Friday, June 30, 2006

Little Birdy Fast Food

The birds born this spring are all teenagers now. The young purple martins too fuzzy still for iridescence, the cardinals still drab and clumsy, the blue jays looking fresh and crisp, but without thier full 'fledged' crest on top. I have a feeding platform (a peice of old ply set on top of two rickety sawhorses) right outside my studio window where I use the computer. The momma birds are bringing the teenagers over to the mound of birdseed I try to keep replenished. I think the parent birds look on my feeding platform as a sort of McDonalds. The youngsters still shake and cry with mouths open, as the moms plop seeds in thier maws. Every once in a while the youngsters will get into a territorial dispute, and the moms will fly away leaving them to fend for themselves. I'm not the only one in the family with this idea. Below is a picture of the birdfeeder my Dad built, for his land up in Gaylord.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

New Currants, old anemones and some other stuff




Monday, June 26, 2006

Monarda and Lily


Sunday, June 18, 2006

RAIN!!!!!!

Its RAINING!!!!!!!!!! I can feel how happy the garden is!!!!!

Pics: Primrose, Vinca (Periwinkle), and an 'orb' taken during a rainy halloween in the garden.




Tuesday, June 13, 2006

foam flower, painted fern, sutters gold rose

Just some pics from the garden this week. I'm slogging away at the space for the gazebo, hope to have it erected on Thursday.

Photos: JapanesePainted Fern (including top view of foam flower), Foam Flower and Sutters Gold Roses.


Sunday, June 11, 2006

Drudgery

Well, it was a hard slog, but I managed to use the weedtrimmer to cut the greenery down where we plan to put the gazebo. Then I dragged the outdoor carpet over to hopefully kill the roots before Oscar can help me with the rest on Thursday, It took 3 hours, because I had to rest every 10 minutes (bad foot, bad bad foot)

It will be worth it, when I can go out in the back of the garden and write.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Sarah Bernhardt Up Close and Personal

Last night's storms bent a few of the Sarah Bernhardt peony stems past repair, so I cut them to sit by me today, and what a lovely fragrance they gave. Here's a link to a page of info all about the woman after whom they were named: Sarah Bernhardt

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Dream Garden

Have you ever sat down and dreamed a garden? Thought about what plants you'd have, what special little nooks and crannies you'd add? When I was in elementary school, I dreamed about having a huge tract of land, made into an animal sanctuary, somewhere in the pacific northwest, with good views of the Pacific (and a mansion with a huuuge library).
When I was ill a few years back, during that long summer when I could do no dirt digging I had extremely detailed mental plans. I designed a maze, a Goddess garden, a sanctuary based on a pentacle (earth air fire water and spirit), an arbor surrounded with aromatic flowers, a dyers garden, A wildlife garden, a culinary herb garden, a medicinal herb garden, A water garden (including a stunning waterfall)... In reality, my garden has none of those things. Its nice though. And someday, when we're very rich, I may hire someone to implement all my designs.. Or maybe, a bit at at time, I might choose one of those gardens and implement it myself. In the meantime, I'm happy to dream, and I bet many of the books I write will have wonderful gardens.

Image: Kuan Yin from House Bonsai

Saturday, June 03, 2006

This morning's blooms

I slapped on some Bullfrog repellant (Mosquitoes are horrible this year! Where are all the bats to eat them?) and went for a small recon mission in the garden this morning.



The rose I've been waiting for bloomed. The description said Mauve, I swear it did! I like what happened anyway, but it was a bit different than expected :-}





The the Sara Bernhardt peony is in full bud.









And the wine-red peony bud bloomed a beautiful deep pink/magenta.










And this morning I spotted the spiderwort in full bloom back by the otter bird fountain bed.

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