Updates on Mother Nature in the Hollow

 
The yellow jacket vs. human battle continues.

I killed nests three and four so far this week. Both were discovered as I was doing my mowing for the week. On Monday morning I missed hitting a nest with the lawn mower wheels by about two inches. On my way around the next lap, I saw them swarming. Yesterday, I was mowing beside the rocks that line the driveway. The vibrations were enough to stir up a nest which had an entrance down beside one of the rocks.

This morning I mowed the last of the yard. I had to mow along the edge of the woods, a place where I have encountered nests in previous years. It was like mowing a through a mine field. It was a relief to finish without finding another nest.

Even though I did not get stung, my hands have suffered. I had to stop tying down the control lever for my power drive on the mower. My only defense if I make a direct hit on a nest is to give the mower a hard shove with the hope that the yellow jackets follow the mower instead of coming after me. With the power drive tied down, it would keep on going unless it hit an incline. I don't need my mower making a six-foot drop into the creek or cutting a swath though a flower bed. So I was more than a bit tingly after mowing the last couple of days.

There is still at least one more nest somewhere. I saw some workers around today. Hopefully, they are well over in the woods where I won't be going until winter weather kills them off.



No Butterflies

...and no moths either. Having gone outside after dark the last two nights, I realized that there are hardly any moths and other night insects. I am guessing that their egg and larva stages were washed away in the heavy rains, too.

Usually, by this time of the summer, it is impossible to go in or out of the door at night without letting insects in. They are attracted to the light through the glass doors even if the outside light is not on. But they are not there this year. Unfortunately, the mosquito population is doing well. The damp weather has been perfect for them.

Returning from the mailbox earlier, I stopped by to check my flowers. I saw one butterfly and a few small bees. It is a sunny day in mid-July. There should be butterflies and bumblebees all over the flowers by now.


Close the Dessert Bar!

Someone put out the free dessert sign in one of my flowerbeds the other night. The deer helped themselves. Two of my pentas that I just planted last week were hit hard. All the blooms and buds are gone, but the plants still live. They tried the vinca, but spit it out.

The deer are in my yard every night and, much too often, in the daytime, too. They cross the creek here on their way up the hollow, stopping to graze along the way. They mainly eat along the edge of the woods. But they sometimes help themselves to things in the yard, especially in the area between the creek and the driveway.

Many of my plants are supposed to be deer resistant. But someone forgot to tell the deer. Actually, they don't bother them much except when they are newly planted or have new growth. They ate about two-thirds of a large piece of blue salvia when it was putting out new leaves this spring. And they will try stuff like the vinca and decide they don't like it.

The pentas I planted knowing they might get eaten, but they were so pretty. The butterflies and bees like them. The others are in the bed on the other side of the driveway. I can only hope the deer don't find them.

Speaking of deer, I just saw a young buck run up through the yard. Wonder if he found that other nest of yellow jackets? He was sure in a hurry.