Wednesday -- Around the Yard

I feel lucky to have a variety of flowers in my yard, so that when one species has finished blooming, another takes its place.

Asiatic lilies and oriental poppies.

A clematis, climbing on an old iron wheel, surrounded by orange tiger lilies which will bloom later. I want to hang an old wooden gate between the posts.

Delicate little purple verbena, standing up tall

In past years I have had a serious problem with moles. The yard was so uneven it was hard to walk without stumbling over their "runs". As long as I had cats the moles didn't bother us. I guess I must take after my grandmother; remember, she liked to set traps? I tried a mole trap but never caught one, so I took a hoe as my weapon of war. Now have you ever wondered what a mole village would look like at the end of a burrow or a humped up pile of dirt? Anyway, I learned to watch for mole activity around 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.; it seemed to be their favorite time to tunnel. It took a lot of patience, standing perfectly still, creeping along through the grass trying not to snap a stick to arouse the mole's suspicion that danger was nearby. When I came across fresh dirt, indicating that the mole must be there, I poised myself over the spot and waited for movement. A mole can dart back through the tunnel as fast as a lightning strike, so it's best to find one venturing out into new ground so he has only one way to go - backward. I watched for the tell-tale sign -- wiggle, wiggle, of the dirt, to make sure he was there, and then, when he started tunneling, I slammed the hoe behind him and popped him out of the ground! Of course, by now the adrenalin was pumping through the body pretty good, the old heart was pounding, and victory was mine! Now I had to carry him to the backdoor to show him off; after all, isn't that what a cat would do?

My sister-in-law gave this darling little 'ol lady to me, not because I'm a good gardener, but it represents me, digging out moles! Isn't that sweet?