Can You Help Me? I Seem To Have Misplaced My Home.

  With spring comes the anticipation of new arrivals.  The Bayou is bustling with nest building, den digging and hive construction.  Many of the critters were a tad confused and got an early jump on this family thing.  Some youngsters are already old enough to leave home and be on their own.  The parents are already contemplating whether to build a new abode or reconstruct the previous one.  This nest-building has become quite the dilemma for one pair of birds.  Since I removed the wisteria arbor near the Frog Pond, a resident pair of mockingbirds seem to be flummoxed as to what they should be doing.  The male bird follows me around the garden as if to think I can magically bring back the arbor. The female sits idly atop the shed roof hoping that the arbor will reappear.  They have yet to start the chore of building that home for their future little ones. I had no idea that I created such a problem for my friends.

  A few days ago, Papa Mockingbird followed me all the way down to the pier. Once there, he fussed and squabbled with a rival male whose wifey was nesting in the small bay tree. Papa Mockingbird number one, had no intention of intruding on the other's territory, he was just wanting his arbor and was going to follow me until I relented.  Sorry, bird, it ain't gonna happen.  That arbor is long gone!

  Hopefully, the pair of mockingbirds will soon realize that something is amiss with their waiting game and will settle upon a new nest site.  With all of the trees, other arbors and shrubbery about the place, who knew that removing one arbor would create such havoc?  

The Long Wait

  The arbor in the back of the house was in need of some major repairs or perhaps complete demolition.  It is a "walk-through" type arbor that is maybe covers ten feet or so of the pathway.  Three of the posts on the north side had met their demise due to termites that just happen to love "treated" lumber.  In fact, the only thing holding the whole shebang together was the huge Wisteria vine.  I would cringe with trepidation each time I wandered under it.  Was it going to come crashing down on my head?  So I got busy and replaced two of the rotted posts.  The third (middle) one was completely covered with the massive vine so I left it be for the moment.   While I was digging the post holes, I noticed a ton of seed pods dangling from the vines!  Bright idea!  I need to harvest the seeds to plant! I really need another Wisteria vine!  Who am I kidding with that one?  I definitely do NOT need another vine.  They are everywhere! Seriously, I plan to grow these in pots.  I can give them to folks who would like a Wisteria vine of their very own!

  Since the arbor is tall (and I am not so tall), I would need the stepladder to pick the pods.  That ended that idea as Michael is still building on my greenhouse and uses the stepladder constantly.  If I want a completed greenhouse, I have to forego the use of the ladder in any way, shape or form.  Hmmm...what to do? What to do?  Then, out of the clear blue, the answer came to me!  Plop!  A seed smacked me in the head!  One of the pods burst open and spewed a couple of seeds at me. This got me to thinking.  No need for that ladder!  I would just "harvest" my seeds from the ground! Every day now, I pick up another dozen or so seeds.  No, I do not need nor want that many Wisteria vines but that, in itself, is another reason to pick up the seeds.  When cleaning the area, vines were everywhere!  Those seeds tend to sprout right where they drop.  I had just pulled out probably two hundred small vines.  (Yep, now I want to grow some more.)  

  There is one sad thing about growing Wisteria from seeds versus digging up an already well established vine. Growing from seed is a very long, drawn-out ordeal.  The seeds do best when their surface is scratched a bit before planting.  Presoaking is also helpful.  Even after doing this, the seeds take several weeks to sprout. Then the saplings are slow to grow for the first season.  Afterwards, the vine may seem to be growing by leaps and bounds but still will not bloom.  It can sometimes take up to fifteen years for a vine to get to a point where it will bloom profusely but to some folks, the beauty is well worth the wait.  My Wisteria vine is probably nigh on twenty-five years old.  It does bloom gorgeously each spring filling the arbor with the sweetest-smelling, lavender clusters of flowers!  My point in sprouting and growing a few vines in pots is to maybe make that wait a bit shorter for the recipients of my gifted vines.  Perhaps their wait will not be so miserably long!  Besides, the more seeds I gather, the less vines will be entwining my Nandina bushes!  The pictures below are of the arbor when it was in full bloom this past year.  The view is from my upstairs window!

*Word of warning to those who wish to grow a Wisteria vine in their yard.  The seeds are not to be eaten!  The seeds of the Wisteria are toxic and it has been said that as little as two seeds can kill a child.  Please be careful!  Keep the seeds out of the reach of children and pets!*

The Shady Nook

Have you ever wandered into a place and just felt that there was something special about it?  Some place that you have been in a thousand or more times but this time, at the very instance you step into it, it feels exciting yet peaceful.  I wander about the hillside more times a day than most people go into their kitchen.  I would rather be out and about the Bayou with all my critter friends than anywhere else on earth.  Today a stroll took me through the Wisteria Arbor and I immediately felt serene.  An aura seemed to surround the small arbor giving it a special ambiance.  It was intriguing to say the least.   The arbor felt like a secret hideaway right next to my kitchen!  A place where the imagination could run wild!

This arbor is overgrown with the purple wisteria.  The vine literally drapes to the ground on all sides reminding me that I really must do some trimming soon.  This matting almost entirely blocks out the sunshine that so brilliantly illuminates the adjoining Boysenberry Patch.  I marveled at how dark it was under the vines.      The large vines twisted and turned up one post and actually give strength to the structure.  High winds of storms had caused the walk-through arbor to list terribly to one side.  Had it not been for the sheer size of the base vines, the whole thing would have fallen.

Within those vines is a multitude of living things.  The little tree frogs love the hiding places among the leaves. A mockingbird has her nest on one of the cross bars.  In it, four brown-speckled, bluish-green eggs are waiting to hatch.  Nearby, the male sings his heart out while keeping watch over his family.  Back in the twisting vines, ladybugs, ants, cicadas and carpenter bees are busy.  These have to keep a wary eye on the green lizard that is patrolling the outer board.  Sometimes a green snake or black racer will find its way to the upper most portions of the arbor.  The snakes are on the hunt for dinner and the arbor might just provide it!  It is here that I can see critters without ever taking as step.  The thick foliage conceals them well.  It never ceases to make me smile when folks walk under the arbor unaware what lingers just above their heads!  Just knowing the critters are there would scare the bejeebies out of some folks!  Not me...I find them fascinating!

My time spent in the peaceful confines of the arbor came to a sudden halt with the onslaught of a severe thunderstorm.  Not long after I rushed inside, a huge lightning bolt struck a nearby tree.  The critters in the arbor may not scare me but being outside during a thunderstorm is not to my liking!  I was thankful for the safety of the Little Bayou House once again!