Birds in my garden

Earlier this spring I wrote a bit about birds in the garden. I love birds. I have loved birds my whole life. My grandma Reardon and my dad loved birds too and I'm sure their love of birds rubbed off on me. I am forever trying to make my garden more friendly for birds. I know, living in a very small city setting, that I will never attract a blue bird or water loving birds. But, my goal is to see how many different birds I can spy in my garden. Over the years, I've done a lot of reading about attracting birds and I've just started looking at a few new books on the subject. As my pictures show, I have a number of bird feeders, at different heights and in different locations. I have a bird bath that I clean just about every day and lately the Robins have been taking a daily bath in it. I do not use insecticides or herbicides in my garden because I do not want to harm the birds or the insects the birds may be looking for. This spring I've noticed a pair of Cardinals, which is terrific and they spend a lot of time feeding. I've also seen house finches, who are now starting to change color to the brilliant red they get and I've seen Chickadees and House Sparrows. I know these are not the most exotic birds you could hope to see, but I know that my feeding and gardening efforts are drawing them to my yard. Every time I see a new bird, I smile and am happy that the love of birds was handed down to me from my dad and grandma.

Fairytale Old Fashioned Bleeding Hearts

In the past week, my old fashioned bleeding hearts have come into full bloom. I think these spring flowers are often overlooked for the showier daffodils and tulips. Bleeding hearts are wonderful spring plants that emerge looking a bit like a fern and then develop beautiful heart shaped flowers that look like they belong in a fairy world. If you really study the flower, it is perfectly heart shaped with a little section hanging below the flower with a drop of liquid. The flowers emerge on arching branches and hang neatly in a row. They are nature's only perfect heart shaped flower. The foliage remains fern like. Old fashioned bleeding hearts prefer part shade. When these plants are done flowering, they quietly fade away.

Wonderful Grecian Windflowers

My Grecian windflowers are flowers I inherited when I moved into my house. My first spring in my house, these gorgeous,small pastel colored daisy like flowers appeared and just looked so happy and well kept. I looked through gardening books to find out what they were and have been in love with them ever since. I love these flowers because they are #1 - beautiful and carefree, #2 - fantastically colored, #3 - do not take over the garden, but gently spread, #4 - die back completely and never have an 'ugly' stage. The flowers come from very small bulbs, about the size of a pea and you plant them in the fall. They usually flower when crocus flower, but their show lasts much longer. Add these to your spring display and they will not disappoint you!

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day April 2010

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day was started by the blogger at May Dream Gardens blog. The 15th of every month, garden bloggers post a message about what is blooming where they live. If you regularly read my blog, you know what an unusually warm spring we have had in Western NY. Today I have a variety of daffodils, many different colored tulips, hyacinth, Grecian windflower and leopard's bane. It's a feast for the eyes!

Leopard' Bane

As my garden continues to surprise me, I happily saw my Leopard's Bane zoom full speed ahead over the past few weeks. It is now flowering and it's flowers remind me why I love it so much! Leopard's Bane is a bright yellow spring flower that looks much like a daisy. The flowers are about 2 inches across and the plant grows about 1 foot high. I love it because it is so bright and happy looking and because it really looks like no other flowers at this time of year. It's very easy to grow and it is not invasive, but gradually does spread out a bit. By the heat of summer the foliage has literally disappeared so it does not stick around long enough to get straggly and ragged looking. If you are looking for something new to add to your spring collection of flowers, add some Leopard's Bane - they will make you smile!

Spring Surprises

I just love the surprises in my garden during the spring. As plants start to emerge from the ground, it's always a happy moment to see old friends and to look at new shoots and think "what did I plant there"? I am very happy to see that all of the new plants I planted last year in my new garden survived the winter and are back and looking good. Last spring I planted two lilac bushes - I'd always wanted a lilac, but just did not have the space to plant one. When I had to have my front porch replaced, it gave me the opportunity to get rid of some bushes I never really liked and to plant what I wanted. There are so many new varieties of lilacs and I found one that only gets about 6 feet high - perfect for in front of the porch. A few days ago I was pleasantly surprised to see many flower buds on my lilacs - this really brought a smile to my face! The rain this past week helped to push plants farther along. I now have some other varities of tulips getting ready to bloom and have lots of daffodils in their varying shades of yellow, happily taking up lots of space in the garden. Enjoy these pictures of this week's blooms.

Summer in April!

Wow! What a few summer days at the beginning of April will do for a garden. One week ago, it was on the verge of snowing and then the temperatures jumped into the 80s and shocked the plants to life! Over the course of 3 days, daffodils, tulips and hyacinths all bloomed and many other plants started to leaf out and show signs of life. I took advantage of the weather to transplant some columbine and Feverfew that had transplanted themselves in unusual locations and to edge and weed all of my gardens. I bought some pansies and planted them in a pot around my bird bath and then sat back and enjoyed the sunshine! I started some vegetables as well in my square foot gardens. I planted 4 Buttercrunch lettuce and about 12 plants each of Rainbow Swiss Chard and spinach. Luckily these vegetables love the cooler temperatures of spring, which will return to Western NY by week's end. This shot of early summer did wonders for the plants and mental status of sun and heat starved Western New Yorkers.