Our backyard wildlife habitat: The dragonflies of summer

One of my favorite things about summer is the arrival of the dragonflies. They grace us with their presence until early autumn and then we don't get to see them again until the following summer.

Helpful and hospitable guests, dragonflies eat mosquitoes and gnats on the wing. On warm summer evenings right before sunset, if I look up I can see them zipping back and forth over the garden forming a canopy of sorts. Like our own tiny fleet of jet-fighters, they are waging and winning a war against the bugs we don't want and I rarely get bit by mosquitoes when the dragonflies are on patrol.

Dragonflies and damselflies (a smaller cousin) like water sources, so they love our pond. They also like to have foliage that hangs over the water's edge. The large lily pads in our pond serve as landing pads for females to lay their eggs by hanging their tails over the edge of the pads into the pond water.



Because our pond is kept chemical-free, dragonfly and damselfly eggs that get laid in the water eventually hatch into nymphs that burrow in the silt and sediment at the bottom of the pond to grow until they're big enough to go through metamorphosis and get their wings. Then they join their cousins that come from other nearby water sources to fly above our pond during the warm summer days and evenings.

This is one of those seasonal cycles of life that I only discovered since building our garden so it was wildlife-friendly. And the dragonflies of summer are something I have grown to love and cherish. I can't imagine summer without them now.

Click here to find out more about how you can garden for wildlife

A lizard named Scott: How he and his buddies help me grow strawberries, oranges and tomatoes

We have a number of lizards that live in the nooks and crevices of our garden. Over the last few years I've built raised planters made out of chunks of concrete that needed to be re-purposed (it was that or send it all to the landfill). The planters were built with the lizards in mind because the planters offer lots of "hide-y holes" to get out of the rain but are also great for sunbathing (something lizards LOVE to do). I also have various sized rocks stacked around the edges of the pond I dug. The lizards like those too because they can sunbathe close to the water and snatch bugs that come by.

If I walk through the garden with calmness, lightly treading the paths, I can often catch a lizard sunning itself like the one pictured above. The little guy (or gal) is a Coast Range Fence Lizard Sceloporus occidentalis bocourtii that is native to our part of California.

During the summer and into September, I will often see very tiny little lizards scurrying about. Those are the babies that have recently hatched. They are less timid than the adults and will often let me get very close to snap a photo of them, sometimes cocking their head in curiosity as I approach.

I love having the lizards as part of my garden. Why? Because these lizards eat lots of small bugs including crickets, spiders, ticks and scorpions. The lizards live in the raised planters that my citrus trees are planted in as well as my strawberries, tomatoes and other seasonal veggies. They eat the bugs and I get to grow pesticide-free produce. It's a perfect partnership!

And you may be wondering why the lizard is named Scott... well... when I showed this photo to Hubby he said, "That lizard looks like a Scott". That's why.

Click here to find out how YOU can create
a wildlife-friendly veggie and fruit garden
so you can grow your produce organically
The NWF will show you how!

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The ladybugs in my lavender

A beautiful phenomenon has happened in my garden... a phenomenon that's taken quite some time to come to fruition.

Over the last 10 years, I've made a conscious effort to transition away from using garden chemicals (particularly pesticides and fungicides) and tried more organic practices like companion planting.

After a year or two, I incorporated the necessary elements to be certified as a backyard wildlife habitat with the National Wildlife Federation--food sources, water sources, cover and places to raise young. Being a backyard wildlife habitat isn't about turning one's garden into a zoo or safari refuge. It's more about providing a place where smaller critters like birds can live, eat and visit. I had a feeling deep down inside that if I welcomed them, they would benefit my garden--even my fruit and vegetable gardens. We don't have a big yard, but it didn't matter. Even with our lot only 50 feet wide and much of it taken up with the house, as long as I provided the four basic elements I trusted the critters would come.

The first couple of years were hard as the garden took time to regain the natural balance that had been lost from not being cared for before I came here. Then I started to notice a shift. It was subtle at first but it was noticeable. I noticed beneficial insects and birds buzzing and flitting around the garden eating the bugs that would damage my produce (like grasshoppers) or make my life miserable (like mosquitoes). Flycatchers like the Black Phoebe, Anna's hummingbirds, dragonflies, and preying mantis all showed up on their own very early after I got the four elements installed in the garden. Then lizards and Pacific tree frogs followed over time.

But I really wanted ladybugs.

I planted a number of rosebushes in the front garden and everyone knows they are a target for aphids. I stuck to my resolve not to use pesticides on the aphids and simply waited. I planted some fennel (not knowing it grows up to 20 feet tall in our climate) and that attracted a few ladybugs that wandered over to the roses to dine on the aphids. Then tiny little birds called bushtits regularly showed up in small flocks to light on the rosebushes and pick aphids off. Even Bullock's Orioles came down from their usually lofty perches to dine amidst the roses.

The ladybug population was still light, but I had hope the ladybug population would continue to grow on its own without any help from me.

Then it happened.

Two years ago, I noticed that an old cherry tree in the back corner of the garden was covered with rather scary looking bugs. When I looked closer I realized they were ladybug larvae. I left them alone. Most of those larvae eventually transformed into beautiful little ladybugs that spread out throughout the garden. Needless to say, I haven't seen very many aphids after that spring when the cherry tree turned into a "ladybug tree". I realized that the more mulch I put in that corner of the garden where the foliage is a bit denser, the more ladybugs I would find. I had happened upon the perfect combination for a ladybug habitat. Without even knowing it I was mimicking a small forest thicket like the ones where wild ladybugs breed and are harvested for retail sale to nurseries.

This year I noticed the ladybugs in February amidst milkweeds that sprouted when I wasn't well enough to pull them. In March, I added two more potted lavender to my collection and repotted one I already had. The ladybugs didn't take any time at all before moseying over to the new lavender. They even found the pots I had put on the deck up away from the garden beds far from the "ladybug tree".

When I'm out in the garden, if I feel a tickle on my arm I look first before swatting because more often than not it's just a ladybug hitching a ride. I had it happen just yesterday when I was out shooting photos. In fact, it happened right about the time I shot the image above. I don't know if this seems weird, but whenever I find a ladybug, particularly when I find it on me, it makes me happy. It seems like a sign that I've done a good thing by helping nature restore balance in this little spot of earth I am a steward over.

Can frogs read eviction notices?

A little over a month ago, the familiar nightly chorus of breeding Pacific tree frogs started up again as it always does. Over the years, the "singing" has gotten so loud it borders on deafening. This year it started up with a few then grew, but suddenly the nightly sounds of "romance" stopped. I thought it was very odd and figured maybe our heavy rainfall had sent the little frogs back in their hidey-holes until a later date.

About the same time I stopped hearing the tree frogs, I realized that every time I approached one side of the pond I would see a quick movement and hear a splash as something jumped from under the pond-side plants into the water. For weeks, I only caught little glimpses. I've had a pond-swimming mouse that regularly swam across the pond to get from one side to the other years ago, so I couldn't be sure what it really was... until two days ago. I was finally able to sneak up on the critter and get close enough to see that it was an amphibian larger than the tree frogs. But I still couldn't tell if it was a toad or a frog and definitely couldn't identify the species.

Today, I ventured out and found TWO frogs sitting around basking in the spring sun. I got my camera and snapped some shots so I could compare them with online photos to get a positive I.D.

Unfortunately, my worst fears were realized... they are bullfrogs. Bullfrogs eat other frogs so that would explain the absence of the nightly chorus. Bullfrogs also eat fish, birds, reptiles, invertebrates, mammals... basically anything that will fit in its mouth (including other bullfrogs). They're lazy hunters that sit and wait for their prey to come near them, then lunge after the prey. And according to one source bullfrogs are unpalatable to many predators. Great.

So the first thing I did was search the internet to get some idea of what I could humanely do to give these two an eviction notice before all my fish, lizards and everything else in my backyard wildlife habitat goes missing as the tree frogs have.

I googled "what eats bullfrogs". The following answers made me hopeful:

• Birds: herons, egrets, kingfishers, ducks
• Mammals: Racoons, opossums, bobcats, coyotes
• Reptiles: garter snakes

We've got herons... we've got egrets... we've got raccoons... we've got opossums... and we've probably got a snake somewhere around the garden because I've seen one of those before.

Another internet source says that bullfrogs "like warm, quiet areas with dense plants". Okay.

So guess what I did for the entire day... I removed all the weeds from around the pond and made lots of noise while doing it!

Unfortunately, although the frogs seemed startled by my presence at first, they chilled out after a while. One let me go so far as push on its rump with the pond net for about 10 seconds as I said, "Go away. You aren't welcome here." It finally got tired of me bumping its rump and jumped back into the pond. Sigh.

Well, it looks like I'm going to have to put all my faith in the egrets, raccoons or opossums. And I'm hoping my naturalized pond goldfish love frog eggs.

A Gardener's Surprise in Downtown San Francisco

Last Saturday Hubby, my mom, and I drove into San Francisco to see the Ming exhibit at the Asian Art Museum. The museum is located in the heart of the civic area of San Francisco, and one can see the beautiful historic San Francisco City Hall from the steps of the museum. As we drove by City Hall to park and go into the museum, my gardening sensibilities were intrigued by the sight of the pedestrian mall directly in front of San Francisco City Hall--it was blooming in sunflowers!

After visiting the museum, I told Mom and Hubby that I HAD to go and see the sunflowers in front of City Hall. So we walked the short distance and found that not only were there sunflowers, but there was an entire vegetable and flower garden covering the space. The garden was planted as part of Slow Food Nation '08. Hubby and Mom sat on one of the many burlap-covered hay bale benches while I slowly meandered through the garden with camera in hand.

Butterflies, honeybees, bumblebees, and birds all flitted about in the garden that felt like an oasis in the urban center of San Francisco. The juxtaposition of the large produce garden against the bustle of urbanity was striking. It made for some really fun shots. And it also drove home to me once again, that it doesn't matter where a garden is, nature will find it and thrive.

The following are some of my favorite shots from a delightful afternoon...

Sunflowers in front of San Francisco City Hall

The juxtaposition of pollinators (Tithonia Mexican sunflower) against the background of city life

The large round beds alternated with pollinator flowers and edible produce

California Poppies slipped over the burlap berms that formed the large round planter beds



A non-traditional pink California Poppy caught my eye because it was so striking



The round bales of straw that served as a fence around the garden were
a favorite of the birds looking for nesting material

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Balance Starts With "Bee"

This morning, I was out under the plum tree enjoying the pond (as I often do daily). With camera in hand, I was paying more attention to the buzz of life around me on a summer day than I was on shooting photos. I did photograph the plethora of lily pads that the water lily has produced, floating on the pond's surface. Then I noticed that one of the honeybees was buzzing around a lily pad looking for a landing spot to get a drink, and it reminded me of another reason I'm glad I have this pond.

Many of you may not know that Rosehaven Cottage's gardens are certified as an "NWF Certified Wildlife Habitat" with the National Wildlife Federation. It's really a relatively easy process to become certified once you've changed your gardening focus over to the 5 essentials required for certification:

• Food Sources. For example: native plants, seeds, fruits, nuts, berries, nectar
• Water Sources. For example: birdbath, pond, water garden, stream
• Place for Cover. For example: Thicket, rockpile, birdhouse
• Places to Raise Young. For example: Dense shrubs, vegetation, nesting box, pond
• Sustainable Gardening. For example: Mulch, compost, rain garde, chemical-free fertilizer
  

Because the elements can be both big and small, even a balcony or patio garden can become certified.

I dug our pond in such a way so that it would have a gentle river rock beach on one side for critters to come down and get a drink. There are lots of rock protrusions for birds and creatures to get a footing and splash in the recirculating water that runs over the rocks adjacent to the pond's "beach".

The slope is boggy and in full sun so I have canna lilies, potted Japanese water lilies, and lemon balm growing along the "beach" that provide cover for the critters.

The unplanned bonus of this design has been the honeybees! Every day, particularly in the warmer months, honeybees come from wherever their hives are and drink from the water on the "beach" side of the pond. The area is literally buzzing with activity everyday while the sun is shining.

I've had a number of visitors to the garden look in horror at the "beach" with all the bees and paper wasps buzzing about and say, "Oh my! You've got a yellow-jacket problem!"

Then I kindly explain the difference between paper wasps and yellow-jackets--how the paper wasps are so non-aggressive that they won't even sting me if I knock down one of their paper-like honeycomb nests.

I also explain (and often demonstrate) that I can walk right out on the rocks through the buzzing activity and step into the pond to perform maintenance. I'm usually met with looks of astonishment.

How come I don't get stung repeatedly?

Well, when bees are focused on drinking water that's what they're focused on... water. They are visitors on turf that isn't their hive, and they know it. If I came to their hive and started jostling them about, then it would be a different story. Even though there are a large number of bees on the water's edge, they aren't swarming (a behavior associated with hive defense and colony relocation). They aren't agitated, and as long as I don't step on one or have one fly down my shirt and get scared (that's only happened once), they leave me alone as if they were a bunch of butterflies.

I've been highly fortunate to have these wonderful pollinators in my garden year after year. They have blessed us with wonderful produce: tomatoes, beans, mandarins, strawberries, pomegranates, lemons, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, and plums. And I always plant some flowers just for the bees and the butterflies as a repayment for their services.

Yes, balance definitely starts with "bee".

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Sunflower Sunday

Today, just outside the little red door of Rosehaven Cottage blooms the first sunflower of this summer. The pale lemon-yellow sunflower is a "volunteer" from last year's sunflowers.

We keep our sunflowers up on their dried stalks long after they've wilted so the birds can use them as natural birdfeeders and pick every last seed out of them. But no matter how ravenous those birds are, there's always a few seeds that fall to the ground and reseed for the next year.

This is the first of those to bloom in the Rosehaven Cottage gardens this year--yet another happy delight of summer.

The Best (and Easiest) Way to Make a Difference

Today, October 15th, is the day that many bloggers will unite their voices in speaking about making our world a healthier and more beautiful place to live by being environmentally aware.
I have an interesting perspective about this issue, one that I've come to realize is quite unique. I hope that by sharing it, I can somehow make a small difference.

For those that are skimmers and not readers... here's my opinion in a nutshell...
One does not have to win a Nobel Peace Prize, make a film, donate thousands upon millions of dollars, or become a chest-thumping activist to make a difference in this world as far as the environment is concerned. One simply has to be a good steward over that which one has been given and pass that legacy of awareness and good stewardship on to the next generation in one way or another. It's that simple. How do I know? Because I am a product of it!

Let me introduce you, dear readers, to my great-grandparents, William and Elsie. They are pictured here riding mules during a long summer vacation in Yosemite National Park in 1912.

They traveled to Yosemite via covered wagon from their home in Oakland, California. By car on today's modern roads it is a 3-4 hour trip, so you can imagine how long it took in a covered wagon!

William ("Bill") and Elsie were simple city folk. They didn't have a lot of money. Bill was a metalworker and would have been considered "blue collar" nowadays. Elsie was a homemaker who was active in her community organizations. They were also nature-lovers. They loved the outdoors and took time for daytrips to enjoy the many beautiful outdoor areas around their local San Francisco Bay Area. During summers, they would enjoy longer vacations that were simple and inexpensive like trips to Yosemite.

Bill was an avid gardener and amateur horticulturist grafting fruit trees, growing roses, and maintaining a produce garden on his urban lot in Oakland. Elsie had been raised by gardening parents so she had a connection to gardens as well. Together they made room for gardens and a chicken coop on their city lot. Bill and Elsie's three children (Little Elsie, Jack, and Fred) grew up with gardens being a part of their upbringing.

Top left: Bill holding his oldest, Little Elsie (my Grammy) out in his garden (note the chicken coop behind him).
Top right: Elsie (my Grammy) and Jackie out in the family garden.
Bottom left: Jackie out in the flower garden (note how close their neighbors are and also note that they don't have the traditional lawn).
Bottom right: Fred helping in the garden with a watering can almost too big to lift.

Once they had children, Bill and Elsie continued to take daytrips around the Bay Area to enjoy nature. And they also took their children on longer vacations to national parks throughout the state of California, including Yosemite. Camping and visiting national parks was an inexpensive way to have a family vacation. It was also a great way to get away from the city and enjoy the beauties of nature. No longer needing to take a covered wagon, they took the family automobile on these excursions. Although not recommended by any means, Bill went so far as to feed the bears at Yosemite to have a "close up" nature encounter (pictured at left).

Passing It On
This love of nature and gardening was easily and very naturally passed on to my Grammy Elsie. Subsequently, my Grammy passed that love of nature as well as a sense of stewardship over earth's many beauties to her three daughters, one of whom being my mother.

As a conservative suburban housewife in the 1960's, my mother started early passing on those values and understandings to her own children. I was her first, so my early experiences are probably more well-documented photographically, but all three of us got the choice experience of being raised by a mom who was always gently telling us about those things in nature that we were surrounded by every day. My mom would matter-of-factly indentify trees, plants, and flowers for us and then shared some special childhood memory connected to them if there was one. And she would teach us "tricks" on how to identify them.

My mom took advantage of opportunities to take us to local petting zoos, natural history museums, and parks, so we could have firsthand experience with animals. These experiences helped us gain an understanding and love for animals which is an essential part of the foundation of an environmentally-conscious adult. My mother also did other unorthodox things. For instance, she knew I was fascinated with horses so sometimes after mowing the lawn she took me to feed the lawn clippings (and some carrots she brought along) to some horses at a nearby field. As opportunities arose, she would gently share her knowledge of how everything in nature is interdependent. We learned the "circle of life" long before it was ever portrayed in an animated motion picture. On family vacations to Disneyland, she would slip into the itinerary stops at the California Missions so we could see a bit of history and tour the gardens or visit the working farms that still existed. Mind you, we aren't Catholic. This was just my mom's way of educating us about the environment in a stealthy but effective way.

Top left: Me at about age 3 or 4 out on a nature outing in the wintertime.
Top right: Me at age 2 at the Oakland Zoo hugging a goat.
Bottom left: Me feeding some horses our lawn clippings. My mom drove me and the clippings there, because she knew I loved horses.
Bottom right: My sister and me out in nature in the wintertime.

My mom also had books about nature, gardening, and animals present in our family library. Whenever we wanted, we could pull a book off the shelf and browse. She was available to answer questions, but for the most part the journey of discovery in those books was a private one for each of us. Interestingly, one of my favorites when I was 5 or 6 years old was an Audubon Society guide to North American birds. As I became a more advanced reader there were books available to me such as the James Herriot All Creatures Great and Small series. I was welcome to take them and read them at my leisure. I ended up reading the entire James Herriot series over the course of a year on the school bus on the way to high school when I was a freshman. Those books gave me an understanding of man's relationship to animals that still impacts me today.

Affecting Adulthood
As an adult, all those understandings and values about the environment were part of me. The fibers are so intertwined with who I am, there is no question that I care about the environment and want to make a difference. I had learned through example that the best way to make a difference was to start with what I had control over--my own home.

In our first apartment as newlyweds, I planted tomatoes and flowers in pots on our front stoop and in the little narrow strips of dirt around our miniscule patio. Later when we moved to Rosehaven Cottage, the potted Red Japanese Honeysuckle (a favorite of bees and hummingbirds) and white "Princess Diana" Bower Vine that were on that front stoop became a part of the Rosehaven Cottage garden and are still here today growing madly up the front pergola.

Rosehaven Cottage's gardens were a blank canvas. The lot isn't terribly large, but I saw in it the potential to become the gardens I had always wanted. Rosehaven Cottage sits in an interesting geographical location of being somewhat rural but just within sight of an oil refinery's stacks. So there is an odd combination of industry and nature happening all at the same time.

I scoured the internet for resources on how to plant a garden that would be friendly to the animals and insects that already lived here and provide them with a home in the midst of industry. Through the help of my mother (again giving me gentle guidance), I found the National Wildlife Federation's website on how to build your own backyard wildlife habitat. I used their guidelines and eventually certified the Rosehaven Cottage gardens with their national registry.

Now I chronicle my experiences with my garden and backyard wildlife habitat here at this blog.

The Bottomline
The best, most effective, and easiest way to make a difference in this world is to start at home.

Educate yourself about what surrounds you. Learn why bees and other insects need water sources that you can easily provide for them in any setting. Learn what frog is keeping you up at night with its incessant ribbet-ribbet-ribbet. Learn how to use the hundred-year-old method of companion planting instead of using pesticides in your garden. Learn why it is better to let your flowers go to seed and not always have a perfectly coifed garden.

Learn, learn, learn! We've got an amazing tool available to us--the internet! So, why not use it?

Then implement what you've learned in your own living situation. As my great-grandparents proved, you don't have to live on a farm or be financially well-off to do it. A few potted plants on a fire escape makes a difference.

And once you've learned and begun to implement what you've learned into your own living sitation then gently pass that knowledge and experience on to the next generation through example.

It's as simple as that.

The True Beauty of a Sunflower

Am I alone in finding beauty in a sunflower whose bloom has long since gone? Even as a small child I found the center of a sunflower completely fascinating with all the seeds so perfectly formed and lined up in neat concentric circles. The dry outer edges with their white "whiskers" always intrigued my childhood imagination as well.

Now that I'm older and maintain my own backyard wildlife habitat, there is an added beauty to the dried and spent sunflowers. In planning the Rosehaven Cottage gardens so they could be a certified habitat, I read a lot, and one of the things I remember reading was that if you're a neatnik and a control freak, a wildlife habitat is probably not going to be your cup of tea. Why? Because finely manicured gardens don't necessarily provide the food and shelter that little creatures need to be happy.

I discovered in the first couple of growing seasons, that spent sunflowers remaining in the garden long after the sunflower is "sunny" are a staple of the Rosehaven Cottage habitat. The tall dried stalks get stronger the drier they become, and eventually transform into natural birdfeeders during the lean winter months when the birds can't find insects to munch on because it's too cold for insects to be out and about in the garden.

Many birds winter-over in the Bay Area of Northern California where Rosehaven Cottage is located. These birds thrive on the yummy sunflower seeds that wait and ripen from summer's bloom until winter's birdy harvest. House finches, oak titmouses, scrub jays, woodpeckers, and many seasonal birds find the drooping dried heads and hang from them surgically extracting seeds with their beaks as the winter rains come down around them.

The giant varieties like the Kong sunflower are particularly fun. Their giant heads sit atop thick trunk-like stalks that are up to 14 feet tall. Each giant dish head can hold hundreds of seeds. The birds don't finally deplete the giant heads of their bounty until very late into the winter around February. And because our last frost is usually around the middle to the end of March, the insect population comes back early enough in the year that the seeds last through the lean months until another food source comes along. It is a fascinating and miraculous cycle that I have witnessed year after year, and yet it never ceases to bring me joy and wonder.

Pacific Tree Frogs at Rosehaven Cottage

Shortly after the first rainy winter we lived at Rosehaven Cottage, it became clear that we had drainage problems in areas of our back garden. So, I got out there with shovel in hand and decided to just take advantage of the situation. I dug a pond... a 1,200 gallon pond (Hubby still thinks I'm a little too happy about playing in the mud and dirt).

Anyway, after digging the pond, lining it, and filling it we hoped that it would eventually attract amphibians to our little wildlife habitat that we were just trying to establish.

We didn't have to wait long. One night the next February, a lone little frog began ribbeting in our back garden next to the pond shortly after sunset. We were so happy! All night the little frog ribbeted. All night! That frog croaked from sunset to sunrise, literally!

The next night at sunset that little frog was joined by two others little froggy voices making a trio that serenaded us all night long. "Wow!" we thought, "The little guy actually got some friends to join him."

The next night we had a whole chorus "singing" out in our back garden. "What have we done?!?!" we thought with panic in our eyes as sleep became harder to harder to achieve.

The nightly froggy serenades continued throughout the months of February, March, and April. We eventually got used to the sound (or at least I did). One night we heard the neighbor come out his back door and scream, "Shut up!!!!" at the frogs. They didn't listen.

Then suddenly around the end of April, the frogs stopped this nightly ritual. We'd hear a little ribbet now and then on a drizzly day, but the nightly cacophony stopped. We had grown so used to it that the silence seemed eerie.

Well, as it turns out the chorus was due to mating season. All that carrying on was so that Pacific Tree Frogs far and wide would be alerted that a great place to lay eggs had been found--our pond!

The tadpoles eventually started to appear as the eggs matured. They eventually grew legs and then set up residence around the pond. I was amazed at how tiny they were. These itsy bitsy perfect little frogs so small that they could fit on the tip of my index finger. They stayed in the cracks and crevices of the rocks around the pond until they were big enough to leap away and find froggy homes someplace else (until breeding season came around again).

The same cacophony happens every year around January and lasts until April or so. It is amazing how noisy a frog can be when it's only less than an inch long. The females "purr" while the males make the quintessential froggy noise that one hears in the background of many movies (Pacific Tree Frog recordings are what are often used in films by sound editors).

Right now the frogs are very quiet. I don't even know they're there unless I happen upon one as it's sitting waiting to catch a nice juicy bug. That's what happened this evening as the sun was setting and the heat in the garden began to dissipate. I found one just sitting on a canna lily leaf waiting for its next meal, most likely ousted from its cool subterranean home by the watering system that had just been on (these frogs really don't like getting wet unless its mating season). I went and retrieved my camera and shot these photographs of the little cutey. I probably won't think it's so cute come January though.

Lizards at Rosehaven Cottage

Daisy the Curly Cat asked if we have any lizards at Rosehaven Cottage. Well, I am pleased to inform Daisy that we do! Daisy loves lizards but does not like alligators. Fortunately, we don't have alligators here in No. California. Whew!

The lizards at Rosehaven Cottage are very stealthy creatures. Although, our wild garden kitty Oreo has caught one or two. Tom Tom caught one a month or so ago. My husband saw Tom Tom on the porch while I was gardening (Tom Tom only goes out when I'm out). Hubby found me in the garden and said, "Tom Tom has some big insect in his mouth." Well, I went to investigate and found that Tom Tom was finishing off the last of a lizard that he'd been eating. We called Tom Tom "Lizard Breath" for the next couple of days after that.

Because the lizards are very stealthy, I rarely get an opportunity to photograph them. That said, I have been fortunate to get the two photographs featured here just so Daisy can enjoy them.

Lizards are fairly easy to attract to one's garden if one takes the steps to do so. I wanted that at Rosehaven Cottage so I researched what I needed to do in my backyard wildlife habitat. Lizards love rock piles and stones with niches between them. So that's why we've provided lots of those around the garden. The lizards in the Rosehaven Cottage gardens love the planters that I've constructed out of chunks of recycled concrete [see photo below].

In the evening right before sunset, I have been privileged to watch a lizard come out on the flat rocks around the edge of the pond and hunt for insects. It was fascinating to watch! In fact, just yesterday as I sat by the pond feeding the fish, a lizard came out on the same rock on the pond's edge. It must be the "hunting rock" [see photo below]. They are great friends to have in the garden because they eat a lot of the bugs I don't want around my produce.

Lizards also need a source of water that is easy to get to so I provided little drippers as part of the irrigation system that are low to the ground which both water the garden produce and provide water for the lizards. The waterfall in the pond is also very gentle as it pours over long flat rocks so the lizards can get a sip there [see photo below]. The little birds like it too.

Pussycat in the Posies and Other Garden Serendipity

Pussycat in the Posies
(this photo is now available in a greeting card)

I was strolling around outside today just puttering in the garden with my camera in tow. I was enjoying the mild summer weather we're having and the wonderful coastal breezes. I had my camera with me because I'd just gotten done trying to photograph some items for the online store I'll be opening soon on Etsy (didn't like the effect I was getting with the light) so I decided to meander around and just enjoy the outside instead of focusing on my frustrating failed photography attempt.

I was enjoying looking at all the flowers in bloom, taking shots of them. I came around the corner of the pink rosebush and there was our little wild garden kitty Oreo who had been sleeping in a bed of posies and was sitting up all groggy from her nap. She was just so cute amidst the blooms that I had to take her photo (although I had to do so gingerly or I'd frighten her).

(The photo below is now available in a greeting card)
When I encountered Oreo, I had originally been headed to look at a sunflower that I saw blooming from the other side of the garden. I wanted a better look at it to see if it was worth photographing. It was! The background of the burgeoning green fennel fronds was perfect.

The sunflowers that I got from K. only a couple of weeks ago are so happy where I've planted them throughout the front garden. I'm enjoying their little sunshiney-faces as they begin to bloom around the garden adding a splash of brightness here and there.

Later when I went into the back garden to feed the goldfish, I again had my camera around my neck just in case there was a shot I wanted to get. Good thing too, because as I neared the pond I saw a tiny movement out of the corner of my eye. I slowly bent down to see if it was what I thought it was. I was right! It was one of the cute little lizards that lives out among the stones around the pond. I always see them but never have my camera with me when I do. And they're so darn fast it's really hard to photograph them anyway. Well, this one decided to lay really still and play "camo lizard" and let me get close enough to get a great shot or two before it scurried away.

Why the Right Water Source Is So Important In My Habitat

One of the four main components necessary in order to have a backyard wildlife habitat is a source of water. I always assumed it was for the birds and that a birdbath would suffice. It wasn't until I put in a pond a few years ago that I realized that the water sustains more than just the birds and that a birdbath doesn't really cut it particularly for important insects, like honeybees, that often drown in it while trying to get water.

I designed my pond based on the guidelines I found at the National Wildlife Federation's website on backyard wildlife habitats (it is also where I eventually applied for and received my official certification from the NWF).

NWF's guidelines suggested that somewhere in the pond needed to be protruding rocks for smaller creatures to be able to get to the water or out of the water if they fell in accidentally.

NWF's guidelines also suggested possibly a "beach" area that sloped into the water so the transition was gradual. Again, it was for smaller creatures to be able to access the water without falling in and drowning.

I did both in my pond just for safe measure. I put in an "island" with rocks of all sizes on it, and I also made a flowing water current over river rock that was set on a beach-like area. The water current starts from a waterfall over flat rocks and then passes on both sides of that "island" in a Y to the main deeper section of the pond where the pump is located that sends the water back up to the bio-filter and then out over the flat rocks and back down the river rock again. It's kind of a closed system beach, creek bed and pond all in one.

This evening as I was out feeding the fish before sunset (they're favorite feeding time), I noticed once again why my design and the NWF guidelines are so critical to my habitat. The honeybees were coming down to the water's edge on the big round river rocks at the tip of the Y and getting sips of water as it gurgled by. The bees like to get down in the crevices between the rocks on the island in little groups. It's quite enchanting to watch them. I can get within inches of them, and they've never stung me. They are too busy getting the precious water to be concerned with me.

As I watched them, I knew that they had just finished a busy day of humming from one bee-friendly flower in my garden to the next. They probably lighted on the newly bloomed sunflowers in the front garden at some point today (bees love sunflowers). They also probably sampled the canna lilies too just as the hummingbirds do. And then I'm sure they did the job that I need them to do of pollinating all the blossoms in my fruit and vegetable garden in raised boxes throughout the flower gardens (done to encourage balance in good insect population so I don't have to use pesticides on my produce--this is the year 6 that I haven't had to use ANY).

I had my camera with me this evening, and I photographed the bees as they got their drinks before going back the hive for the night, wherever it may be. And I found myself being thankful that I had made my gardens a wildlife habitat. I found myself grateful that the honeybees have not disappeared from my little part of the world.

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