Welcome to May Dreams Gardens, home of the purple bench and now home of the twin green towers.
I finished painting my towers this morning and set them up in the garden.
This particular tower will probaby end up with squash vines on it, as I’ve placed it in a bed with spaghetti squash, which I think will climb up the tower if it is there, or I could let the vines sprawl across the ground. The other tower is at the other end of the garden and I’ll plant a late crop of pole beans to climb up it.
Some of you may be asking why I didn’t go with a bolder color choice like purple for the towers? I’ll tell you why. I picked green because it is my favorite color and I want the plants that grow on these towers to be the show, not the towers themselves.
And for me, the purple bench is quite enough color in the garden. I don’t want it to look like a cheap carnival park out there! I want it to be an attractive vegetable garden, a potager, a place to relax.
I also want to have a garden that attracts birds and bees and toads and insects like praying mantis and butterflies (but not tomato hornworms).
It takes awhile, you know, to turn a blank, barren field of a suburban lot into a place that attracts wildlife again. And after ten years, I think my garden is finally getting to be a place for wildlife because I finally have some toads.
Toads!
At least one toad, and he enjoys the miniature garden most of the time.
Now if I can just figure out a sure-fire way to get rid of rabbits and keep all the other wildlife…
(By the way, if you missed Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day yesterday, you can still join in this weekend by posting what is growing in your garden and adding your comment to yesterday’s post here at May Dreams Gardens. All are welcome, the more the merrier, as we compare what is blooming in gardens all over the world.)
I would forget about the rabbits & learn to live with them, because I think they are going to win this war. The toad looks natural in that setting.
I would love to have a toad in my garden if the dog would let it alone. I’ve been thinking about a pond towards the rear of the lot but I worry that it will draw the less welcome wildlife like the skunks. On the plus side, I’d have a place to situate some purple martin houses and finally use the hundreds of bird house gourds I have from two seasons ago.
The tower looks great! Living in the country I have all kinds of critters. The toads and snakes I’m happy about. As for the bunnies, I seem to be winning this year. This may not be for everyone but it seems to be working.
(Sorry, I mess up the link the first time.)
Man, I’m jealous! I want toads in my yard too! You’re soo lucky!
Congratulations on your toad! I’ve wanted one for so long but I don’t think they existed here any longer in polluted NJ. And I love your towers. How creative to paint them green. I would have gone with mundane white. I definitely prefer the green.
Happy little toad. You must have things going on to make him happy.
As to rabbits…mine aren’t as bad as last year but I still see them. Our neighbor next door whose shed houses wild rabbits underneath it has a b.b.gun and goes after them with it.
I hate the idea of it but I also hate the idea of rabbits mowing down my plants like they do some years.
He keeps saying he is going to put trellis beneath his shed but he hasn’t yet.
Carol, your towers are great! And I love that shade of green which actually complements your purple bench. Wish I had a toad.
Oh Carol…. I’m sooo jealous of your towers. I saw them at Lowe’s and I was just “twitching” to have one. They are beautiful and I’m glad at least someone is enjoying them. The reason is that I really don’t have room. But, now that I’ve seen yours I just might have to reconsider and space one in somewhere.
Thanks all for the comments. I’m glad you all like my towers. And I guess it is universal that all gardeners want a toad or two in their garden.
I love your toad, and have a toad or two in my garden. Unfortunately, we also have LOTS of bunnies. I’m afraid we use the BB gun technique on them too; and I don’t feel the least bit sorry about it either.
What has been most successful for us in keeping the rabbits out of the vegetable garden has been the fence that Jim constructed last year. We harvested cedar posts at a friends place, and he peeled the posts and set them deep into the ground. There is a little trench dug all the way around the garden, and set down into the trench is the first row of several rows of cedar planks. These go up about three feet. Above that, there is a four foot wide section of chicken wire fence. Not only does this keep the rabbits out, it also keeps out the deer and the turtles as well. A little labor intensive, but it looks quite nice and since there is lots of clover in the lawn the rabbits stay out there and leave my flowers alone. It doesn’t hurt that I have a well trained labrador on patrol in the section of the yard that has the best flowers. She stays out of the flower beds, too.
That is the cutest toad I have ever seen! I’ve only ever had one, about four houses ago. I had hung a small bay wreath by my entry door just under the entry light, and he would sit there in the evening, almost not visible in the leaves, eating the bugs that came to the entry light at night. He got SO fat over the summer! We used to call it froggy drive in. I miss that little guys! We’re about to move again, I hope we can attract some toads at our next place. ~A 🙂