A Maryland Country Garden

First Snow and Mr. Fox

I have been mostly MIA for the past year.  I have a good excuse though: I got cancer and had to have surgery for it last spring.  The timing was particularly unfortunate, as gardening goes, for it meant I was out of commission from early spring until late in the summer.  And by that time, everything had gone to wrack and ruin.  Oh, well, I hope to start with a clean slate this spring.  I will be starting with a clean slate as far as my health goes--I'm as cured as anyone who had cancer can ever be and I feel lucky it was caught very early. 

Anyway, we had our first snow last week--it was at least 4 inches.  I took some photos of the crabapples and snow.

 

And this morning my husband called me out to the kitchen and told me to look out the window.  There was a fox out by our hammock.  It seemed to be trying to catch a mouse or something too small to see from our distance.  And I noticed that when it walked, it had a limp. I apologize that the picture isn't clearer. 

This is one of the best things about living in the quasi-country, as we do:  lots of chances to see wildlife.

A Winter's Nap

This is what the deer do in the winter, especially now that I have no dogs to bother them:

They may be in for a surprise this Spring though--I will probably be getting another wolfhound.  If not this Spring then certainly sometime the following Fall.  The quiet life will be over.

Fountain Frog

I bought this big fountain from Costco last year.  Put it on the deck and planted a honeysuckle in a pot next to it.  I've been cleaning it out periodically all summer but I slacked off for a while the end of August.  I was finally going to clean it when I noticed something sitting in the corner.  Do you see it?
 

Here's a closer look:

So I had a really good excuse not to clean the fountain (the pump had finally died anyway). It's been living there for at least 3 weeks and I assume is eating the mosquito larvae that most be living in those murky, green depths. I've seen it dive into the water many times. Now I'm off to look-up what kind of frog (or toad?) it is. 

Strange catbird behavior

I know this is supposed to be a gardening blog but I've gotten interested in the birds around me, and it's gardening that caused that.   This year I've been particularly noticing the catbirds.  When we first moved here, about 15 years ago, the catbird was rarely seen unless I walked to the far back of my 6 acres.  They seemed very shy compared to many of the the other bird species.  It took many years before I started to occasionally see them near the house and a few years after that before I saw them regularly.  Now, they seem almost semi-tame as they forage for insects only 5 or 6 feet away from me as I do some weeding.

Today for the first time, I noticed some rather bizarre behavior.  A catbird hopped up onto the deck railing and then onto one of our cushioned outdoor chairs and assumed this position:

It just froze this way for several minutes and then hopped away.  It has done this at least 5 times in the past few hours that I've been watching from my kitchen window.  What could possibly be the cause?  At first I thought it was injured and was about to die, but as I opened the door to get a closer look, it hopped away.  And then 15 minutes later, there is was again, in the same pathetic pose.  I've Googled in vain.

Tall Lilies

I think these are Orienpet lilies, which are a hybrid of Oriental and Trumpet lilies.  This one is a very soft yellow with ivory.  I think it came in a "collection" from White Flower Farm, so I don't have a name for it.   The scent isn't as sweet as an Oriental lily but is still rather heavy and, honestly, I'm not crazy about it.  In my experience, the tall lilies (this one is about five feet) are pretty easy to grow and don't need staking.

Mystery Seedling

Can anyone help me identify this seedling?  At first, I thought is was poison ivy but now I don't think so.  It's all over my back yard in the grassy area near the house.  I've googled but no luck.  Anyone?