Garden Goes Wild!

The other day I was cleaning out my barrel deck pond and came a cross a nest at the bottom of the barrel. I wasn't surprised since last year we found a mouse nest in there. I gently disturbed the material and all of a sudden instead of a mouse the whole ball of fuzz started to undulate and then little bumble bees began to crawl out and fly around, buzzing angrily! They were so cute and small but perfect little bees. I knew if they stung me neither of us would be happy. I'd be stung and they'd be dead, so I left it alone for several hours so they could move on.

My yard used to be a garden that I had built up from nothing, including multiple flowerbeds, a huge vegetable garden and lilac bushes and honeysuckle around the perimeter to cover the metal fence I had installed. I had a beautiful pond, with a fire pit off to the side.  I spent hours and hours each day from spring to fall adding more and more perennials, looking after my fish and wondering at the giant bullfrogs, who incedentally ate some of my fish! The goldfish were breeding which was wonderful to see these tiny brown fish grow into golden shiny gems hiding underneath the huge waterlilies which bloomed in yellow then turned pink! I had little white lights in the bushes and torches to light the pathways to the pond and fire pit.

Once a saweet owl (tiny) landed in front of me with a mouse in its talons and I sat quietly in the dark and watched as he had his dinner within feet of me. Amazing!

Since I've been ill, the "garden" is no longer and is now a wild yard, which is sad, but also I've noticed that the wilder it becomes the more we are visited by nature. Hence the bee nests, of which I'm sure there are many more than the one I found. If you read my apple tree post you'll hear why I think that.
Bees are facinating little insects, and so cute and round. Apparently they burrow underground using old rodent holes to overwinter although some die off. So my greatest thing I miss is my pond but the increase in birds and  butterflies chipmunks helps to ease the pain!