buckeyes. Some people say that carrying a Buckeye with you will bring you good luck. I don’t know if that’s true but we each put one of the Buckeyes we found in our pockets. I’m not superstitious but I figure it couldn’t hurt.

A little while later we encountered something that we have only seen four or five times in those woods, and we have been visiting there for nearly twelve years. What we saw was a five-lined skink, a lizard with a neon blue tail. We only observed it for a few seconds before it scurried away. Maybe the Buckeyes are good luck. I hope that you enjoy the photos.

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                           The Perfect Hole for Planting. 

 

I have read many articles on how to prepare a hole to put your plants in. Some say to remove existing soil and replace it with amended soil, some say use the existing soil, some say use containers and don’t plant in the ground at all. I have studied these methods and many more, for many years. I have put fertilizer in the hole before I planted, I have put compost, egg shells, banana peels, manure, you name it and I’ve tried it. After all these years I finally hit upon the perfect thing to put into the hole. It’s something I heard a wise person say a long time ago.

First you dig an appropriate sized hole and then you place in the hole the following:

(1) All of your worries.

(2) All of your cares.

(3) All of your troubles

(4) Everything else you want to, or need to, unload.

(5) Then you put in one tomato plant, or a pepper plant, or a rose, or anything else you want to grow.

The first four items on the list will disappear, the fifth item will bring you a sense of accomplishment, joy, wonder, and may even taste good. Try it.

               ANYTHING CAN BE A PLANTER, DON'T SHOE KNOW! 

Be creative, let your hair down, do something out of the ordinary.  You can make nearly anything into a planter, check this out.  The photo at the right is of an old shoe that I turned into a planter. OK, I know that is kind of hokey but I like to incorporate mirrors, old containers, large stones, signs, and other interesting objects into the garden. Do anything that you want to do, it's your garden!.   Rick

                                                       BABY TOAD SITTING ON MY FINGER          

IN APRIL 2010 WE HAD DOZENS OF TOADS VISIT OUR GOLDFISH POND .  THEY LEFT THOUSANDS OF EGGS BEHIND. THE EGGS HATCHED IN ABOUT TWO WEEKS AND WHAT EMERGED WERE THOUSANDS OF SMALL TADPOLES.  BY LAST WEEK MOST OF THEM HAD TURNED INTO BABY TOADS. THEY ARE ABOUT AN EIGTH OF AN INCH LONG. HERE IS ONE OF THEM ON MY FINGER. I SET THE LITTLE THING LOOSE AFTER THE PHOTO, HOPEFULLY TO RETURN IN A COUPLE OF YEARS TO KEEP THE CYCLE GOING.

                                     "Poetry is the art of creating imaginary gardens with real toads."  -  Marianne Moore

 We enjoy seeing the wild Daylillies blooming in the back yard. Each flower lasts only one day, but there will be another tomorrow.

"The lilly was created on the third day, early in the morning, when the Almighty was especially full of good ideas."

                                                                                                      -       Michael Jefferson-Brown. 

                                                              Below are some things I saw on my early Spring walk through the wood

I SAW THIS TREE TRYING TO HANG ON TO THE CREEK BANK. HOW MUCH LONGER UNTILL IT FALLS?

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      The floor of the forest was covered with

            Spring color.

      PLAY THE SLIDESHOW (A MORNING WALK IN THE WOODS) ON THIS PAGE TO SEE THE THOUSANDS OF SPRING BLOOMS COVERING THE FLOOR OF THE WOODS.

THESE TURTLES WERE SUNNING THEMSELVES ON A FLOATING LOG IN A SMALL POND. I SAW SEVERAL MORE TURTLES AND DOZENS OF FROGS AT THE POND.

 

                             Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.  - Lao Tzu

This hawk was in our dead Pine tree in the back yard. We watched him for a few minutes before he suddenly flew to the ground, grabbed a small mouse or vole or something, we couldn't tell for sure, flew to the tree and ate his lunch.    We are glad when a hawk grabs a rodent from the yard, but we do not like it when they dine on one of the songbirds that frequent our birdfeeders. 

 

“Only when the last tree has died and the last river
been poisoned and the last fish been caught
will we realize that we cannot eat money”

Cree Indian, 1909

 

original material © nature-garden.yolasite.com

          2009-2010-2011

 

We enjoy seeing this waterfall whenever we visit the Cincinnati Nature Center. 

This dog made me look silly.     CLICK 

 One crazy ol' rooster.   Click

I finally saw a bear.   Click 

 

   The Butterfly 

The Butterfly emerges from within       the

     caterpillars wrinkled skin. 

She spreads her wings into the wind

     and now she's more than she had been.

Into the sky, like a shooting star.

      Could we all be more than what we are?

            - -     R.

 Look deep into nature,
and then you will understand everything better.
~ Albert Einstein ~

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