We had two resident frogs going into last winter and last week we had had two resident frogs that apparently awoke from the dead. Well, almost dead. Frogs go into suspended animation as the water turns cold. They simply turn off their body systems. They don’t breathe, they don’t move, they just slink down to the bottom of the pond and wait till the longer days and sunshine warms the pond, then … [Read more...]

  All frogs are green, aren’t they? No, some are brown, some are tan, and some are gray. But some frogs are really called “Green Frogs” and that’s what I have in my pond. For the past few years, each spring we have noticed hundreds of tiny tadpoles in Nancy’s lily pond - basically a 35-gallon tub where she grows water lilies. They would dart here and there for a few weeks, then … [Read more...]

  We have a little frog factory going in our back yard, there are lots of frogs and I don’t know how they all got there. Maybe the frog stork dropped them off? But we have frogs. We began this year with three holdovers that sunk to the bottom of our little goldfish pond last winter, then came back to life this spring. One was a bullfrog that had grown from a tadpole I bought and the … [Read more...]

  I remember my first fish. It was a stubby little bluegill caught in a farm pond near my hometown of Raleigh. My resident bullfrog, Billy Bull, also caught his first fish and it may have been bigger than my first bluegill. I was feeding Billy some meal worms on a recent afternoon during cocktail hour. He had seen me sit down and moseyed his way over, knowing there were snacks at hand. … [Read more...]

  My resident bull frog, Billy Bull, has quite an appetite, but he may have bitten off more than he can chew. This week, he tried to eat bird. Nancy was in the back year putzing around and saw a small house finch land on a rock in our goldfish pod to get a sip of water. Unfortunately, the little finch landed on a rock next to out resident bullfrog, Billy Bull. Bill Bull immediately … [Read more...]

I should have named him Mr. Magoo instead of Billy Bullfrog because my pond resident is blind as a bat. Perhaps, he’s not blind, but he surely lacks depth perception. My late afternoon routine these days – barring rainstorms – is sitting beside our small goldfish pond and tossing live mealworms on lily pads for Billy’s dinner. The one-year-old bull frog is pretty good at seeing the worms … [Read more...]

    Nancy wanted some Mountain Mint, to plant next to our goldfish/frog pond. The aromatic plant is valued because of its ability to attract butterflies, bees, wasps, and flies. Her pond advisor suggested the plants would provide cover for our frogs and a source of food. So, off I went in search of Pycnanthemum, better known as Mountain Mint. No one in town had any, but my favorite … [Read more...]

  As I have mentioned, almost every night I toss meal worms to my assorted frogs in the goldfish pond. Some land on the lily pads and the others fall in the water to awaiting goldfish. Nancy, however, goes one better. She hand feeds a certain frog that perches up on the stones. He’s a little fellow, a leopard frog, and cute as a button. For kicks, one afternoon, I challenged Nancy to … [Read more...]

Claude Monet was quite taken with water lilies. The French Impressionist of the late 19th and early 20th century, brushed some 250 canvases with his splendid oils depicting the water lilies in his flower garden in Giverny. At long last, our little garden pond is now blessed with a blooming lily and to behold this magnificent flower, you can see why Monet was so obsessed with these … [Read more...]