Massive moose

A moose taller than a sport utility vehicle wandered into the backyard of a Vail condo and needed help to get out Tuesday.

Wildlife managers were unable to herd the animal out of the yard, so they called the property owner to tell him they would be carrying an unconscious moose through his condo.

- Denver Post (link here)

We do not have massive moose in our backyards here in the Milwaukee area.

The Colorado Division of Wildlife has an interesting summary of information about moose in Colorado (link here).

Giant cougar in AZ

Lots of info but here is just one of many good links:

The Daily Courier

Safflower

One of my favorite seeds for birds is safflower, a white seed, slightly smaller than a black sunflower seed. Squirrels don't like it. Neither do grackles, blue jays, or starlings.

I bit into a safflower seed myself once and found it extremely bitter. Cardinals, titmice, chickadees, and downy woodpeckers munch it like candy, though, so I keep a good supply available on the platform feeder.

- birdwatching.com

Ken Druse

http://kendruse.typepad.com/

Garden info site sponsored by Wayside Gardens.

Bartzella

For years the Holy Grail of serious gardeners, this Itoh Hybrid from master breeder Roger Anderson sold for more than $1,000 a division as late as 1999, but today is mercifully much more affordable! Yet no other Peony has surpassed it for beauty, fragrance, or sheer flower power, and we doubt any will. With blooms measuring 9 inches across, fully double and redolent of zesty lemon, this Peony would be remarkable even if it didn't have the vigor to produce more than 80 flowers a season on a single plant.

- Wayside Gardens (link here)

$1,000 for a peony does seem a bit steep.

Too many new plants

While at the conference I heard someone say that we have way too many new plants. I agree - there are too many new plants. The problem is that there is no way that people, let alone nursery professionals, can digest so many new introductions, let alone grow them.

I see the same thing when I travel overseas. New plants are a dime-a-dozen. As I've said before the difficulty is not finding new plants, it's finding new plants that are better and superior, and that people will want to put in their yard.

To make matters worse, in one of the clinic lectures, one retail expert said that garden centers need to cut back on the number of plant varieties they offer. His point was that by offering so many choices, we are overwhelming the consumer. Again, I agree.

So what’s the Answer? In my opinion the free market will solve the problem. The best plants will rise to the top as growers, retailers and consumers vote with their pocket books. With this in mind, it’s very important for growers to be careful in introducing new plants or they’ll soon discover that they’ve wasted a lot of time and money.

- Tim Wood, The Plant Hunter (via email, no link provided)

I think this is a good problem, and as he points out, it will get solved via the marketplace.

Australian Spider

Thanks to Allison for the picture of the very cool spider.