Pet
Easter 2011 is history so now I can share my persistent dream (nightmare). Has to do with darling fuzzy tailed bundles of adorable cuteness. Bunny Wabits abound around here. We see them hip hopping through the grass with plentiful patches of clover into the woods to join their burgeoning families. Do they stop and munch, oh maybe a little bit, but mostly they are making a beeline to my lilies. Yes, the very same lilies planted last fall, watered, fertilized and mulched, ready to bloom in to spring glory. And now munched down to a pulp by hungry cotton tails. In other years we like to say “Poor little fellas. They need water, so dry so why begrudge them a few juicy plants?” But this year we have had enough rain for each bunny to have his own lake. And the clover crop is outstanding. So why are those fiends devouring my lilies ready to bloom? Rabbit stew anyone? Or should I say delicious pest stew.
Karen
LOL Pet! Don’t you know rabbits are very discriminating creatures? Why eat clover when you can have a luscious lily that some human slaved over! As I’ve said in the past, Pasadena is like a visit to foraging critter land. Although rabbits are not as plentiful here, we are over run by raccoons, skunks and opossums. Not to mention the forager that Pasadena is famous for because of all the trees…the squirrel! I’m telling you the city of roses is Heaven for the bushy tailed little critters. And boy do they drive me crazy!!!! Why is it that the perfect place to hide the hundreds of nuts they’ve gathered is all over my pretty green lawn? And even though they live in sunny all the time Southern California they act like it’s Fall year round. They never stop gathering acorns from Pasadena’s stately oak tress. And of course my yard is the hot spot for storing a lifetime of food!
Pet
Down south we call that pest dish Brunswick stew. All those nuts make the bushy tailed critters mighty tasty. Only fair since they eat our goodies we eat them! Matter of fact, since reading your blog (info) about the delicious insects served in fine Japanese restaurants, I’ve been thinking about serving the family bug pasta starring many legged super critters. You guessed right! Those little SOBs eating my darling pansies are destined for the dinner plate. Talk about discriminating: the pansy eating pests prefer the yummy flowers to the spinach like leaves. While mulling over recipes I’m dumping granular insecticide circling each little plant so some colors are finally emerging. One way or the other, we exterminate garden pests if we can, something we can’t do to the human ones. But that’s a topic for another blog.
Karen
Gee Pet did you wake up on the mean side of the bed? : ) What a way to talk about our helpless little fluffy tailed friends! Now bugs are another matter. As you know when I was in Japan I partook of some yummy insect friends. And they taste like chicken. Not! Roasted beetles taste a bit like popcorn. If you put on a blindfold you’d swear they were a very tasty snack. Here in Pasadena we are pretty lucky when it comes to bugs. We have as many friendly bugs as enemies to our gardens. Lot’s of ladybugs and praying mantis to take care of most of the aphids that love to chomp on my lovely roses. But there is one pest that has shown up on the scene that I’d gladly hit with a nhapalm bomb…. termites!!!!!! They are chewing on my beautiful front porch! The one I labored over last year doing a four color Painted Lady paint job! Now I have to go back and redo whole sections!!!!! Die termites die!!!!!!!
Pet
Hey city girl…I’m not about to call you a meanie for sending interesting scientific termites to bug heaven. So lay off me and my desire to rid the world of cotton-tales. I always root for the weaker one. So when the coyotes attack I’ll root for the rabbits and my 11 pound dachsaranian (mom dachshund, dad Pomeranian), all tasty morsels for the coyotes. But in the battle between warm blooded critters and helpless plants, no matter the sentiments from songs and books, I’m behind the plants. So there PETA! Ah, but sometimes we come across a most beautiful plant which can only be labeled as pest. Even if you could possibly forget the pollen floating through the air and which tree they come from you’ll always recall the horrible itch coming from the red gold leaves of that awful plant pest POISEN IVY. Unfortunately abundance grows at the edge of our woods, home of the cotton tails who are completely unaffected. I see a raging example of no justice!
Karen
I say power to the bunnies!!!!!! : ) I have friend you should meet. She has a thing for bushwhacking Bambi. Her amazing garden in the Hollywood Hills is over run by deer. She has tried everything to keep them at bay. The go-to repellant is Cougar pee. No, not the pee from over 40 year-old women trolling for 20-year-old boys. : ) We are talking Mountain Lion pee. They sell it for big bucks at the local nursery. I’d like to meet the guy who collects that for a living! Probably doesn’t have a whole lot of job security. : ) Out of desperation and a dwindling pocket book she tried a bunch of other things. Dog pee, cat pee, she even tried her boyfriend peeing on the bushes. Nothing worked. But one day she got a brilliant idea. If fake owls can keep crows away, something might work for deer too. So on a beautiful sunny day she called me up with triumph in her voice, “The deer are gone!! You have to come see what finally worked.” So I took the trek over to her house. She gleefully led me to her backyard and pointed to the top of the hillside. “Look isn’t he gorgeous!” I had to stuff back a laugh when I saw who “He” was. A giant life sized Grizzly Bear!
Pet
Actually any urine from warm blooded animals is supposed to keep the pests away. That’s why we welcome cats and dogs to our flower beds. Since we’re close to the road the neighbors demur but I must admit in the wee hours of very dark nights yours truly sneaks out and…take that you blasted cotton-tailed rodents. The best tactic still is plant something they don’t care for. The irises are blooming unscathed right next to the chomped down lilies. Somewhere I picked up the fact, or notion, that rows of marigolds would turn the stomachs of rabbits, squirrels, even those grubs and grasshoppers. WRONG! The distinct aroma of the orange and gold beauties attracted pests from fields and stream to stop by for a gourmet treat…baby marigolds. Wonder they didn’t order fries with that.
Karen
LOL Pet! The termites must think my beautiful gingerbread front porch is the real thing by the way they are munching down! I know there is always a balance to nature and you have to take the good with the bad but it would be nice if the nasty pest would just go extinct. I mean would really be devastated if black widows suddenly bit the dust? Or how about scorpions? Would the desert just collapse if they all just vanished into thin air? And I’m not saying this lightly as my astrological sign is Scorpio! But in the end we are pretty powerless when it comes to Mother Nature. She’s got her reasons for subjecting us to pests. So to make my peace with her I try to let the good bugs fight it out with the bad and cross my fingers my roses will survive Spring aphid season. But shush………don’t tell Mother Nature I stack the deck by buying tons of ladybugs from the local garden store. : )
Pet: All I can say at this point is phooey on pests. Happy gardening everyone!
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