Garden Flowers and Unusual Find In The Garden

 

This is my yellow rose plant.  It is starting to bloom nicely.

I also added pink knock out roses to the front of the white fence.  I hope as they grow and fill in they will look great against the white fence.  In front of them is some lavender that is hard to see it has not started to bloom just yet.  The other areas are filled in with lavender and daisies.  I put yellow begonias to edge the garden.

This garden still has a long way to go to fill in and look pretty.  I am hoping as summer moves on everything will fill in nicely.  This house and yard were not well cared for before we bought it.  I think this garden area and soil are going to need some time to really be beautiful.

You cannot see the old vintage basket on my bike with the flowers over flowing.

The rose impatiens hanging baskets are doing well under the shade of the big oak tree.

The flowers are all doing quite well.  I am experimenting this year on what will do well with deer, rabbits and squirrels and how much shade we get in the front of this house because of the big oak tree.

Now to tell you about the unusual find in the front garden.  I found these sweet little babies just laying on the cement patio out front.  There were three of them.  Two larger and one very tiny one.  

I found them on Mother's Day Morning.  I thought maybe they were baby squirrels with all the squirrels we have around here.
We were gone for most of the day on Mother's Day to see if the mother would come back and take them to a safer place.  Squirrels have their babies up in tree nests.  I thought how in the heck did they get onto the front patio from the tree.  I googled what to do and it said leave them alone and the mother will come back to get them if they have not been abandoned.
All day long while we were out celebrating Mother's Day I kept thinking about these sweet little babies.  I worried something would come along and eat them.  Apparently Squirrels are very protective of their babies and feed them every two hours.
I was sure when I got home that night they would be gone and back into a nest somewhere safe with their mother.

Nope!!! When we got home that night they were all three still laying on the patio crying for their mother.  It was now 8:30 at night on a Sunday.
I called a local emergency vet to see what to do.  They said if the mother did not come back by now they were most likely abandoned. 
They said to pick them up and put them in a box with a heating pad and fluffy towel or blanket and then call a wild life sanctuary in the morning.

All night long I got up every few hours to turn back on the heating pad since there is a safety built in to shut off after a certain time.   They cried all night long for their mother.  On top of missing their mother  these poor little things had not eaten.
The ER Vet said do not give them food or water just keep them warm until morning.

Morning came and the littlest one did not make it.  The other two were still moving around and crying.

I called a few wild life sanctuaries to see who would take them.
One place about an hour away said they would take them and to send them a picture.

I sent them a picture and the women got right back to me and said those are not baby squirrels they are minks.
What?!!!! I did not know we have minks around here.  Apparently since we have wetlands behind the woods in our backyard water will attract minks.
Normally minks will have their babies in nests near the water.  Why these guys were up on my patio far from the water way was a mystery.
The wild life person told me the mother must have felt safe to leave her babies near our porch.
They did tell me something must have happened to the mother or she would have come back for them.

They are sable minks.  The kind they use to make very expensive mink coats out of many years ago.

I drove an hour up to the wild life sanctuary and left them in good hands.  They put the two in an incubator and put a bolus of fluid under their skin to hydrate them.  They said later that day they would start with a special formula and begin the task of feeding them every few hours.

I called to see how they were doing and they said they are growing quickly and doing well.

I was so happy to hear that after trying so hard for 24 hours to keep them alive they were thriving.

I found out some interesting facts about babies found in the wild.  They cannot have baby formula.  It has to be mother's milk and if that is not available they give them a special formulated milk.  People make the mistake of finding small baby animals and try to feed them baby formula which just kills them.

Also found out that it is an old wives tale that if you touch baby animals  the mother will reject them. 
That is not true.
We however used gloves when we picked these little mink babies up to put them in the box.

It was kinda interesting that these little babies were left on my porch on Mother's Day.
I am glad we found them and I could keep them alive until we could have a sanctuary take them.

They were so cute and I wanted to keep them but apparently Minks are very aggressive animals and would never do well as a pet lol.

They will now live out their life in the sanctuary.

Wishing you a very nice weekend.
Hugs,
Kris