Four Surprises

When walking around the garden the other day trying to decide what tasks needed doing most urgently, I saw a few things that surprised me. First up is my venus flytrap:

It seems strange to me that a harvestman (or "daddy longlegs" as we call them around here) would climb up this plant, then lower its body into the "trap", but apparently that's what happened. I never would have guessed this was possible!

***

The second surprise was seeds:

Not just any seeds though, these are hard, pea-sized pellets, almost like little wooden berries. Any guesses on what plant they are from?

If you guessed "Canna", you're right! I've posted photos of canna seed pods before, but I've never noticed any of them actually ripening. (These seeds were produced by the "plain green" cannas that seem to be more vigorous and cold-hardy than any of the cultivars.)

My third surprise was also seed-related, but wasn't a very nice one:

The Pseudosasa japonica ("Arrow Bamboo") that I put into the planter box under the deck has started to flower. In the bamboo world flowers usually mean the plant is going to die, or at the very least look very weak for a few years.

I surmised that this could be a stress-induced flowering from too little water this summer, but then I checked each of the potted specimens of this species I have, and most of them were flowering too.

So although I put this plant here because the previous specimen was ugly, I may need to replace it again. Maybe this planter box is jinxed?

The fourth surprise was another related to seeds... I think:

Is that an oleander seed pod? I've been growing this for a few years now, and I don't think I've ever seen a pod form before.


That was the four I had planned on talking about, but how about a bonus surprise?

The netting over the pond is doing a good job keeping the leaves out of the water, but the surprise is that no birds, deer, or raccoons have been snared. I fully expect one morning to look out and see an exhausted animal waiting for me to free it.


Finding anything surprising in your garden this season?

.