Guess who finally got caught on film? This little bugger has been making a mess of my two black plastic bins for a couple of years now, and the only reason he hasn't made a mess of my crate composter is that he can fish around through the chicken wire, so he doesn't have to tip the lids off and fall inside! He's an audacious critter, too! DH and I were sitting at the brazier, enjoying the warmth from the last few bits of sofa and the bottom of a bottle of strawberry wine, when Poof! the motion-sensor light flips on! The raccoon couldn't even wait for us to leave before he helped himself to next year's harvest! I'd be flattered that he regards my kitchen scraps so highly, if I didn't know raccoons also consider bloody rayon plugs a delicacy. It took about half an hour to get close enough to take this picture. I'm about 3 metres away from him, as low to the ground as I can get, between my garden beds.
Now if anyone can tell me what this thing is, I'd be grateful. And offer a cutting. It roots really eagerly, which leads me to believe this is something I should probably yank from the ground as soon as I notice it. I took a 3-leaf cutting from the enormous tangle growing on my neighbour's side of the path between our houses, as it was just so pretty, with its 1cm lavender blooms, and later with its scarlet berries hanging in bunches like really small cherry tomatoes, or currants. It overwhelmed two previously healthy hostas (but Neighbour doesn't want to do anything with the ground between the houses, so those hostas probably never had a chance), the gas meter, the furnace air intake pipes, and his hose reel. It will probably encroach on his air conditioner next year, as it is firmly established now. I have to keep reminding myself that I must not garden on other people's properties, but it's such a darned shame that the lovely shade garden the previous neighbour planted got neglected, especially since my side is cluttered and decidedly not serene. I confess I have yanked common burdock, a few thistles, and allowed my kids to pluck the ample daisy-like flowers from his side -- but only because I needed bin-filler. So if you have any idea what this is, please email me!
Plant Update, January 18th, 2004: It's called bittersweet. Solanum Dulcamara, it's often mistaken for Deadly Nightshade. While it's not as poisonous as the atropa belladonna, all parts of the plant are very poisonous. Obviously something to discourage in my garden, and something about which I must speak to my neighbour.
Not only do the local wildlife enjoy morsels from my bin, so does the neighbour's cat. If she wonders where Pinky picks up his "musky" odour, she can finally satisfy her curiosity. Pinky appears to have, as well, along with his appetite. (I'm not kidding, he was eating my compost!)
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