A letter from the garden

Where is David Attenborough when you need him? The only thing that could have made the scene in my house on Monday night seem more like a nature show would have been Attenborough’s voice narrating the whole debacle.

It started with a photo sent from home early in the day showing what could have been dirt, something worse than dirt or a blob of unknown origin sitting on the living room floor. Scale was provided by the orange cat ears photobombing into the frame.

It was an Eastern Gray Treefrog and after a bit of puzzlement on how in the world it got there on a 20-degree February day, I realized it must have been overwintering in one of the plants I brought in from outside back in October.

Here’s the short version of what happened next, most of which played out live on my Instagram stories (don’t worry, I saved a highlight):

• Mr. Much More Patient moves the frog outside tucked under a shrub near the house. He does not realize that by this point the Internet is invested in this story and by doing so he has drawn the ire of many strangers, not to mention his wife.

• I advise him to find it and retrieve it. He claims to look, to no avail. It’s almost as though the man doesn’t want a frog in the house.

• I come home from work, arm myself with a flashlight and dig around under the shrub until I find the well-camouflaged amphibian, whose body seems lifeless.

• I put him in the large ficus tree in the living half assuming that the frog has perished but hoping that if it does revive, it will simple crawl up the tree and hang out there until spring eating the various bugs that are around (and scale … do treefrogs eat scale?).

• Five minutes later there are signs of life. It’s moving. The internet rejoices.

• Twenty minutes later I’m called into the living and admonished to “take care of my pets” as a frog is literally hopping through the room. I wish I could wake up half as quickly as that frog did.

• Frog is capture and placed in the plant I suspect he came from (a Mangave that I watered pretty well on the weekend).

• Frog makes a run for it. Now it is stuck to my wall with two cats watching with a disturbing amount of interest.

• It sees me coming and makes a heroic leap to the floor. When I pick it up to rescue it for the third time in less than a house it rewards me by peeing on my hand.

• I stick him in another plant in the messy sea of overwintering plants that are perpetually on the verge of death, or at least look like it.

That’s the last time I saw it. I’m pretty sure he’s in his little houseplant jungle, and I’m not overly worried about his four-legged housemates who are either horribly aloof (the Newfoundlands), lazy (the orange cat) or easily bored (the small tabby). Thanks to actually very helpful advice delivered via Instagram I have a good idea of what to feed him should such intervention be required (dried meal worms rather than live crickets, both of which are cringeworthy).

A lot of people suggestion I get a terrarium for him, but a few people made a better suggestion: put him in the area where I keep dahlia tubers, an Ensete ornamental banana and a potted fig in cool, dormant storage. It’s the perfect solution in that area that is around 45 degrees. Should be cool enough to keep him dormant too.

But first, I’m going to need to find him. Because I guess we have another pet.

P.S. A follower whose husband is some kind of frog specialist tells me my new pet is likely a female, based on its size.

I don’t know about you, but I need some color and inspiration so I can bury myself in idealistic planning for spring. I hope these videos hit the spot.

By the way, this was a very successful project and I think I’ll probably order more this spring. ↓

Is this the year you finally try dahlias? Of course it is! ↓

As I was researching my latest newspaper column last week, I was reminded of one of the most interesting seed sources on the internet. The Experimental Farm Network is a nonprofit cooperative of small growers and breeders committed to sustainable agriculture, and they sell some really interesting things that you won’t find elsewhere.

If you check it out, I recommend a cup of tea (or something stiffer if you aren’t afraid of how it may affect your spending) because reading the rich descriptions and background of these varieties is the best part.

Here are a few of the things I picked up:

• Kyoto Three-Foot cucumber

• Rattail raddish

• After Midnight poppy

Pink Berkley Tie Dye tomato (I also love their Black Vernissage tomato)

(Some of these are affiliate Amazon links. Use them for reference or for shopping, in which case I may get a commission, but if you choose to do your book shopping elsewhere, that’s great too.)

I have a pattern in when I return to my garden bookshelf. In the gardening season I’m looking for quick references on pruning or something very specific. But at this time of year I’m ready to brush up on the information and inspiration I’ll need for the spring garden. Here’s what’s been dusted off lately:

Matt Mattus has two books in this series, one on flower growing and one on vegetable growing. I reach for this one more.

My Amazon history tells me I bought this book 12 years ago. What can I say? It’s a classic and I still find inspiration in it.

This is my go-to for inspiration when I don’t know what I’m looking for. (And yes my garden is in it, but this book has all kinds of gardens to draw from.)

I have a galley copy of Sarah Raven’s newest book sitting on the coffee table right now. I’ve only started looking through it but I can’t wait to get the full-color version. She’s a flower master. You can pre-order it now.

That’s it for this week. If you’re a long-time subscriber to this newsletter, thanks for making the move with me. If you just found me on Subtack, thank you for following!