In the garden
Gardening
Flowers
We’ve had an extremely mild winter this year and only protected the plants in the shed a few nights in December. Usually all the annuals are dead by now and the leaves have fallen off of the hydrangeas, but everything is still blooming. The white azaleas started flowering in December and the pink ones just burst into color this week–both colors are about six weeks early. But all the blooms might soon be over. Freeze warnings! So Terry and I tucked all the pots back into the shed but didn’t cover the outside plants. Survival of the fittest!
Birds in the Back
My yard was a crazy hub of bird activity yesterday. We always have many more birds hanging out in our backyard in the winter than in the warmer months.
This robin is on lookout. He doesn’t actually eat from the bird feeder. He’s here because of the bird bath and our cedar trees. There are dozens of robins hopping around the yard and perched in the trees. I call these guys the “scouts”. They’re checking out the water and food supplies for the masses of robins migrating through in a few weeks.
Cardinals like the sunflower seeds in the bird feeder. I’ve tried different mixes of bird seed but the birds usually just push it out–to the greedy fat squirrels waiting below.
When we put up our first bird feeder the squirrels were getting quite chunky. They not only climbed the pole, they jumped out of trees and launched off of a light fixture to get to the seeds. Our neighbor, Ernie, suggested that we use a large diameter PVC pipe painted with glossy paint because the squirrels can’t climb it. Ernie, who passed away this past summer, also made the bird feeder and liked to bring me plants–along with all kinds of advice.
These black vultures were checking out something in the sawgrass. While I was trying to see what they were watching, I didn’t notice the bald eagle flying overhead until it was almost too late.
The vultures moved to the dead palm trees to get a better view.
My last bird sighting yesterday was a pileated woodpecker.
It was a good day in Maggie’s Big Back Yard.