My Flowers Have a Story

Hi there, Friends.

So, I was out in the garden yesterday morning, watering the flowers, when I came to a surprising discovery:  some of my flowers are taller than I am.

Yeah, I literally did wake up like this, and you can tell by my hair.

I'm not that short.  Some of these flowers have to be getting close to 6 feet tall! Made me feel a little like Alice in Wonderland.  

Maybe a different perspective will help.

My flowers are special.  No, not just because they are so tall -- most lilies get pretty tall.  And no, not just because I grew them in my garden.  These flowers are special because they were a gift, and they have history...

...and there may or may not have been a crime involved.....

but that would have happened over 30 years ago, and all of the participants involved are no longer with us, which makes me think it is safe to tell the tale. 

Hopefully not incriminating evidence

My street literally has the word "cliff" in its name.  Not surprisingly, it can be very hard to garden. Some spots in the yard are okay.  Other times Most of the time I can dig down about an inch before hitting solid rock.  Between the rock and the neighborhood critters -- woodchucks, deer, and rabbits to name a few -- it becomes quite the challenge to get anything to grow.

My neighbor, on the other hand, seems to have no issues.  He has gorgeous flowers, and his vegetables never seem to get munched with the same frequency as mine.  Granted, he has been here many, many more years than I have so he probably has this down to a science.  I've tried to copy his methods, but they don't seem to work as well for me.

A couple years ago he happened to be out working in his yard at the same time I was working on my garden.  He had one particular type of flower that was growing like crazy -- trying to take over his whole garden.  He had removed several of the plants, and he asked if I would like to have them.

Hell yes!  I will be more than happy to take them!  If they can grow that well next door then I should have a fighting chance of getting them to grow in my yard.  This was awesome.

I have managed not to kill them so far

And then he told me the story of the flowers, Friends.

When I bought my house, my neighbor and his mother both lived next door.  It is his family home.  I never got to meet his mother and only ever saw her briefly.  She was ill, and passed away not too long after I moved in.  

Apparently she and my neighbor's aunt were both avid gardeners.  They loved growing new and different types of flowers.  If they saw a plant somewhere that they really loved they would often ask for a clipping to take home and try to grow.

These flowers, according to my neighbor, are a bit different.  

Apparently his mother and his aunt had been touring over at Franklin D. Roosevelt's estate in Hyde Park, and they fell in love with these flowers.  This was over 30 years ago, according to my neighbor. He didn't know if they had asked for clippings and been denied or what the entire story was, but apparently they went back at some point and took some flowers.  Like under cover of darkness, just went back and pilfered some presidential flowers.  They had been growing in his yard ever since.  

Stolen goods....kinda, sorta

Now, I've been to FDR's estate several times since my neighbor gave me these flowers.  I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that before today it never even crossed my mind to see if my flowers were on the grounds.  Maybe it was because I was there to tour the library and home, or it was the wrong season for flowers. The idea piqued my curiosity and wouldn't leave my brain.

Since I was writing this up, I decided I should take a ride over to Franklin and Eleanor's place and see if I could find the flowers.  It would be a long shot.  A lot of things have probably changed in the last 30+ years.  I was hopeful, but realistically there were a lot of reasons they might not be there:

1. The weather could have destroyed them over the years.
2. Building projects may have caused them to be removed.
3. Curator preference.
4. Maybe they weren't historically accurate.

At any rate, it was worth the effort to go and find out.  The things I do for you, Friends.

I decided to start in the garden, as that seemed like the best bet.

Close, but not the same

More lilies, but still not right

The garden was lovely

And so, after walking the property and around all of the buildings, my search turned up empty.  There were a lot of beautiful flowers, but none of them were the same as the ones in my yard.

Do my flowers have presidential roots?  You can decide for yourselves, Friends.  I choose to believe that they do.  I can't imagine my neighbor would make up such a tale about his mother and his aunt potentially having committed a crime.  

Even if they aren't, I still think they are special.  They were a gift, and they have the magical ability to make me feel like Alice in Wonderland.

How to Make Wildlife Friends

I don't live in a particularly rural area. My house is on a street that everyone seems to forget exists, sandwiched between Main Street on one side, and a three-lane highway on the other.  It's not New York City by any means, but I'm not out in the sticks either.  I can fit the entire backyard into one photo.

That's it, folks.  There is a fence between my garage and the neighbor's shed.  To the left is my driveway, and I am literally on the back steps to take the picture.  

It's not a great deal of real estate that I am talking about, and yet a surprisingly large number of woodland creatures have come to visit.  I'm convinced I couldn't have gotten more new friends even if I tried.  

To that end, I've decided to make a handy list of things that I did that seem to make me super-popular amongst the neighborhood animals.  You can use these tips to gain your own Snow White-esque following, or avoid these things like the plague in an attempt to keep unwanted visitors from your yard.  Your call.

THINGS THAT WILL GET YOU NEW WILDLIFE FRIENDS -- EVEN IF YOU DIDN'T REALLY WANT THEM

1)  Get a bird feeder.  I like birds, and I like hearing them out in the yard.  Jazz-kitty loves birds for an entirely more edible reason, and watching them keeps her amused when I am at work.  **Bonus tip: if you really want to see birds, throw some leftover popcorn out there.  They went crazy for it!**

We have some crows

Some Blue jays

A whole party going on here

And lots of these guys, who will beat each other senseless over a suet feeder.

Here's a helpful tip that no one gave me before I put up a bird feeder:  you best like squirrels as well.  Even if you have never noticed any squirrels in the vicinity before, if you put up a bird feeder they will magically appear.

They are masters at reaching the feeder.

They will hang out in the garden.

And they will readjust your security light for you.  

If you are really lucky, like me, they will also move into your garage for the winter.  No, it's not a good thing.  I haven't actually caught one in the act of exiting the garage yet, but I heard the scrabbling along the edge of the roof when I was filling the bird feeder the other day, and in the fall I saw one pulling leaves up into the eaves. They can stay there until Spring arrives with warmer weather, but then they are getting evicted.  I'm afraid it may turn into a Caddyshack scenario, but I refuse to blow up the garage -- I'm drawing the line there.

Bird feeders will also bring deer.  Creepy deer.  Don't believe me?  Click that last link I posted to my blog entry where I caught the big guy under my bird feeder munching away.

2) Put in a vegetable garden.  Doesn't matter how small it is, it will definitely bring you new animal friends.  You might think you are growing the vegetables to eat yourself, but you will be sharing.  Just accept that.  

If you didn't have deer coming to visit your bird feeder you will definitely get them coming to visit your garden.  I've also seen a rabbit and a groundhog, although they were too fast for me to get a decent picture.

Tip from a friend: plant marigolds at the edges of the garden and it will help ward off the deer.  I tried it this year, and it worked pretty well.  Some things still got nibbled,  but once again my brussels sprouts got demolished.  Apparently I am not the only one who thinks they are tasty!

Here's my cute little garden, complete with marigold protection.

I added more protection to give the plants a fighting chance at growing.

Brussels sprout carnage

3) Feed the neighborhood feral cats.  I will totally cop to doing this on purpose.  It was so cold, and they were so skinny, and I love cats.  I couldn't stand to see them out there starving to death.  I know they sleep in the shade in my yard in the heat of summer days, but I don't know where they sleep at night.  I only see them passing through in the evening, and I will feed them when I see them.  

Mama cat is on the left, the other two are her kittens.

This little one is the only one I have seen in recent months, which makes me sad.  I'm hoping the others were taken in by someone.

Word of warning, you can also attract unwanted guests when you put out cat food.  Apparently dry cat food is a delicacy for raccoons.  I heard a weird sound outside one summer night, and I thought at first it was one of the feral cats crying in pain.  I went out to investigate, and there was a raccoon, standing at the bowl of dry food and stuffing its face.  Skunks also find find Friskies to be awesome, as I discovered in a too-close-for-comfort moment.

Blue jays, the pushy assholes of the bird world, also will eat dry cat food.

Who, me?  I'm totally not eating the cat food.

4)  You best like deer.  I don't think you have to do anything to have them visit your yard, they just wander on through if you live in this area.  They can be creepy some times.  I honestly had know idea they were in my yard until my neighbor told me.  Now I see them all of the time.

Nope, I was absolutely not just in your yard.  Not at all.

Could you go back inside so I can come get a snack?  Thanks.

Bird feeders are awesome!

5) You can also attract bug friends!  I have mint growing along the side of the house, near the driveway.  Every year I get at least one praying mantis living in there.  

Hello, neighbor!

Do you mind if I have a snack?

I also seem to get a lot of grasshoppers in the same area, and in the front of the house.

I'm here too.  Mint is awesome!

The bumble bees seem to love the Rose of Sharon that grows next to the house.  I can take no credit for this, as it was here when I bought the place.

Peonies, while beautiful, attract ants.  Cut them and put the blossom upside down in water before bringing them into the house to keep the ants outside.

I also get lots and lots of honey bees, which is great!  Everyone needs to help out the honey bees.  I have a plant that a coworker gave me, and he told me it was a butterfly bush.  It's not.  It bears no resemblance to my mother's plants.  I have no idea what it is, but the honey bees love the mystery plant.  Sadly, I don't have a picture of it. 

So there you have it.  A handy list of things to do (or not do) if you want to attract (or not attract) all sorts of wildlife friends to your yard.  

 I make no guarantee that avoiding these things will keep wildlife from your yard.  They are going to do what they want, whether you like it or not.  Maybe if you cover your entire backyard in cement you might avoid unwanted visitors...but probably not.

And before anyone asks -- yes, I took all of the pictures myself.