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Journal Mission Bathtub and the Pollywog Party...

sparkyweasel said:
H. aspersa is usually grey
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I find loads of them in my garden and shed usually dark brown, but also find them in the nearby little forest in different colours, bicolour White light Brown striped.. I made a few pictures a few years back in the forest.. :)

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All the way at the top you see a complete brown one, shiny too as if it's polished. In my garden, they are duller in colour... (Or am i mistaken and again looking at different sp. I'm a bad snailer.)
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It was actually this scenery bellow, an old fallen prunus, that caught my eye and got me interest, but then when the dusk sat in all snails came out and I kept shooting a lot more pics till it was too dark.. :)

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Hi all,
zozo said:
I find loads of them in my garden and shed usually dark brown, but also find them in the nearby little forest in different colours, bicolour White light Brown striped..
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The ones in the photo are <"Cepaea hortensis">, C. nemoralis is very similar, but has a dark lip to the shell. They are <"polymorphic">.

These are the snails that <"nearly all geneticists worked on"> before they could actually look at genes, because of their shell markings.

cheers Darrel
 
Thank you Darrel!! :) Amazing isn't it? The Wisdom of the genes!? In general is likely the most underestimated and misunderstood property of life... We tend to think and reason with a brain only and it can't without... Maybe we never find out without finding a universal language able to truly communicate with other organisms than only ourselves... I guess the one reason, we talk too much. Speech development and make-believe obscure the obvious.
 
I love those striped snails; I only used to see them on outings to the countryside, but now I've gtot them in both front and back gardens. I don't know if they migrated into town, like the foxes, or maybe my dad put some in the garden before I inherited the house, as he was a wildlife lover too. I've also got Garlic Snails, Oxychilus alliarius. Only the petit-gris are not welcome, they do enough damage to outweigh their appeal as wildlife. :)
 
I often think environmental changes like closing of coal mines steel works cotton mills and the obviously controversial building on green belt modern industrial farming methods have impacted on wild life which is hard to quantify . We have cleaner air and a clean up of rivers but 97% of Wilddflower meadows gone , ponds disappeared, Whole swathes of Harrvest mouse habitat unsuitable. due to methods of farming.Hedgehog numbers estimated to be a quarter of what they were in the fifties. Sometimes we tend to look farther a field when a letter or two to our politicians might be a start
 
Tim Harrison said:
Hello Marcel, are we getting a Mission Bathtub this year? :)
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Hi Tim, thanks for the interest... :) I'm not sure yet... Last winter we had a severe flash freeze going from +10 to -12 in 2 days time. And 80% of the plants didn't survive this punishment. The glass terrarium tank cracked... In the plywood tank, all plants were killed. And what survived in the tubs baskets recovered with very sparse growth. Since it actually is a rather cold spring this year. (For so far global warming, with chilly nuts) So it's starting all over from scratch again.

And with the lockdown, there were no shops to visit to buy anything new. And it actually still isn't the time of year for pond shops to offer any pond plants. At the time the lockdown is partially lifted but yet didn't go plant shopping. Usualy they start end of May with the new collection.

At the time it all looks rather pathetic and too sober to make an impression. :( :) Maybe later if I can find any new pond plants. If so it might be a good opportunity to try something new.
 
Crikey of all the bad luck, especially now when there isn't that much in the shops due to COVID. I'm not sure what is going on with all this climate change business. The weather has been a bit brass monkey's so far.

We too have lost plants with unexpected heavy frosts, which is disappointing. But to loose the vast majority of mature plants you've taken time and energy to grow must be devastating.

I'm sure whatever you choose to share in your Mission Bathtub journal will be greatly appreciated especially by us diehard fans :)
 
Tim Harrison said:
Crikey of all the bad luck, especially now when there isn't that much in the shops due to COVID.
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Yup, it feels like getting punished for something, COVID, Lockdowns, diaper on your face when out, Unexpected devastating heavy frost period ruining the hobby, cold and wet spring giving it a bad start. Unreal but definitively happening... But as we always say, after the rain there will be sunshine... :cool: And what doesn't kill you, only will make you stronger... 💪

Thanks for the supporting words... If the local pond shop didn't go bankrupt during the lockdown period, I don't know yet. Then I will surely be back with a new Mission Bathtub with new plants...
 
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Everything is getting there now here but it's a month behind and with the weather like April showers, it's seems like I could of accidently turned over two pages of the calendar instead of one.

Looking forward to your bathtub waking up and it's a good chance for you to try something new, which most of us will be interested in.
 
LondonDragon said:
no Journal this year? :arghh:
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:( It depends if I can find some new plants... Or else it will be a very sober journal with nothing much to show for. :)

Last year it was warm enough at this time to plant some tropicals outdoor. This year it definitively is still way too cold for this. Even the surviving indigenous plants are struggling to start up again. And my most beautiful pink lily in the plywood tank didn't survive the harsh winter days. :shifty:😭 Nothing in this tank survived.
 
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zozo said:
It depends if I can find some new plants
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Could put up a list @zozo and see if folks can resupply this joyful project. Flip side to the cooler conditions, survival in the post is more likely.

You’ve inspired so many of us, myself included, it would be great to give something back.
 
Geoffrey Rea said:
Could put up a list @zozo and see if folks can resupply this joyful project. Flip side to the cooler conditions, survival in the post is more likely.

You’ve inspired so many of us, myself included, it would be great to give something back.
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Thank you Geoffrey!... At the time I'm jumping to conclusions, haven't been visiting the local pond shops yet. It's still pretty early in the year. I guess next week they will all have plants available. And the past few years we got spoiled with very soft winters and very early warm spring periods and loads of survivors. This year is also a first-timer for me that it still is rather cold with little sunshine and lots of rain. I hear all my friends complain about a lot of winter damage and a slow starting garden this year.

Especially for new (young) plants, I have to wait for the weather to improve and get a tad warmer. These cool temps are not really recommended for successful transplanting and recovery.
 
Well if anything becomes tricky to lay your hands on in the Netherlands this summer Marcel, don’t fail to mention it.
 
Geoffrey Rea said:
Well if anything becomes tricky to lay your hands on in the Netherlands this summer Marcel, don’t fail to mention it.
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Thanks again! :) I guess it all will work with a belated Mission bathtub 2021... But I definitively appreciate your offer and keep it in mind. 😘
 
zozo said:
Thank you Geoffrey!... At the time I'm jumping to conclusions, haven't been visiting the local pond shops yet. It's still pretty early in the year. I guess next week they will all have plants available. And the past few years we got spoiled with very soft winters and very early warm spring periods and loads of survivors. This year is also a first-timer for me that it still is rather cold with little sunshine and lots of rain. I hear all my friends complain about a lot of winter damage and a slow starting garden this year.

Especially for new (young) plants, I have to wait for the weather to improve and get a tad warmer. These cool temps are not really recommended for successful transplanting and recovery.
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Interesting the NLs is better for selling relevant to the season, the tin sheds here sell from the week leading up to easter, whenever it maybe on its wonderings around spring. So they often get several slices of the pie when things obviously succumb to being sold way too early for any real chance and people make further shopping trips
 
not called Bob said:
Interesting the NLs is better for selling relevant to the season, the tin sheds here sell from the week leading up to easter, whenever it maybe on its wonderings around spring. So they often get several slices of the pie when things obviously succumb to being sold way too early for any real chance and people make further shopping trips
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I guess it depends on the shop. The pond shop I usually go is a stone's throw away from my place but keeps all the plants outdoors. So they highly depend on the weather quality to keep their stock fresh. In general, they do not stock before last week of May.

But the local garden center keeps all pond plants indoors and starts stocking much earlier.
 
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