Hummingbird elixer

Everyone probably knows the recipe for hummingbird elixer... 1 cup hot water & 1/4 cup sugar... and to clean & change the feeder every 3 days or less

We have just one little pair of hummers who visit our window view and make our cats chitter with excitement. Perhaps the spring and its cold, wind, and rain have kept the hummers in a warmer part for a longer time. From my notes last year, it was just about now, mid-June, when we began to have a lot of hummer activity, plus we had indigo buntings, red breasted grosbeaks, and an occasional oriole.

blues

Something about the shade of blue and purple in a garden creates a calming effect. These lovely spring fashion shows are now making their exit and the brighter more lively hues of summer are presenting themselves.

These irises did not flower last year, their first year up. There were 4 blooms on each of 3 stalks. 7 plants had leaves but we'll wait til next year to see if they will flower. The salvia above is actually bright purple next to violet cranesbill.

MoonTiger - a nearly full moon and a sleepless night

Moon Tiger

The moon tiger.
In the room, here.
It came in, it is
prowling sleekly
under and over
the twin beds.
See its small head,
silver smooth,
hear the pad of its
large feet. Look,
its white stripes
in the light that slid
throught the jalousies.
It is sniffing our
clothes, its cold nose
nudges our bodies.
The beds are narrow,
but I’m coming in with you.

- Denise Levertov

What a lot of rain can do...

Everything has a jungle quality. I found aphids on my brown eyed susans, brown toadstools in the lawn, and a funny mosaic on the nasturtium leaves. My Harry (Lauder's walking stick) seems to have some signs of crisping leaves. I am going to use dish detergent & wash them that way. I read aphids & mites can be eliminated this way.

Today we had a small but adventurous Swallowtail butterfly flitting around my red roses. The morning glories have secondary leaves... the Stella D' Oro day lilies are going to be standing VERY high.. maybe 32 inches up from the ground!!! Bee Balm is a lovely bully... I've moved some already, but after the rain, it's like the plants have "spread muscles"... I paired red geraniums with dusty miller & royal blue lobelia... very patriotic... by the garage / sidewalk. Very pretty, but the dusty miller loved the rain and the geraniums look beaten up by the rain. The elephant ear palms are not sprouting new leaves as I thought they would. drat! The schefflera is doing well on the Casey plant.. but the orig might need to be cut down to the bottom & we hope to start over again. we'll see.

My lettuce is coming up for a second time.. the 5-6 plants that were not dismayed by the mulch yielded delish leaves the other nite. the parsley and oregano are starting to germinate. Basil.. same. The bush beans are up and looking healthy. Such a teensy spot for a garden.

The Siberian Irises are done and I am waiting for them to create seeds to try to start myself. LOVELY blooms when they were. The other Irises were nice but so short lived.

A lovely summer day is a beautiful thing. May I always choose to be outside not in when it occurs.

The tree swallows in June

The 5 eggs turned into one baby who was hairless for about the last week. Now he is feathered and the about 1/3 the size of his parents. when I open the top of the bird house, he does not look up, but I have to becuz the parents are buzzing just over my head at an incredible rate of speed & chirping a definite warning sound. I looked for "remnants" of the other 4 babies and I dont know if they were eaten or pulled from the house & then scavenged by other birds like the black birds. The female will just poke her head out of the hole & for some reason she reminds me of a killer whale's profile. she will gobble bugs as they go by, watch me warily as I mow the grass or pull weeds, and probably just get a much needed mother break. The father is never far away and during all this stormy weather, it appears both parents are in the nesting box with the baby. The nest itself is a warm inviting circle of soft feathers atop dried grasses and day lily leaves. These are very good parents... very attentive & protective. The daily drama of who will be in the box is long gone.

We are finished, I think, with our spring planting agenda. We have decided the rabbits will win the race after all, so we have put in plants they "supposedly" find distasteful: zinnias, irises, silver mound, cranesbill/hardy geranium, purple dome aster, day lillies, roses, delphinium, lobelia/cardinal flower, cosmos, marigolds, and autumn joy sedum and angelina sedum ground cover. Oh.. and bee balm! Add dianthus, Russian sage, nasturtium, morning glories, wave petunias, blue victoria salvia, geraniums, and dusty miller and hardy mums as well. a bit of everything. Now to wait to see how it all congeals & blooms. The flower pots look nice, although I would like to begin to replace the plastic pots with classier ceramic/ glazed pottery.

My thoughts for next year's focus: the north side of the house near the garage... hostas are nice before the hot weather... I like spring mound spirea/ bridal wreath... Or... since it is so shaded, I could try to create a little shade garden with ferns and impatiens...I would like to get a little hosta called mouse ears.. it's a mini.

on the south side, which gets a lot of sun, my garlic is growing wildly and my 2 blueberry bushes look to be thriving. I've added some bush beans, leaf lettuce. That sunny side seems to be my "food garden location"... I'm not sure I'll plant garlic again next fall.. we'll see how this turns out first.

The baby tree swallows have arrived

There were 5 little eggs... we peeked & saw one was pushed aside & dead but 3 little hairless heads about the size of a small fingernail were cast upward & had their mouths wide open for bug formula. One little egg was not cracked open.... yet. The parents are so busy back & forth, we do not want to disturb them, although they seem pretty comfortable being just a few feet away from us.