During the summer, our house is surrounded by frogs of all shapes and sizes.
There is the lone, fat frog dubbed the “guard frog”, who hides in leaves by day, and chills alone in the pond by night.. and there are dark green, neon lime, brown, and other small frogs that rest on the top of rose blooms, or climb up to greet me at the second-story windows.
Once I switched the window screen in our bedroom from one side to the other, only to find that I had accidentally let a frog indoors!
If you are frog-squeamish, our home is definitely not for you. But, despite tending toward the squeamish side myself, I have come to appreciate my four-legged friends (and will miss them in the winter!).
One reason why I like frogs is that, in addition to being cute, they eat mosquitoes
(I’m allergic to their bites), as well as other insects that might otherwise plague our plants. I also enjoy the sound of frogs on summer nights.
On the other hand, the plethora of frogs on our property has occasionally attracted snakes into the garden.. and while most of the snakes in our area are harmless to humans, I am NOT comfortable with them. Nature or not, we try to keep them away by reducing the areas where they can hide.
Sometimes I have also called on my husband when one has slithered too near to the house. Fortunately, the snakes don’t seem to be fans of a crazy guy chasing after them, and so far it seems as if we’ve managed to keep most of our frogs safe (sorry, snakes!).
Having a frog pond in the garden is an opportunity for fun! During our travels in Ireland, we came across “fairy garden” miniatures sold at bookstores and souvenir shops (see examples here), that seemed easily adaptable to a pond.
The Emerald Isle, with all of its folklore and fairytales, offered lots of inspiration for fairy- and frog-sized homes.. but, the dollar store (or Pinterest) can prove just as inspirational!
Masashi and I found miniature decor for the pond at a hyaku en shop (the Japanese equivalent of a dollar store), including benches, an apple box, a “fish and chips” sign, as well as wood that I used to create a plank walkway.
I might even add a plastic table for decor, if we eat pizza anytime soon (has anyone else ever saved those plastic “pizza savers” for a similar purpose? Maybe, like me, you didn’t realize that they weren’t meant to be doll furniture until adulthood?).
For now, I added stones, shells, and dried moss. Later I plan to put living moss in it’s place, but since we will be moving the frog pond to another location, this must wait. In the future, I also hope to add more plants that will give shade. As of now, the pond sits next to roses and our autumn vegetable garden.
Unexpectedly, frogs have become our first “pets”.
We still have a lot to learn about providing the right environment for wildlife to peacefully coexist in our newly carved out garden, and I’m no expert on frogs, or ponds, but enjoy being creative with this little space, and hope that it will continue to attract these helpful creatures into our flower-filled habitat!
After we determine our frog pond’s future location, I look forward to having more fun with miniatures (and hopefully, my ribbiting friends won’t mind my taste in decor).
Do frogs make you squeamish?
Please leave a comment below.