Bird Watching....In the Garden

Good morning from In the Garden in Tennessee! It's been a wonderful winter in the garden and today I thought I'd share some bird watching pictures. 

All of the birds love the nearby koi pond for a water source when it is icy outside. I so enjoy watching them drink here!

I believe this to be a female house purple finch.(Thanks Lisa)

An American goldfinch. The birds here adore black oil sunflower seeds. I tried feeding them striped sunflower seeds and they really didn't like them at all. It was surprising to me. I have a good plan to supply the birds (and bees) with lots of sunflowers this morning and in fact, have already seeded the sunflower seeds last month!

An American goldfinch.

A female house purple finch.

I planted an Edgeworthia chyrsantha, aka Paperbush right next to my bird feeding area and I must say that was a great choice! I get to look at flowers and birds and the fragrance is amazing! The flower buds look like this all fall and winter. Right now the buds are just beginning to open up and show some yellow. I have found this shrub is favored by all the birds for a stopping spot right next to the feeders. As a bonus, the birds seem to get some pollen from the flowers.

An American goldfinch and probably a male house purple finch. I really can't tell the difference between a house finch and a purple finch so if I am wrong, I apologize.

Some kind of a finch. Probably a female purple finch-note the white striping on her head.

An American goldfinch.

Purple or house finch? I can't tell the difference.I think purple. Definitely a purple finch due to the straightness and chunkiness of the bill.

More finches.

I get a kick looking at the nearby trees where the little finches gather to get some food. One day I looked out the window and there were several large oak trees, in addition to this small willow oak tree, filled with finches. I could not believe there were so many birds. All of these birds feeding here have attracted the attention of some local hawks. So far there hasn't been any carnage that I have seen and I am grateful for that. Bird watching is so fun....

in the garden....

Be sure to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count coming up from February 17-20, 2017.

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Blackbirds and Grackles-Oh My!

The recent snows in Middle Tennessee were a treat! Today, tho, it is hot and sunny and warm and April 1st! Happy April Fool's to you all!

After moving into our home a few months ago I put up some birdfeeders. It took about six weeks for the birds to find the feeders but find them they did! The snows brought in a lot of new birds for me. One of them is the red winged blackbird. This is a bird I had not often seen in my area of Tennessee, tho I would see it quite frequently further north in areas like northern Kentucky and southern Indiana. I think the red winged blackbirds are heading south as I now see them quite a bit more in Tennessee.

The birds really liked the black oil sunflower seeds I offer up in my bird feeders.

Not everyone like grackles but they are a really beautiful bird in my humble opinion.

Did you know blackbirds, grackles, and starlings often flock together in the fall, winter, and early spring?

These birds were part of a large flock that came to Tiger Way Gardens for a few days.

I had several feeders up so they did not really chase away the smaller birds--everyone got fed and as a bonus I got to see some beautiful blackbirds....

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Signs of New Life on the Farm, a Consequence of Heavy Ice and Snow, and Some Contemplation

This winter has been a rather brutal winter; to put it mildly. For those of you who don't know Middle Tennessee (and other parts of the south) have endured storm after storm of mainly ice and freezing cold temperatures. Such was the case last Sunday when a big storm came in and dropped 4-6" of ice pellets, snow, and sleet. This in and of itself is not too awfully unusual, but what made the storm extra bad was that the temperatures stayed quite cold for several days. This resulted in iced over roads and it was a brave soul indeed who ventured out onto the roads. While the county highway department did the best they could to clear the roads; it was a very large job and many of the back roads did not get cleared until around Thursday.

I was fortunate in that I could pretty much stay at home while my family members worked. I was seriously stressed about their welfare on the roads; especially when I ventured out on Wednesday to feed a stray dog I care for in an adjacent town. I wound up getting stuck but that is another story. Fortunately all family members stayed safe on the icy roads around town. 

While I was home bound I enjoyed watching the birds. I have never ever seen so many birds and so many types of different birds visit my feeders. All of the snow and ice sure brought the birds to my back door. I happened to venture outside and enjoyed getting up close and personal with a few of the brave souls who chose to eat the black sunflower seeds I offered up to them. Here a towhee along with some finches is enjoying the food. Surprisingly enough as soon as the snow left so did most of the birds. I have not hardly seen a grackle or European starling or towhee since the snow melted. They are most likely enjoying the new buds on all of the trees surrounding the area.

Mr. Fix-it and I finally made it out to the farm as well. While I had been by there I did not dare stop my car and get out on the snow as I feared I would not get going on the iced over road again. Yesterday was a beautiful day to get out and about and most of the snow is now all melted. Our little vernal pond is showing signs of new life in the form of frog eggs. We are always delighted to spot these masses in our ponds each spring. It seems like it would be way too cold for frog eggs, but the frogs don't seem to mind the cold. Now that the snow is melted and the ice is gone it seems that it is business as usual.


The above frog eggs are located in this tiny vernal pond created by miners back in the 1800s when they hand dug this pit looking for iron ore. I had the great idea to build a little bridge across this pond so we could enjoy being over the water and not just beside it. It was Mr. Fix-it who spotted the frog eggs while standing on this bridge.

The pond is fairly clear but it can be hard seeing to the center of this pond from the sides so a vantage point of being overhead works well for us. This little pond is surrounded by several mature hardwood trees. As such those trees drop a lot of leaves and debris into the pond. During the summer when this pond will most likely dry up, I like to go into the pond area and scrape up the organic material for use in the gardens as a great garden amendment.

I transplanted several scilla to the edge of the above vernal pond last spring. I was delighted to see them breaking ground this year. Moving a large garden is quite hard and while I have a process, I am not so sure the plants are agreeing with my process. Many plants resent being disturbed let alone being dug up, thrown into the back of a truck, and transported fifteen miles to another location with completely different soil and growing conditions. The garden move has been a lesson in patience and humility. I am no where near to being in the spot I thought I would be by this time. It has been a little more than one year since we bought the farm and while we have come a long way in that year I am humbled to remember it takes a lifetime to build a garden. In my case not only am I building a garden but I am dismantling a garden and this is not a fun thing for me to do. At any rate I revel in the small treasures I have placed on the land that decide to grow and gift me with blooms and greenery.

On the other side of the scillas next to the little pond there used to reside a lovely little shelter covered by a gazebo metal frame and canvas top. It was Mr. Fix-it that discovered that the gazebo top was no more due to all of the heavy ice and snow we received last weekend. I was really upset this roof caved in. I had expected to replace the canvas with a hard metal roof at some point simply because canvas is not a durable material when situated outside all year long, but I did not expect it to be so soon. This canvas top had withstood windstorms that blew down trees and ripped off roofs, it never sailed away or collapsed in any way. I always thought it would be blown away so I was quite shocked to find out it caved in. There really was nothing I could do about the situation and although I should've taken off the canvas cover at the start of the winter, I really thought I was home free by March! Next weekend it looks as though I will be working on a new roof for this shelter. It will be a more permanent roof of metal but I am not sure how I will design it. I've never put on anything but a shed roof so building  this roof will be a lesson for me. The frame of 4" x 4"s is still intact so that is a good thing. We simply must have a shelter to keep us out of the sun and sometimes out of the rain, and to be able to relax while we are working on the land. We will soon begin building our home so it is also important this location is comfortable and workable for us to take breaks under from time to time. I can't wait to get started on it and get it done! 

I know I have not been posting all that much lately as things have gotten so busy for me sometimes that my mind is in other places than on this blog. I do enjoy talking with all of my blogging friends and sharing things going on in the garden but I am just not dedicating as much time to blogging as I used to do. That does not mean I will stop blogging. As I've always said the main reason I blog is to document things going on in my garden and life in pictures and words so that I can easily look back on the articles. It is a kind of a scrapbook for me. I am especially grateful that I have documented my current garden on this blog so well as I am trying to design and create a new garden I do not want to forget my old garden. My old garden is where my heart has been for many, many years. All of the thousands of bulbs, and hundreds of perennials, shrubs, and trees are all a little bit part of me. It is almost like giving birth when you plant a garden. You are responsible for that plant and can watch it grow to maturity. Many of the plants and trees I have planted will long outlive me. This part of gardening is fascinating to me and the fact that gardens are alive and ever changing is probably the number one reason I garden. As long as I garden I will endeavor to blog as well....

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Spring is on the way!

BY SKEETER

 I am so happy to see signs of Spring here in my GEORGIA GARDENS!

 Hyacinth are peeking out their heads.

 Tulips are popping through the Phlox. 

 Forsythia are blooming.

 Daffodils are starting to bloom which really cheer me up after a nasty winter.

My little sunny delights! 

The Robins are starting to gather into small flocks. Yep, these are sure signs that SPRING IS ON THE WAY, In the Garden...

 

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

It's February and There Are Still a Few Things Going on In the Garden

Hi you all! Where is the time going to? It's hard to believe it will soon be March in the garden. Daffodils are finally coming up and many of the hellebores in my gardens are about to bloom. Woohoo! Can spring be far behind? 

Mr. Fix-it have been working hard on our land as we are able to in between cold and rainy spells. Right now the driveway is a soggy mess so everything we do has to be hauled 700 feet by hand. It is not fun because the ground is very soggy and slippery due to its high (very high) clay content. The new land just does not drain well so I am having to learn to work with a new kind of garden. It is a learning curve indeed. Some of the things we were able to complete recently are installing our new garden name sign. Both Mr. Fix-it and I are very excited about this! Our old garden name was Tiger Gardens. We added the 'way' because we are doing things 'our way' in the new gardens--hence Tiger Way Gardens! This sign was ever so easy to make. I purchased metal letters from Hobby Lobby and painted them bronze, then glued them with E6000 glue (using clamps) to a piece of wood I found at the landfill (free). Add some cable and a few hooks screwed into the shagbark hickories and there you have an easy garden name sign.

On my way to the land deer are quite common but upon cresting a hill I was a bit surprised to see four deer perusing the neighborhood. They quietly exited the scene upon my arrival.

Not too far from the new garden sign we have a lot of trash along the driveway in the form of broken glass and what nots. I was busy picking up the broken glass pieces that were exposed due to all the rain when I ran into this huge spider. It was a bit of a shock when it moved needless to say. I believe it to be a trapdoor spider; which are common spiders around here. We have lots of them in this area of the driveway (or so it seems because I am always picking at the ground here). Trapdoor spiders can eat small lizards and other hapless critters that venture too close. It did not bother me tho. I placed the quarter nearby to kind of show you its size-at least two times the length of the quarter. A rather intimidating spider that we left alone.

I submitted three checklists to the Great Backyard Bird count this weekend. As is normal I often get an email asking for verification of a certain bird I may have identified (or misidentified--purple and house finches are hard for me to identify). In this case it was the white throated sparrrow versus the white crowned sparrow. We have both types here at Tiger Gardens but I was only able to capture the white throated sparrow. Can you see his white throat? The white crowned sparrow does not have this marking. Both of these sparrows are forest birds and are quite common here due to my hedgerows and the adjacent woods. They love sunflower seeds.

Lastly I finish with yet another project on the land. The ground has been frozen everywhere so moving the garden has come to a standstill for awhile. Instead I've been trying to get some hardscaping in place. This little cabinet was created to house our electric fence charger and the marine battery that will provide the electricity. Right now we do not have the electric fence turned on simply because the seven strands of wire seem to be working to keep out the deer, and aside from that, the orchard and berry plants are all dormant. We may add the charger for the fence this spring but for now it is not turned on. This cabinet was a purchase from a Habitat Restore ($20). Mr. Fix-it and I installed the pressure treated 4 x 4s (they came from Tiger Gardens) and set them in concrete. I had built a frame for the cabinet to rest on so we had a good template for where to place the 4 x 4s. Putting the plywood roof on top and shingling it was quite another story. I had no template for it and had to beg my neighbor to help me out with his chainsaw to make sure I could get the roof on. I then spent some time shingling the plywood roof and now the little cabinet is waterproof and sturdy enough to provide a good home for a charger and battery to be out of the elements and secured. Can you see the orchard fence right behind the cabinet? We have high hopes for this orchard and the electric fence is a big part of protecting it and the critters we plan to put inside of the fence for safekeeping--more on them later....

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Baby Birds

BY SKEETER

Oh, YES... Spring is going strong here in my Georgia Gardens!

The last batch of "late planted" Daffodils and other bulbs are blooming. I think I may be on to something here.

I did not get all my bulbs planted at the same time nor did I get them into the ground in Fall.

I planted this years bulbs in January and February. They were stored in the shed for the winter and I reckon the cold was enough for them to do their job. I have been getting staggered blooms since early February with those bulbs being last years bulbs. So instead of all the spring bulbs blooming at once, I have enjoyed them throughout the gardens for 3 months!

I do not know what type tulips these are but they have been the only repeat tulips in my gardens after planting many bulbs 3 years ago.

Creeping Phlox is looking awesome! I pulled many sprigs and planted them all over the gardens for more spring blooms. And it is paying off with a beautiful show.

Columbine is now blooming as well. As you can see in the background, some volunteer Jew plant is starting to climb up the side of the house! I had Wandering Jew Plants hanging on the front porch one year and some sprigs fell below onto the ground and it has really enjoyed the freedom of creeping along. It never did completely die out over our mild winter. 

Back to the Columbine to see a bud opening up for us. Can you see the pollen all over this bud? Not pollen from the Columbine but rather from the Georgia Pine trees. It has not been too bad this spring as it has been in the past. The rain is keeping it washed away. But today, it has really popped out on us again and we are hoping for an overnight rain to keep it at bay.

As the bud opens, it has a creamy yellow/green color to it.

As it opens more, it looses the yellow/green and turns to pink/white. It always amazes me to see blooms change colors as it ages.

The Fully Open Bloom of the Columbine.

Remember an earlier posting about a Wren building a nest behind a birdhouse on my front porch post? That determined bird was able to build the next large enough to lay eggs and they have hatched! Wow, April and we already have BABY BIRDS, In the Garden...

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Mild Winter

BY SKEETER

These Doves are enjoying a sip of water from one of many bird baths we have here in my Georgia Gardens. Our flock of Dove never seem to grow beyond about a dozen or so. The resident Hawk, sees to that. Click HERE to see the hawk. I spotted the Hawk with a squirrel in its talons as it flew off into the woods this past weekend. Poor Squirrel but one less to dig in my gardens. Such is the cycle of life.

Well, hello there Miss Sunshine!

Even though I feel the Narcissus and Daffodil's are opening up early, looking back to last years files, I see they are blooming about the same time. Although, last year we had an early spring as it seems we may repeat this year as well.

Crocus are new to my gardens this year.

They are popping up along with weeds. Weeds=Not Good...

I planted 265 bulbs of Narcissus, Daffy's, Crocus and Muscari using my trusty Auger/Drill.

The Lilies are popping up and I hope they are not bit by Mr. Jack Frost in the coming weeks.

This Lily is way beyond where she should be. I have yet to clean this planter so the old remains.

 The Camellia's have never bloomed so long for me!

They started blooming in late Oct and continue to give me blooms today. I really do enjoy these beauties as they are at the front door and we see them every time we go outside.

Yep, we are having another MILD WINTER, In the Garden...

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden