Pat’s Wildways: Garden Travails

Well, it looks like I can’t have everything. Bucko and I can’t leave home for weeks at a time and still have a functioning garden, or so it seems. Back in April I wrote a column extolling the wonders of spring and refreshing my garden. I was excited then to see my bed of sweet peas growing, with flowers for cutting to be expected soon and the zinnias in another bed were starting to take off too. I talked about planting scores of bulbs — gladiolas, freesias, ranunculus — in pots and in the butterfly garden itself. The wisteria vine was blooming, the scent filled the air, and I was proud of my garden.

But then we went away for three weeks. My friend Susan came over often to care for our cat, Melina, and to water the plants in the pots on our patio. The sprinkler system would take care of the rest. I left with the thought of blooming zinnias, sweet peas, ranunculus, and freesias that I would happily harvest and share with friends when I got back. Wonderful!

But upon our return, things in the yard had taken a sorry turn. The elevated bed of sweet pea vines had completely died and turned to brown, dry brush. The zinnias looked feeble. Some seemed to have survived, but just barely, and my expectations for a crop of zinnias have turned to maybe three flowers if that. What on earth! Well, it didn’t take long to figure it out. Our sprinkler system chose our vacation to break, and no water got into the side yard where these flowers were planted. Of course, they died.

But wait, I still had all those ranunculus and freesia bulbs I planted in pots, right? Where were the plants I expected? And then the other problem surfaced. Wild rabbits had appeared in my absence and eaten all of the newly sprouted bulbs. I inspected all the pots and only found chewed-off traces of stems. No harvest of flowers coming from this source either. And about half of my butterfly-attracting plants in large pots in my garden also succumbed to the rabbits.

But at least something worked out well. The plants I had on the patio that were being watered by our cat sitter were doing great! The mint, oregano and thyme plants in pots above the rabbit’s reach were doing great. And, lo and behold, there were actually some ripe tomatoes on the one plant I tried this year. These may be the first tomatoes I’ve ever been successful with. At least my green thumb is not totally rotten.

After a couple of weeks back from our cruise, I got over the despair of loss and set to work again making my garden right. I’ve planted cosmos and more zinnia seeds in the elevated beds and Bucko has assured me that the sprinkler system is in perfect working order once again. Here’s hoping. And I’ve made a few visits to Ace Hardware and now have replaced the desecrated plants with new ones that I hope rabbits don’t like. They avoided the sage and pentas, so I planted more of these. And milkweed is supposedly toxic to some animals — hopefully the rabbits will avoid them too. And just for good measure, I’ve planted more zinnia seeds in pots that I’ve now moved up on top of a backyard table out of the rabbits’ reach. It’s too late in the season and too hot to plant freesia and ranunculus bulbs again so these will have to wait until the fall.

But now, all is well once again in our backyard. The chaste trees are blooming, the beautyberry bushes are huge, the blackberries along the back fence are abundant and ripening and the tomatoes are ready to eat, with more on the way.

But now we are leaving again and this time my hopes are dimmed. If nothing else, at least Susan will get some ripe tomatoes and blackberries while we are gone. But who knows about the rest? I may have addressed the rabbit issue and Bucko may have addressed the sprinkler problems, but who knows what else nature will send our way. When we are home, I can manage things that are needed in the garden as they spring up. But when we are gone, there’s no telling what will happen next.

So my choice is to stay at home and protect my garden or travel every couple of months to places Bucko and I enjoy. And guess what I choose? Belize here we come again, garden be damned!

Pat Foster-Turley, Ph.D., is a zoologist on Amelia Island. She welcomes your nature questions and observations. patandbucko@yahoo.com