Ourgardenblog @ MindSay 
Another GarDeN CriTteR!
Slimy snails define determination. Efficient escargot!
I am surprised at myself for saying, these critters are another favourite! Not because I enjoy their company in the garden as I don't, quite honestly. They do quite a bit of damage to many of the plants I enjoy growing. But we are attempting to learn to live together and in the process I've learned to admire specific aspects of the common garden snail. They became a subject of observation sometime last year and that activity inspired me in many exciting ways. I was encouraged to find ways to make my images available to others (in their large format) for their own purposes. I was also inspired to promote and share my thoughts on what I am learning and experiencing through observations of the natural world I am both grateful and lucky to enjoy!
(common garden snail, macro shot)
(no backbone, no spine... poster shot)
This creature is fascinating in many ways. There is no backbone in a snail's body, yet she can carry a house on her back! He moves as slow as thick molasses and almost as messy and yet in days he can devastate a garden plant, be it flower or vegetable! Dedicated, determined, diligent - quite the incredible critter. As a very young garden pest they are almost identical to their parents, though tiny in scale and they are slightly transluscent.
(tiny garden snails on human hand, macro shot)
Their species seem to have evolved very little and they are hermaphrodites, fertilizing each other's eggs when they mate. I had the thought that calling a snail he or she is completely irrelevant or fully interchangeable, depending on how you look at it! They certainly won't have gender issues! And they give me pause too, when considering that even with their determination and their dual sexuality, they still need to join with another in order to create new life. There's something to ponder in that and its' implications make me curious!
"Conversations with a snail" posing with the caretaker.
This shot reminds me of Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass"
I am surprised at myself for saying, these critters are another favourite! Not because I enjoy their company in the garden as I don't, quite honestly. They do quite a bit of damage to many of the plants I enjoy growing. But we are attempting to learn to live together and in the process I've learned to admire specific aspects of the common garden snail. They became a subject of observation sometime last year and that activity inspired me in many exciting ways. I was encouraged to find ways to make my images available to others (in their large format) for their own purposes. I was also inspired to promote and share my thoughts on what I am learning and experiencing through observations of the natural world I am both grateful and lucky to enjoy!
(common garden snail, macro shot)
(no backbone, no spine... poster shot)
This creature is fascinating in many ways. There is no backbone in a snail's body, yet she can carry a house on her back! He moves as slow as thick molasses and almost as messy and yet in days he can devastate a garden plant, be it flower or vegetable! Dedicated, determined, diligent - quite the incredible critter. As a very young garden pest they are almost identical to their parents, though tiny in scale and they are slightly transluscent.
(tiny garden snails on human hand, macro shot)
Their species seem to have evolved very little and they are hermaphrodites, fertilizing each other's eggs when they mate. I had the thought that calling a snail he or she is completely irrelevant or fully interchangeable, depending on how you look at it! They certainly won't have gender issues! And they give me pause too, when considering that even with their determination and their dual sexuality, they still need to join with another in order to create new life. There's something to ponder in that and its' implications make me curious!
"Conversations with a snail" posing with the caretaker.
This shot reminds me of Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass"
More FavoRitE GarDeN CrittErS!
I've compiled a few items to share what I love about two creatures that are rarely even noticed and are often considered pests. They can be beautiful - sometimes it's just how we perceive them that makes them seem ugly!
The first little creature to feature is the common garden toad;
This video is more audio than visual, sit back, put your feet up and enjoy a serenade from the toads that live in the garden....
And here's a short video of one of the toads in daylight; (the audio may seem hokey - well it is, I'll admit it!) I took the clip for my almost 3 year old grand daughter Vanessa to enjoy!
I also managed to get a few nice close up still shots of this fellow, I took them just prior to shooting the video!
Here's a profile shot that shows how their eyes are situated, making them excellent silent hunters;
It's very easy to provide habitat for toads, in fact they probably already live around your yard and you just haven't noticed them. They usually hide from the hot sun and are very shy. They are also incredibly tough - our canine companion, Keisha, has often tried to play with the toads and usually she just gets a sour taste in her mouth for her efforts - the toad will lay down as flat as he can get and secrete a milky substance that discourages most predators from gobbling him up!
Keisha the Toad Hunter learns a lesson!
Close-up of the secretions!
Here's a shot of a toad house we tucked away in a safe place in the garden;
It's actually this easy to provide protection and habitat for garden companions. Toads need a cool moist hiding place, where they'll hang out most of the day. Sunrise and dusk are their main hunting times, when bugs and worms are active. Toads aren't quite as selective as some other gardening "helpers". They'll eat good bugs like ground beetles and earthworms, they'll also eat mosquitoes, and they'll eat other pesky destructive critters like june bugs and earwigs.
Keisha, the dog part of our family, has yet to learn how to tell our "pesky" visitors from our "friendly" ones but hopefully she'll clue in! She is learning, the hard way, that their skin doesn't taste good at all and fortunately no harm has been done to either!
I've one more critter to feature but it might be best to make a separate entry so it doesn't take forever and a day to upload for those interested in viewing the photographs.
Enjoy! Offered with much love... from the garden, and the caretaker! ;)
The first little creature to feature is the common garden toad;
This video is more audio than visual, sit back, put your feet up and enjoy a serenade from the toads that live in the garden....
And here's a short video of one of the toads in daylight; (the audio may seem hokey - well it is, I'll admit it!) I took the clip for my almost 3 year old grand daughter Vanessa to enjoy!
I also managed to get a few nice close up still shots of this fellow, I took them just prior to shooting the video!
Here's a profile shot that shows how their eyes are situated, making them excellent silent hunters;
It's very easy to provide habitat for toads, in fact they probably already live around your yard and you just haven't noticed them. They usually hide from the hot sun and are very shy. They are also incredibly tough - our canine companion, Keisha, has often tried to play with the toads and usually she just gets a sour taste in her mouth for her efforts - the toad will lay down as flat as he can get and secrete a milky substance that discourages most predators from gobbling him up!
Keisha the Toad Hunter learns a lesson!
Close-up of the secretions!
Here's a shot of a toad house we tucked away in a safe place in the garden;
It's actually this easy to provide protection and habitat for garden companions. Toads need a cool moist hiding place, where they'll hang out most of the day. Sunrise and dusk are their main hunting times, when bugs and worms are active. Toads aren't quite as selective as some other gardening "helpers". They'll eat good bugs like ground beetles and earthworms, they'll also eat mosquitoes, and they'll eat other pesky destructive critters like june bugs and earwigs.
Keisha, the dog part of our family, has yet to learn how to tell our "pesky" visitors from our "friendly" ones but hopefully she'll clue in! She is learning, the hard way, that their skin doesn't taste good at all and fortunately no harm has been done to either!
I've one more critter to feature but it might be best to make a separate entry so it doesn't take forever and a day to upload for those interested in viewing the photographs.
Enjoy! Offered with much love... from the garden, and the caretaker! ;)
A Cardinal a Sparrow and a male goldfinch sat down at the bar...
I don't know what the Sparrow said to the Cardinal, but everyone else in the shot sure looked interested!
(ooops! sorry if you viewed this earlier and wondered what was up - I DID forget to load the photo before I headed in to work - but here it is now!)
I thought this photograph might top off the bird entry quite nicely and it's a shot I was thrilled to capture - the cardinal is a very shy bird and it's not always easy to get close enough for a decent image!
I've been gathering together some images of our other garden creatures, even a couple of short videos, hopefully you'll enjoy that entry - as soon as I can get to it that is!
(ooops! sorry if you viewed this earlier and wondered what was up - I DID forget to load the photo before I headed in to work - but here it is now!)
I thought this photograph might top off the bird entry quite nicely and it's a shot I was thrilled to capture - the cardinal is a very shy bird and it's not always easy to get close enough for a decent image!
I've been gathering together some images of our other garden creatures, even a couple of short videos, hopefully you'll enjoy that entry - as soon as I can get to it that is!
Favourite GarDeN CritterS!
There's something amiss if a gardener doesn't appreciate the critters that come to visit in the garden. It's true that some can cause damage if a garden is over-run with a particular species. Squirrels, for example, can create havoc by digging up your plants while they're attempting to plant or find their nuts, seeds and goodies. They have stolen both strawberries and corn in my garden over the years. One bold black squirrel was so selfish he wasn't happy to share some ripening sunflower seeds with the blue jays, he broke off and then stole away with an entire head - twice his size! "The nerve!" said the Jays, sadly!
My favourites by far are the birds that come to visit! Because we put out feeders, birdhouses and keep the bird bath filled with fresh water, changing it every second day to keep mosquitoes at bay, we have a wide variety of birds. We also attempt to keep parts of the garden as natural and "wild" as possible, providing the sort of natural habitat and food sources they need to survive. In return we get to enjoy watching them raise their offspring. The bird types this practice attracts are breeds which live in the garden year round, which can be a delight in the middle of a hard winter when it seems there's just nothing alive outside! They seem happy to remind me that life goes on regardless!
For some this may be a bore as I've written about the birds in the garden on a regular basis and they've been the subject of many of my page designs and headers on my personal page at; imcheryl since I started blogging here at MindSay! And yet this is presented from another perspective and may still be of interest to many.
Favourite Bird... I can't decide between two - Chickadees and American Goldfinches
Chickadees;
because I love their signature calls and the songs they sing have accompanied me in gardens where-ever I've lived or puttered. They are quite friendly birds and with patience and regular encouragement can be trained to eat thistle seed or small black sunflower seeds right out of the palm of your hand. We haven't gotten to that stage here in the garden yet, but we hope to do so! It took me more than a year to get a decent photograph of these little beauties and I was thrilled when it finally came to be last January!
The second best shot was taken the previous July but sadly didn't reveal much more than an underbelly and their gymnastic abilities!
The shot above was taken on a rainy day through a screened window and I was lucky to even get this quick shot before he flitted away to another spot!
Goldfinches;
because I just love watching the males change colours and in particular I love the fact that they are one of the latest to breed in the season - likely why the male seems to sing seductively for months once his colour comes in full! I've documented their growth and development over a couple of years now and have been rewarded many times over for my efforts!
Goldfinches In Winter, when they are often mistaken for sparrows!
In early spring the colours begin to fill in;
This female in early spring is feeding on the catkins or buds of a paper-bark birch tree.
And here's' a male with his colour just starting to come in;
Below, the male is in his full bright colour, when people sometimes will describe them as "wild canaries" thinking they just showed up, not realizing they've been there throughout the year but just looked similar to their female counterparts and so didn't stand out!
The gift of mid-summer and my dedicated documentation was to capture a beautiful image of a young and quite chubby baby goldfinch - what a lucky treat indeed!
Such a cutie! This little bird is born later in the season because its' parents waited until the thistle was finished blooming, providing nesting material and seed to feed their young.
.
They also enjoy the seeds of such plants like Black-Eyed Susan or even Purple Cone-Flower, all related Rudbeckia plants or cone flowers;
Making a few careful choices; planting birch trees and cone flowers, allowing the odd thistle to grow (not too many though as their thorns are sharp and the plant would choke out other useful plants,) by providing water and nesting places through bird houses and cedar bushes or other shrubs, like wild rose bushes (rosa rugosa) these fine little creatures share our garden spaces, entertain us endlessly with their antics and provide colour and whimsy where ever they go!
So birds are truly my all time favourites.
There are two other little creatures I also love dearly. I'll share that with everyone with my next entry! Sure hope you enjoy the insights here and that you might be encouraged to invite such small wonders to join you in your own garden, no matter how small or humble! You too will be gifted with their delightful ways and learn a new kinship with the natural world!
My favourites by far are the birds that come to visit! Because we put out feeders, birdhouses and keep the bird bath filled with fresh water, changing it every second day to keep mosquitoes at bay, we have a wide variety of birds. We also attempt to keep parts of the garden as natural and "wild" as possible, providing the sort of natural habitat and food sources they need to survive. In return we get to enjoy watching them raise their offspring. The bird types this practice attracts are breeds which live in the garden year round, which can be a delight in the middle of a hard winter when it seems there's just nothing alive outside! They seem happy to remind me that life goes on regardless!
For some this may be a bore as I've written about the birds in the garden on a regular basis and they've been the subject of many of my page designs and headers on my personal page at; imcheryl since I started blogging here at MindSay! And yet this is presented from another perspective and may still be of interest to many.
Favourite Bird... I can't decide between two - Chickadees and American Goldfinches
Chickadees;
because I love their signature calls and the songs they sing have accompanied me in gardens where-ever I've lived or puttered. They are quite friendly birds and with patience and regular encouragement can be trained to eat thistle seed or small black sunflower seeds right out of the palm of your hand. We haven't gotten to that stage here in the garden yet, but we hope to do so! It took me more than a year to get a decent photograph of these little beauties and I was thrilled when it finally came to be last January!
The second best shot was taken the previous July but sadly didn't reveal much more than an underbelly and their gymnastic abilities!
The shot above was taken on a rainy day through a screened window and I was lucky to even get this quick shot before he flitted away to another spot!
Goldfinches;
because I just love watching the males change colours and in particular I love the fact that they are one of the latest to breed in the season - likely why the male seems to sing seductively for months once his colour comes in full! I've documented their growth and development over a couple of years now and have been rewarded many times over for my efforts!
Goldfinches In Winter, when they are often mistaken for sparrows!
In early spring the colours begin to fill in;
This female in early spring is feeding on the catkins or buds of a paper-bark birch tree.
And here's' a male with his colour just starting to come in;
Below, the male is in his full bright colour, when people sometimes will describe them as "wild canaries" thinking they just showed up, not realizing they've been there throughout the year but just looked similar to their female counterparts and so didn't stand out!
The gift of mid-summer and my dedicated documentation was to capture a beautiful image of a young and quite chubby baby goldfinch - what a lucky treat indeed!
Such a cutie! This little bird is born later in the season because its' parents waited until the thistle was finished blooming, providing nesting material and seed to feed their young.
.
They also enjoy the seeds of such plants like Black-Eyed Susan or even Purple Cone-Flower, all related Rudbeckia plants or cone flowers;
Making a few careful choices; planting birch trees and cone flowers, allowing the odd thistle to grow (not too many though as their thorns are sharp and the plant would choke out other useful plants,) by providing water and nesting places through bird houses and cedar bushes or other shrubs, like wild rose bushes (rosa rugosa) these fine little creatures share our garden spaces, entertain us endlessly with their antics and provide colour and whimsy where ever they go!
So birds are truly my all time favourites.
There are two other little creatures I also love dearly. I'll share that with everyone with my next entry! Sure hope you enjoy the insights here and that you might be encouraged to invite such small wonders to join you in your own garden, no matter how small or humble! You too will be gifted with their delightful ways and learn a new kinship with the natural world!
Favourites In The GarDeN!
One of my friends here at MindSay asked about my favourites in the garden, so for wakemeup and any other 'Sayers who might be interested I thought I'd put together a little list of favourites, I'll add pics as I've got them available or find them...
My all time botanical favourites;
Perennial Flowers; delphinium I love the tall spikes they put up and their colours, blues, purples and whites are beautiful! A very old fashioned perennial, I think they were popular because of their longevity. Like peonies, once they're well established they'll return and bloom for years. They're also one of the first plants I lost after moving to the property we have now... I've yet to invest in new plants, until I've finalized the garden layout I'd rather wait because they're not too fond of being transplanted!!
Annual Flowers; Morning Glories have to be the top on my list! They seed themselves every year and they attract humming birds. They grow 10 to 20 feet tall in a good year and their flowers, which open early in the morning to meet the rising sun, grace their vines for only a few short hours. AND, the trumpets OH THE TRUMPETS! Regal Purples, Glorious Blues, Luscious Deep Reds and Bright Pinks! Just Gotta Love them! There's only one sad fact regarding this lovely vine; no fragrance - likely they don't need it to attract bees! They sure don't need it to attract me! he! he!
Foliage Plant: Mother of Thyme, a beautiful very low growing, dark green ground cover that gets a flush of light purple flowers in late spring, early summer. This is a plant that's perfect planted between stepping stones on a garden path. It can stand up to some light foot traffic and when walked upon gives off a lovely fragrance. The leaves are tiny and not usually used as an herb for cooking, there are other thymes for that. (he! he!)
I saw a sign recently that I thought was quite a fun play on words; Thyme Started In The Garden!
The caption I wrote for this shot is referring to the boulevard gardens many of my Guelph neighbours have begun to plant. Such a low growing plant is perfect for a curbside garden that won't interfere with sight lines for pedestrians, drivers and riders alike!
The caption: "This makes a nice low planting for a boulevard garden and doesn't interfere with sight lines or pedestrians using the sidewalk. A very safety conscious planting! Thank You neighbour!"
Well this entry has to be posted now... I have to head off to work once again (darn!) - I'll have to add another chapter in a day or two and I'll find or take some pics to compliment the lists!
My all time botanical favourites;
Perennial Flowers; delphinium I love the tall spikes they put up and their colours, blues, purples and whites are beautiful! A very old fashioned perennial, I think they were popular because of their longevity. Like peonies, once they're well established they'll return and bloom for years. They're also one of the first plants I lost after moving to the property we have now... I've yet to invest in new plants, until I've finalized the garden layout I'd rather wait because they're not too fond of being transplanted!!
Annual Flowers; Morning Glories have to be the top on my list! They seed themselves every year and they attract humming birds. They grow 10 to 20 feet tall in a good year and their flowers, which open early in the morning to meet the rising sun, grace their vines for only a few short hours. AND, the trumpets OH THE TRUMPETS! Regal Purples, Glorious Blues, Luscious Deep Reds and Bright Pinks! Just Gotta Love them! There's only one sad fact regarding this lovely vine; no fragrance - likely they don't need it to attract bees! They sure don't need it to attract me! he! he!
Foliage Plant: Mother of Thyme, a beautiful very low growing, dark green ground cover that gets a flush of light purple flowers in late spring, early summer. This is a plant that's perfect planted between stepping stones on a garden path. It can stand up to some light foot traffic and when walked upon gives off a lovely fragrance. The leaves are tiny and not usually used as an herb for cooking, there are other thymes for that. (he! he!)
I saw a sign recently that I thought was quite a fun play on words; Thyme Started In The Garden!
The caption I wrote for this shot is referring to the boulevard gardens many of my Guelph neighbours have begun to plant. Such a low growing plant is perfect for a curbside garden that won't interfere with sight lines for pedestrians, drivers and riders alike!
The caption: "This makes a nice low planting for a boulevard garden and doesn't interfere with sight lines or pedestrians using the sidewalk. A very safety conscious planting! Thank You neighbour!"
Well this entry has to be posted now... I have to head off to work once again (darn!) - I'll have to add another chapter in a day or two and I'll find or take some pics to compliment the lists!
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