Little Surprises

One of the wonderful surprises about gardening this time of year is waiting to see what a seedling that has spread from another part of the garden will look like when it blooms.  I have daylilies galore that have spread all over.  The one below popping up behind the hose.  It opened a few days ago and look at that color!  I will probably move it in the fall or perhaps I won't.  I kind of like it tucked back in there.

 Some surprises in the garden are not wonderful.  Like coming outside one morning to see many plants gnawed down to the ground or sucked down into a hole.  At the bottom of the garden, closest to the woods, the rabbits and voles have decimated every new plant that I have put in this spring.  Dianthus, spiderwort and rudbeckia are all munched down to the ground or completely gone.  I have some extra bricks laying around, so I made walls around the rudbeckia and hope that it will help with the rabbits.  I spray Liquid Fence which has always worked in the past, but this year, they just don't care and will happily eat anything.

 I purchased ten spiderwort plants in early spring and there are three left.  They are too tall to build brick walls around.  I need to go get chicken wire I suppose, however the voles are eating what the rabbits don't finish off and the chicken wire won't help with the voles.  I put down an organic vole repellent and it seems to have slowed them down a little. but they are still around.  I can see tunnels!

June 7th Update - After posting about my vole problem just yesterday morning, the problem is no longer!  I was out meandering around in the garden last evening when I saw more tunnels and a few more plants missing.  I was muttering many unpleasant things under my breath when I walked through the garden gate into the back yard and almost stepped on a dead vole.  One of my beagles had dug it up underground and played a little too hard with it.  YES! (Sorry vole lovers, but I am so happy). Rest assured our beagle had extra treats last night. My advice is if you have a vole problem too, go get yourself a hound dog.