GARDENING
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SPARKY
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RESUME
The recent plantings of Western Virgin's Bower, California Cone flower, Summer Columbine, Pink Yarrow, Seaside Daisy, and a couple of miscellaneous Monkey Flowers are all doing fine. The fall mulching process is proceeding, but the squirrels see it as an opportunity to plant their nuts in easy diggin's. They're also doing a fine job of digging up my newly-planted potting tubs. Despite temperatures in the 80s, I've been making some progress at fixing-up, refurbishing, re-landscaping the south end of the backyard. Digging in rock is a pain ...especially when you want the rock to be separate from the dirt. It'll get there ...eventually.
The low spot in the back lawn that I had started layering-in a few weeks ago is filling in quite nicely. Today I used some of the dirt that I separated from the rock to continue the process.
With the cold weather, the resident birds have been extra ravenous. I've been refilling the sunflower tubes almost daily and the thistle tubes every two or three days. Fairly consistently I find every feeder station occupied, three or four birds on the suet cage, at least as many birds feeding on the ground, and again as many waiting their turn ...impatiently. The birds in the mix are house finches, goldfinches (American and lesser), towhees, scrub jays, house sparrows, white-crowned sparrows, and a few other sparrows. The hummingbirds still visit the nectar feeder.
Almost a month ago one of the branches of the dead apple tree crashed to the ground in the middle of the night. Over the next couple of days I cut the rest of the tree down, leaving a large stump to make digging it out (later!) easier.
The birds have backed off on their feeding frenzy. I put out some crushed egg shells for them. Shelley (the female three-toed box turtle) came out of hibernation and was seen wandering through the yard. I brought her indoors for a checkup and found that she had some owies. I kept her in for a couple of weeks, gave her plenty of warm soaks, vitamin A drops for her eyes, ointment for her owies, daily sunbaths, and trimmed parts of her shell that had minor problems. After two weeks she was looking to get back to her life of freedom.
The daffodils started blooming a couple of weeks ago. The large ones are finishing-up, but the miniatures are just getting into full swing. The bear-berries are blooming. The primroses are berzerk, and so are the weeds. The primroses get to stay, but I spent a couple of days pulling weeds. The lawns got their first mowing of the year.
It turns out that we have opossums. They cruise along the wires at night and make the dog berzerk. They are, of course, butt-ugly, but it turns out that they are supposedly smart. I like the fact that they heat slugs, snails, cockroaches, rats, mice, and a host of other "pests."
The daffodils have finished blooming and have gone by the way. The freesias, on the other hand, have exploded! The rhododendron has a couple of flower heads -- one showy, one not. The geraniums and the euryops continue to bloom. The geraniums will continue most all year, but the euryops will take a snooze in the dog days of summer. The cyclamen are blooming profusely and some of them are even setting seed!
I've not been taking great pains to keep the birds well fed, but the birds still come to visit. Even [the Black] Phoebee came to visit yesterday and today despite having taken down the baths for cleaning. I guess I just have enough flies for her to snack on. A female Downy Woodpecker stopped by to shop for a buggy snack at the Pittosporum eugenoides.
I'm not up on butterfly identification yet, but I think it was a painted lady that I saw sunning on a strawberry leaf both yesterday and today.
The soil seems to be warming up. The bermuda grass is coming out of hibernation -- the start of the mowing season!
A pair of mourning doves has begun setting up housekeeping in one of my hanging asparagus ferns again. I should have baby doves in about two weeks. I saw a pair of White-Crowned Sparrows this morning. They were all alone -- their white head stripes quite striking in the early morning light.
We had a brief hail storm after my last entry. I had been pulling weeds in the side yard when it started, so I bundled-up the weeds I had pulled to that point so I could add them to the compost pile on my way into the house. Imagine my surprise when I found Shelley under the heap! After I put the weeds on the pile I went back to retrieve Shelley. I took her in for a warm soak and to check her owie. It wasn't improving as quickly as I hoped so I made an appointment with the vet. She didn't need surgery as she had last year, but he gave her a vitamin A shot as well as antibiotics. He also sent us home with four more for me to give her over the next couple of weeks. She was none too happy about me shooting her up, but we managed. I've kept her in captivity, giving her daily soaks and cleaning her icky-bits.
Of course she needed to be fed. Thus we come to the reason for her inclusion in this entry. I tried feeding her the greens (parsley, spinach, chard, kale) "the book" said she'd love, but she ignored them. She loves strawberries, but they don't have much vitamin A which Shelley needs. She nibbled a bit on the spinach and she actually ate a couple of bits of freeze-dried liver (don't tell Sparky!), but that's it. So I went to the garden and found a couple of snails for her. She ate them. Shelley's not out in my garden foraging for snails during her convalescence, but I'm doing it for her. She's dining on escargot!
Oh, and I uncovered an enormous earthworm when I moved a planter on the patio -- which I gave her. I went inside for a quick drink and, when I returned a couple of minutes later, there was not a trace of said worm. Like the Klingons say, "Gach is best served live!"
Woohoo!
I have baby birds! The baby mourning dove should also hatch out within the week. Mom left the nest long enough the other day for me to see that she had a single egg.
I also have blooming irises. In addition to the bearded (a.k.a. German) irises I have a lonely Dutch iris that decided to bloom for the first time since I brought it home in a blooming state some three years ago. The clump of douglas iris is also blooming -- in rather a frenetic fashion! The various flavours of columbine are also budding-up. Several small flowers have opened of one that has very short spurs and is solid maroon. The Gerbera (a.k.a. Transvaal) daisies are filling out and starting to bloom as well. So far I have two colors of red Gerberas. The coral bells continue to be berzerk and two of the foxgloves are starting to send up flower spikes.
The weather has warmed up quite nicely. It got up to 70 yesterday (while I was working on the roof, of course!) and is warmer than that today. What with all that warmth, every flying thing has come out to look around. We have plenty of flies. (Attracted by Little Doggie Landmines(TM), don't ya know.) In an effort to bring Phoebe and her friends back to the yard (to snack on the flies), I re-mantled the planterbox fountain as best as I could ...given the circumstances. The circumstances are: I haven't had the fountain up and in place for almost two years; the parrots feathers (aquatic plant) decided to dissolve its way out of its pot, so there's floating plants on top and sludge on the bottom and an empty pot; the "bell" attatchment has gone missing (that's the piece that shapes the water flow into a bell); the wingy-flangy-slotted ball-thingies that hold the filtre up so it doesn't collapse have gone the way of the bell. What does that leave me with? A pump sitting on an inverted, empty pot with a pipe sticking about six inches out of the water while spruting slightly murky water about four inches into the air. Well, at least it's making the required "water sounds."
Then I went out back to get some of the flowers out there. I was nearly done and had knelt next to the tripod to get a picture of the darker-red Gerbera when a small something swooped into the rose bush next to my head. I thought it might be a heafty leaf dropping in or maybe the chickadee shopping for breakfast for her youngin's. The chickadees aren't very shy of my presence, you see.
But, NO! It was a bushtit!!!
I continued to move, tho' quite slowly, so I could get a good look at it. It stayed for several seconds to clean a BUNCH of small aphids off a few rose buds. I didn't figger I had a hope in hell of getting its picture, so I just enjoyed the moment while it lasted instead of running it off prematurely.
What with it being so chilly and looking to be stormy, I was rather alarmed to see that the mother mourning dove was not on her "nest" when I went out to take morning pictures. I felt the egg and it was cold. She had been away for a while.
When I returned after lunch she was back on her "nest," but she was behaving oddly. I climbed on a stool to take a better look and she's only leaning against the egg, not sitting on it. We'll see what happens. The chick is due to hatch today, plus or minus a day and a half.
Yesterday, just as I was bemoaning the lack of birds in the yard, a pair of Hooded Orioles stopped by for a good sip from the oriole feeder I had put out about a month ago in anticipation of their arrival.
The chickadees have fledged from the nestbox, however mama mourning dove never returned to her abandoned egg. Shelley's doing well, but still no sign of Mr. T. The weather has been on-and-off: rain, clouds, sun, wind, cold, warm, ... -- the gamut.
Lots of flowers blooming -- a variety of irises, columbine, cyclamen, gerbera daisies, roses, coral bells, mimulus, camelia, calendula, snapdragon, chrysanthemum, nasturtium, star jasmine, geraniums, fuschia, solanum, euryops, foxglove, cosmos, blue star creeper, and, I believe, cornflower.
Lots and lots of flowers blooming, and more are at the ready. The latest additions are the clarkia, yellow mums, cosmos, and some alternate colors of columbine. Fuschia and red cannas are warming up (i.e., in bud). Gone are the foxglove, irises, and cyclamen. The first wave of columbines are preparing to explode seeds everywhere. The mimulus and coral bells are fading fast.
I released Shelley back into the wild this week. I don't care what anyone says. Tortoises can sprint! She has reappeared several times to give me the reptilian eye. I can't imagine why. She had plenty of escargot when she was in captivity. Now she has to hunt them down on her own!
Yesterday had gotten quite warm and the house hadn't cooled enough overnight to suit my tastes. It wasn't yet 5:30am and the morning light was bright on the bedroom drapes. It is going to be another toasty day. Better get the doors and windows open and the air flowing for a couple of hours so I can close up and "conserve coolness." So, I went to the bedroom window to open it and the drapes and to turn on the small fan. When I glanced out into the yard, there was Shelley! ...having breakfast. It was still a little dark to see exactly what she was eating for breakfast, but that's definitely the time of day when the snails are on the prowl.
Too bad ...for the snails! :-)
I finally got 'round to turning on the drip system out back. It needed some serious cleaning and tuning, but it was ready just in time for the monster, record-breaking heat wave we had last week.
Right now the flowers aren't too rampant, but lots of different flowers are blooming if only a little. The clarkia are finishing up. They had quite the flamboyant fun for a while there! The cannas are flagrant red flags with the tallest of them trying to peek into my bedroom window. The scarlet runner beans are up to the top of the trellis and beyond and are blooming in two-tone: red flags and slightly pink keels. The sunflowers in the front yard are up to the eaves and are sporting 4- to 6-inch flowers. The sunflower in the back is only about 6 feet tall, but the flower is just over 12 inches across!
PG&E came out to trim one of my trees away from their wires. This was actually a good thing. That's the tree I keep trying to keep whacked back, but it keeps getting away from me. I asked them to top it out as far down as they felt they could go -- and they did! After they left, I whacked off a bunch more. Now the areas of my garden that are planted for sun but have been getting shade are again getting sun. Those plants should be much happier soon!
They usually come out in their greated numbers right around sunset, but they are their cutest right before sunrise! That's when they start coming out for their morning ablutions. I can stand at my bedroom window and watch the hummers bathing. They usually only spend a few minutes each, but I watched one bathe for almost 20 minutes yesterday morning!
The California coneflowers are blooming very nicely considering that this is their first blooming season. The native summer columbine are blooming profusely! The pink yarrow is blooming -- rather weakly, but very pinkly! The Western Virgin's Bower hasn't bloomed this year, but it was pretty spindly and young last fall when I planted it. It has been putting out a fair amount of growth and I expect that it will bloom next year. The cannas are still flowering and pulling in the hummingbirds. All the various fuschias are also making the hummers happy with their profusion of blooms. Adding to the list of flowers currently in bloom are roses, hollyhocks, garden mums, Gerbera daisies, nasturtiums, euryops, primroses, zinnias, four o'clocks, plumbago (two kinds), fortnight lilies, purple solanum, crepe myrtle tree, and one very wacky rhododenderon! (Yes, they're supposed to bloom in late winter and into spring -- NOT in September!) The sunflowers have all finished their time.
Shelley still makes the occasional appearance, but she hasn't been keeping up her end with the snails and slugs at the strawberry patch. They're getting more of them than I am these days!
Last night we had quite a fair amount of frost and a clear night and morning. It's been cool but not cold of late, but mostly dry. We had a few weeks of serious wind and rain for a while there. We haven't had a hard freeze yet. Maybe this will be one of the winters when we don't. Of course, we didn't have all those days of freezing until late January last year.
The clarkia plants that I didn't yank out by the roots once they died back seem to have come back in full force. Wacky. I guess I'll be having some really nice clarkia blooms come spring. There are daffodils coming up all over the yard. They're not supposed to be doing that yet. It's the middle of January, for criminey-sake!
A couple of weeks ago I started the process of refinishing (fixing, repairing, ...) the deck. I hadn't realized just how much stuff I had on the deck! Most of it pots and tubs of plants. So I've moved everything off the deck. Just moving the stuff off took a few days -- not only was most of it heavy, but I had to find places to put it all. Now here's the strange part. With all the plants re-arranged, the amount of bird activity has picked up rather dramatically. Mind you, I hadn't been feeding the birds for a while (and my neighbor over the back fence hacked down a bunch of cover trees), so the amount of activity had been way off.
In honor of the added activity, I re-arranged some of the bird feeders and re-filled them. The yard has now exploded with birds! Especially Goldfinches. But we also have veritable herds of Mourning Doves ...the horny little bastards! Geez! The way those boys chase anything in tailfeathers! But we also have quite a few more civilized birds. The Anna's Hummingbirds come to sip nectar and take baths. (Right after sunrise seems to be their favorite time to bathe.) As always, we have quite a full compliment of House Finches, House Sparrows, Bushtits, and Chickadees. It's still winter, so we still have quite a few White-Crowned Sparrows. We also seem to have a couple of other flavors of sparrows, but I can't quite figure out which they are. I even saw an Oak Titmouse! Of course, we have a few Scrub Jays that run off all the little birds when they arrive. A few Mockingbirds come by to snack on the red berries of the asparagus ferns hanging on the deck. The California Towhees continue to scratch around for tidbits and a Black Phoebe drops by for a snack of flying insects almost on a daily basis. We also have a Crow that has decided that his happiest thing in the wide world is to sit on the utility pole at the back corner of my yard and AWK! AWK! AWK! at the top of his lungs. Whatever happened to "Nevermore"?
Snails! Feh! I need to set up a non-toxic campaign against the snails in the front yard this year. The daffodils barely have a chance to open before the snails strip them down to nubs -- the flowers, not the greenery. The good news is that the daffodils in the front yard are, for the most part, actually multiplying! Now I just need to nuke the damned snails. The back yard is mostly OK on the snail front. Thank you Shelley!
The primroses are blooming nicely as is the camelia. The rhododendron, however, is quite unhappy. It has this really bad salt-burn look to it. I gave it a bit of a soak yesterday, but it needs more and it needs a bunch of coffee grounds or sulfur or both ...along with the extra deep soaking. The columbine are waking up from their winter's nap. Also blooming (or trying to bloom) are calendulas, freesia, nasturtium, euryops, hollyhock, geranium, and mini-daffodil.
All the rain has also gotten all the weeds excited all over the yard. I'll be spending a lot of hours in the coming days pulling lots and lots of weeds.
The clear days and nights have passed. We had a good blast of wind and rain a couple of days ago. The clouds are still hanging around ...more or less.
The mini-daffodils are blooming like crazy. Actually, most all of the daffodils are blooming very well! This is en unexpected pleasure given that I've done nothing for them for a couple of years. The freesias are starting to bloom very nicely, but it's only the white ones so far.
Today's accidental bird sightings include a Yellow-Rumped Warbler and an Oak Titmouse. There were also several hoardes of sparrows including House (of course), White Crowned and at least three other species that I can't ID. I suck at sparrow ID, but I know that there were three other than the usual.
Last year I grew some really nice Clarkia. When they finished blooming and dried up I pulled most of the plants, but there was one that hadn't finished drying, so I left it for later. Well, later didn't come till December, but by then the dang'd thang had leaf buds that were starting to swell! A couple of days ago I noticed that the bush was fully leafed-out and was putting on flower buds -- nearly an inch long! So I have a waist-high Clarkia bush. The first flower opened today.
Even the birds with the big eyes and bushy tails were out. One of these I was just watching is a complete nut ball. I'm used to the squirrels taking their acorns and walnuts, digging holes in my flowerbeds and pots, and burying their booty. Well, this guy was also burying his booty, but his booty was sunflower seeds. He was burying them ONE AT A TIME. And he seemed to be much more meticulous about it than what I'm used to seeing. I can usually see where he's dug a hole -- scattering dirt everywhere -- and barely bothering to do much in the way of back filling. This guy was making a small depression, firmly shoving in the seed held between his front teeth, scraping the fill back into the hole, pressing it and patting it down firmly, and fluffing the top to cover his tracks. When he was planting in the lawn, he was sprucing and preening the lawn. When it was in dirt, he lightly scratched and fluffed.
Wacky guy.
The wisteria has started blooming and the yard is nicely scented. The vines aren't as berzerk as they were last year because I had to prune a bunch of them out of the nearby trees and the handyman had to prune a bunch off when putting the new cover on the deck. But there's still plenty and they'll put on lots more growth this year.
The woodpeckers have started drumming in the last few days. The birds have been noisily practicing gang rites of spring. The hummingbirds have been coming to the hanging bath at dawn -- morning twilight, really -- to spend several minutes bathing. (They start with a little front-end dip, but eventually get fully and gleefully involved in flinging as much water as birds several times their size!)
The herds of birds that have been showing up are working really hard at eating me out of house and home. I refilled both tube feeders last evening after the birdlets has gone to bed and they are nearly empty at 2pm. The squirrels haven't been up to the feeders. They've been plenty happy with the birds' rejects.
It looks like the run of spring weather is coming to a temporary end. A series of large, back-to-back storms is predicted to start this afternoon and it looks like they're knocking at the door. The temperature had gotten above 70 by noon, but now, at 2pm, the wind has picked up, the clouds have started rolling in, and the temperature has dropped below 60. We're supposed to be in for a week of heavy rain and wind.
MORE COMICAL THAN A DOG WITH A ROPE
But this isn't about that.
I have placed a branch cut from another tree as a bridge between the two pittosporums (pittospora?). From this foreign branch I've been hanging bird feeders and potted plants slung in macrame hangars. The birds and squirrels have been sampling the foliage of the spider plant, but it hadn't occurred to me till several minutes ago that the squirrels were interested in more than the greens.
Quite suddenly the potted plant fell to the ground leaving the hangar dangling in a state of disrepair. I looked away for a bit then looked back to note that the hangar was no longer hanging. (This is no small hangar AND, to take the thang down, one needed to undo the chain from around the bridge.) Then I saw the squirrel trying to bundle-up the hangar! Then trying to tug it up to the top of the ladder that's leaning on one of the trees. Then tugging and pulling and tugging and pulling till he got onto the bridge. But it got hung up a little, so there was more tugging and pulling and tugging and pulling... and then I noticed that it still had the hardware attached!
I wasn't about to let the s-hook and chain get away, so I went out to retrieve them. The little bugger didn't even consider letting go until I got up the ladder! I extracted the hardware and left the shredded hangar on the walkway. It only took another few minutes for him to come down, bundle up the hangar, and scurry up a deck post. I assume that it will become part of the squirrel nest landscape.
Oh, while I had the shredded hangar in hand, I noted that it had indeed been purposefully chewed through at strategic points.
Bugger!
Shelley was also out yesterday. Since I haven't seen her in a couple of months, I brought her in for a bath and a quick checkup. She was caked in dried mud, but she was in much better shape than she has been in previous years after hibernating. She has no apparent injuries (unlike previous years) and is quite lively and alert. She sounded a little like she might have some congestion, so I kept her in her bin indoors last night. She sounds better today, but I'll keep her in for another day or so.
We got a bit of a hail storm this afternoon. Hail slightly larger than large peas at a goodly rate for several minutes. Reminded me of when I lived in the Sierras. Every few days in August and September the sky would blacken, the hail would fall, the hail would stop, the sky would clear, and the hail would be gone. Good thing Shelley's inside.
Last week the weather was stupendous. We had a whole week of warm, sunny days into the 70s. This week it snapped cold again with snow in the hills down to 3000 feet. Happily, I managed to refinish the deck over the weekend. There's more to do, but if it didn't get done it'd be just fine as is.
The cool weather weeds are abounding! Sadly, the week of warm weather forced many of them to seed in a hurry -- i.e., before I could get them all pulled. During a break in the weather today I got more pulled. While pulling weeds I note that stray sunflower seeds are sprouting. I let them grow.
Birds also abound in the yard (though not to the extent of the weeds). Today I had the pleasure of watching a scrub jay work his tail feathers to the bone trying to find just the right place to hide his booty: a peanut (with shell). He shopped almost every one of my potted plants -- hanging and otherwise -- for the appropriate spot. He finally settled on one of the hanging spider plants.
Mind you, just about every morning that I get up with the sun I get to see a hummingbird bathing in the bird bath in the back yard. It's a much more elaborate and protracted affaire, but it's not as up-close and personal as this morning's episode!
Speaking of wildlife, while I've been pulling weeds and trimming up over-grown and over-the-hill plants, I've come across hoards of Narrow Salamanders just about everywhere in the yard! They are ranging in size from several inches down to less than a half-inch. The wonderful little bug-eaters!
So, yes, I've been making use of the nice weather to set out some plants that I probably should have set out last fall. Most recently I set out bear berry, two kinds of buckwheat, narrow-leaf milkweed, and coyote bush. As always, there are plenty more to go, but I've been busy pulling weeds. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it!)
The columbine are starting to go berzerk as are the coral bells. The roses are budding up and starting to bloom. Even the gerbera daisies have started blooming in the latest bout of warm weather!
A few days ago we had oodles o' house finches and house sparrows at the feeders, but almost none for the last couple of days. The American goldfinches are arriving at the thistle feeders in all their chrome-yellow glory. At least one Oak Titmouse (or Plain Titmouse, depending on which version of what source you use) has been visiting frequently of late and he's been taking his time getting seeds. They're usually hit-and-run birds that visit infrequently.
Leapin' Squirrels!
There's one under the bird feeder-tree shopping for fallen seeds, one cruising the lawn for buried seeds to excavate, one planting seeds under the perimeter of a Coral Bells clump (this one's an interior decorator), and one watching the festivities from the deck. Before they started excavating and shopping for seeds, two of them seemed to be engaged in a Spring Frolic on the lawn and around the feeder-tree.
Now that I'm on the sofa with the computer in my lap, I see at least three squirrels scampering about on/in the P. eugeneoides, on the ladder, on the deck roof, in the hanging plants, through the underbrush, ...
The s-words are out again today. I just watched one burying a medium-sized nut of some sort and I finally came up with what it reminded me of.
Here's the thang. He comes in, shopping for the right place, then digs a hole of a size appropriate to the item. (I've watched them in the lawn with sunflower seeds and they hardly scratch the surface.) He then shoves the item in the hole, but then proceeds to sort of jack-hammer/pile-drive the thing without apparently letting go of the thang. He throws the hole of his body weight into it, shove-shove-shoving the thang into the hole. Then he starts back-filling the hole using his little hands to gather debris from all around the hole, patting it down.
THEN (and here's the bit), to pack the dirt, he starts doing CPR on the spot. That's what it looks like! Hands on the spot -- almost on top of each other, arms straight and vertical to the shoulder, up-down-up-down-up-down-up-down, quick break, start again. After doing CPR for a while he then gathers more leaves and debris, fluffing and arranging till he's satisfied with the appearance.
I wonder where a squirrel goes to get a CPR certification? :-)
Now *this* part is wacky-- they've been bringing sunflower seeds to the hanging plants (including a hanging basket of house plants) to stash them away!
As I mentioned, the day was quite warm, but around three it started cooling down in discernable steps. Now I'm sitting comfortably on the deck, watching my habitat.
There are a couple of squirrels on top of the fence. Several minutes ago, one was crackling through the shell of a peanut and eating the meat while the other languished in the sun, his belly flat on the two-by-four fence top and his limbs draped over the sides. Now the peanut eater has assumed the draped position, but his ears are up and he's watching me quite intently. I, on the other hand, am watching the other squirrel. He's being my comic relief.
One of my bird feeders is a platform-type, but it has a wire cage fitted over the top to keep out squirrels, jays, doves, and other large birds. Sadly, the openings are small enough that it even keeps out the black-headed grossbeaks. However, it doesn't seem to be all that much of a deterrent to this particular squirrel. He's hanging on the side and has to work to get his head through the opening to get a seed or two. But when he tried to extract the seeds and his head, he has to brace all four feet and do quite a bit of wriggling before his head pops back out. Now, I know this could have tragic consequences and you'd think he'd clue in, but nooooooo. He's a squirrel! He just keeps doing it again and again and again. Oh! He's finally giving up and heading back up the fence. And his buddy has quit watching me and is wandering off, too.
The yard is quite pretty now. The lawn is bright green and lush having recovered from the presence of The Little Dog(TM). The clarkia are blooming with great abandon. The hollyhocks are sending up several spires of green with great pompons of burgundy laddering their way up. The climbing rose is blooming nicely, but still hasn't recovered the fullness of leaf and bloom it had before we had to move it for the new fence. The euryops is still awash with yellow blossoms, but it has begun to fade in recent days. The columbine, m. guttatis, and heuchera are just about done for the season, but the nasturtiums are really going strong. The rose pink ones have come back again this year and are a pretty sight. The bearded irises are still hanging on in a few places and the first of the gladiolus are starting to show some orange tips as of this weekend.
Out front the grapefruit tree is starting to bombard the house again. It can be quite disconcerting in the night. There are lots of blue and purple flowers from the solanum and others, but they are nicely punctuated with yellow from some nasturtiums, sulfur buckwheat, and fallen grapefruit. (Gotta go pick them up. They are entirely inedible.) I planted a cherry-type tomato a couple of weeks ago and it is taking off very nicely and even setting blossoms.
I used the string trimmer to do in weeds (mostly grasses and foxtails) along the sidewalk and driveway -- and around my neighbor's curb, sidewalk, and driveway where it abuts my yard. I also trimmed back the junipers in the parking strip. But the ivy will have to wait for another day. Not that it can't use a good whacking NOW...
I ripped-out some non-performing, over-the-hill stuff (also Four o' Clocks that have become weeds) from the front walkway bed and have planted several new things. The natives are taking hold much better than the nearly-natives (i.e., nursery hybrids of species that are Calif. natives). The previously-planted natives have taken hold and are blooming ...and attracting butterflies! (That's the whole point -- to offer plants that the butterflies, hummingbirds, beneficial insects, and other birds would like to have around.)
I recycled the fountain pump that had fallen into disuse in the back yard and made a new water feature in the front yard. It's very nice to look at and listen to ...and the hummingbirds just love it! I caught one sitting on the edge of the fountain nozzel (large bell) taking a bath in the bell ...and causing much splashing noise! I see them come to the fountain just to look at it for long stretches of time.
I had noticed that the bark nugget mulch was getting pretty thin in a lot of places, so I decided to get a few (5) bags to pretty it up a bit. Then another 5. And another 5. And yet another 5. And only 5 more, dammit! Yes, if I got another 5 or even 10 the yard would just suck it right up. You know, one bag of bark mulch doesn't go very far. Anyway, the 25 I did apply really sharpened up the place quite dramatically. And it smells simply wonderful and woodsy! Oh, I also got a (one, 1) bag of bark mini-nuggets to give the blank spaces in the bed on the far side of the driveway a more finished look. It does look amazingly better. It, too, would scarf another bag or two, but it doesn't really need it.
The Bermuda grass front lawn has been going rather downhill for a few years. I don't quite get it. It gets marginally more water than the back lawn (which gets almost none -- it's BERMUDA GRASS! It LIKES heat and little water), but the back lawn needs a mowing at least every other week during the mowing season and the front has just been laying there getting thinner and draber by the day. I applied a large amount of Miracle Gro Lawn early last year, but it made no difference except for where I had a massive accidental spill. That part got a bit greener for a couple of months. *sigh*
A couple of weeks ago I went berzerk and did something drastic that I would not normally do. I fertilized the lawn with VERY high nitrogen lawn fertilizer. I even put down way more than the bag allowed -- supposedly enough to scortch the lawn off the face of the earth. The bag promised it would green up my lawn in 72 hours. I don't know about the 72 hour mark, but by the following weekend it was looking almost like the back lawn. You got it. It still hadn't greened-up a few areas. I'll give it a few more weeks before I think about applying any more, but only in areas that still seem to need help. But most of it is, indeed, looking more green and lush than it has in three or four years. No, the back lawn has never been fertilized by me ...just The Little Dog(TM). Like I said, I don't get it.
The Western Virgin's Bower I planted in 2001 is FINALLY blooming! It just started a couple of weeks ago and is only now really noticable. The sunflowers that the birds or squirrels planted for me are blooming. They range in height from a bit over a foot (with equally dainty flowers) to over seven feet (with equally massive flowers).
Early this morning, as I was opening the front door to allow a little extra cross-ventillation before the day warmed up, a hummingbird arrived to check out the fountain. Hummers often come to examine the fountain. They hang out for several minutes, moving up, down, left, right, closer, farther, etc. and eventually leave. Not this little girl! She spent several seconds checking it out, but she readily moved in to perch momentarily on the edge of the fountain hardware. She'd back off then perch again. This dance continued with her perching longer each time, dipping her face, spreading one wing then the other, spreading her tail feathers, and generally frolicking in the water at great length. She then finished off with a quick, flying dive through the bell of water before departing to a twig on a nearby tree to preen. WAY Cool!
The garden has been taking some more-brutal-than-usual summer heat this summer and has been showing it. The sunflowers are enjoying it, but many of the the newly transplanted perennials are taking a beating.
Speaking of sunflowers, there are three volunteers in the back that have MONSTER heads. Two are about seven feet tall and the third is under five feet. There are also several other volunteers that are rather diminutive, even puny by comparison. Lesser Goldfinches have been dining on the leaves, mostly of the Monsters, but now the squirrels have started dining on the seed heads. They've completely absconded with the more diminutive and puny heads and have started taking chunks off the upper edges of the Monsters. Soon the birds will be plucking the seeds from the heads.
Out front, one seed from some sunflowers cultivated last year volunteered and has made a seven-plus foot stalk with several buds waiting to spring forth. The first flower opened yesterday morning. It's one of those that looks like it was painted: bright yellow out on the tips, rust-colored toward the inner half of the petal, with a moderate-sized disk that looks more like it belongs on a flower rather than on a food crop.
Welllllll... Early this afternoon I was on my way toward the front door to go out front, but I heard the "sweeeeet, sweeeeeet" of a lesser goldfinch right outside the door. So I stopped and took a peek out the door window to see who I might be frightening off. Well, there was indeed a lesser goldfinch perched on the fountain head, but he wasn't drinking. He was having one heck of a righteous bath, tweeting and chirping and flinging water simply everywhere!
Remember "The Birds"? Well, they're out there and being *really* weird. At least a dozen hummingbirds are out there, just hanging in mid-air, not fighting one another, just hanging there chuck-chuck-chuck-ing me. They're luring in front of the windows ...mocking me ...daring me to come out.
Do you have any idea what it sounds like having a dozen hummingbirds staring in your windows at you just saying "Chuck! Chuck! Chuck!" over and over and over again?!?!
And they were STILL out there after nearly a half-hour!
It's not like there isn't plenty of fresh nectar in all the feeders, so they're not chastising me about that (as they've been known to do).
In the meanwhile, the hot weather of early last week has broken and it's starting to feel like fall. I've been chipping and shredding all sorts of cuttings and prunings and I've been spreading them for winter mulch. I've also been using some to build Shelley a winter home. I also have more pruning to do.
The local birds have been spending lots of time in the yard. They haven't been hitting the feeders too much. They have been hitting the baths pretty hard. The Black Phoebes have been hanging out snacking on the flying insects. The Plain Titmice and Chestnut-Backed Chickadees have been gleaning insects in the high corners around the eaves and such. The White-Crowned Sparrows are back for the winter. I saw the first one yesterday morning.
The previous owners seem to have had a fair number of trees where the back lawn currently sits. Over the last five years the lawn has been lumpier, bumpier, and holier. This week I filled in a fairly new -- but quite deep! -- hole/dip in the lawn. Probably a place where a root deacyed away. (No, my yard hasn't had any signs of gophers and we don't have moles in this region.) One of these days I'm gonna hafta go over the whole lawn with more topsoil to even it out.
A minute or so later I was back in the kitchen dealing with my coffee and the hummers were arriving. They'd take a quick peek at the feeder then come to the window for a quick howdy before going back to the feeder for a goodly pull. A couple of minutes later another would show up, run off his/her predecessor, and start the play all over again -- peek, say howdy, take a long pull, ... That went on till I finished making breakfast and coffee. Maybe longer. I left.
The squirrels have spent much of the summer lounging on their bellies on top of the fences. Now they are scampering and jogging along those same fencetops, frequently with some sort of nut in their teeth. When they're not shuttling back and forth with a nut they're chasing each other, like they're playing tag, but one-on-one. They'll come screaming along the top of the fence, one after the other, then dive into a tree, one after the other. They'll dash to the bottom of the tree, take a turn or two 'round the base, then dash right back up and onto the fencetop. Then they'll dash along the fencetop till they come to a pair of trees a few feet apart. The lead squirrel will pass the first and dive into the second. The second squirrel will dive into the second as if to take a short-cut. The chase goes on for several minutes before they stop for a breather. A bit later, the chase is on again! Between chases, various squirrels hang out in the trees or on the deck roof and chatter or bark at each other or lord-knows-what.
The weather changed to fall a little over a week ago. The orioles left a few weeks ago. The white-crowned sparrows arrived a week or two later. The hummers have gone berzerk and the squirrels have become frolicksome imps. The chrysanthemums are budding up. It must be fall!
You know there are at least a dozen of the little beggars living in the near field. Among them are two male Anna's who seem hell-bent on playing Whose is Bigger. You also know that there is one feeder out front and two out back. Well, these two are having an on-going battle over the two in the back. I mean, they are beyond devoted to the cause: they're obsessed!
The one who seems to be the "owner" won't let the other dip at either feeder and will even interrupt his own feeding activity at one feeder to run the other off from the other feeder. Of course, the second hummer does all he can to torment the one. He hovers in closer and closer to the one while he's trying to feed such that the one keeps having to crane his neck this way and that till he gets completely tweaked and runs the second one off.
Alternatively, when the one perches at the deck feeder, the other will zip quietly out to the other feeder *apparently* for a quick drink. But NO-o-o-o-o! Just as he gets in range of dipping his bill, he shouts a little hummingbird "Fuck You!" (yes, the call is exactly two syllables) back to the one thus calling attention to his intentions. So, of course, the one has to step up to the challenge and run off the second guy lest the size of *his* be called into question. (OK. He could be saying "Up yours!" or "Bite me!", but you can feel the intent.)
Periodically, they break into fisticuffs. I can hear their bodies and/or wings smacking together. One of the second guy's thangs is to take sweeping dives at the one while he's hovering around the deck feeder on guard. Again, you can hear their bodies and wings smacking against each other, but the one generally continues to stand his ground. Occasionally he'll actually give chase and run off the second guy.
It's not like there aren't other feeding venues available. NO-o-o-o-o-o! They have to just keep duking it out over my back yard.
This has been going on for hours without a break!
I wonder what would happen if I relocated one or both of the feeders...
But the other morning I was visited by a shy, unwordly lady house finch. When she arrived she perched on the edge, took a quick look around, dipped her bill a few times to drink, and then started looking over her shoulders as though she was wondering if anyone was watching. After many furtive glances she swished her face in the water a couple of swishes and went back to looking over her shoulders. Then she stared into the pool for a while like she was wondering what it would be like if she could just jump in -- till her reverie was broken by the idea that someone might be watching her and she went back to looking over her shoulders. She shifted around the bath to several vantage points and repeated the process, but she never would jump in. Finally, when a chickadee showed up for a drink from the dripper, she left in an embarrased flutter.
Goofy bird.
In preparation for last night's cold, I brought in seven potted plants. They have all been living outdoors year-round for the last four years without problem, but they are the same varieties that froze partially or fully the winter before that. Having been out this morning, I'm guessing that they all would have been fine. We have gotten some below-freezing temperatures over the last four years and they've been fine. Still, I'm going to take it as a sign that I should keep them in this winter.
I took a few photos this morning.
The birds and squirrels are quite frolicksome this morning.
Most of the birds seem to be avoiding the sunflower seed and suet feeders these days. What's up with that? The goldfinches and some house finches are visiting the thistle feeders, but they're not going through the seed very quickly. There's a fair amount hitting the ground, so the mourning doves and towhees are gathered for a protracted luncheon meeting. And for some reason, the mourning doves think it's spring ...or they're just, plain horndogs. :-)
A tad after 7:30 this morning I was looking out the sliding glass door at a scrub jay. I had been in the kitchen making breakfast when I heard a repeated and insistent "Skra-a-ck?! Skra-a-ck?!" I took a look around and, there he was, perched on a Pittosporum branch and side-lighted by the morning sun as he kept glancing furtively about and querying, "Skra-a-ck?! Skra-a-ck?!"
It occurred to me that it must be chilly because every time he issued his query, "Skra-a-ck?! Skra-a-ck?!", little puffs of steam appeared 'round his head. Yes, I could see his breath ...just like I used to be able to see my own breath when I was a young girl visiting the computer room at Mom's workplace.
Every so often Tuffy will drop a seed, but that's OK. There's a Towhee who comes along and cleans up the stuff that Tuffy dropped or the S-words left behind. The S-words don't care much for millet, but the Towhees really go for it. The Tuffies and Chick-a-dees like millet, too.
I don't know if I told you about the S-words sniffing and fiddling around the rectangular drip pan under the rectangular cyclamen planter. They seem to check it out fairly regularly. It looked like this morning's guy was licking at the hard-water crust. I wonder if he's trying to get mineral salts. I took a plastic lid from an old Fresh Start tub, put a little table salt on it, and set it out on the milk crate. I'll check it a couple of times a day to see whether anyone's been at it.
The Tuffies are also becoming more and more relaxed about being there. How can I tell? Well, they are coming more often, there are more of them coming around, they are staying longer, and -- the biggie -- they rarely lift their crests!
The Tuffies (Plain Titmice), who usually hang out in the upper reaches, were hopping about on the deck a bit ago -- after having spent a couple of hours gobbling in the hanging basket. One of them hopped up onto the pie tin and absconded with a squash seed. Then another. I finally spied one of them heading, not over the fence, but into the "potting bench." I didn't see him plant it, but the Tuffies are pretty big on planting some of the seeds they glean, so there might ba a squash coming up in my potting soil one of these days.
In the last few minutes they've planted something in excess of a half-dozen squash seeds.
One s-word found an old acorn in the lawn yesterday and scarfed it down.
Remember me telling you that the Tuffies are over the Chickadees? Well, if a house finch is on the basket, the Tuffie may show up and land, but he doesn't stick around long. And he definitely doesn't eat. Not that the house finches seem to be eating from the basket. They mostly hop around the rim, over the food to the other side, back and forth, round and about. Wacky birds.
The finches, chickadees, and the Tuffies have all discovered the suet in a big way. The three times I've walked into my bedroom today, the cage has been covered in birds of various flavors. BUT... the Tuffies don't hang around when the finches show up.
I'm sure each of you has one or more stories of what goes on outside your back door, but here's what I've watched in the last few minutes just outside mine. And, when I say "just," outside, I do mean *just* outside -- measure a four foot radius from the center post of the sliding glass door.
A California Towhee hopped by in search of a tasty tidbit. A pair of Grey Squirrels stopped in, one to check the now-empty pie tin that has recently held various seeds (including winter squash), the other to check on various planters where they've stashed food in the past. Chickadees, Oak Titmice, and House Finches flew in to browse the hanging basket in which I've tossed a small handful of random birdseed. A Red Squirrel came by in search of food, but spent some time knocking on the door and, at one point, tried to shove it in or down or ... (Maybe he's related to that fabled ant of song.) Later he climbed up on the chair to see if he could make the leap to the hanging basket. Eventually he found a seed or something in a tiny knothole in the decking. A Northern Mockingbird swooped in to wrest a red berry off the asparagus fern ...and give me the evil eye before flying off.
That's all within 15 minutes within an eight foot tall cylinder shaped by a four foot radius half-circle!
Elsewhere in the yard I can hear a Scrub Jay skreek-skreek-ing and House Sparrows twittering (probably in anticipation of a bath). I can also see House Finches and Lesser Goldfinches perched at the nearby thistle feeders and various squirrels running up and down the Pittosporum and along the fence, but they're not within the previously defined cylinder.
Oops! The Red Squirrel is back to pound on the door some more...
Goofy bird.
Guess he was shy.
Plenty of other birdy activity going on. There are lots of chickadees and titmice, several mourning doves and white-crowned sparrows, the occasional robin and scrub jay, and kaboodles of house finches. Oh! And let us not forget those furry-tailed, big-eyed birds that most folks call squirrels. Spring is coming for them, too. They were quite frolicksome with each other today.
In the meanwhile, the birds that usually come to the yard have not been particularly interested in coming to visit my feeders. We've had a fair amount of visitations, but not like previous years. We've had plenty of new fledglings showing up with their parents, but they are all ignoring the black-oil sunflower seed and the thistle seed. Huh.
The Hooded Orioles returned in mid-March, which is awfully early for them. On the other hand, that was around the time we had the first heat wave. They continue to visit, but they aren't dragging down their feeder level much either. Nor have the hummingbirds been in great abundance nor have they been sucking down the nectar. Yes, they are around some and have been sipping, but the level stays the same or nearly so.
The clarkia from last year have created volunteer clarkia for this year, but they haven't started blooming yet. The ones in Mom's yard have started, but not mine. I'll give them time. On the other hand, the Sulphur Buckwheat and the Narrow-Leaf Milkweed have been blooming nicely as have the Bearberries (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi). The Wisteria bloomed itself out long ago. The Western Virgin's Bower has come back with a vengance, but it won't bloom till well into summer. In the mean time, the climbing rose that it sits next to is blooming quite profusely. The Salvia greggii continues to bloom quite necely and the Blue Bedder Penstemon has buds that are coloring up.
A red squirrel is apparently building a nest up in one of my p. eugeniodes. I spied him last night when he woke me with LOUD chirping in the middle of the night last night.
Welllll... It seems the absence of the Little Dog(TM) has finally struck home with the squirrels. Holy Cows!
The birds that come to visit my baths usually arrive, take a quick look around, jump right in, and start flinging water simply everywhere. There are usually four and five foot arcs of water flying in all directions. The arcs from the ground bath aren't quite as far flung, but they don't have as far to fall in their shortened trajectory. They're usually in the baths three, four and five at a time emptying all the water in ther fluttery ablutions. When the tray is nearly empty they all abandon my yard for parts unknown. Once the dripper has a chance to refill one or both baths, they are back again.
