JoAnne Skelly: Why do we garden?

The bane of my existence every summer are ground squirrels. They are everywhere in our yard. Lately, one has decided that pink hyacinth bulbs are a delicacy. Every day I find holes dug in my flower bed.

I’ve lost quite a few bulbs already. In years past, they haven’t bothered with that bed because it’s right by the back door. However, all bets are off this season.

The problem isn’t just losing the hyacinths, but the squirrel digging is also damaging my new violets, young penstemons and baby lavenders. I’ve been coaxing that flower bed along for years, now to be thwarted by a dang rodent.

The travails of a gardener! Another pesty issue that I manage to forget until it starts happening again is the “snowfall” of poplar cotton. I totally understand their cottonwood name. The problem is that the cotton can’t be swept up.

It simply flies off to somewhere else you don’t want it to be. It has to be vacuumed. Imagine seeing me with the shop vac working on the patio as well as the adjacent beds. It’s a laugh, right? But the cotton is so messy and if it gets wet, it’s almost impossible to get up. It just bunches up into soggy masses.

The cottontails have been pretty cute so far, but I know that they too will be causing havoc in the yard. The babies are barely four inches long. They are so small they fit into the gutter drainpipe. They run inside to hide.

I think we are on at least round two of babies, maybe round three. They have been nibbling my dragon’s blood sedum down to nubs. Too bad I can’t train them to mow just the lawn! Although the Cooper’s hawks are back, they aren’t keeping up with the bunny population.

Then there’s the grass invading all my flower beds. What a pain to dig it out. Before I get all the beds done, the first bed cleaned is already in dire need of weeding again. Weed eating is a never-ending chore my poor husband tries to keep up with.

He’s also mowed the field once already, carefully mowing around all the wild lupines I had marked with cute pink flags. He understands and supports my passion for growing wildflowers.

On the good news side, it’s a banner year for the lupines and Palmer’s penstemons. I can see quite a few new Rocky Mountain penstemons too. The swallowtails are back, and the songbirds are prolific. Maybe that’s why I garden?

JoAnne Skelly is Associate Professor & Extension Educator Emerita at University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. Email skellyj@unr.edu