Snake! Wait, snake? (and other questions)

I noticed something momentarily exciting yesterday:

What certainly must be a snake climbing high up in my pine tree! I haven't seen a snake in the garden for a few years, and they're one of the things that I've been trying to attract -- any reptiles really. So this sighting was exciting!

***

Another second or two and my excitement turned to disappointment...

...and confusion. I realized that this was clearly not a snake, but just one of the tree's own branches...

...inexplicably growing around the trunk. Sure this is a twisted white pine (Pinus strobus 'Torulosa') and can have twisted branches, but why would this one branch twist so severely when all of the others are just barely wiggling?

Now I wonder how I'm going to get that branch off, as I surely don't want to let it continue to grow around the trunk -- although that might slow down the growth of this thing a bit. It's put on at least 18" (45cm) of height a year, even though the tag and other references say to expect a third of that or less.


So that's one question. Another is...

...what exactly is living underneath my woody stick compost pile?

I wonder if somebody I know has a game camera that I could borrow?


As long as I'm asking questions, why did I forsake garden ornaments for so long?

This bed would be "boring" without the fire hydrant!


Another question that I know the answer to already: what happened to the fall colors?

There are some trees giving a display, but the majority went straight for yellowish-brown this year, I'm assuming because it has been so very dry for the last month or so. Just a hint of orange in the sugar maple this year -- more brown than usual.


The last had to be forced into question form:

How will I manage without the castor bean/banana combination for the next nine months or so? They combine to dominate this half of the yard (and the view from the deck). So impressive and you can see them from almost everywhere back here. Sigh.

Any other questions?

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