Jaci Dawn

Specifically, Spring in my back yard.

Some Thing has been nibbling at my peonies.

It has left perfect little round ruins of a few buds.

No, it is not the ants. Ants and peonies go together.

The peonies secret a sweet nectar that attracts the ants.

I confess that I am somewhat confounded by the exact ant/peony relationship, but I accept that they seem to need each other. Now, if it were true that the ants keep other pests off of the buds, then I wouldn’t have peony pests eating away at the buds. I figure that the peony nectar does me a favor by keeping the ants outside of my house. And that works for me.

I have learned to pick my peonies and leave them outside overnight for the ants to abandon the flowers. The next morning, I can bring the flowers inside and there are no remaining ants to worry about.

There might be a spider, but I gently nudge them off onto another peony bud so they can continue to feast on ants.

This is a bigger problem with my peonies. There’s some sort of fungus in the ground that attacks my peonies, somewhat at random. I need to do more research on a natural remedy. I am not going to dig out all of my peonies!

The constant rain and changing temperatures has cause rust to develop on some plants (the hollyhock is shown here). It’s not too serious and hollyhocks thrive despite it. My dad thought hollyhocks were weeds, but I don’t find that is true. I think he just didn’t like the earwigs that hollyhocks attract. I don’t either, but as long as earwigs stay outside, they don’t really bother me much.

I like most insects in their natural environment.

Ah! Hidden in the folds of this peony is the enemy of aphids everywhere.

And scrolling slime on the leaf of the Honesty Plant (Money Plant or Silver Dollar plant) is one of the banes of my gardening experience: a snail. It’s a wee one and – hopefully – an Oregon Native. Native or not, the snail and it’s gastropod friend, the Pacific Northwest Slug (and there are a lot of different slugs!) is a plant-devouring pestilence.

They also drown in Harvey’s water dish.

Color!That one butterfly always hangs upside-down. I have turned it around time and again, but next time I look, it’s upside-down again. My honeysuckle (purchased last year) is growing tall. Sure wish that was my dogwood in the background. Sadly, it is on the other side of the fence.Hmph! Last year, this spot was covered in beautiful Douglas’ Meadowfoam. This year, all I have are mystery plants and some weeds.Some people consider these weeds, like my husband. Forget-me-nots. But before you plant that seed packet of Forget-me-nots that some realtor put on your doorknob with a flyer advertising his or her services, know this: when Forget-me-nots turn to seed, they become tiny burs that catch your jeans, knot your dog/cat’s fur, and thereby travel to the rest of the yard. Harvey and Forget-me-nots = one grooming nightmare.But I love them.My sole surviving Lenten Rose went nuts this year with blooms.A year ago, I purchased my fothergilla from the Clackamas County Historical Society Annual Plant Sale. I missed the sale this year, but I am proud to announce my fothergilla is doing wonderfully a year later.Sadly, so are the weeds. The greenery around the base of the Oregon Grape is all weeds. And tyhat is just one tiny corner of my yard.But the season is just starting…