While tromping about the bog the other day, Elizabeth and I found many interesting plants. Of course, we both love the unusual so if a plant looked weird or had a weird history, it had us from the start. One thing that I noticed was that her place (unlike here) has an abundance of Sundews. These little plants go unnoticed by many folks simply because they are tiny and love to grow in places like bogs. Most folks are hesitant about getting their feet and clothes muddy and covered with grime. They are also not overly fond of snakes, ticks, spiders and other creepy-crawlies that inhabit said bog. We are just the opposite. A little mud and grime never hurt anyone and, well, we are too much like Pop when it comes to critters. "Let the critters watch out for themselves." was his mantra when it came to biting creatures. That pretty much sums up our thoughts as well. We like to explore. Sitting inside all day would be quite boring to the two of us and, well, if we are going to be out and about, we may as well be somewhere that we both love. Bogs are fun!
The Sundews first caught my eye on the hill above the creek. With that, I knew that an adventure into the bog was in the making. One just could not find Sundews gleaming in the sun and not delve further into a swamp to explore. The possibilities were endless! Down under the tall grasses, a bit of sparkly red could be seen. Excitedly, she and I dropped to our knees to examine the wee plants. They were beautiful and gleaming like jewels that had been lost in the tall grass.
Botanists tell us that the Sundews are amazing carnivorous plants. The sparkles are the "dew" that the plants secrete. This is nectar that the plants' glands secrete in hopes of attracting an insect. Once a bug crawls in to feast upon the nectar, it becomes ensnared. The very nectar the insect chose to eat soon becomes a trap. The bug is glued to the plant and, no matter how it wiggles, it cannot escape. Within minutes, the critter suffocates and the leaves begin to dissolve the bug and absorb it. The nutrients from the critter feed the plant.
I am in love with these tiny plants and feel that I need several million to live on the Bayou with me! With the number of insects that thrive here, it would not surprise me to find that within a year, the tiny Sundews would be gigantic! The soil here might be a bit too acidic, though, as these plants prefer a moist soil that is not acidic. Perhaps bringing a bit of soil from Elizabeth's place and keeping my Sundews potted might suffice. I shall try.
The sparkly Sundews brought back a few happy memories from when I was a mere tyke visiting my cousin. She used to live just a stone's throw from where the Little Bayou House now stands. When we were kids, she and I would search the lower part of their yard for Sundews and try to feed them critters. If I remember rightly, there were Venus Flytrap plants in the yard as well. Next week, when Elizabeth and I bog tromp again, I will be on the search for Flytraps. Carnivorous plants are fun!
While excavating the area for the Bog Garden, Son has been uncovering a lot of "treasures" and a lot of "non-treasures" (also known as junk). When Hurricane Katrina pushed through here years ago, she picked up tons of sand from the beach front miles to our south. All of that lovely sand was deposited in places like our yard. This was fine by me as I would much rather have mounds of sand than washed out ruts. In places, the sand was piled up higher than six feet. Now, years and years later, the sand has leveled to become part of the landscape. One particularly deep area is where Michael decided the Bog Garden should be so he is digging through not only sand but lots of stuff!
We were tickled to see just how many plastic yard ornaments were under the sand. Dozens of three foot tall red and white candy canes were pulled from the area. These were considered junk and tossed on the trash pile to be hauled to the dump. Thousands of shards of stained glass were also found and painstakingly collected to be recycled as art pieces. Stained glass work has always held me spellbound and I can hardly wait to begin creating with these hurricane shards. Then he found a treasure.....a true treasure.
A crazy as it may sound, he found a glass canning jar with a zinc lid still intact. It amazed us that the lid had held tight all of these years underground. The fun part was that the jar still contained whatever was preserved inside from years ago. Granted the stuff had become a gelatinous, brown liquidy mess but it was still tightly bound inside the jar. Not being one to waste a perfectly good canning jar (hmmm?), I unsealed the jar to find a substance that was not at all what I expected. I figured that whatever that stuff was, it had to be quite smelly by this time. It was not. It smelled highly of blackberry jam! (No, I did not eat it!)
After a bit of scrubbing, the jar and lid came incredibly clean and will soon become a container for buttons or beads in the craft room. "Waste not, want not." comes to mind. I figure if the jar withstood a hurricane of Katrina's strength and then ten years buried in salty sand, it has a story to tell and should be added to the collection of weird and wonderful things housed within the Little Bayou House.
Yesterday, I wrote about the big plans that my daughter has about growing olives. She wishes to have an olive orchard on her acreage so we bought two small trees to get her started. Hopefully, these trees will do well and by the time her property is cultivated, we will have rooted many more trees from cuttings. Now, I find something big happening right here on the Bayou!
Today, I wandered back behind the shed to find Son digging a huge hole. Well now, that is different? He has not done that since he was a wee tot and the three kids decided to dig to China. I admit that I was a bit bemused by their antics but it did keep them busy for days on end until the one day that they had dug so deep that they could not get out of the hole! The hole that Michael was digging this morning was not so deep as it was wide....and long. When questioned, he informed me that this was a bog. Alrighty then! A bog on the Bayou! Who would have ever thought that might be possible! (A bit of sarcasm there, folks! The Bayou is one big bog!) Anyway, he furthered informed me that this was to be my long wished-for bog garden! He was making the garden in a terraced style so the water would run from one level to the next before being pumped to the top again. His idea is that the flowing water and a few bull minnows will keep the mosquitoes at a minimum. The minnows would also help by furnishing a natural fertilizer. It sounds like his plan is a good one so I will just let him do his own thing here!
I have had a desire to grow watercress and cultivate my water hyssop to a greater extent. These, and perhaps a few Arrowhead Plants, would round out the more usable plants. A few waterlilies might be tossed in just for appearance. I am excited to say that he is creating something far bigger and much better designed that I had ever dreamed! (Yay for sons!) Now if I can just keep the Cottonmouth Moccasins and alligators from claiming this bog as their home, I will be one happy camper! A BOG GARDEN!! Just imagine the possibilities!
