Category: plants

Ant hills

multicolored ant hills, Atlántida, Uruguay

The ants have been busy lately in our dog walk area. For some reason, sand beneath the surface is a different color, making the hills particularly conspicuous. I find it interesting how many of them have appeared.

I don’t think they’re always there. Do they appear and disappear, like the several kinds of frogs, from one day to the next?

We also spotted a little snake, ~ 25 cm long, that all six dogs (happily) didn’t notice. From a clump of grass, it zipped between my legs to the safety of a nearby hole. No photo. Happened in seconds.

So how many ant species are there in Uruguay? I’m not counting.

How many ant species do you think there are in the world? Seriously, take a guess, then click here.

 

 

Pine from pine

pine tree sprouting in dead pine, Uruguay

Pine trees don’t regrow from stumps, unlike eucalyptus trees. But you wouldn’t know that from looking at this. Apparently a pine cone sprouted inside the rotting stump. How it fares as the stump continues to rot will be interesting to watch!

 

 

Mangos, sort of

A couple years ago, after one of their distinctly non-native mango bushes died, Syd and Gundy gave us the other. The first couple winters, I built a custom greenhouse around it. But it has never produced fruit. Sure, lots of flowers, and lots of tiny starts, then they simply disappear.

Mango tree in our backyard, not native to Uruguay

But this year, it has produced a few tiny, very dry, somewhat tasty fruits. As you can see, something got to a couple of them first. The lemon is normal-sized.

Tiny, dry, almost-tasty mangos from our tree in Uruguay
Our son did the glass piece in 2008

The mango bush/tree is completely uncontrollable, as was the anacahuita (small leaf shade tree) next to it that had become so ungainly that I cut it down a few years ago. After two years, a new shoot appeared out of the stump. I carefully pruned it, until one day it became clear it was not connected to the stump, and had virtually no root system. So I pulled it up and got rid of it.

I’m not convinced that the mango bush-tree is the best use of this space.

DTOTB

It’s been a long time since I posted Dead Things On The Beach, but today’s was quite impressive.

Dead sea turtle and dog, Atlántida, Uruguay

As was Benji’s response. Until I got close, I was convinced the turtle was going to move.

As usual, how and why of its demise remain a mystery.

 

 

 

 

Digging it

As far as I can see, there’s no telling why a dog chooses to dig a hole. Kiya (pronounced KEEsha) decided on one particular spot in the trail, and has been working on it sporadically for months. Benji, who has only two speeds — ON and OFF — spotted Kiya taking a break yesterday and charged into the hole at full speed, half of him disappearing under the exposed root you can see.

dog hole, Uruguay
Alas, I didn’t catch his entrance.

While certainly enthusiastic, he lacks Kiya’s finesse. She first excavates, then backs up a bit to clear the hole. Benji’s approach is more bull-in-a-china-shop. Kiya doesn’t seem to mind. Or even notice, for that matter. When it’s time, she’ll start another hole somewhere else, equally for no apparent reason.

And Benji will be there to help.

Little things

A bird in our backyard pine tree, which is not particularly attractive but, as Syd told us long ago: “In Uruguay in summer, shade is good.”

bird

Volunteer squash plants from the mound of dumped non-composted compost, taking over the side passageway of our house, fortunately not otherwise needed. Slightly wilted in the midday sun.

volunteer squash plants