Things I Learned While I was Away, Part I--Chipmunks Love Astrophytum

This is the first post in a series that will likely have several entries.  Quite a bit happened while I was on blog hiatus, and I did learn a few things. Some of the lessons were pleasant, and some were a little harder, like this one.

A couple of years ago, I wrote a post featuring "Chippie," a Tamias striatus who lived in my front yard, and was inclined to strike cute poses on the fairy sculpture near my front porch.

Well since then, probably because we've set up some bird feeders, our property has become home to two more of the delightful creatures.  A second made its home in the side yard, and a third in the back yard. And yes, I do mean delightful.  Unlike the marauding gray squirrels, the chipmunks take a relatively modest amount of seed from the feeders, and are as cute as the dickens while doing so.

In 2011, I did notice that Chippie was partial to a plant in the Crassula family that was summering on the front porch, but I still didn't mind that much.  It was the only plant that was damaged, and I figured "What the heck, I can get another."

Chippie chowing down on a Crassula

 But last summer, the chipmunk brigade started to try my patience.  I found small bites taken out of some Echeveria and Jade Plants. But the Astrophytum plants sustained the worse damage: Front yard Chippie went after my Astrophytum asterias, side yard Chipwich found the A. ornatum to be the nom, and backyard Chipster went cuckoo for A. capricorne.

 

From the top: A bite out of A. ornatum; the result of the repeated ravaging of A. asterias; chewed circumferance of A. capricorne

The A. asterias was a total loss.  I found another, but I absentmindedly watered it during the darkest days of winter, and it rotted.  I've decided to hold on to the A. ornatum and the A. capricorne, despite their less than perfect appearance, and they've survived well.  And to console myself for their loss of beauty, I bought myself these: 

Astrophytum asterias 'Super kabuto' varieties in a dish with gypsum "desert roses"

I purchased them from an eBay seller in Thailand, (along with the proper phytosanitary certificate, and CITES permit.) I couldn't resist arranging them together in this shallow dish, and so far they've done fine.

From now on, every Astrophytum will be summering indoors, as I think they'll get plenty of light in the sunroom.  And I'll be keeping a close eye on anything in the Crassulaceae that I put outdoors.

Entertaining Royalty in My Garden

No, not the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. I wouldn't begin to know what to serve them. I do know what pleases this visitor, however:

Monarch butterfly caterpillar (Danaus plexippus) enjoying a milkweed plant (Asclepias syriaca) in my front yard garden. (As always, click for a more detailed view.)

I've been allowing common milkweed volunteers to grow in my garden for eight years, hoping to encourage Monarchs to reproduce here. This is first year they've ever produced flowers, and the first year I've seen a caterpillar, even though we do get a fair number of Monarch butterflies.

Front Garden. The tall plants in the rear, just to the left of the hanging basket, are the Milkweeds. The orange flowers in front are Asclepias tuberosa, (butterfly weed) which also attracts Monarchs.

Closer view of Asclepias tuberosa, Gaillardia, and Rudbeckia hirta

Here are some other pictures from my front yard gardens this summer:

The two-year old bed at the foot of the right side of our driveway really came into its own this year. The gray plants are Artemesia stelleriana 'Silver Brocade,' the purple spikes are Salvia nemorosa 'East Friesland' and Salvia x sylvestris "May Night."

This is the more mature garden to the left of the driveway at the sidewalk, filled with Salvia, Sedum, Sempervivum, Gaillardia and Juniperus, not to mention the Clematis-covered trellises.

Hemerocallis NoId (I thought it might be 'Chicago Fire' or 'Chicago Apache', but it doesn't quite match the pictures of either of those that I can find online.)

Echinacea 'Sundown'

The new backyard garden I planted last year has really taken off, and I will be featuring it in an upcoming post.

From the CBG, September and October 2010

Although it is open all year round, I tend not to visit the Chicago Botanic Garden from late fall until the early spring. For one, it is more than an hour's drive away from my home, and I don't care much for driving, even in the best of weather. (As anyone who has experienced one knows, Chicagoland winters do not fall into the category of "the best of weather.")

So these will probably be my last photographs from the CBG for a while.

Views from the Arid Greenhouse, which has been looking very nice lately. They have been sprucing the place up and adding new plants in the last several months.


Here is one of the new plants. The tag reads: Kalanchoe thryrisifolia 'Fantastic.' I really like the white variegation.

On to the Tropical Greenhouse. I have to admit, I'm not a big Cordyline fan. I like pink plants, I like purple plants. But something about the coloration of many of the Cordyline fruticosa varieties I've seen just seems discordant to my eyes. Not this one:

Cordyline fruticosa 'Bolero Bicolor.' This just about took my breath away.

I also like this one. Unfortunately I couldn't fine the identification tag, but I definitely recognize it as a Cordyline.

On to the outdoors. I like Dahlia flowers a lot, but I seldom plant any in my garden, because they seem to be earwig magnets. But I like admiring them elsewhere, and I thought this was both unusual and beautiful:

Dahlia 'Juul's Allstar.' I love the curled petals.

I often end my CBG posts with a picture of some of the ducks that frequent the water garden areas. Here is a something a bit bigger:

Trumpeter swan, (Cygnus buccinator.) The Garden has two pair of these, who apparently live there year round.

This picture is an example of the magic of both zooming and cropping. Though I wasn't very far away, this close would have been too close for comfort. I like my wildlife, especially really large, potentially foul-tempered fowl, at a bit of a distance.

Just Chillin'

Since my cats no longer go outdoors, I seem to have fewer opportunities to photograph them with plants, so there have been fewer opportunities to make weekend pet posts. On the plus side, we also have fewer opportunities to chase live birds, field mice, and chipmunks out of our house, and even better, fewer opportunities to clean up dead ones, either in the house, or outside on the porch.

Another plus side is that I get to see things like this:

Meet Chippie, most likely, Tamias striatus, (Eastern chipmunk) though there are several other possibilities.

Closer view. It is hard to get high quality pictures, since Chippie will flee if I get too close, but this one is pretty good if clicked for full-size.

Chippie has taken to sitting on top of our garden fairy quite frequently, sometimes just hanging out, other times making a loud persistant "chip-chip-chip" sound. Chippie's burrow appears to be under our porch, as there is a hole nearby. We have been wondering if he or she is looking for a new mate, since unfortunately, one of Peppermint's last victims before he became an indoor kitty was another chipmunk, which he left on the porch.

I know I shouldn't like this critter, since like squirrels, they also dig up and eat bulbs. Also, earlier this summer, there was evidence of digging in one of the Hibiscus pots. (I replaced the soil, and there has been no further tampering, even though the Hibiscus are still nearby, as seen in the photographs.) But I'm quite fond of Chippie in a way, and in fact, I'm a bit concerned, since I haven't seen him or her since these pictures were taken last Wednesday.

Edited to add 9/12/10, 2:55PM: Just saw Chippie perched on top of the fairy, as usual.