At last a sunny day on Thursday to match the other days of the week; Thursdays have been rainy this month. It has been a perfect week for working in the garden and I am satisfied with what I have achieved.
Most of the roses have been pruned and I am working my way around the beds removing weeds (not too many in most places and clearing dead stems and flower heads I had left standing for the winter.
I checked my photographs for last year and I was wrong to suggest the Californian poppies would be flowering in March, last year the first ones were in April – it might be March this year as everything is growing so well.
As I was taking the usual shots of the slope I spotted a Muscari fully open, I’d seen lots just poking through the soil, many have become so congested I don’t think they will even flower this year some drastic action is needed to spread them around the garden, some will go to the new Spring Walk which I now realise doesn’t have enough early small bulbs, something I will redress this autumn.
The Californian poppies are large now
Single Muscari at the bottom of the slope
Looking up, can you see the blue at the top of the slope?
The stream of blue runs following the contours of the slope and then runs down to the drive
Even these are very over-crowded
Blue Teucrium with Muscari beneath
But I digress, once I’d seen the open Muscari at the bottom of the slope I realised that at the top, below the shrubs that protect the garden from the summer winds, there was a veritable stream of blue. As I’d climbed to the top of the slope I carried on up to the upper slope path and walked back to the house passed the Crimson Zone which revealed that the Hyacinths were opening their flowers too.
Hyacinth Miss Saigon with emerging Sedum foliage
Hyacinth Miss Saigon
Just past these I found this
a mystery death
blocking my path. I don’t often find anything dead in the garden, and I’m not 100% sure what this is. I think the tail is much too short for it to be a rat and the hind legs look like a mole (there’s always some of them around the garden!) Where the head should be it looks like something coming out of its mouth. What killed it? Probably a cat, I think it is too large a prey for the Little Owl and anyway it must have been dug out of the soil if it is a mole. Any ideas? anyone please???
Do you find dead wildlife in your garden?
Unfortunately we do find a fair amount of dead wildlife in the garden. We have had one dead mole, a neighbouring cat was responsible for that we think as we later saw it running away with it. Shrews which we think have been left by Tawny owls as they don’t taste very nice apparently, plenty of birds with just the heart missing, left behind by Sparrow hawks, etc. This is the problem, once you make your garden welcome to wildlife, then you have to let them get on with life, even when they kill each other.
On a lighter note, your muscari are making a lovely river of blue and aren’t your hyacinths a beautiful colour.
From the images do you think this is a mole? I was pleased with the Hyacinth as I wanted to add to the crimson colurs just here and you never really know from descriptions whether things will be the colour you really want, plus I think they actually look better in their second year, somehow their growth is more natural.
Yes, Christina, I think it is a mole, just wasn’t aware that they had tails though!
The tail was very short.
We occasionally find dead birds or a mouse that neighbouring cats have played with, and more rarely a snake or lizard that a bird has perhaps dropped – usually identifiable! Down near the canal I sometimes saw dead baby moles… I’d say this is a mole, judging from the fur and the claws on its feet, and they do have stubby little tails. The top bit probably WAS its head and has been chewed! (Hope nobody’s squeamish who reads this!)
The Muscari look lovely – I can imagine a river of them flowing down the slope – lovely idea. 😀
Strangely it doesn’t look chewed and you’d think you would see its teeth? The slope has several blue plants that form streams; the Muscari, prostrate rosemary and the wild iris, there were alliums but they didn’t last.
Enjoyed seeing your Muscari in bloom. Mine hasn’t done well in ages so I should follow your lead to relocate it and spread it around. Miss Saigon is very showy and colorful.
I’ve been meaning to divide the Muacari for a while, I will try to do it this weekend if it doesn’t rain!
Oh, good to know it can be done now and not wait for fall. Thanks,
Ideally you should wait for them to finish flowering but if they aren’t likely to flower like some of mine then I think I will have more time now and it will be easier to see where they are needed.
Your mole looks very pathetic but probably not missed by you as they can make a mess in the garden. I have my fair share but haven’t had a dead one. We have a lot of buzzards and other birds of prey around here so I think they will probably tidy up any sad bodies. Unfortunately, they also sweep down on our birds too. It’s good to see everything popping through.
The moles do quite a lot of damage as they remove the earth from the roots so the plants can’t get water also sometimes mice or rats use the tunnels and they eat the roots. We have lots of birds of prey too but I don’t think they could take moles, I’m surprised, if it was a cat that killed it that it didn’t eat more of it, I once saw a small kitten eat a bird completely including the feathers!
Hello, I was expecting a dead plant as I scrolled through! I am sure that is a mole, see the paddle shaped hind legs, but they have four, so guessing the front two are in the mess at the top of the body. Its odd that the carcass was not eaten. We do have the occasional dead mouse left by our rescue cat, but I prefer that to when mice get in the kitchen.
Like you I’m very surprised more of it wasn’t eaten.
the blue muscari look lovely Christina, I don’t have any something I must change, Frances
The bulk up very quickly so don’t plant them too close together as I did!
We have lots of wildlife and thus some dead bodies, although rather fewer now that we no longer have a cat! I agree, it looks like a mole. We have so many moles playing havoc in the field I would be very happy to lose some. The muscari are lovely. I like the very vivid blue. Mine are quite a while of flowering up here.
Hi sorry I’m late approving your comment, you were put in the spam box. WordPress doesn’t often get it wrong. I’m not sorry about the mole as they do a lot of damage, although they are very pretty animals and it is always sad to find something dead.
The hyacinth are nice, I like the color echo with the anemone. Not crazy about dead things in the garden… I don’t like all that drama going on unknown!
I’m pleased withthe Anemone/Hyacinth combo too.
Looks to me like a rat with its tail cut off. On a more pleasant note, I love blue muscari, both the color and the way they spread to create a river of blue. I have some, but never enough.
From the form of the back feet I am pretty sure it is a mole, the tail wasn’t damaged just very short.
Yes definitely a mole.
Miss Saigon is a lovely colour.
How lovely to have a stream of Muscari.
This morning the mole had dissapeared so something must have carried it off, a cat? With the sun more and more Muscari are openingtheir buds.
Could it be a shrew?
No a shrew is very small this was quite large and I am sure now that it was a mole.
Poor mole, wonder what happened to it? Looks like a trap injury to me. That hyacinth looks very pretty and I look forward to seeing more of your Crimson zone. Have a good weekend, Christina
Thanks Annette, you have a great weekend too. I don’t have any traps set up and I know that cats around here do catch moles so I think that is the most likely.
Your muscari does look very fetching here, Christina, so will you forgive me referring to its weed like tendencies?! 😉
It does have serious weed-like tendencies, there is no doubt!
The garden keeps bringing on more color there…yes we find dead critters in the garden. I leave them many times to become fertilizer.