Attack Of The Killer Plant

At the beginning of the winter,
Howard and I take the old pumpkins
from our Fall decorating,

. . . give 'em a good smash to expose their tender innards,
and put them beneath thick underbrush to feed squirrels
and other little critters into the cold months.

By spring, there's usually nothing left,

or perhaps a little bit of bleached out pumpkin skin that quickly composts away.

 We forgot to put this pumpkin, above, out for the squirrels,

so it lay hidden under snow from Christmas until spring, deflated like an old balloon.  But intact . . .

Until it was attacked by the enemy beneath:

Yes, the spring blooming plant beneath it came up anyway, and sliced right through the pumpkin

with its sharp needle like foliage.  Ouch!   It even beheaded it ... in the picture below

you can see the stem has come undone and is lying near the edge of the border.  Again, ouch!

Kind of creepy, isn't it?

 But it is lovely to see the hyacinths abloom in my not-yet-tidied up border.

At least one of our beds is tidy, below, but I think the people we hired to help with Fall cleanup got a little too enthusiastic, and I seem to be missing about 2/3 of the Bleeding Hearts we used to have!  I will plant more; they do so well in this spot.

The big forsythia is having a sad and anemic spring.

That is a sad looking bush.

Last year, it bloomed profusely.  The year before . . . another poopy blooming season.

Could it be that this particular forsythia is on a two-year cycle, and only blooms well every other year?

It was not pruned last year, so the new growth was not shorn off.  'Tis a mystery.

Happy Wednesday! 
I'm off to have brunch with my friend Betsy, pick up Alida's wedding invitations, and bring some shoestring chic chairs to an upholsterer.  More on those on Friday; a good story!  -- Cass

Visit Susan at A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday.  Click here!