Saturday, July 26, 2008

Hmmm.




There's a pest in my garden, though I never see him.

He leaves me subtle reminders that he's there.

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23 comments:

KGMom said...

A tall nibbling rabbit? A swooping bird of some kind? A mouse with a ladder?
Have you see the culprit?

Any news on the kittens you were mothering?

Shakespere said...

Hi. I enjoyed reading your blog. It is very interesting.

Texas Travelers said...

I vote for a mouse with a ladder. (grin).

Check in the soil at the base for Cutworms that come out at night (by the light of the Harvest Moon).

And yes, they come out at night, moon or not.

A lawn chair, a flashlight, and an all-night vigil is the only other solution. Good luck on finding the little varmit.

Hmmm. One other thought. Maybe a vegetarian neighbor is gathering them for a little variety of color in her salad of spring greens. Works for me.

Troy and Martha

Unknown said...

That is a fantasic capture!

Anonymous said...

Where my mom lives, porcupines come and eat all the flowers off her plants. Just the flowers. Chomp and move on. Very disheartening!

nina at Nature Remains. said...

I have no idea what this could be--I'd give every last blossom to have a porcupine visit my garden, though we're too far south to have a chance at that.
Would cut worms eat only petals, when the entire garden is available to them?
I'd like to catch someone in tha act and know for sure--vegetarian neighbor or ladder-toting brigade of mice!

What should I do?

Cicero Sings said...

I real mystery ... I think you should don your Sherlock hat and do a bit of sleuthing! We await the unraveling of this conundrum.

Greg said...

Leaving one middle pedal left...a nice touch, I think. Whatever animal had a "hand" in that sure has a lucky sense of humor.

Anonymous said...

How sad. The colors on that flower were really nice, but at least they helped something else live.

RH Carpenter said...

I vote for the mouse with a ladder - an artistic mouse who is creating living sculpture :)

Kerri Farley said...

WOW! First of all....FABULOUS shots! Next...although it would be great if it was a mouse with a ladder...I'm sure people would flock to see that....this same thing happened to my flowers...and it was Mr. Rabbit!

But if it does turn out to be that mouse with a ladder...please take a picture!!!

Mary said...

Mouse with a ladder makes me giggle :o) My Coneflowers are leafless and looking sick. I'm thinking bunnies are the culprits.

Your petal? Hmmmm. I don't know, Nina...

Rambling Woods said...

Oh no...the deer come in and take the flowers off of some of my plants, but not the coneflower. Don't send them my way...

Leora said...

Oh, me, oh, my, the mouse with the ladder has been in my garden, too. And he/she hasn't needed a ladder to nibble at my parsley.

Lovely photo, that bottom one, with the petal shooting straight up. Looks like an indian chief feather.

Anonymous said...

Wow. That first photo really zaps you.Then there's the second one. What a classic. I loved this.

Mel said...

I wonder what it is... Hope it doesn't cause too much damage :(

bobbie said...

Stunning photo!

Anonymous said...

I just picture somebody playing she loves me, she loves me not....

Pat said...

Wow, that first photo is a keeper!
The second one, well...
Reminds me of the time when my son was growing a sunflower from school. We had put it in the garden where we could see it every time we came home. Well, one day, we arrived back at home to see a stick and no flower. Seems a squirrel decided it needed better access, so he nibbled the flower head right off.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Ihave seen American Goldfinches pluck the petals off Cone flowers. Perhaps they think they are hurring the seed ripening process?

RuthieJ said...

My advice is to plant more purple coneflowers!! :-)
(Now I'm curious.....I'll have to go out and check my garden to see if there's any evidence of similar damage here.)

dguzman said...

Like Ruthie, I'll have to check my purple coneflowers to see if we have similar bandits. I hadn't noticed anything like this though. That is one beautiful photo, btw.

The Zen Birdfeeder said...

Great post. I've highlighted in my monthly Zen Nature Lessons at
http://wildbirdsunlimited.typepad.com/the_zen_birdfeeder/2008/08/zen-nature-lessons.html