So our resident pair of Rio Grande leopard frogs (Lithobates berlandieri) have been driving me NUTS. They're highly active and tend to shove my plants around in the stock pond. THEN they starting digging out the dirt in my dwarf water lily's pot. ARGH! I didn't know what to replace the dirt with. After some counseling by staff at Hill Country Water Gardens and Nursery, I dug up some plain dirt in our yard and filled in the big hole. See what I did next......
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| See what our bad frogs did? |
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| I added dirt, then topped with some big rocks. |
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Hmmm. Some extra protection would help so I found an old
screen, cut out a hole for the lilies, and laid the screen on top of the
pot. Hopefully, the big rocks will hold the screen in place. Time will
tell.
The thing is, we WANT wildlife to come to our Wildscape. But
please don't tear it up! LOL! Ah, when nature goes bad, all you can do
is smile and fix it as best you can. Right?
UDATE OCTOBER 11, 2019
I gave up and removed my pot of dwarf lilies and put it in a container of water. I'm hoping to keep what's left alive. Come cold temps, I'll put the pot at the bottom of the stock tank for overwintering. Wish me luck!
2 comments:
I've seen only one of the Leopard frogs in my garden, along with several toads, and the frog has made himself at home, digging a hole in one of my pots where he settles in almost level to the soil line. It was a small plant and so, yes, it did die from constant root disruption. But my biggest destruction this year has been from armadillos! omg, just total uprooting of everything. I have lost so many plants, not to mention the helpful earthworms & other soil creatures. I have no help, so all my back-breaking work has to be counted in the loss, too. So discouraging. Agreed. Love the wildlife; don't like total annihilation! Your solution to the pond damage looks like it will work wonderfully well!
Wah. I haven't updated this post yet but the screen and rocks failed. We're even wondering if a raccoon is to blame, not the frogs. Stay tuned.
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