Woman Discovers That “Dahlia” Flowers Have Become A Hotel For Frogs

When the rest of the winter’s snow has melted and vibrant flowers start to blossom, Snohomish, Washington, locals can tell it is officially spring. But for Allison Lamb, a rowdy but adorable set of neighbors is always the first indication.

As Lamb told in an interview, they can hear all the frogs starting to croak when spring has come. Lamb claims that the frogs that frequent her property and place of business, Snohomish Lavender Farm, are numerous and extraordinarily active.

Image Credit & More Info; Allison | snohomishlavenderfarm.com

Lamb remarked, “I have some flowers along my house, and they will climb up the walls, and they get up in my hanging flower baskets.” Lamb frequently discovers a frog or two hopping around her house, but she was astonished to see a frog doing something she had never seen before, as when she went to check on her flower garden one day: he was taking a much-needed nap in one of her dahlias.

Lamb said that she was thrilled to see a frog napping in one of her dahlias. She raises around 200 dahlias on her property and was delighted to discover that the blooms serve as a perfectly sized hotel for frogs in addition to serving as a source of pollen for bees. As the summer wore on, “I started seeing more and more,” Lamb remarked. Some days she might find over ten different frogs hiding in her flowers.

In the spring and summer, Lamb and her kids spend most of their mornings in their flower garden searching for pacific tree frogs. The frogs’ visit provides them with excitement and fun. However, the frogs that scuttle inside the dahlias’ tiny petal pockets aren’t only there for amusement. They are essential to maintaining the health and vitality of the flower garden, particularly the dahlias. Lamb said, “The frogs eat the bad bugs for me.“

Of course, the frogs are not the only creatures that live in Lamb’s flower garden. According to Lamb, the bees will spend the night in her dahlias, she also discovers small spiders finding refuge, and last year she found little gardener snakes up in her blooms. “I also have a praying mantis, many salamanders, and a lot of caterpillars in the late summer.”

But nothing compares to the frogs huddling inside Lamb’s flowers, in Lamb’s opinion. She adores seeing them dozing among the petals with their little, green heads protruding, and she always laments their departure at the end of the summer.

Until the first frost, when the blooms die, they remain in the blossoms the entire season, according to Lamb. When it gets too cold, the frogs migrate, but Lamb is confident that they will return in the spring.