I’m excited to report that our bluebird nest has two tiny blue eggs! I have yet to see the female building her nest or even carrying nesting material. I happened to see her fly away from the box late morning and took a peek inside. The pair is using the newer box in a location parallel to the box used last year. I don’t know if this is the same male but it’s highly likely it’s a different female. Last year’s female disappeared after incubation her third clutch for less than two weeks. I hope this pair is successful. I will continue to provide fresh water and dried mealies for them.
One day last week, I saw nine purple finches together in one platform feeder. They are migrating through; they won’t stay long. Nice of them to stop by.
I’m quite excited about my native plant garden too. Every day I walk about, seeing what’s coming back. Here’s what I’ve seen so far (most from memory):
Serviceberry tree - blooming!
Birch tree - leafing!
Hydrangea - leafing!
American Basswood Tree - leafing! It was a 10’ stick last fall.
Spicebush - budding! It was a 6” stick when planted.
Winterberry females - budding!
Winterberry male - nothing yet
Green headed cone flower - shoots
Brown eyed Susan - one with shoots, one appears to be gone
Bee Balm - 1 of 2 shoots with leaves
Cardinal flower - nibbled leaves
Sweetbay Magnolia tree - flower buds, a few leaves remaining from last year. This tree is a semi evergreen in my zone.
Sneezeweed - both plants have shoots
Golden Alexander - both plants have shoots with leaves
White Beardtongue - 3 purplish plants more than 4” tall
Coral bells - 4 of 4 plants survived
Swamp Rose - leafing up!
Fox Sedge - 4 of 4 grasses looking good
Sweetspire bush- stems are changing color
Hot shot Azalea - 4 of 4 still without leaves. Thought they were dead but stems still show signs of life. Will give them some more time
Wind flower - 2 of 2 plants up and flowering
New England Aster - coming up!
Blazing star - coming up!
Cone flower - coming up!
Beauty Berry - transplanted. Shows signs of life but no buds yet
Daffodils - 100’s!
Painted Pinks - 2 of 2 no sign of life yet
Mountain Laurel - 4 of 5 have flower buds. Deer ate them. :(
Witch Hazel trees - 2 of 2 starting to bud
Dogwood trees - 2 of 2 starting to flower!
Tickseed - coming up!
Wild Wood Asters - 3 of 4 coming up. There’s a hole where the 4th one was. I suspect a squirrel.
Royal Fern - coming up!
Joe Pye weed - no sign yet
NY Ironweed - no sign yet
Butterfly weed - no sign yet
Rose Mallow - 2 of 2 no sign yet
Black eyed Susan - coming up!
Blue Lobelia - coming up!
White Turtlehead - 1 of 2 coming up
Threadleaf Ironweed - nothing yet
Little Blue Stem - 4 of 4 nothing yet
Milkweed - 2 of 2 nothing yet
Wood Poppy - up and looking good!
Wild Hyssop - 3 of 3 nothing yet
Thimbleweed - nothing yet
Something new to see every day! So fun.
Don and I added a line of short picket fence to the side of the garden that borders the trail. He is very particular about everything being perfectly aligned and spaced evenly. We took out everything we did the day before and re-did it. It does look better but it was hard work. Especially for him. He has a lot of trouble getting up off the ground so he just scooted along on his butt for 30 yards. We still have more to do but the fence posts kept breaking so we have to fix them before we can place them. The pickets are only stapled together. Not that well made for $7 a piece. Looks nice though and I’m hoping it will keep dogs from peeing on my plants.
Loading comments...