Something Wicked This Way Comes

Perhaps it's too early for the frightening tales associated with Halloween but let me explain the title of this post.  Something Wicked This Way Comes is a novel published by Ray Bradbury in 1962.  I read it as a teenager and became a big Bradbury fan in the process.  It's indicative of the impact the book had on me that its title was the first thing that popped into my head yesterday morning when I saw this:

Despite my efforts to prevent them from digging in the barrels containing Dahlias 'Catching Fire' and 'Karma Prospero' in my front garden, the raccoons wreaked havoc digging for grubs in these barrels (again)

Wikipedia describes Bradbury's book as the story of two 13-year old boys and "their nightmarish experience with a traveling carnival."  What better description of rampaging raccoon activity can there be than a "nightmarish traveling carnival"?

The raccoons had rummaged through three half-barrels containing dahlias and assorted companion plants this past weekend, damaging some of these in the process.  In an effort to put them off, I cut up a few empty plastic flats, pinning them in place in the spots devoid of plants.  (There had been more plants in the barrels when originally planted but some declined during our heatwaves and others were torn to pieces by the masked marauders.)  Covering bare soil with plastic flats has worked relatively well with the raised planters in my cutting garden in the past, although I can't claim it's ever been 100 percent effective.

The raccoons dug up the raised planters earlier in the season but, as my summer-season plants declined, I pulled many of them and laid down full-sized plastic flats anchored in place using lawn staples wherever possible.  It's not pretty but it's a moderately effective deterrent.

I did the same on Sunday with 2 of the 5 barrels in the front garden, working around the dahlias and remaining companion plants; however, I had to cut the flats into pieces to fit them in.  I did the same with a third barrel in my cutting garden that the raccoons had dug up twice.

Only the barrel in the cutting garden holding Dahlia 'Lavender Ruffles' was left untouched

Both of the dahlias in the barrels in the front garden that were torn up still have buds and blooms so I'm not prepared to dig up the tubers just yet even though their foliage is already badly mildewed.  I've made another stab at beefing up the protection against further intrusions.  

I repositioned the plastic pieces and added spiky cones dropped by the Magnolia tree around them.  The cones have helped to deter raccoons before.  More would be helpful but I only had so many on hand.

 

If this doesn't work I may need to start nightly patrols of the garden.

In other evidence that all is not well in my garden, I found this last week when I was checking the back slope for sources of irrigation leaks:

We removed our dying mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin) 2 years ago but it's been attempting a comeback ever since.  I'd neglected our back slope for 3 weeks or thereabouts only to be confronted with this "seedling," nearly 3 feet tall.  I'd swear it wasn't there when I last deep watered the lemon tree.  This seedling was a substantial distance from the former tree's location and on an entirely different level of the garden.

My husband made quick work of digging it up but I'm afraid he may not have gotten the entire root.  If that's the case, it may be back...

On the good news end, we were on the receiving end of a brief thunderstorm late yesterday afternoon.  Unfortunately, I was mid-way through my daily walk of the neighborhood.  I got completely soaked before my husband came to my rescue in his truck.  But we got 0.11/inch of rain, which filled my empty 50-gallon collection tank.  I can't accurately estimate how much was collected by my other two tanks but they both accumulated at least a bit!

The rainbow that followed the downpour wasn't vivid but it's there!

 

All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

 

Olla version 2.0

So last week I showed off my first attempt at creating do-it-yourself ollas to provide moisture to garden plants using less water.  As I explained in that post, ollas are unglazed clay pots, which when submerged in soil and filled with water gradually provide moisture to surrounding plants as needed without the loss to evaporation that occurs when plants are watered by hand or automated sprinklers.  However, as noted in my prior post, the first three I tried were draining much more quickly than I'd imagined.  I mentioned an alternative approach that could provide deeper watering without requiring refilling as frequently but I hadn't planned on changing out the original ollas for a new model right away.

That changed due to the intervention of another party.

This is a 2015 photo of a raccoon I'd confronted in my back garden early one morning and tried to chase off.  He turned on me in the driveway and stared me down until he finally rambled off.  Raccoons have been regular visitors since we moved in but this is one of the only daylight shots I have as they generally prowl under cover of night.  They love water and seem particularly adept at finding it.

The fault doesn't lie entirely with the raccoon.  I decided to swap out the clay lids I'd placed atop the original ollas with larger plastic pot saucers to cover the above-ground rims of the pots more completely.  I didn't stop to consider that the light plastic lids might encourage mischief on the part of raccoons - until the next day when I realized that all three lids had been tossed aside and that the bottle caps I'd used to seal the bottom of the submerged pots had all been pulled out.  The water inside the pots was mostly gone and each pot was partially filled with soil.  But at least the pots themselves hadn't been pulled up!

At that point I abandoned my version 1.0 design.  I purchased silicone sealant and rubber stoppers for an olla to be created by joining two clay pots at their rims.  After cleaning the original pots and removing the putty I'd used to seal the bottom of the version 1.0 pots, I got some help from my husband in applying the sealant.  I hadn't realized that I needed a caulking gun to apply it but luckily my husband had one.

With a rubber stopper inserted in one pot, we applied sealant to prevent the plug from coming out.  We then applied sealant around the top of each of the 2 pots we planned to join together.  It was a messy process, especially as the sealant ended up coming out the bottom of the container rather than through the tip.

 

 

I used four 5.5-inch pots to create two of the new version 2.0 ollas because that's what I had on hand.  Like version 1.0, I still consider this an experiment.  The 8-inch pots remain hard to find, as well as being significantly more expensive.  However, if this design works well, I'll look into creating more ollas using larger pots.

 

Although the seller claimed the sealant would be dry and waterproof within 2 hours, we gave it a full day.  The completed ollas are 10 inches tall and 5.5 inches in diameter at their widest point.

The biggest design flaw with version 2.0 is that the hole in the upper pot that sits just above the surface of the soil is only about half an inch in diameter, which will make it a little more difficult to fill

As a reminder, here's a photo of the original olla pots in place in my back garden:

Photo taken when the clay saucers were still in place as lids

And here's a photo of the olla version 2.0 pots in place:

This time, I soaked the ollas before putting them in the ground.  I also watered using a surfactant (wetting agent) as Horticat at PlantaHolicOz suggested.  I've used surfactant before to break the surface tension in the soil when it's so dry that the water just sheets off without sinking in.

I used the original clay saucers to cover the holes.  Covered, they don't look any different than version 1.0 from above.  Even if the pesky raccoons shove the lids off, they shouldn't be able to get into the pot with just a small hole on top.

Today is the tenth, and hopefully last, day of our interminable heatwave.  Prospects for a thunderstorm are good but one can never count on rain here until it starts to fall.  Meanwhile, we're all just trying to stay cool.

Pipig, stretched out on the top shelf of her screened catio, trying to stay cool as morning temperatures climbed.  Despite the heat, she's spent more time there than in the house. She really doesn't like air-conditioning.

All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Pandemic Planting

I try to avoid planting during the summer.  Even with careful watering, plants get stressed by the heat and the drying winds that blow most afternoons.  Some time ago, I amended my rule against summer planting to allow planting of succulents but I've still broken it routinely.  This year, confined to home most of the time, I've thrown the rule out entirely.  Puttering in my garden, even as temperatures rise, is my greatest source of stress relief.

I've paid a few visits to my local garden center since it reopened, the most recent this past Monday.  I went in search of fertilizer and a flat of 'Elfin' thyme to fill in bare spots between my flagstone steps.  The garden center wasn't as well-stocked as it's previously been due to delivery delays and I couldn't get the flat of thyme but of course I didn't go home with just fertilizer.  When I caught sight of several nice Alstroemeria in one-gallon pots, I couldn't help myself, even through I had no great place to put them.  So I bought a couple of new pots too!

This is the front entry with the addition of the new pots, some recently purchased and others scavenged from elsewhere in my garden

Alstroemeria 'Inca Vienna', accented with plugs of Muehlenbeckia axillaris, went into a new pot on the left

While Alstroemeria 'Inca Sundance' went into the new pot of the right

On Wednesday, my mail order from Mountain Crest Gardens arrived, containing five succulents.

It was beautifully packaged and almost all the packing material was recyclable.  It also included a nice instruction guide.

Three of the plants I ordered were 'Red Wing' Mangaves.  One of the new plugs is shown on the upper left.  The plant on the upper right is one I've had for more than a year, included to show the deep red color it develops.  I planted the three new plugs as a cluster to fill the empty spot left in the front garden succulent bed when I removed a large self-seeded sweet pea bush.  The Mangaves' red color should complement the bromeliad behind them.

I also bought myself another Mangave 'Bad Hair Day'.  I think this plant is better suited to a pot than it is planted in the ground.

The fifth succulent included in the Mountain Crest order was a Haworthiopsis 'Concolor', one of a group of succulents known collectively as zebra plants.  I have three Haworthiopsis fasciata planted in the ground (see photo on the lower left) but, like 'Bad Hair Day', I think these plants are better displayed in pots.

Then yesterday the first of two orders I'd placed with Annie's Annuals & Perennials arrived.

It arrived just after noon, neatly packed as always

Although our temperature was already in the low 80s, I went ahead and planted the 'African Blue' Basil (upper left) and the Helianthus anuus 'Delta Sunflower' (upper right) yesterday.  Both were positioned in my cutting garden.  Even though I cringed doing it, I cut back the sunflower's main stem to encourage branching,  The Rudbeckia 'Sahara' (lower right) and Salvia jamensis 'Ignition Purple' along with the Verbascum phoeniceum (lower left) all have spots identified but I'm giving them time to adjust to our warm temperature before planting.

My second Annie's order is due late next week!  Meanwhile, I can probably depend on the local critters to provide a source of distraction too.

These photos are poor as they were taken through glass from inside the house Wednesday night.  This is a mama raccoon and her baby in our back fountain.  Why all the raccoons insist on rummaging through the shells in the top tier of the fountain I'll never understand but it's clear they pick up the habit from their parents.

Mama was fierce!  She wouldn't leave until her baby safely extricated itself from the fountain, which took awhile.

I hope you enjoy a low-stress weekend.


All material © 2012-2020 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Wednesday Vignette: That's NOT a dog!

Every morning, I pop out the back door and swing around the corner of the house to enter the screened enclosure attached to its south side to clean my cat's litter box.  Pipig usually follows me, entering her "catio" by means of a small pet door inside the living room, and I allow her 5 minutes of loosely supervised outdoor time to chew grass and generally take a look around.  Yesterday, as I opened the door, I got a big surprise.

It's hard to say which of us was more startled: me or the coyote (Photo taken from security camera footage)

The coyote took off as I simultaneously slammed the door closed.  As I told my husband about my sighting, we both looked out the living room window to the south (near the catio) and saw the coyote looking back at us.  As soon as he realized he'd been sighted again, he took off and kept going that time.

My husband pulled 30 seconds of video coverage of him stalking through the garden preceding our encounter.

Pipig wasn't in any direct danger during this encounter but she's probably not going to be allowed outside again during the morning hours for the foreseeable future.  She usually follows me around until she gets her outdoor time, brief as it is, but she didn't do so yesterday.  It may be that she was aware a coyote was in the vicinity.  She'd woken both my husband and I up during the early morning hours going from window to window watching something.  Our outdoor motion-detection lights went off around 5am so we checked the security camera footage around that time too and got another slice of critter action in our back garden.  The following 37-second video shows a raccoon at our fountain, surprised in much the same way as I was several hours later.

So it seems we were visited by at least one raccoon and two coyotes last night.  My husband saw both coyotes on another camera shortly after the larger one took off after the raccoon so we're reasonably certain the raccoon wasn't harmed.

Pipig calmly basking in the sun filtering through the front door yesterday afternoon

That's my Wednesday Vignette.  For more, visit Anna at Flutter & Hum.


All material © 2012-2020 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Wednesday Vignette: There aren't enough plastic flats...

Last year, I noticed that the local botanic garden had empty plastic flats strewn over planting beds in some areas.  At first, I thought someone had just failed to pick up after him/herself.  But then I realized that the flats were intentionally laid over newly planted beds, presumably to protect them from meddlesome critters.  I decided to copy that approach and began collecting my own plastic flats.  I have at least a dozen, which last fall I'd decided was more than enough.  It wasn't.

Raccoons are very nimble at digging.  They just dug around the flats.  This is probably why the botanic garden used a couple of layers of them.

I have a few wire cloches too.  While they're useful in protecting taller plants, they're also more expensive and more cumbersome to store.

Oh well.  I won't be turning down any flats offered by local garden center to transport new purchases anymore.  I guess my plan to clean up the storage area behind the garage will also have to be revisited.

In the short term, heavy rain and saturated soil may keep the raccoons at bay for one or two nights.  Another "atmospheric river"  blew in last night.  We saw flashes of lightning in the distance.  Apparently Santa Barbara and Los Angeles recorded almost 1500 lightning strikes within five minutes.  A plane exiting LAX was struck by lightning and forced to turn back.  While evacuations have been ordered again in Santa Barbara County due to a fear of mudslides, there are no serious issues in our immediate area that I can see.

Not that I can see much.  We're socked in again.  The Port of Los Angeles below us is invisible this morning.

Our neighbors are largely invisible too.  (Please excuse the rain spots in this photo.)

On a pleasant note, the Xylosma congestum shrubs we planted to extend our hedge along the street are coming along nicely.  The new spring foliage makes me think I don't need to envy the fall foliage color of gardeners in colder climates.  My spring foliage is pretty too.

For other Wednesday Vignettes, visit Anna at Flutter & Hum.


All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Tell the Truth Tuesday (Late Edition): The Sad State of my Bromeliad Bed

In October 2017, I planted a shady area along our property's northwest boundary line with bromeliads, succulents and other foliage plants to create what I called a pocket garden.  It did alright for awhile but eventually my nemeses, the raccoons, discovered it.  They've dug it up many times since but the combination of heavy rain and renewed raccoon activity this past month has created a downright awful mess.

It appears that some of the plants edging the pathway have simply disappeared, or perhaps been buried

After nearly 48 hours without rain, the area was at least dry enough to pat the soil back in place around the plants that hadn't been ripped apart by the raccoons.

I took this photo after I'd cleaned things up a bit

The dwarf mondo grass I planted hasn't created the impenetrable ground cover I'd envisioned and the wood mulch I used to cover the bare soil didn't deter the raccoons from digging either.  In fact, after multiple rounds of digging, the mulch has been pretty thoroughly mixed into the soil, which, trying to put a positive spin on things, I suppose the bromeliads might actually appreciate.  Most of the bromeliads planted among rocks, even those planted as pups, are fine but the same can't be said for many of the succulents and smaller foliage plants. 

This cluster of bromeliads is relatively unscathed

Before I replant, I think I'm going to bring in more rocks to make future raccoon incursions more difficult.  I may also trade up the small plant specimens I initially planted for larger plants that might he harder to dislodge.

The Dracaena reflexa (aka Star of India) in the pot was suffering as a house plant and may appreciate spreading its roots here

While I'm at it, I'll replant the driftwood piece I covered in succulents over a year ago, as well as a pot I had nearby.

While the raccoons did some digging around the driftwood piece, I think weather is mainly to blame for it falling apart

This pot was in need of replanting when I moved it to this spot in October 2017 and cramming a haphazard collection of succulents into it didn't improve its appearance

I still dream that the area may live up to my aspirations for it - someday.

If you have an ugly area you'd like to come clean about, join Alison of Bonney Lassie for Tell the Truth Tuesday.


All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Wednesday Vignette: Sweet and Sour

Critters in the garden are a mixed bag.  They add an extra element of surprise and liveliness but they can wreak havoc as well.  This week I've had demonstrations of both.

I wish all my visitors were this pleasant.

The birds have been having regular pool parties in the fountain

although they've been hard to catch on camera even from inside the house

Unfortunately, not all my visitors are so pleasant.  The raccoons have returned and are no longer confining their activities to messing with the backyard fountain.  On Sunday morning, I discovered they'd rampaged through just about every bed in my garden but I was pleased that they hadn't actually damaged any plants.  On Monday morning, I discovered that they'd dug up 3 plants I'd installed only 2 days before but none of these were damaged so I took their digging in stride.  However, on Tuesday morning, I found evidence they'd paid me another visit.

A series of muddy paw prints was the first clue 

But there was no evidence of their carousing around the backyard fountain or in the backyard or front yard beds and I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that perhaps the sprinklers, which ran in the wee hours of the morning, sent them packing.  I strolled through the area in front of the garage to see if they'd made a ruckus there.  Everything was as I'd left it the night before.  Then, while heading back to the house via the cutting garden, I discovered that I wasn't so lucky after all.

The drip irrigation system apparently isn't as intimidating as the sprinkler system

The raised planters didn't put them off either and, even though the dahlias and zinnias in those planters are packed in pretty closely, they didn't have a problem rummaging in among the plants

They even tore out a couple of the zinnias, most notably this plant that was about 3 feet tall

I briefly considered replanting it but this one was grown from a plug and clearly not deeply rooted.  It also showed the first signs of mildew, which usually signals the end of the zinnias' run, so I dropped it in the green bin.  I expect to pull out the dahlia tubers and zinnias by the end of the month anyway to clear the way for winter bloomers.

When it comes to nature, I guess gardeners must accept the bitter with the sweet.  But I can't help wishing those raccoons would take their business elsewhere, preferably before I replant my cutting beds.

For more Wednesday Vignettes, visit Anna at Flutter & Hum.


All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Wednesday Video Vignette: Wrangling with a drip irrigation system

Alternative titles for this post might be: "A raccoon's version of tug of war" or "The raccoon takes umbrage".  Regular readers of my blog know that the local raccoons visit my garden, and more specifically our backyard fountain, quite often.  When we were away for 3 days in August, one pulled the fountain apart.  Late last week, I found some of the rubber tubing from the drip irrigation surrounding the fountain discarded several feet away.  After verifying that my husband hadn't pulled it out for unknown reasons, we checked our security video and caught the culprit in action.

The raccoon's visit started as usual with a check on the contents of the fountain but, on his dismount, it appears that a paw was caught by the irrigation tubing and he took offense.  A battle ensued (interrupted by a very brief fixation on a seashell).  View in full screen for a clearer picture of the battle.

Last night, after I'd drafted this post, my husband and I heard a funny noise.  I assumed that cat was up to no good in the kitchen but, having also heard the noise, she was staring out the window into the back garden.  A moment later, 2 large raccoons strolled by the living room windows headed out of sight as she hissed at them from the safety of the house.  Had the first raccoon called on his brother to help in the next game of tug of war?  Who knows.  I suspect they'll be back soon in any case.

This is my Wednesday Vignette.  For more images that captured the attention of bloggers this week, visit Anna at Flutter & Hum.


All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Wednesday Vignette: Nighttime Surprises

Last Friday night I glanced out the window and was surprised to see a large orange orb hanging over the harbor.  I'd read there was to be another "blood moon" in late July but had utterly forgotten about it until I saw it.

That's the Los Angeles Harbor below the moon

Two nights later I was caught off-guard by a less welcome sight when the cat made a mad dash to the window with a loud hiss.  I saw a furry rump round the corner from the side patio along the path to the back garden.  What was a bigger surprise is that another furry creature was right behind him (or her).  Here are a few outtakes from our security cameras.

Raccoon #1 can be seen to the left of the support post in the middle of the shot.  See his glowing eyes?

He's just outside Pipig's patio enclosure now

As raccoon #1 moves toward the back garden, you can just make out another furry shape above the Mexican feather grass to the right of the post

Here's raccoon #2.  He (or she) seemed slightly more inclined to inspect things along the route but he didn't lag too far behind his sibling.  Raccoons are usually solitary foragers, which is why I suspect these 2 must be siblings.

The lead raccoon is shown here atop the fountain in the back garden, their favorite destination.  A second set of glowing eyes can be seen mid-way along the path on the right.

I turned on the dining room light at this point.  Raccoon #1 held his position but raccoon #2 beat a hasty retreat, or so I thought.

In this screenshot you can see that raccoon #2 looped around to flank his sibling on the left side.  See that second set of glowing eyes under the Echium?

That's my blond head coming out the door, flashlight in hand, as both raccoons retreated

They came back after I chased them off of course.  The seashells that fill the upper tier of the fountain were scattered about the next morning.  I didn't bother to search the camera feed for further evidence of their reappearance. 

That's my Wednesday Vignette.  To see what others have to share, visit Anna at Flutter & Hum.

All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party