What Unexpected Garden Guest Surprised You This Week? 🌿

[ducks4you]

i have a weed that popped up in a garden that was not there last year, i don't know where these thousands of seeds came from, but i've had to weed the garden many times this season already and i have to do it yet again tomorrow before these current round of growing weeds drop even more seeds.

it is a speedwell and they are aptly named...

i am amazed at how fast it has been able to get to the size it is at now since it seems like i just weeded it, but that was now six weeks ago at least so... well, not that bad.

no pictures, no praises, just words on the page...

I fight this one:

 

[flowerbug]

I fight this one:
View attachment 70714

oh, that's around here too, but not too much, it isn't in the fenced gardens or anyplace near the onion patch (which is also inside the fenced gardens).

i think i finally figured out where the speedwell came from, some old potting soil from a container was mixed in there last year...

 

[ducks4you]

Crummy illegal alien plants!!!!!!!!!!

 

[SPedigrees]

Woolly bear caterpillars (Pyrrharctia isabella) are fuzzy like a bear, black on the ends and reddish-brown in the middle. Since colonial times, people have used it as a predictor of winter weather to come: It is said that if the middle reddish-brown section is long, the winter will be mild; if the middle is short, the winter will be harsh.

Looks like we are expecting a harsh winter according to this caterpillar, or maybe more equal parts brown and red?View attachment 70683

Well yours differs greatly from my woolly bear posted last month (on my purple garden hose):

Supposedly the longer the red band in relation to the surrounding black bands indicates a milder winter, but your woolly bear has almost equal red to black ratio. Perhaps we're going to have a mild winter here in the east, while you in the west are going to have an average winter? Who knows?

 

[SPedigrees]

The deer have been introduced, like the cane toads (brought here to control sugar can beetle, and now they are out of control ... smart AU gvts, not!)
Suprised to hear that you buy meds from AU, when we buy from USA : ) : ) : ) ???

Isn't that the way - that governments import a species expecting it will keep another species in check, the way they do in a different country, and it goes completely haywire. It's never as simple as they think!

May I ask what meds you import from the US? We mostly buy de-worming and heartworm preventative products from Australia (as well as sometimes from England or Canada) because our own regulatory authority made these necessary veterinary medications available only by order of licensed veterinarians.

It's such a racket - we have to pay higher price for a prescription for HW pills each month and/or expensive fecal testing each time a de-wormer is bought. But it seems our govt is giving up on this form of extra revenue (ie extortion) now that so many of us are purchasing drugs that should be over-the-counter from countries where these are OTC, because I'm recently seeing some of these pet meds re-branded and offered for sale w/o a prescription here in the US. Too little too late for me! I'm happy with the service of PetsMegastore in your country after doing business with them for several decades. So much for my rant! lol

 

[Shades-of-Oregon]

A word of caution. Some dogs can’t take dewormer meds with the commonly used Ivermectin used in wormers. Why?

Why shouldn’t my collie have ivermectin wormers? - Goddard Veterinary Group

Ivermectin is a very commonly used wormer in many species, it is occasionally used in dogs – but never in collies and other herding breeds.

www.goddardvetgroup.co.uk

 

[ducks4you]

In 1985, right after I bought my first herd of 6 horses, I got a new Veteranian, and all of the talk was about Ivermectin, the "wonder" deworming drug. Some people wanted to use it exclusively, new Vet cautioned to rotate drugs, and I have tried to do That since.
There is Never a "one size fits all", and many animals, as well as many people have developed allergies to drugs and the bacteria, viruses and parasites have evolved so that there are no longer effective.
Amoxicillin, anyone?!?!?

 

[SPedigrees]

A word of caution. Some dogs can’t take dewormer meds with the commonly used Ivermectin used in wormers. Why?

Why shouldn’t my collie have ivermectin wormers? - Goddard Veterinary Group

Ivermectin is a very commonly used wormer in many species, it is occasionally used in dogs – but never in collies and other herding breeds.

www.goddardvetgroup.co.uk

A subset of collies and other herding dogs have a sensitivity to ivermectin and other drugs in that same class when given over a certain dosage. This research was conducted in the 1980s when this sensitivity was discovered - it is a failing in the blood/brain barrier. You can have a collie tested for this gene, but personally I think it is safer to just assume he has it.

For instance monthly heartworm preventative drugs are well below the threshold, while ivermectin based de-wormers and mange treatments, or imodium for diarrhea should never be given to a collie because if he has this particular gene, it could be fatal..

Also never use permethrin spot-on flea preventative on a cat.

The dog de-wormers I buy from Australia are a mix of of praziquantel and oxibendazole, as is the wormer I saw advertised as available in this country w/o rx. Ivermectin based horse wormers are safe for all equines, although I believe the praziquantel ones do a more complete job. (It's been awhile.)

 

[ducks4you]

Ivermectin, praziquantel and oxibendazole ALL started as horse dewomers.
In fact, praziquantel was developed here at the University of Illinois Veteranary School.
Strange, I used to deworm and give vaccines for tetanus, East and West Nile Virus and Sleeping Sickness. Now, they get vaccines for rabies, and praziquantel deworms tapeworm and bots. Always give that one in the Fall.

 

[Branching Out]

We came home late last night and saw a short, wide skunk lumbering through a neighbouring garden. Maybe that's what's digging up our garlic and tulip bulbs.