OH MY GOSH!!!

Just when I thought I was at the end of subject material for my next blog....

I consider myself a pretty observant person - at least in my garden - OMG, guess not!

Today, a visitor pointed out what had been growing (and it is not alive) in my garden for what must have been all summer;  just inches from where I regularly mow the lawn.  In my defense, it is an area that I do not weed very often - a quick pass probably once during the growing season and another after all the leaves have fallen.  After all, this is a barberry bush; Compact Crimson Pygmy Barberry, to be exact  - what I lovingly call an 'ouwie ouwie' bush.  I cannot get near it without getting some kind of puncture - and, it hurts.  So, even though I adore the deep burgundy/pastel pinky of the leaves, I do not like the constant pricks.

The leaves on these bushes are slow to drop in the fall.  Over the course of several months, the tiny, colorful leaves float to the ground.  Near the end of December, the bush is about leafless - the best time to prune, even though I have attempted the trimming during full leaf to get the best shaping of the shrub. Leaves gone, I can see the best places, barb-free, to hold the branches.  But, I still get pricked if I am not super careful.

Just last week, I discovered a tiny nest skillfully constructed on the interior of one of the branches - a perfectly concealed location for laying and hatching eggs.  I do believe even my cats stay out these bristly bushes - I repeat, they really hurt!  Hence, a really safe place for the rearing of young birds.

Then today, as pointed out by a friend of Glenn's, there it was....huge, and I do mean huge, paper wasp nest.  Why I did not see anything so noticeable, gray intertwined among the bicolor leaves of the barberry shrub, before is beyond any explanation; but I did not. I tried to measure the length of the nest without getting pierced, at least too badly.   The monstrosity measures a whopping 24 inches, top to bottom - yikes.  Think of the number of wasps flying in and out of this nest and the brood produced - that boggles my mind.

papery nest surrounding the access hole

Whatever...I did not see it and, thankfully, I never got stung - that is what is important!

You can bet next year I will be searching those bushes with an eagle eye....