|
Today was so warm and humid that breathing
out-of-doors was next to impossible. Humid weather is what frogs and toads like best. The abundance of toads and frogs is
obvious at night when their various songs are audible. Since they eat a lot of harmful insects, it is a good idea to try to
attract them to your garden.
In a lot of garden catalogues, "toad
houses" are offered. They may actually use these things. They resemble an inverted flower pot with a hole for the toad to
use as a door.
Unless you put them in a place where it is always shaded, you are
better off making your own toad house out of a terra cotta clay pot. Besides being a lot cheaper! The terra cotta pot being
unglazed, it will breathe and moisture will evaporate from it, making the house cool inside. You can set a rock on top of
the house so that all the humidity does not escape.
All the frogs and toads I read about
are insect eaters. To attract toads and frogs to your garden, food is no problem, as we all have insects in our garden.
Toads and frogs need water to lay their eggs in. Most property in this area has at least one
stock pond. If you have a water garden, or pond, or little waterfall with a quiet pool beneath it, the frogs and toads will
lay eggs there.
If you want to have frogs from the eggs, you can't have large fish.
If you have large fish, you could still have frogs grow up there if you have places in the pond for the tadpoles to hide.
Minnows and mosquito fish are probably too small to eat tadpoles.
To encourage
the humidity that frogs need, lower leaves and branches should be left on plants, especially in the shady areas that frogs
like. Also, do not let the soil or plants dry out. Some large rocks sitting around fairly close to each other will help trap
moisture
Besides being useful in ridding our gardens of insect pests, frogs and toads are an environmental
indicator. They are among the first species to disappear if the environment stops being friendly to living things. Therefore,
the biologists and ecologists monitor the frog population. You can know that your garden is free of toxic chemicals if you
have a few frogs around. Perhaps that is why frogs and toads evoke a smile when people see them. They are a very popular design
element in fabric and crafts.
To summarize
about attracting toads and frogs to your yard:
1. Water often.
2. Let plants be close and keep the lower branches and leaves to encourage humidity.
3. Also to encourage humidity, mulch with either organic matter or rocks.
4. Have a water pool,
even if it is only temporary in early spring.
5. If your pond has fish, put a brush
pile at the edge of the water (half in-half out of the water) for a place for young frogs and tadpoles to hide.
Frogs are an important foodsource for a variety of animals, including
humans. Also they fill the air with their peeps, trills, whistles, grunts, and snores. Their music adds dimension to our spring
and summer evenings. If you need a hobby, and birds do not interest you: try learning to identify the species of frog or toad
by their sound.
Yesterday I was very lucky to visit
an old abandoned garden. The gardener herself had passed on many years ago, but a lot of her flowers live on. A wonderland
was created mostly by hundreds of pink ladies or August lilies, a lot of spearmint in full bloom and right in the center was
a passionflower.
I have seen a lot of pictures of passion
vine, but this was my first encounter with one in person. They must be hardy. This one lived with no care at all for over
10 years.
Of course I wish I had had my camera...but,
if I go back with my camera today, it would not be the same. How do you capture magic on film, anyway? Part of the magic was
the fragrance of the mint.
There were
lots of low leaves of vines and ground covers. There was a pond a little below the garden. Hundreds of August Ladies, the
fragrance of mint, and right in the center like a jewel, one passion flower bloom. Do you think there were also lots of frogs
secretly watching?
--Wendy Schmidt
|
