Um, There's a Frog in My Plant?

Well, it has been said that Florida is a land of the strange. Florida man legends abound. Gardening here is also a bit strange based upon my past gardening experiences. For instance, I never topped off a potted plant in NY just to be horrified when a rather large frog came crawling out of the pot! It's not the first time I've screamed out loud in the garden.

I planned to move my "bog garden" into this lovely pot so I could pay more attention to it. Also, my water source in the landscape that would refill the container stopped working. The plants didn't seem to be their happiest either, so I thought I'd "baby" them a little bit more. Granted, the pitcher plants (Sarracenia) are just coming out of dormancy but I feel they want more up close and personal attention. I also really want to make a painting of these guys and to have a good looking model for reference would be ideal. So, I set out to make a fresh mix of "bog soil" and thought hey, my Nepenthes hanging out front (also paint worthy) looks a little sad as well, and I noticed the potting medium deteriorated so I thought I could give her a little more attention, too, by adding some more medium to her pot. Feeding two birds with one scone!

​The bog soil is a mix of sand, peat, and sphagnum moss. I also added what was called carnivorous plant soil mix I found on Amazon. I mixed all these ingredients in a small bucket and hydrated it so that it was "spongy moist." Then I brought the bucket with me out front and proceeded to "stuff" my Nepenthes with the mix using my hands. I stuffed for what was about five minutes commenting in my head that I just had no idea how much this medium deteriorated when suddenly a large frog "burped" out of the pot to climb up the hanger before proceeding to jump on over to this trellis. No wonder!

Unfortunately, this is most likely an invasive Cuban Tree Frog but I let him go thinking he won't disturb my plant again after all that poking and stuffing. The plants are happy now and I'm happy, too, for the excuse to add some Venus Fly Traps and a Sundew to my newly repotted bog garden. They're coming in the mail! I think, however, the frog is probably not as happy as the rest of us.