Sunday, July 5, 2009

Updates

By Skeeter

I enjoy all the comments from you with each topic I talk about from my Georgia Garden. At times you ask for me to keep you posted on progress with certain topics. I am also curious of how things work out on certain topics in your posts as well. Although I have not been a good reader of Blogs lately because with so much going on in my life these days, I just don't have the time. I promise I will get caught up on blogging some day soon. The heat of summer is setting in and after this current trip to VA, I don't plan on going anywhere for at least a month. Maybe I can get caught up then! So now I would like to update you on some of my past blogs.

Of course the most recent talked about topic was the bluebirds making nests in the gourd we grew! (Click Here to see that topic if you missed it.) That was an awesome experience for me and how surprised I was to peek into the hole before taking the gourd down for cleaning to find the babies still inside the gourd! The Saint and I had thought they had fledged a few days ago as he said he saw a chickadee on the gourd. Well, not so as the babies are still inside on this day of typing which is Wednesday July 1. By the time this goes to posting, I am sure they will be out of the gourd and starting the next chapter in their life.
Last year, I talked about a Rescue we tried on a dogwood tree. The deer decided to make a meal of the tree and we could not let the tree die such a death. So we built a fence around the remaining dogwood. Click Here to see that topic if you missed it.
Update: The little dogwood tree did not make a come back in this spot. Too much sandy soil and not enough rain from the skies above. The fence kept the deer from eating it but the tree was not happy in this spot. So the Saint took it out and put it into a pot for us to baby it for a while. Just look at that sad little tree. Here is the dogwood tree now! Making a slow comeback on the west side of the house under our watchful eye and lots of watering. We will find a spot for it this fall and hopefully the rains will start to fall again by then.
The Saint had something in mind for this spot but once digging a bit, he found rotting roots from a tree we took out a few years ago. This may be the culprit of the dogwood and not just the sand as the roots breaking down were leaving pockets of air for no water to penetrate. So after a bit of digging, he decided to fill the hole back up with dirt and let it go back to grass in time. Look beyond this spot and see what he did plant for me...
A few feet back from that dogwood spot of sandy soil, he found clay dirt! That is how it goes in this yard. One area is sandy and the next area can be clay.But we don't let clay get the best of us. We added bags of dirt to the hole to make a nice new home for my surprise. And the surprise is a Redbud tree! We do not see many Redbuds in our area but enjoyed seeing them with our spring travels in Tennessee and Virginia this year! We enjoyed them so much that the Saint brought one home to me on my birthday! I was not expecting this so it was a wonderful surprise for me. Thank you my wonderful Saint!
Here is the Redbud a few months later with some leaves on her!
I don't know much about Redbuds but I am finding the shape of the leaves really neat!
A nice little heart shape saying "get to know me and love me" which I will do as time continues forward...
I talked about how the Saint and I were Foster Parents to a turtle for a bit. Miss Tuttle has a wonderful new home and we still have the hibiscus plant we bought for her. Click Here to read about that topic if you missed it.

Update: The plant never made it into the ground this spring as planned. It continues to bloom on the front porch but I refuse to bring the plant back inside this winter. A closed door to cats does not make for a happy household. Does anyone want this plant? Come on down to GA and you can have it because I am going to leave it to nature this winter.
Remember me talking about the squirrels destroying the Saints Crabapple tree this spring? Click Here to read about that topic if you missed it.

Update: The stovepipe on the tree trunk seems to be working. The tree is growing and the bark is healing. Some of you were concerned about heat building up in the pipe therefore doing more harm. But so far, no damage from the pipe and keeping the squirrels at bay as well.
We even have a few crabapples on the tree!
I showed you the suet pole once we completed this project by topping the pole with a "See Rock City" Barn birdhouse. Click Here to see that topic if you missed it.
Update: Even though we put the birdhouse on the pole as decoration, a bluebird built a nest in one of the holes! We had to stop putting suet cakes on the poles as he was fighting with all the birds that came to have a bite of suet. Here he is perched on top of the house keeping guard. The bluebird did not lay eggs in the house and we now have the suet back in place on the pole and all is happy. We plan to take the house off the pole and put screen on the holes to keep birds out of the house. We have birdhouses scattered all over the place and they do not need this one with those available. We like our wildlife to live in harmony and not fight with each other.
I recently showed you how we trimmed the butterfly bushes in the island. Click Here to see that topic if you missed it.

Update: The butterfly bush that we dug out and replanted after filling the hole with soil is now blooming. So it survived being taken out of the ground this spring! I was worried about this bush but no need to worry any more. It is not as tall as the other bushes but blooming and calling in the butterflies. Yippee, I did not loose one of my beloved butterfly bushes!
I asked advice from you all on the Saints Bald Cypress tree. Remember that blog about the twisted branch? Click Here to see that topic if you missed it.
Update: In the first picture of the cypress, I circled the twisted branch. As you can see the Saint decided to let nature take its course so he did not prune the branch. I hope he does not regret this in the future. The tree is doing well and really did enjoy the spring rains. Gee, wish we had some more rain as we are not getting it these days. Sigh, I know that feeling well... No drought this year, no drought this year.... Fingers crossed on this one...

Remember last year how I talked about one of my favorite Crepe Myrtle tree's getting damaged in the bad storm? Click Here to see that topic if you missed it.

Update: We pruned the poor damaged tree down to not much of a tree. We watched a local garden program on PBS that talked of Crepe Myrtles. The suggestion was to prune all but the main trunk's from the ground. So we did. It looked pretty bad don't you think? I was saddened for the once huge tree.
Here she is now almost a year later and looking mighty good! I am waiting for that gully washing rainfall as it never fails to get us once Miss Myrtle is in full bloom! (Do not enlarge this picture or you will see the suckers I have yet to snip. lol)
I showed you my solution for keeping the birds from building nest in the hanging plants this spring. I put the artificial nest and plastic egg in the nest of each hanging plant. Click Here to read that topic if you missed it.
Update: This solution has worked 100% for me! Not one bird has tried to build a nest once I placed the faux nest and egg in the plants! I should market this idea as many people complain about the birds in their hanging plants!
Ah, how could anyone forget the topic of the Saint and I scooping up some Natural Fertilizer? Silver (the white horse) and Georgia (the brown horse) were the providers of the wonderful fertilizer. I had reported that Silver had Crossed over the Rainbow Bridge to be with so many of our pets that once roamed this earth. It was a sad day for Georgia horsey as she really missed her sister horse Silver, as did we...
Update: Georgia's human mommy did not like seeing Georgia depressed about losing Silver. So now Georgia has a new brother. Meet Harley a beautiful horse which will be a new asset to fertilize our gardens this fall! He has such a wonderful personality. He gives kisses too!

I hope I could remember all the UPDATES, In the Garden...

Who will come to get that hibiscus? It awaits your arrival...

Note: I will pop in here when I get a chance. We are visiting Family this weekend!

16 comments:

  1. Looks great Skeeter. That first picture is so cool of the baby bluebird. You all must have tons down there with them nesting everywhere. I had to seal off a birdhouse too. Too many sparrows in that one. Screen works quite well. Kudos to the Saint! I little piece a TN redbud is just what you need to feel at home in GA. Thanks for the updates and you all have a great day! We got 2.5+ last night!!! YIPPEE! Unusual for the summers here. Skeeter, I bet GA saw some of that rain too. It'll help all those trees and flowers. If I make it to GA that hibiscus is mine:) but honestly, I think it will survive on your porch. ttyl

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  2. Villa bird, what a nice bird house and the horses, typical western horses, I think ??? I love them, nature garden, very good !!! have a good time ! Kathrin

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  3. Hi Skeeter, this was just the most wonderful read. It was fun to get caught up and the fake nest and egg was one that had been missed, what a brilliant solution! If I commented on that and didn't really miss it, do forgive me. HA It was sad to read about Silver but Harley is one beautiful steed. It does seem your updates all had a happy ending. The crepe myrtle is gorgeous all limbed up too. Well done on all projects.
    Frances

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  4. You have so many great solutions. I like the one of the faux nest and egg.
    Donna

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  5. Wow, you've been busy! I'm glad the horse has a buddy now. When I was in college one of my dogs passed away. A few months later the other one followed. We think it was because of depression. That Crape myrtle looks great. If you take the suckers off drop them in a jar of water and they may root in a couple weeks.

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  6. Thanks for the updates on all these projects and past posts. I'm glad that somethings worked out for you like the stovepipe on the tree trunk & the faux nests in the hanging plants. :)

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  7. Skeeter,
    Your Silver and Georgia look so healthy and beautiful. Hibiscus needs to be indoor during winter, that's the reason I didn't plant it, too much hassle. Have a Happy Sunday!

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  8. Well that was an enjoyable read with all having such good changes. Great job.

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  9. Hi Skeeter, It was really nice to read all the updates, I'd love to have your hibiscus, but alas! I live too far away! //*_*\\

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  10. Well aside from the sad news of losing your Silver, it looks like you have all good updates. I love those Redbuds and I'm sure it will fun to watch it grow. Congrats on all the baby birds too. Harley is just beautiful!

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  11. Loved your update Skeeter. I do remember many of the posts you mentioned so that made it more interesting. Miss Myrtle looks gorgeous! Great shot of the bluebird too.

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  12. Boy, that's some update !
    The Redbud tree (we have one) and the birdie really caught my heart.

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  13. You're going to love the redbud. I dearly love dogwoods, but they're a lot pickier than dogwood trees are. Yours is a good size already!

    Love Harley's color. Georgia's too. Silver looked as though she was pretty old in that picture; do you know how old she was? I'm glad Georgia's owners got her another buddy.

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  14. Great post Skeeter. I really enjoyed catching up on all the other subjects. I like to see how things have changed over time.
    Love the horses. Sad about Silver.
    Hi Jean, Tina, Anonymous, Dawn & Nina. I hope all had a wonderful 4th & looking forward to next week in the garden.

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  15. Hello everyone, We are having fun and enjoying the wonderful cool, (yes I said cool in July in the south) weather! High today was 70 and oh my, what a treat it was indeed!

    Sweetbay, Silver was 27 years old when she crossed over the Rainbow Bridge. She was a sweet horse and we do miss her. She belonged to our neighbors as do the other two.


    Tomorrow we meet up with another blogger that lives nearby so it will be fun as usual to visit with another blogger. This blogger will be aA Pet Blogging friend of ours.

    The fireworks over the lake were awesome lastnight. I hope everyone had a wonderful safe weekend!

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  16. Thanks for all these updates, Skeeter! With traveling around, reading so many blogs, I often forget who wrote what, and I really do like to see the end results of a project. You are going to love that redbud tree! It's one of my favorites in the spring. Glad to see so many of your other projects turned out well, too. I certainly would be glad to see a bluebird anywhere at my house!

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