Kids in the garden: It's a frog party

This time of year frogs are everywhere, N found this one as I was driving the 'gator around the corner, I heard super high pitched screams- which- as I got closer I could discern as "WHAT KIND OF FROG IS THAT?! WHAT KIND OF FROG IS THAT?!" Anyways, after we got over the shock of the find we christened him Croaky and captured him to take out to the garden, and show Dad, of course.

Frogs are great for your garden, they eat bugs, and not plants, and they're great babysitters in the garden as well, they'll keep the kids busy for hours with their jumpy escapee antics. One way to induce frogs to stay in your garden is to give them little habitats, with a shallow dish of water and some rocks to perch on.

Croaky is a Copes Grey Tree frog, we identified him using the Manitoba Herps Atlas which is a very cool site.  Here are some more tips about Frog friendly gardens. Most of those are around the yard anyhow- it's a bit of a frog paradise around here. Some of the most important things are ponds, brushpiles, and not using insecticides, mainly.

Here is our little frog dish- under the shelter of the Rhubarb leaves, in Croaky's new home (temporary, but don't tell the kids, they think he's still there). A little bit of moisture can go a long way for a frog out of a pond, and it's a great way to talk to talk to kids about Camouflage too- as the frog will inevitably 'get lost' several times while they're looking after him, only to be spied right in front of their feet, a moment later.