New Enemy

One might expect after reaching the midpoint of their seventh decade that little new remained to be seen.  This tunnel and the destruction that occurred under the Sedum and Siberian Iris is something that we have never before experienced.  Each Spring dead grass marked the existence of critters getting by under the snow cover.  Footsteps crushed the tunnels and the grass quickly regrew.

We have always let our Siberian Iris overwinter under a crown of dead leaves believing that the crown of the plants were insulated from the bitterness of many cold nights.  When we began to put things right, a section of iris pulled up revealing a tunnel under the plant and all of the roots gone.  The underside of the hard base of the crown was covered with teeth marks that looked like we had a visit from a tiny beaver.  Our guess is that a vole or several survived winter at the expense of our plants.

We expect that many replacement plants will be required to restore the garden's edge planting that is visible from the road.  Cutting the soon to be dead leaves will remove extensive thick cover that allowed the critters to move about unseen by any man or vole eating predator.  Luck was once again with me as my thrusting of fingers into the deep caverns found no one at home.  That lack of judgement will not be repeated.

This tiny piece of moss is growing on a solid chunk of tree bark that was only partially ground.  A silver dollar would completely cover this growth.  The tiny green spheres create the spores that will grow into new plants.  Capsules may be the proper name although fruiting bodies sounds like an accurate description of their function.  In the past moss never got a second look.  I cannot believe just how much was missed.  Another load of moss covered rocks was brought to line the paths that cross the shade garden.  This small piece of life will be given a new home in an indentation on one of them.