Spring is Springing

I do love the sound of birds singing out in the garden. One bird that has a particularly loud and beautiful song, especially for a bird of its size, is the Carolina Wren.

I woke up to hear the beautiful notes of his song and as I looked out the window I saw him approach the patio with a mouth full of nesting materials.  I later managed to catch this photo of him in the pine tree (and check out that pollen!!)

I was getting excited because it appeared that a pair of wrens were going to nest on the patio, this time in  decorative watering can, next to an assortment of bird houses on a bakers rack in the corner.

Unfortunately, last weekend, I thought I'd offer them some more nesting material by hanging a suet feeder filled with horse hair on the rack and as I did so, I accidentally bumped the rack and a bird flew out of the watering can.  To my knowledge they never returned :-(

I took a peek today after ensuring it wasn't occupied.  There's a perfectly complete nest in there.  All it needs is a bird family.

I do know though, that the male wren will build a selection of nests and then the female will choose which one to lay her eggs in.  I guess when I bumped the shelf she decided to pick a nest in a less trafficked spot.

Oh well, maybe next year....

I've been reading good news about the Monarch butterflies leaving their wintering grounds in Mexico and heading north so I wanted to be prepared for them.

A lot of our milkweed was damaged in the winter freezes and some of it never returned, so I got proactive and headed to Plants for all Seasons, where they had just received a shipment in.

I'm also going to get some more which will be kept in containers to go in the new Monarch nursery I just purchased.  The new on is taller than the one I had last year (which I will use also).  The taller height will allow me to keep container plants in it, instead of having to snip cuttings every day and keep them in water picks, transferring the caterpillars to the fresh cuttings as necessary.

When we first moved in here I planted a Vitex tree and since then we haven't really touched it.  It was a total mess with lots of suckers and criss-crossing branches.  Today we had our arborist out to take care of it.  He did a good job and carted off all the trimmings.  However the tree was such a mess, I still think it needs tidying up some more. (No pics today)

While he was here, he also gave one of the Live Oak trees in the front yard a much needed trim. Now my husband Eric doesn't have to do the limbo every time he wants to mow the grass underneath it.

The cosmos I planted last year has reseeded prolifically and is putting on a beautiful display.

We had been wondering what to do with the peach tree.  It had never really put its roots down into the soil and we could move it back and forth quite easily.  It suffered from the freezes over the winter too and when my husband asked the arborist about it, he literally lifted it out of the ground with no resistance at all.  Question answered!

I seized the opportunity, since there was room in the island bed now, to relocate the Angel Trumpets, that was in a half barrel and was getting root bound.  It too had frozen back in the winter, but I was happy to see some new growth, so I'm hopefully it will do well where the peach tree failed.

Around the corner in the veggie garden, the runner type beans I put in beneath a new bean tower have all sprouted (well a couple didn't but most did)  I'm looking forward to seeing these grow up the bean tower, which reaches above my head.

Also in the veggie garden, the "Sir Crunch-a-lot" cucumbers have sprouted.  I hope these do well this year, we've had mixed luck with cucumbers in the past including one year when we had precisely zero -- all the flowers dropped off.  I'll let these establish a little and then probably thin them out

It was so lovely being able to work in the garden when I got home from work today. First of all, the weather was perfect, something we don't often get here, and second - now I'm working locally I no longer have the grueling two-hour commute I used to have.

Life is good!

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Renewal

My husband's office is at the front of the house, looking out over the front garden. One day this week, when I got home from work, he pointed out of his window and said, "I think there's a bird nesting in the tree."

The tree in question is the small live oak we planted in May 2009 to replace the builder-planted one that had "drowned." Click here for my husband's amusing account of that adventure. 

Personally, I don't think it's nearly big enough to house a nest, but sure enough, there was a mockingbird industriously hopping to and fro with twigs.

Strange that she didn't just use the fairly substantial nest in the other live oak tree, 15 feet away. (See the dark clump in the middle? 

 

That tree housed a family of mockingbirds last year but our guest this year prefers more custom features and is building her own nest.


I hope she keeps working on it, because looking at it close up, I'd say there's a good chance any eggs would fall through the bottom as it is right now!

 Here are both trees seen from the street. (This post gets its title from the fact that these trees, and a lot of other things in the garden, are covered in new, bright green leaves.)

Underneath the small live oak, the little clump of bluebonnets is in full bloom.

I hope I get more of these next year.  This self-seeded, but I think I'll try and collect some seeds to give it a helping hand next year.

In the back garden, the Star (Scentless) Jasmine is covered in buds. This vine is growing rampantly and will need to be trimmed this year.  I just need to make sure I do it at the right time of year and that I don't kill it in the process!  The scented Star Jasmine, growing next to it, is much smaller still but is also starting to bloom and grow.

In the back garden, I had pulled out a bunch of weed that was growing in with the homestead verbena.  Apparently I missed this one (which is actually in the lawn - the verbena has spread about 2 feet beyond the border) and I'm glad I did! I love the color combination!  Looking around the lawn, there's a lot more of it but it got mowed last night, so it won't get a chance to flower.

Finally, on the patio, I had pinched the fuschia back to remove the seed pods, and had given it a little fertilizer.  It's now rewarding me with a second flush of blooms.  They aren't as big as the first round, but I'm happy to see them anyway.

I hope you are all seeing signs of renewal in your spring gardens. 

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

A Morning at Kleb Woods

I've been hoping I was able to make it to this event ever since I heard about it a few weeks ago.  For a while, I thought I wasn't going to be able to make it because the World Equestrian Games, currently taking place in Lexington, Ky., are going to be keeping me busy on my second job for the next two weeks.  As it happened, I ended up with a free morning (and afternoon, but I'll be working late tonight) and Eric and I were able to get over there.

The event was billed as a Hummingbird Festival and a full day of talks and demonstrations was planned.

We were there in time to see and hear the Silent Hunters program, presented by Mary Ann Weber, Education Director for Houston Audobon. It was a very interesting presentation and I learned things I never knew about owls.  For instance, did you know that owl's ears are different sizes and different heights on either side of their head?

Mary Ann introduced us to a Great Horned Owl, a Barred Owl, and an Eastern Screech Owl.

It was wonderful to see these magnificent birds in person.  Unfortunately, most of my photos came out blurred because I wasn't using a flash indoors, but I did get this one of the little Screech Owl.

Other programs scheduled for the day included a talk on what plants to use in the home landscape to encourage hummingbirds to your garden, presented by two ladies from Arbor Gate.  In the afternoon, after we had left, Fred Collins, Director of the Kleb Woods Nature Center, presented a program on identifying local hummingbirds and caring for wintering hummingbirds.

There was supposed to be hummingbird banding going on all day, but unfortunately when we were there, the hummingbirds were playing shy. Not a one to be seen!  I hope they had better luck in the afternoon, after we had left!

After the owl presentation, Eric and I went for a pleasant walk around Kleb Woods.

Just outside the Nature Center I found this beautiful Hamelia patens.  It's about the size of the one I had growing at my last house.  The one I have now is in a containter and seems to be doing okay.  I'm hoping to get it in the ground next year, by which time the beds should be ready to accept plantings.

Heading into the woods, we saw a lot of these American Beauty Berry bushes. I'd love one in the garden, but from what I can tell, they can grow to be about 15 to 20 feet tall and wide, so I'm thinking we don't have room for one!  That's a pity - I hear the birds love them.

Not far from the Nature Center is Elmer Kleb's original house.  It was open for tours today but we didn't go in.

In front of the house is this lovely bench and arbor.

Several easy, well marked trails allow visitors to stroll through the woods.  These live oaks were very majestic. Strange to think that this is the same tree as we have in our front yard - we may have to move our house to make room if it starts growing this big!!

We saw some interesting fungi, which always fascinates me.

Along the sunny trail on the way to the exit, this lantana was just glowing in the sunshine.

So that was our visit to Kleb Woods.  I'm glad I got to go, even if we didn't see any hummingbirds there.

As it happens, I was able to get a pretty decent photo of a female hummer at our feeder in the back yard yesterday, so all is not lost. I'll share that photo with you instead :-)

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.