When a Good Plant Becomes Bad

Last fall we took a trip to Bandipur National Park in southern India.  My last post showed some of the wildlife I saw there, but, as a gardener, the trip was also a small treasure hunt to find and photograph some of the native flora.

I saw several Gloriosa lilies, growing wild in their native habitat.  

I think this is Thorny Nightshade.  Looks rather unfriendly, doesn't it?

Thorny Nightshade, aka. Solanum virginianum

I'm not sure what these little bell shaped flowers are called.  They remind me a little of petunias.

Mostly, though, I saw Lantana.  

Lots

and lots

of Lantana.

Lantana camara growing everywhere, including up onto trees.

Oh, I thought, Lantana must be native here!

Nope. 

It's from parts of Central and South America.  Lantana was only introduced into India in the early 1800's (as an ornamental shrub, of course).

Lantana camara

Even though butterflies love it, it is a huge detriment to other wildlife.  

It's leaves and flowers contain toxins that make it inedible to herbivores, and it also spread rapidly and chokes out the native plants, so there's less food for plant-eaters.

Lantana towering over the elephants at Bandipur National Park

 It's such a problem, that the decline of herbivores is also becoming a threat to the population of tigers and other carnivores in these protected wildlife and tiger reserves.

It's even hard for some of the large animals to make their way through the overgrown thickets of Lantana! 

Herd of elephants wading through the Lantana

Outside of the wildlife reserves, it's also affected people's livelihood, as Lantana takes over crop and pasture land.  Many of the efforts to get rid of it has failed.

Do you see the peacock hiding behind the Lantana?

Forest departments and other agencies are doing their best to manage this weed, uprooting it and planting native plants.  They are also researching ways to use Lantana, such as building furniture from it, in order to help the livelihood of the people in the local communities.  If life gives you lemons, try to make some lemonade, right?

But, really, after seeing the amount of Lantana, I feel bad for the forest agencies who are facing an uphill battle.

Lantana is growing up giant Bamboo mounds at Bandipur National Park.

I'll say this -

after seeing Lantana in India... 

'Chapel Hill Yellow' Lantana quietly growing in my old North Carolina garden.
Is it really making plans to escape?

I'll never look at it in a garden quite the same way again!

Where the Wild Things Are

Last autumn, we traveled to India to visit relatives in Bangalore.  While in the area, we were also able to visit Bandipur National Park, a large wildlife sanctuary and tiger reserve. Once the private hunting grounds for the Maharaja of Mysore, Bandipur now includes 337 sq. miles (874 sq km) of diverse terrain.  It is home to many different species of wildlife and protects several of India's endangered species.

bonnet macaque monkey

We saw lots of monkeys near the roads and near our hotel.  All too used to humans, an especially bold monkey would even approach to beg for food when we were eating.

a baby monkey snuggles into its mother to nurse

Herds of chital deer and wild boar also grazed nearby in the more open areas.

Chital deer

Wild boar

We then took a windowless bus into the Bandipur National Park, driven by one of the park rangers.  Following a dirt road deeper into the reserve, we were able to see some animals that were less tame..  

Gray langur

herd of Gaur, also known as Indian bison

Green Bee-Eater

herd of chital deer surrounded by old bamboo mounds

We saw quite a few peacocks with their gorgeous plumage.

Did you know that peacocks can fly for short distances?  I didn't, before I saw this:

peacock up in a tree

When we saw animals, the park ranger would stop the bus and turn off the ignition so that we wouldn't scare them and so that we could take pictures.  Of course we were all thrilled when we spotted a group of elephants.

Notice what the adult elephants are carefully guarding..

A baby elephant tried to come closer to see us.  The adults quickly pushed it back behind them.

Then an old matriarch elephant started out of the brush towards our bus.

One idiot in the back of the bus was busy taking pictures with the flash on.  'No flash!' hissed the park ranger.  I heard a click as he turned the key halfway in the ignition, ready to start the bus and hit the gas if the elephant decided to charge.

The elephant stopped about 10 feet away from the bus and stayed there, grazing on tufts of grass and keeping a very watchful eye.

I could barely breath at that point - I was sitting in a windowless bus 10 feet away from a colossal sized elephant... 

with my own 4-year-old daughter on my lap.

Thankfully, all she did was watch us.  After a while, the herd of elephants decided to move on, and we went our separate ways. 

I was actually quite glad we did not happen upon a tiger...

The encounter with the elephants was wild enough for me!

Photo props:

Mr. Red House and his father took many of these awesome photos, as I was often busy holding kids.

Great photos, guys!

The Mystery of the Disappearing Bench

MISSING: 

Red House Garden Bench

It stands about 3 feet high, is made out of Tennessee sandstone blocks, and weighs approximately eleventy gazillion pounds.

It was last seen in the backyard last fall.

Sometime in the last few months it has gone missing.

Search parties have been sent out, combing the backyard and nearby areas for the vanished bench, but to no avail.

Here at the Red House Garden we are following every possible lead, determined to track down how this bench disappeared and what malevolent forces could have carried out such a deed.  Garden authorities are currently in the process of rounding up and questioning the usual suspects.

photo source - Wikipedia

If anyone has any information pertaining to the whereabouts of this garden bench or would like to report possible suspicious Garden Gnome behavior in connection to this case (or in general), please contact your local garden authorities.

We certainly hope that this garden bench will be found in time for the spring gardening.  

What Kids Want in a Garden

I have fond memories of the little tire planter garden I had as a kid, and it is very important to me that our kids have their own little patch of dirt.  We'll be building our daughters' gardens this spring here at our new house, once all the snow finally clears. Until then, we are eagerly making plans!

So what do kids want in a garden?  To answer this question, I enlisted two experts on the subject - my 4-year-old and 6-year-old. These are their expert opinions:

1.  Flowers - Lots and lots of flowers were requested, of course.  (Good, they know what a garden is, check!)

kids' garden at the old Red House

2.  Fruits and Vegetables - Surprised, parents?  Picking and eating veggies in the garden apparently has much more appeal than prepared veggies on a plate. This year, the kids are requesting to have two gardens each, one for flowers and one for edibles!

3.  Bugs - My kids requested 'lots and lots' of butterflies and ladybugs!  Children are naturally inclined to be wildlife gardeners, I think!

(Sorry bees, you didn't get quite the same amount of love.  And mosquitos, you were specifically asked to stay away from the party.)

4.  Water - Actually the specific requests from my daughters included the terms 'water fountain' and 'heated pool'.  (Where do they learn these things?)  Thankfully, they also mentioned a 'giant mud puddle.'  I think we can all guess which one has a better chance of being in the kids' garden..

5.  A place to run around - I guess I'm keeping a patch of lawn, after all!  My husband will be happy.  (Seriously, what is it with guys and grass?)

6.  Play structure - Okay, the term my daughters actually used was 'castle'.  Well, I did tell them to imagine their dream garden, after all.  I have a feeling that they are imagining something like this:

Cinderella's castle
source - Wikipedia

Do you think they'll settle for a big rock?

Happy gardening (or at least garden planning), everyone!

And here's to inspiring the next generation of gardeners!
Anyone have anything else to add to the list from their own little 'experts'? 

Valentine's Day is Coming - No Pressure

When it comes to Valentine's Day, I must admit, I side with all those clueless husbands who are wondering, what, oh what, did they do to the greeting card companies to deserve this holiday.

You see, in our relationship, Mr. Red House is actually the romantic one.  For our first Valentine's Day together, he put together a scavenger hunt for me through a part of town.  My friend gave me instructions with the first clue, which led me to a florist who gave me a bunch of roses and a card with a clue for where to go next.  The trail led to half a dozen stores, all of which gave me a little something and a card with a clue in it, and then finally led, of course, to Mr. Red House, who took me out to dinner.  Yeah, he's a keeper.

We both agreed that he could never top that, so we should keep expectations low from then on.  So of course, for our second Valentine's Day together, the only thing Mr. Red House did was build me a little crate made of handmade chocolate planks with homemade chocolate raspberry truffles nestled inside.  And also give me a couple hard to find books that he had scoured the internet for to add to my book collection of old girl detective novels.

Yeah, how am I supposed to live up to that?  I have no idea what I gave Mr. Red House for our first couple of Valentine's Days - it was probably socks or something equally practical.  (Who doesn't love a good pair of socks?)  I'm usually the one who is still wracking their brain right before Valentine's Day, wondering what in the world can I get that proves I still love this guy (just in case he doesn't know) and that I can afford and that doesn't require shipping because it's by now it's too late for that.  

Last year I stumbled upon an idea that was pure genius - Mr. Red House loves to get packages, so on Valentine's Day I told him I was going to send him one package for each year we were married throughout the month of February.  Thus I didn't have to pick what to get him right then (though I had the vague notion that he needed some more black socks), and it was the gift that keeps on giving all through the month!  (I was very thankful we had Amazon prime with all those shipping costs.)

Mr. Red House isn't just romantic at Valentine's Day.  These are all pictures of the birdhouse he built for me for Christmas that I had to show off.  He painted it red, because he knows how much I miss our red house.  (I won't tell you what I gave him, as it would look sad and pathetic in comparison.  Unless you really enjoy homemade salsa.)

Isn't the birdhouse gorgeous?  As beautiful as it looks out in the snow, this is one birdhouse I'm keeping indoors.

Does anyone else have the same problem as me?  Or are you the romantic one in the relationship?  Or have you decided to rebel against the greeting card companies and just not celebrate Valentine's Day at all?

And if you are romantic, do you by chance have any good ideas for what to get a guy for Valentine's Day?  Preferably something that doesn't require shipping at this late date...

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you! 

(And to all you fellow non-romantics, good luck!)

Looking for a Valentine's Day Activity?

Looking for something romantic to do for Valentine's Day this year?  

How about talking a nice romantic walk outside together?

Maybe with a pencil and paper..

while counting birds?

Eastern Bluebird

Okay, so the bird counting might or might not be your idea of romance, but this Valentine's Day is the start of this year's Great Backyard Bird Count!

Started in 1998 by the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Great Backyard Bird Count occurs one weekend every February, and this year the count is on 

February 14 - 17.

Downy Woodpecker

How to participate?  Just count how many and what type of birds you see in a 15 minute chunk of time.  Then sign up and log your results on the GBBC website - or, if you are a smart phone lover, there's even an free app for it! 

Count me!  Count me!

You can stay inside (and cuddle with your significant other!) and count the birds you see out the window, or you can go outside.  You can count one day, or each day of the count.  You can count for just 15 minutes, or you can count longer, as long as it is in 15 minute increments.

Carolina Chickadee

The data gathered in the Great Backyard Bird Count is very helpful in providing info about how bird populations are doing, if bird ranges are changing, and what habitats different birds live in.  A big change in numbers of a bird population can indicate a change in their environment that needs to be looked at more closely.

Last year participants in 111 countries documented over 4,000 different species of birds for a grand total of over 33,000,000 birds.  What a great amount of data!  

American Goldfinches enjoying one of the feeders after our last snow storm

Not sure how to identify all of the birds you see?  The Cornell Lab has a great website to help identify birds.  And if you can't identify them all, that's okay, just report the ones you can.  

hmm... having trouble identifying this bird..

So next weekend, consider giving the birds some love and making bird counting part of your Valentine plans...

Yellow-rumped Warbler

though I must admit, my kids were a lot more excited about this activity than my husband :)

Happy bird counting!

the Great Backyard Bird Count website:  birdcount.org

more about the Great Backyard Bird Count: gbbc.birdcount.org/about/