The window squirrel has a weird face bump

[conuly]

It's not grossly disfiguring, but it's definitely visible. Google suggests that this is probably not a serious problem or disease, not that I could do anything to help the poor squirrel if it was.

In other news, after getting along our back fenceline today I took a detour and got up two big patches of daffodils in the front yard. Shoved a dozen back into the dirt; gave a dozen to the kids down the block for their mom, reassured them that it is impossible to kill daffs, god knows I've tried; and left the rest out for M to pick up.

These aren't classic single daffodils, big yellow-on-yellow. These are white fluffy doubles. I've still got several patches of white-and-salmon and white-and-orange to dig up in the back, and medium-sized white-on-whites, and of course our itty-bitty yellow-on-yellows down by the sidewalk.

As far as the back goes, I've been mostly taking the approach of getting every patch of ragweed I can see, which has worked more or less to stop it from spreading while I dig and dig and dig unceasingly. The trouble is, of course, the runners. What looks to be bare dirt or a single little bitty leaf poking out often turns out to have the densest set of roots underneath. I think I've gone as far as I can with the patch-by-patch approach in the left part of our backyard. It's time for me to draw up a grid and start working systematically. Every time I dig up one section of grid I'll put down some wildflower seeds and mulch. Speaking of wildflowers, when I get the front yard I'm going to lose our violets, I think. I'm not sure what varietal they are. They're not what I think of as Johnny-jump-up, purple and yellow. They're not the darker purple people sell as violets and/or violas (never been sure of the difference). They're a lighter blue? I want to replace them with more of the same, but I haven't found the seeds online for that.

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Comments

[chanter1944]

I'd adopt a couple of those white fluffy double daffodils and some of the pale blue violets from you, were I in your vicinity. Alas, no dice.

[mama_kestrel]

It sounds like the violets you're describing aren't from seed; they're wild violets. They're another difficult to kill plant. Unlike ragweed, they're perennials. The good news is that if you want to keep them, you can dig them up and set them aside while you clear the other stuff you don't want, then replant them. They definitely count as native wildflowers. I transplanted a batch from my yard into the front flower bed and let them spread, as they make an excellent ground cover.

[zesty_pinto]

If this leads to a new variety of rhino squirrel, I'm in.