“You should go and look at the pond!”
I was told yesterday.
When I got around to thinking it was a good idea, I did.
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It looks like the making of wetlands, though eventually I’ve no doubt it will drain off.
In the five years we’ve been here, this has never happened before.
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Usually winter precipitation comes in the form of snow which melts at a rate the hard ground can absorb.
When it arrives as liquid, – pond.
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We would be happy to have a permanent pond with ducks and bullrushes and so forth, but then I suppose we would have more mosquitoes too.
Seeing the reflections, I decided I would make one of my rare excursions to the bottom field.
Usually it’s either too buggy or too deep in snow.
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From above the young pine trees look small so I was surprised to find that most of them are as tall as me.
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And one of two considerably taller!
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Also very wet.
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Bits of our neighbour’s hydrangea had been torn off and blown along by strong winds.
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It’s unlikely the hydrangea will germinate but the milkweed will.
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Milkweed is hard to suppress.
Last year, I pulled dozens of them out of my flower beds which still left many for the butterflies.
Milkweed is where the Monarchs deposit their eggs.
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Last year was very disappointing as regards the Monarchs.
It was such a delight previously, to follow the whole metamorphosis from egg to caterpillar, chrysalis, to butterfly.
It wasn’t something we had taken for granted, but it was distressing last summer to see two chrysalises die.
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Sadly my maple tree is not doing well.
We moved it from in front of the house, hoping it would have more room to grow down in the field.
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But the ground here is all wrong.
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So what of the young pine trees?
Grant thinks they will provide shelter and sustenance to some creatures even if they don’t grow tall.
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As I was “down below”, I had a look under the bushes which grow in front of the house and yanked out a few invasive creepers.
The sparrows gave me a right telling off:
“Yo, missus! This is our bush!”
I like very much, Carolyn, your idea of planting trees in an otherwise empty field. Keep us posted on the progress, please. The more trees, the better air for you, and a shelter for the birds.
Joanna
How often do you cut the field, if indeed you do?
Over here they call it “brush hog”. Don’t ask why! A man comes at the end of autumn with a big machine that removes all those nasty invasive things so that the following year we just have the right grasses and milkweed. Better for wildlife, so I’m told. I hope so!
Sounds good to me!
Maybe not just more mosquitoes, but you’ll also have to keep quite a few food supplies for the pond visitors! So, maybe it’s good that you guys don’t have a pond. I like the pine trees.
Sad to say, the Maple tree looks to be terminally ill. The ground is still a lot like that around Beetley, and two days of constant rain so far this week will not improve that.
Best wishes, Pete.