A Tiny Tree Frog

A little green tree frog hidden in the rhododendron

Sometimes the best garden art is the kind that surprises you.  The kind that you hear before you see, and at first can't even find.  I love the daily unfolding of life in the garden--creatures and plants working together, and me joining in the melee as both an observer and a natural force of my own.

And then, the discovery of a tiny tree frog hidden by its color, but adding its voice to the garden.  Nature once again providing the best garden art.

A Goat-proof Rabbit Hutch

Most rabbits live safe lives inside rabbit hutches.  They might be bored, but they definitely don't have to compete for food.  Our rabbit, on the other hand, lives a free life.  He is able to come and go into his hutch at will, and has a large yard to hop around.  The downside is that he shares his life with goats who are obsessed with eating his food.

We had refurbished his old hutch (time and again...) to be as goat-proof as possible; but even still, with four masters of destruction (the goats) working away on the hutch, it was falling apart. When the roof nearly collapsed, replacing the rabbit hutch moved to the top of our list. Brian and Sophie used the last few days of summer to design and build a goat-proof rabbit hutch--not necessarily something most rabbit owners need to consider!

So what does a goat-proof rabbit hutch look like?  A completely enclosed home with hidden access. The goats are totally locked out.  The rabbit door is actually a hole in the floor of the hutch that he comes up through.  And it took nearly 8 hours for Parsley's pea-sized brain to figure out how to do this. We used treat lures, a ramp, and even picked him up and put him inside to show him the "door" in the floor of his new home.  

He is quite pleased with himself now.  He is able to eat his food in peace, while the goats look longingly through the wire mesh, unable to find a way to his food.  And we are able to fill his food dish through a latched opening in the top of the hutch.  So far, the new hutch has confounded the goats.

Perhaps the best upside to the new hutch is that it is lower to the ground, and little Sweet Pea (the African Pygmy) finally has a perch that she can jump onto.  Her short little legs have kept her from being able to access the high places our other goats love, and it's nice to see her have a little accomplishment in her life.

Sweet Pea--our tiny African pygmy goat

A Verbena View

Verbena bonariensis

One of the benefits of my untidy garden, is having plants that pop up where I least expect them.  I love the "self-seeders"; and you really only get them if you practice some garden neglect.  Half of the color in my garden comes from plants that have seeded themselves.  And yes, there are times when they run a little rampant (the yellow Welsh poppies are a good example of this!), and need some reining in.  But I am usually quite happy with the robust, colorful plants who put themselves where they feel most comfortable, and joyfully bloom away.

The foliage of this verbena is almost non-existent.  The plant is light and airy, with purple flowers perched high atop green stalks.  They almost float above the garden.

And there is a certain type of white butterfly who loves this plant.  It seems that almost every flower stalk has a butterfly on it, or fluttering nearby.  I never get tired of watching them.  Luckily I have several verbenas near the deck where I can watch the interplay of white butterfly and purple flower.

When the weather turns and we are forced indoors by winter cold and rain, I will think back to summer days like this.  Sitting on our sun-soaked deck with a glass of iced tea, surrounded by birds, butterflies and blooms.

Crocosmia--Late Summer Sunshine

Crocosmia naturalized on a hillside

Crocosmia is a plant that captures colors straight from the sun, and brings them to the late summer garden.   The tiny bulbs naturalize easily on slopes or fringe areas of the garden.  And once established, they need no extra water.  For some reason, they are blooming really profusely this year.  I can only guess that they have liked our cooler than normal summer weather.  But whatever the reason, they are definitely catching my eye right now.

Bright yellow centers glow in the sunlight

The foliage is sword-shaped, and almost resembles a clump of grass.  In the spring, the new shoots emerge pale-green, and are a welcome sight after a long winter.

Crocosmia comes in shades of yellow, orange and red

This is a plant that is very easy to divide and is common to a lot of Northwest gardens.  It's readily available in all of the nurseries, but if you have a friend who loves to garden, chances are they would be happy to share a few crocosmia bulbs.