A few years ago, I cut down some smaller trees that were in my front yard, but I’d never removed the stumps. We’ve finally gotten around to trying to make that side of the yard look a little nicer, so it was time for the stumps to go. If you’ve removed stumps of any size before, you know that it is no easy task. Even a few years later the roots and trunk are holding on for dear life in the earth. I’m digging and chopping and cutting away and then as I swing my shovel again, I notice something white. As a landscaper, whenever you see something white about four to six inches underground, you are immediately nervous that you are about to cut an irrigation line. So when I saw it, I stopped and dug by hand a little. As I slowly uncovered this area to see what it was, an egg about the size of a quarter popped into my hand. And this egg had a little slit in it. I never got a great video of it, but a little snake poked its head out and looked at me, then just as quickly pulled back into its protective shell. I think that it is a black rat snake (though I’m not 100% sure), and if it is, we could use them to help with all the mice and rats running around in our yard.
It turned out that there were a half dozen eggs in the clutch. Since my goal was to get the stump out, I found a more protected area for them and moved all of the eggs to it. Then every so often, I’d go check on them. I did try to hold my phone as still as possible for awhile to catch a hatching on video. I don’t know how nature videographers do it! I didn’t have the patience. But I kept checking back on them and a day or so later when I went out, many of the eggs appeared to have hatched and as I rustled the leaves a little, one of them popped up out of a hole and gave me some slithery side eye, before very smoothly just reversing and sinking back down underground. Now they’ve all left the little nest, but I’m sure they will turn up at some point under a log or beneath a branch and scare the jeepers out of either Pearl or Kim.
I love finding these small bits of wildlife around our yard. It makes me feel like we’re creating not just a beautiful yard for us to enjoy but something we can share with the animals that also call Florida home. Because chances are if you like plants like we do, you also love all kinds of animals and are probably also a proud pet parent. My girls like to say that they have 100,000 pets. 1 dog, 18 chickens, and 99,981 bees!
Whatever kind of pet parent you are, we hope you’ll come and join us for our 4th annual Plants & Pets. I promise we won’t bring our bees! It’s Saturday, August 23, from 9 am to noon and features lots of fun and a celebration of the plants we love and the pets we can’t live without. We’ll have a pet parade at 9:30 am with prizes for Best Costume, Most Talented, and Best in Show. Throughout the morning, you can chat with vendors and pet organizations while letting your pet enjoy a few fun activities. All morning long, there will be a complimentary photo booth, and when you get hot, Tikiz Shaved Ice will be selling tasty sno-cones. All of the details are on our website, and Precious, Pepper, Panther, and Patches can’t wait to meet your little fur babies. On second thought, our new glaring of cats is probably less than thrilled that we are inviting a bunch of strange animals to come for a visit, but the rest of the staff can’t wait to meet your pets and show you how plants and pets are made for each other.
P.S. As we roll towards the end of summer, we are making a schedule change at the Nursery. Starting on Monday, September 1st, Kerby’s will be closed on Mondays. So our weekly hours will change to Tuesday through Saturday, 9 am to 5 pm, and Sunday, 11 am to 4 pm. We’re hoping it will give the entire crew a break each week. But don’t worry, we’ll still be here six days a week to answer all of your questions and make you garden superstars!
