I spent yesterday spreading 4 bags of shredded bark mulch on one of my remaining two un-mulched flower beds. My 2 and half year old kept busy by blowing every dandelion seed head into the wind that she could find in my meadow area. I just watched the seeds fly around and know I will be pulling weeds for months to come. Of course, I helped blow every seed head my daughter brought me never letting on how conflicted I was feeling about the fun we were having. Every new dandelion I will have to pull out of my flower bed later will well be worth it as long as I remember that my daughter helped to “plant” them. I also washed and polished my hanging copper pots so that they would be ready for their summer plantings as well. The white wooden rocking chairs and outdoor furniture also had a good cleaning. I can’t wait for summer to get here!
Some new blooms:
Today I spent 3 exhausting, but satisfying hours in my yard. I replanted my 5 annuals planters in the front of my house and spruced up 2 planters on the back patio. I cleaned out my 3 copper hanging baskets and am getting these ready for new plantings for the summer. Now I just have to break out the copper cleaner next. Then I planted a lavender and delphinium in the back flower beds and finally weeded two huge buckets full of weeds. There are always more weeds to pull. My plan is to hopefully mulch the final two unmulched beds in the back yard tomorrow. Today’s yardwork was accomplished with my two-year old tagging along the whole time. I put her to work watering my new plantings. Something which which she LOVES to do with her little monkey watering can. Sometimes her shoes get more water than the plants, but she’s actually getting pretty good at handling the watering can.
As I was planting tubers and roots along with pulling the ever present weeds, K, my 2 year old who was “helping” bumped into a dense little pine tree on my slope and proclaimed it the “Car wash tree.” She then proceeded to roll around the tree as if she were in a car wash saying that, “The tree is washing me.”
I can definitely see how the tree would represent a car wash roller and am constantly surprised by the relationships that kids see between things.
So now instead of 3 pine trees, I now have 3 car wash trees in my yard which is definitely more fun!
Here’s one of the car wash trees…
Car wash tree
I was in Virginia and Cancun, Mexico for a two week vacation and missed 80+ degree weather and snow as well. My weather station kept me up-to-date. I came home to find all sorts of new blooms and buds that didn’t look bad for all they’d been through! Here’s what’s newly blooming:
- tulips
- forget-me-nots
- sour cherry tree
- ornamental strawberries (lipstick)
- lamium
- wild ginger
- English daisy
- bog rosemary
- dicentra (bleeding hearts) in pink and white
- fritillaria
- Leopard’s Bane
- Foam Flower
- Pulminaria
Also, the past two days since I have been home I have been busy getting a couple of roots and tubers in the ground that I ordered and had arrived while I was out of town. I planted the following:
- Dahlia- Mary Evaline
- CURCUMA ALISMATIFOLIA THAI SUPREME
- BRODIAEA LAXA ROYAL BLUE
- GENTIAN MARSHA
- ARISARUM PROBOSCIDEUM (THE MOUSE PLANT)
- ASTRANTIA MAJOR MOULIN ROUGE
- DAHLIA BLUE BELL
- ASTRANTIA RUBY WEDDING
- BUTTERFLY PLANT A. INCARNATA
- BUTTERFLY PLANT A. INCARNATA ICE BALLET
- BUTTERFLY PLANT A. TUBEROSA
Apr 07
2008
Kiirekass
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Birds
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I invite birds into my yard throughout the spring, fall and winter. Sorry birds, no food for you in the summer as I try not to let you find out about all my berries! Anyhow, I keep a regular seed feeder, thistle feeder and hummingbird feeder out most of the year. (Just a couple months without the humming bird feeder as the Rufous hummingbirds arrive by the end of February). I also have two birdhouses, but no birds living there yet as I think they mainly consider my backyard a restaurant and not a condo. The kids love watching the chickadees that love to hang out in the cherry tree. The 13 month old points and laughs whenever she notices birds in the tree. I myself enjoy the Varied Thrush the most. This bird just flips over mulch and soil and looks for worms and grubs under everything all day long. He’s very thorough!
I’m also starting a bird list of all the birds I have seen on a separate page. It will be a life bird list, not just birds from this yard. I’ve kept a list in my bird identification book for years and might as well publish it all in one place.
