80's, humid, periodic bouts of rain that get heavy at times. Butterflyweed now in bloom, and early Purple Coneflower about to pop. The rains have kept everything extremely lush, including the creeping charlie that seems to be coming up in droves. Had to rip bushels of it out of the native gardening, and am starting to use ground cloth to better control the invasives. Sweet Joe Pye weed about 6' tall (but not blooming yet,) and Goldenrod and Bergamot growing taller every day.

Loons heard from the house, and Grey Tree frogs constantly seen clinging at night to doors and windows.

Wildlife Spotted

• American Toad
• Baltimore Oriole
• Black-capped Chickadee
• Blue Jay
• Canadian Goose
• Chipmunk, Eastern
• Cottontail Rabbit
• Downy Woodpecker
• Eastern Bluebird
• Goldfinch
• Gray Tree Frog
• Green Frog
• Grey Squirrel
• Hairy Woodpecker
• Loon
• Monarch Caterpillar
• Nuthatch
• Purple Finch
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Squirrel, Grey

Natives in Bloom:

• Butterfly weed
• Early Meadowrue
• Glade Mallow
• Harebell
• Spiderwort
• Swamp Buttercup
• Swamp Milkweed

Same Pasque Flower from May 1.

Beautiful weekend; put the fish back in the pond, and took the canoe out for her maiden voyage; a short jaunt around Pet Lake. It worked quite well though it's less stable than the rowboats I'm used to, and the dog will have to learn to stay seated (or at least towards the center of the boat) if we aren't going to get swamped. Chickadees and Red-winged blackbirds could be heard from the reeds and oak trees as we glided along the lake.

Saw a pair of Turkey Vultures wheeling over Linwood Township Saturday, and Tree Swallows performing their insectovorous acrobatics over the farmer's fields that border the Sunrise trail north of Stacy.

Photo along the Sunrise Trail north of Stacy, MN

Did quite a bit of work on adding a feeder pond to one of the waterfalls. In theory, it collects the slow but persistent leak I seem to have gotten around the mouth of the watefall no matter how much hydraullic cement I applied, and passes it down a short streamlet back into the pond. The feeder pond has a small solar-powered pump to keep the water moving and the mosquitos out. Added a few planters with transplanted Swamp Buttercups to the feeder pond. As the water is slow-moving, protected, and easy to access, it should be perfect habitat for frogs.

Heavy rains towards the end of the week, and even a bit of hail. I'd have measurements, but the freak snowstorm put a small hairline crack in my gauge. Will have to break out the caulk.

Spring Peepers are strident all day long. Sunny pretty much all weekend with winds, often strong, moving in towards evening; temps holding in the 60's with lows in the humble 40's.

Wildlife Spotted Recently:

• Black-capped Chickadee


• Blue Jay


• Chorus Frog


• Crow, Common


• Eastern Bluebird


• Goldfinch


• Grackle, Common


• Grey Squirrel


• Loon


• Mallard Duck


• Mourning Dove


• Northern Cardinal


• Nuthatch


• Pileated Woodpecker


• Purple Finch


• Red-bellied Woodpecker


• Red-shouldered Hawk


• Red-winged Blackbird


• Robin, American


• Sandhill Crane


• Spring Peeper


• Tree Swallow


• Turkey Vulture


• Virginia Opossum


• Wild Turkey


• Wood Duck


• Wood Frog


• Yellow-rumped Warbler

Wildflowers in Bloom:

• Purple Pasque Flower

Emerging Native Plants:

• Columbine


• Elm-leafed Goldenrod


• Leadplant


• Prairie Smoke


• Showy Goldenrod


• Wild Bergamot

Overcast with sporadic drizzle; temps holding in the upper 60's. Goldfinch seem more active than usual, crowding the thistle feeder and bathing in the pond and waterlogged annuals pots.

Some photos from the weekend:




Fish in Pond Garden


Gull Lake


Round Lake


Pierz, MN


Pierz, MN



"Woolly Bear" Caterpillar


Wildlife Spotted in Garden this Week:

• American Toad
• Black-capped Chickadee
• Blue Jay
• Cedar Waxwing
• Eastern Chipmunk
• Goldfinch
• Green Frog
• Grey Squirrel
• Northern Cardinal
• Nuthatch
• Pileated Woodpecker
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Robin

Natives Blooming in Garden:

• Black-eyed Susan
• Daisy Fleabane
• Frost Aster
• Harebell
• Purple Coneflower
• Showy Goldenrod

Fall Color -- Forest Lake Area:

• American Elm
• Boxelder
• Cottonwood
• Paper Birch
• Quaking Aspen
• Smooth Sumac
• Sugar Maple

Last night's thunderstorms left 1" of rain in the garden gauge. Our goldfish appear to have spawned several weeks back, missed the fry as they blend in with the dark bottom of the pond. It will be time to take them in soon.

Clouds darkened in the afternoon, and it was pouring sheets of rain for all of fifteen minutes -- not enough to register on the gauge.

Monarch Project, Day 6

Some (rather clumsy) time lapse of our caterpillars (we now have three). Though there's only around eight seconds of footage here, spanned a little over two and a half hours and shows how the monarch caterpillars pause to rest between bursts of eating. I'd like to try it again for a ten hour period; may set it up tommorow.

Have learned that the Monarch's favorite host plant seems to be the Common Milkweed, as they'll pare down one of the leaves down to nothing in a few hours, whereas they'll take a day or more to graze half a Swamp milkweed leaf. None of them have touched the Butterfly weed yet.

Drake, our injured fish, is doing well. I've given him a little penicillin, he's more active, and his tail seems to be healing up.

Have noticed that the roadside Goldenrod seems to be in bloom, while that in the garden and in the neighbor's plot is still just budding.

Wildlife Spotted this Week:

• American Toad
• Baltimore Oriole
• Black-capped Chickadee
• Blue Jay
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• Cedar Waxwing
• Cottontail Rabbit
• Eastern Bluebird
• Eastern Chipmunk
• Goldfinch
• Grackle
• Green Frog
• Grey Catbird
• Grey Squirrel
• Grey Tree Frog
• Monarch Butterfly
• Monarch Caterpillar
• Mourning Dove
• Northern Cardinal
• Nuthatch
• Red Admiral
• Red-headed Woodpecker
• Robin
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird
• Western Chorus Frog

Natives in Bloom:

• Bergamot
• Butterfly Weed
• Common Milkweed
• Daisy Fleabane
• Harebell
• Purple Coneflower
• Spiderwort
• Swamp Milkweed

In breaking pond news, we found Drake, one of our two surviving 2006 goldfish, injured in the pond. Looks like someone (possibly Nelson, the other 2006 survivor) had a go at him, tearing off some scales and basically ripping off the top half of his tail. He wasn't standing such a good chance against infection or predators (including Nelson), so we've moved him into our fishtank to give him a chance to recover (the Bala sharks and Pleco shouldn't be much of a threat to him). We've added a bit of aquarium antibiotics to the water, and hopefully he'll pull through.

Surprisingly high survival rate with this year's feeder fish. Both our old fish, and at least eleven of our twelve feeders are alive and growing.

Images from the Garden












Birds spotted:

• Baltimore Oriole
• Black-capped Chickadee
• Blue Jay
• Crow
• Eastern Bluebird (three chicks counted)
• Grackle
• Mourning dove
• Nuthatch
• Oriole
• Red-headed Woodpecker
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Other Wildlife Spotted:

• American Toad
• Chipmunk
• Green Frog
• Grey Squirrel
• Raccoon

Natives in bloom:

• Canadian Anemone
• Columbine
• False Indigo
• Harebell
• Prairie Ninebark
• Rue Anemone
• Swamp Buttercup

Non-natives in Bloom:

• Fuschia
• Tuberous Begonia

Things I should have considered when I originally built the pond:

• How to do it all with one piece of tarp
• Where all pumps, accessories, power cords, and hoses would go, and how they would be rigged and concealed.
• How I planned to hide the pond tarp (on the rebuild, I excavated a submerged shelf for boulders).
• How to better integrate it with the patio/deck/surrounding landscape
• The specific needs of wildlife that might be interested in it (frogs that require oxygen-rich water for hibernation)
• Learned more about fish. Turns out that, given the correct circumstances, you can add a number of fish to your pond, including minnows, guppies, and swordtails.