Tuesday, August 18, 2020

Tell the Truth Tuesday, where's my towel?

Where's my towel? Cause I'm throwing it in—right after I dry off my arms. The raccoon bastards win. Well, I'm assuming it's the raccoons, because it happens at night. I've seen squirrels do a delicate balancing act on the side of the stock tank to drink, and I suppose one could fall in and make a grand mess trying to get out, but at night? Anyway...

I walked outside one morning last week and glanced at the tank to see this... 

That tangle of leaves should be all across the top of the water, not just on one side, and they shouldn't be a tangle. Every plant had been knocked off the cement block they rest on, and thoroughly thrashed in the process.

The water hyacynth were looking so fabulous, now they're just torn up bits.

As were a lot of the water lily leaves and once again, the buds have been separated from the plant. Blooms in the making that are gone.

I've taken so many protective measures to keep those buggers out. There's a fence panel along the backside of the tank that's near our cement wall, a few lengths of metal spikes on the side, and the only plants nearby are agaves. Agaves that should bite back.

But sadly were bitten. Seriously? You had to go and rip the cuticle? This leaf is toast now.

Somehow the two dish planters I have in the tank remained upright (they've got a cement shoe, a treatment I'd like to use on the raccoons) but the soil was dug in.

I originally topped these dishes with moss, but the birds loved to steal that, so I removed most of it and put down a layer of rocks, which worked until now.

So back to the part about throwing in my towel. This is not the first time the tank has been raided this year, despite my deterrents. The most irritating thing—besides the torn up leaves and blooms—is having to feel around in the water for the plant pot and get it back up on the cement block that keeps it at the right level in the water. Of course the gravel on the top of the pot, which keeps the soil from billowing out into the water, is gone so the water gets cloudy. I like having the tank for water plants but I think from now on I'm going only with small leaved floaters, nothing for those furry jerks to get in and tear up.

Since I had the camera out to document the pond destruction, and I was now in a mood, I kept going on the "Tell the Truth Tuesday" theme. Back when she was blogging Alison (Bonny Lassie) came up with the idea to share photos when we felt "Oh Hell, that area of my garden is getting me down" calling it Tell The Truth Tuesday, an opportunity to "Tell It Like It Is." So much of social media is just sharing the pretty parts of life. Lord knows gardening has plenty of not so pretty bits, right?

Like the fact my Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern) decided they were done with it.

These ferns don't like to dry out, and I thought I was keeping them watered, but I guess not enough. The worst part is they were hiding the plastic pot that holds my large vriesea, giving the illusion that it's planted in the ground.

This tree! Albizia julibrissin 'Summer Chocolate', I love it, really I do. But it drops so much crap.

Currently it's the post-bloom fuzz that's raining down.

I had just picked up scads of it, draped all over everything, when I turned around and there was more on the Echium wildpretii.

This is leaf debris from the Albizia as well as male cones from the Fir trees behind us. I try to spray the palm fronds regularly, but all it takes is a couple of days and they look like this.

Ah the arctostaphylos, I will forever be in awe of their peeling bark, but it does make a mess. The fact the annual leaf drop occurs as the bark finishes up just adds to it.

Thank god this is the warm season and I can hit the agaves with a hose to get all the debris out. This accumulation took less than a week.

So anything in your garden that's got you throwing your hands up and saying "enough already!"?

—   —   —

Weather Diary, Aug 17: Hi 93, Low 66/ Precip 0

All material © 2009-2020 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

23 comments:

  1. You are in a mood!
    Truly, the only thing worth getting into a state about is the destruction in the water tank. Only an electric wire could possibly deter those creatures.
    In the past you were on the lookout for blower or a vacuum to help with tree debris. Haven't found anything yet?

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    1. No I haven't purchased anything. A blower would be worthless with the albizia fuzz and the hose works fine on the agaves.

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  2. GRRRR. If this were my garden, I'd say rats. We have a lot of rat damage--they ate all three of my renga lilies!

    You're doing all you can short of sitting there all night with a BB gun!

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  3. We gave up on the water hyacinths in our old water feature. The raccoons descimated them every time. They love those bulbs! They didn't bother with the finer leafed duckweed, though.

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    1. Good to know, they did seem especially drawn to those watery bulbs.

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  4. That was definitely the work of raccoons. They can't stay away from water. There's been no end to their visits to my backyard fountain but at least they haven't stolen the filter or torn up the drip lines recently Like Gerhard, I had a rat problem this summer, losing every semi-ripe tomato to them, although last week I found a healthy looking rat dying nearby. I actually felt sorry for it, and with no outward sign of injury or illness I fear that one of my neighbors may be using poison, which isn't good for the resident predators, but my tomatoes have been left alone since its passing. My Albizia drops less mess since it was literally cut in half but it makes a mess nevertheless and one day will have to go but my more immediate focus is on removal of the dead toyon on the south end of the garden.

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    1. Ya poison is never a good thing, although I can see how an explosion in the rat population might make it tempting. I really shouldn't complain about the flower drop from my albizia, it's nothing compared to the green-leaved ones I see around town.

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  5. It’s raccoons. I’m sorry. I’m battling rabbits in my garden. They’ve exploded in numbers recently. As far as debris in my agaves and other plants, oh yes, all the time.

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    1. For the first time ever we have rabbits, so far their damage has been minimal, but my brother in Phoenix has them eating his agaves!

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  6. Beatles - lily, japanese ....Munch,munch, squish. Yech.

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  7. Orange, black and white aphids off and on for months now. I am so sick of spraying!!! That, and we are on our 4th week of over 100 degrees on a daily basis. Breaking records is getting old, as is my whining!

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    1. I can't imagine the heat and dry conditions you AZ'ers are dealing with.

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  8. Well here in Phoenix we don't have raccoons but we are loaded with rabbits. They eat so much stuff even some of the Agaves! Really frustrating is they love to eat the Echinopsis flowers which take months of waiting for the buds to bloom. Of course right now we have had over 3 weeks of daily temps over 110º and nights at 90º and so animals are the least of my problems with my cactus and succulents. They all are suffering even the natives.

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    1. My brother in Phoenix has sent me photos of his poor plants that are just giving up in the relentlessness heat. And he's got rabbits too, munching on his agaves. So much to deal with as a gardener!

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  9. Well, at least a mess in your garden is made by something other than you. I make my own messes! Ha ha!

    More seriously, your pond looks just about the right size and depth for raccoon playtime, and I wonder if they are using the Agaves as a convenient way to play in the pond. If you went taller and deeper with your tub and gave no way to easily get into the pond, or maybe make a hardware cloth or fencing cap-like cover--those might be ways to prevent the damage. If you have a friend with wildlife camera you could borrow for a few days, you could see how they are getting in and go from there as to how to keep them out.

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    1. I thought about the camera idea, but I think I'm just done. I need to find homes for the water lilies and call it over.

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  10. Critter damage is never fun to deal with. Sorry about your devastated tank. Our devils are chipmunks, rabbits and deer. I try not to plant anything they like, but that isn't always the case. Deterrents only last so long, and have to be reapplied. You know those bike lane signs that read 'Share the Road?' Maybe we need one that changes the paradigm to 'Share the Garden,' but somehow, I can't see my embracing that idea -ha!
    As much as I dislike leaf blowers, you seem to have a need for one.

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    1. Deer, well there's a critter I thankfully don't have to deal with!

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  11. Raccoons are most destructive! They and rabbits are the worst with chipmunks following them up to get whatever they might miss. I feel your pain. I think you need a small battery powered blower to help take care of all your fluff and duff. I have one that works well for these little jobs.

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    1. I kind of miss the chipmunks, here we only have squirrels.

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  12. We have not had raccoons visit for a while. They did the same thing with all the potted water lilies in the pond. That meant putting on waders to get in the water to fix everything. I feel your pain. But I am so glad to see all those pix of debris in your garden. We have an old crabapple that has a beautiful shape so we've left it in place. But with the wet spring and early summer we had, it is now shedding its leaves. I spent time yesterday crawling into the middle of a bed to get the piles of dried up leaves off the big cup snapped Hosta leaves. But they are blanketing the whole area of small plants and paths. Soon it will be the big trees in the back garden starting. Impossible to take a photo without doing some debris cleanup.

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