The Princess and the Frog

The Princess and the Frog

Here is the gorgeous Disney Princess Selena Gomez performing at sunset at Bethel Woods. The sunset tones really set off the great skin color she had. My experience meeting her and seeing the concert was one I am not likely to forget for a long time.

On the other hand I met this Green Frog (Rana clamitans) at work yesterday. He wasn’t nearly as pretty but beautiful in his own special way. I felt bad because his eye and leg were messed up a little, which made him an easy catch. Soon after being subjected to my nosy camera he was back swimming in the pond with his friends hopefully no worse for the wear. A detailed inspection revealed a beautiful animal with a lot of great markings and colors.


Yesterday was kind of wildlife day at work. We saw a family of three deer, a woodchuck, rabbits, frogs and a huge snake. The snake was about six feet long and twice the thickness of a broom handle. The largest one I had seen in many years.

Senor Frog’s Restaurant Waikiki

Senor Frog’s Restaurant
Waikiki, Hi
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We didn’t get to eat here but it looked fun and the menu looked like something we would like. This place is inside the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center, which is an interesting and beautiful mall.
Snor Frog’s Website

Aston Waikiki Circle Hotel
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A distinctive looking hotel directly across from Waikiki Beach.
Waikiki Circle Hotel

Wooden Frog Drums

Wooden Frog Drums
Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday ~ Green Frog

Green Frog (Rana clamitans)

Weeping Eastern Redbud

Weeping Eastern Redbud
Cercis Canadensis 'Lavender Twist'
(SER-sis) (ka-na-DEN-sis)
Caesalpiniaceae
Synonyms: Weeping Canadian Redbud, Judas Tree, Covey

The jury is still out on this tree for me. I have seen it popping up all over the place so it seems to be getting more popular. It sure is pretty when it’s blooming but I have to remember to see what it looks like during the summer. It has a strongly weeping shape and slightly darker colors then a regular Redbud. The Estate has a small collection of Redbuds including the one that always makes me laugh, a White Redbud (Cercis canadensis f. alba). Most of them are doing fairly well and seem to have off and on years. This year they are doing well.



I had another frog posing for me yesterday. I was installing a pump in a water garden and this fellow just wouldn’t move. He sat patiently whilst I shot a couple of pictures of him and then I had to nudge him off the rock he was on into the pond. Overall it was a good day for wildlife in the garden. I saw a Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon) noisily flirting around one of the ponds in the morning. Good luck trying to get a picture of him, he seemed to get a little agaitated when we came around. Later in the day I caught a baby Northern Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi) and after keeping it in a jar for a while I let him go. Later I was tipping an Umbrella Pine and out flew a Cardinal from its nest. I couldn’t see if there was anything in it but will keep an eye on it. Finally in the late afternoon three hawks started to fight and were swooping all over the garden attacking each other. I think that there is a pair that has a nest nearby and they were defending their turf. It was quite a sight. All this kind of goes along with my theory that these gardens are a sanctuary for a lot of different species. Lucky it is on a fairly large parcel but I have watched the development along the edges grow and grow over the years. Maybe all the plants are attracting them but you never know what is going to happen next. I remember last year I was tip pruning a Blue Spruce with my pole pruner when a Hawk flew out of it. Scared the heck out of me.



This last picture is Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) bark. It is tree you don’t really see too often in Connecticut. I don’t think it likes the hot and humid summers or the polluted air. This is from a large specimen (about 75 feet tall) and I had to limb up the branches to about 30 feet because of dieback. It is not a true fir tree (not in the genus Abies) and it’s scientific name means False Hemlock.

Weeping Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida 'Pendula')

Weeping Flowering Dogwood
Cornus florida 'Pendula'
(KOR-nus) (FLOR-id-uh)
Cornaceae

I wouldn’t wish this tree on anybody with a small garden. No matter what I spray it with or how many times I spray it, it still gets fungusy, and looks like heck by summer. Sometimes it is even earlier than summer. I am sure that this is probably caused by something I am doing and is probably not the tree. It does have an interesting winter outline and for brief time in the spring, when it flowers you remember why you are growing it. It started out its career a little light on the flowering but pretty much flowers heavily every year now. It has been in the garden for about 10 years and it wasn’t that small when I planted it either. I much prefer the two Weeping Kousa dogwoods I have in the same garden. This tree is still a Dogwood and that always commands respect from me. I think it is one of the aristocrats of the flowering trees. It is just that this particular form is odd.



I also snapped this picture of a semi-submerged frog. It came out okay considering with both startled each other. I had the 60mm Nikon lens on the camera so I just snapped the picture and he swam away. This is not a crop of a larger image. I was actually trying to take a picture of a little white Primrose that was blooming along the pond banks. This garden has about 5,000 Primroses and there is only one tiny patch of this type. My Primrose picture didn’t come out so I will have to settle for the frog.

I am back to my paperwork. Who would have thought managing a few gardens would require this much paperwork?

Green Frog (Rana clamitans)

Green Frog
Rana clamitans

This is one from the archives. I took this picture last year as the frog sat on top of a waterfall. I was out playing with the band last night and boy I am I starting the week off tired. There is so much that needs to be done this week. I will probably just skate by today and try and pick up the pace tomorrow. The temperatures sure have been dipping down at night around here and I think the rest of the tropicals better come in.