There is a garden sorta. I talked about the nursery bed in the last post. The surviving daylilies and other perennials are recovering from their ordeal. As I thought, they just needed more sun, water and actual ground. That space is large enough to hold a lot of things until I'm ready to design the gardens.
I picked up 3 "Northwind" Switchgrasses the other day. This was one of my favorite grasses, and I didn't bring any with me. Probably would have gone the same way many of the other transplants did...dying of my procrastination. Since I don't see them very often, I snapped them up. I'll split them in two or three and set in the nursery bed to grow a bit bigger. By then, I'll know where I want to use them.
I also set up a window box planter that wasn't doing anything as a seed bed. I had a couple packs of Purple Coneflowers to start. I know I'll want a lot of Coneflower for the butterfly garden so seed was the best way to go. When they're big enough, I'll set in the nursery bed. Or if they haven't outgrown the window box, I might just keep them there. I'm starting to plan the butterfly garden so they might be ready when I am. The other reason I like starting these with seed is that they'll be hardier. Nowadays, the coneflowers in garden centers are all the fancy new cultivars...doubles, new colors, etc. I haven't had a lot of luck with any of them, but I can count on the species to be vigorous, and it's just as beautiful.
It's my plan to acquire more perennial seeds to fill in the gardens. Oh, I'll buy plants, I can't resist, but as with the coneflowers, I've found seeds to give the best results for many things. Just have to be patient as they usually won't bloom the first year. If the window box works well, I might pick up a few more for that purpose. I can usually find them at Big Lots at discount prices.
The 4 pines were cut down last week. The crew did a great job. Those trees were mature and tall. They threw rope over the top with a slingshot (slick!) so they could control where they came down. They dropped them right next to the deck which was a bit concerning, but they knew what they were doing, and the trees came down exactly where they wanted them. Then they cut them up, took away the logs, and fed the rest into a big chipper shredder. I got a big pile of wood chips. Pine chips will be wonderful mulch!
Pine wood chips and a birdbath pedestal.
I asked for a level top on this stump, and it's about as perfect as a chainsaw can get it. I've never been able to get a free standing bird bath this level! That's a 16" saucer. I haven't caught a bird using it yet. When I got this dish, I also bought the smaller one you can see in the title image. I've seen the wrens bathing in whatever was catching rain water on the deck so I set that one on the pot.
Next project is the fence. Got that lined up yesterday, and it should be installed in about 2 weeks. Can't wait to get Whipper off the tie-out.
Oh yeah. Why it was active this morning. Spotted a Red-bellied Woodpecker on one of the backyard trees. While I was watching it, a pair of wrens fell out of a tree in a serious battle. Wrens are very territorial. They startled the woodpecker into going on the ground where they were scuffling to see what the fuss was about. Then I saw a Pileated Woodpecker on another tree and whatever it was after really had its attention. It poked around that tree for a quite a while. Unfortunately not close enough or clear of branches to try to capture with the camera. I've yet to get a Pileated on film.
And there's the baby bunny grazing in the lawn. Saw it first last evening, but it was out there again this morning. Couldn't be much more than 3 weeks old, it was that tiny. Don't think I've noticed new litters this late in the season. That's why it's important that people don't disturb a cottontail nest unless they are absolutely sure it's abandoned. Baby cottontails are good to go shortly after their eyes open.
tnt
Naturechild
