Our Mother's Day Turtle

Her name is Ivy, she is a red-eared slider turtle that was given to the nursery from a .Donna who tends to the water plants near the pond noticed that Ivy's abdomen was swollen last week. After some research by both Donna and Gerry from Greengoods they realized that Ivy was carrying eggs! The nursery also has two male red-eared sliders who are much younger and have finally come of age to aid Ivy in becoming a mother.

It was Donna and Arturo who discovered these two younglings and they are aptly named: Donnatela and Arturtle.

Donna prepared a sandy place where Ivy would feel inclined to lay her eggs. Cyndee found Ivy today laying her eggs on the opposite side of the pond in a nice patch of sun. Cyndee, Greg and I watched Ivy meticulously dig a shallow hole today and though we did not see her lay any eggs we are excited about the possiblity. Ivy used her back legs like hands, shoveling out moist dirt and then basking in the afternoon sun. After some minutes she began to expertley cover the hole using tapping motions to pack the soil. We all found it fitting that she would laying eggs right around Mother's Day and were in awe that she was doing this all by instinct.

Red-eared sliders can lay 20-30 eggs May through July, so I will keep you all updated if we see any fledgling turtles being born.

Jo @Aldenlane

Of tomatoes and painted ladies

Ginger's Tomatoes
Walking into work this Tuesday morning I found Cyndee, Brian, and a couple of our carryouts rapidly unloading newly arrived tomatoes from Suncatcher Harvest (those delicious heirloom varieties that Ginger and her husband grow so well). I put on my gloves and jumped right into the frenzy quickly getting caught up in the feeling that spring was finally here. I learned that we had sold out almost every single tomato this last weekend and were in desperate need for more. While I was unloading and placing the tomatoes in their respective places many customers were flooding in excited about the newly arrived shipment. Somehow we all managed to simultaneously dispense gardening wisdom while organizing the tomatoes based upon size of the fruit and alphebetical order. Before we knew it the tables of the vegetable section were stocked full of pungeant young tomato plants.

Painted Ladies
I was standing there mystified by the profusion of butterflies making their way about the nursery, known as 'painted ladies'; they seemed to flutter about me enfolding themselves in the currents of air and wind. My co-worker Josh broke me out of the butterfly induced reverie and said that there was something I just had to see. We made our way to the large order holding area and I found myself standing underneathe a canopy of fluttering orange-brown butterflies. They clustered together holding onto the mesh netting that covers the holding area, taking flight, dancing about, and then taking refuge once again. The entire nursery has slowly become a haven for these migrating beauties as they make their way up towards Davis.

Jo @ Alden Lane