Our Memorial Day...

We had a nice relaxing Memorial Day.

After driving our oldest daughter, who came home for the weekend, back to Boston I spent some time in our little back yard. We've done a little tweaking out here, but not much.

The irises are in full bloom now, putting on a spectacular show.

Lots of weeding needs to be done! (Those are flowers -yet to bloom- in front of my flamingos, but to the center and left in front of the picket fence it's all weeds!).

One of our little hummers paid a visit while I was sitting up on the deck. He couldn't seem to decide whether to sip from the feeder or visit the flowers (yet to be planted). He opted for the sugar water in the feeder.

But the best part about our Memorial Day...

... was that we were able to go to the Emergency Animal Clinic Monday night at 9:30 to pick up THIS happy little guy...

... who after four days of not eating, finally has his ravenous appetite back!

Our boy is 13 and he's got his share of health issues, so it's often a guessing game as to what is going on. Long story short, after visits to the vet on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and then a 24 hour stay at the Emergency Animal Clinic Sunday/Monday, we have our boy back home!

Thank you all soooo much for your thoughts and prayers for Mr. J! We sure appreciated them!

This week I'm joining Brenda at Cozy Little House for Tweak It Tuesday and

Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday.

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Donna

The Butterfly Bush and Lucifer Crocosmia...

... are both in bloom right now.

I love the combination of purple and red.

Our butterfly bushes don't get nearly as thick and full as others I've seen (probably due to our "on the shady side" back yard); but nevertheless, what we do get is oh-so-beautiful!

(colored pencil filter)

There's also a white butterfly bush that sits behind the birdhouse. It's in an even shadier spot which is probably why it normally takes longer to start blooming.

The blooms on the butterfly bush are a beautiful purple with orange-red centers.

Hopefully I'll have the camera ready when the butterflies visit. This photo was taken last week before the lucifer crocosmia (to the left of the butterfly bush) came into bloom.

But they are in full bloom now, much to the hummingbirds' delight! I'm definitely going to try to get some photos/movies of my little friends at the crocosmia before their short bloom time comes to an end!

I hope you're all enjoying this fast-moving summer. I can't believe it's already the middle of July!

Have a great week, everyone!

Donna

A Fuchsia Sunset...

The last few hours before the sun sets are my absolute favorite.

This is the view when I'm sitting on the patio down in the backyard...

I usually sit on the settee in the center because it's easy to see both of my hummingbird feeders from there, and the hours before sunset are the most active for these little jeweled birds!

I can see the feeder that hangs from the mulberry tree...

(being visited by the female hummer here)...

.. and the one that hangs from the swingset deck sitting area next to the honeysuckle vine

(being visited by the male hummer here).

The patio becomes an almost magical place to sit and unwind as the sun starts to set...

The fuchsia plants that hang from the tent over the patio are brilliant as the sun streams through the blossoms.

I'm always amazed that the hummingbirds pay little attention to the fuchsias. They occasionally visit them, but definitely seem to prefer the feeders and the honeysuckle vine.

I tried planting cardinal climber from seed last year, but they hadn't even flowered by the time the hummingbirds left in September...

... so this year I bought well-established plants to climb the small twig obelisk we made last year. I certainly hope these flower long before the hummers leave in September!

My beautiful irises put on a spectacular show this year.

These photos were taken at the very end of May, when they were at their peak.

Their bloom time has now come to an end. I desperately need to plant more perennials that bloom later in the season. Other than some annuals and my honeysuckle vine that give summer-long color, it seems that most of the perennials I've planted are early bloomers. But all in good time...

After all, it was only 5 to 6 years ago that the backyard looked like this. We were left with a large crater after taking down our old above ground pool.

So rather than focus on how much still needs to be done, I think I'd rather reflect on how much we've accomplished over the past several years, transforming the "Roswell crater" into a little garden oasis that attracts a wide variety of birds and little critters (my beloved "Sammy" Squirrels and "Chip"munks!). The fact that they all make their homes in our garden and/or visit us on a regular basis makes me oh-so-happy!

Wishing you all a beautiful week...

I'm joining Claudia, Mockingbird Hill Cottage for A Favorite Thing Saturday,

Brenda, Cozy Little House for Tweak It Tuesday.

Tracie, Fishtail Cottage for Cottage Garden Party
and Cindy, My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday.

Donna

Hummingbirds and honeysuckle vines....

Honeysuckle is my way of thanking the hummingbirds who visit our little backyard.

 They provide so much entertainment for us that back in May, I bought three more Major Wheeler honeysuckle vines for them.

We planted one at the base of the arbor by our backyard gate.

With any luck it will climb over the arbor and I'll be able to watch the hummingbirds who visit it from the deck or the dining room window.

We planted the other two on the front posts of our swingset deck sitting area.

One of the vines was planted on a post right next to the honeysuckle vine that is already growing on our homemade obelisk.

We're hoping that in a few years' time, the honeysuckle vines will grow up the front posts and then start traveling across the old monkey bars!

 While the hummingbirds do visit the hanging fuchsias on the patio, they definitely seem to prefer the honeysuckle.

Of course they also love their feeders, so I always make sure we have fresh sugar water for them. This single feeder hangs from the swingset.

A larger feeder hangs from our mulberry tree. The arrow is pointing to the female hummer resting on one of the branches...

... right before she visited the feeder (how I'd love to have a telescopic camera lens!)

The third feeder hangs from our deck...

... and, as you can see, Mrs. Hummingbird was enjoying her sugar water when I took this photo last week.

 

Photos of our honeysuckle vine on April 28th (left), May 2nd (right)...

... and then a photo taken this evening.

Our oppressive (hot AND muggy) weather has broken and it's been glorious - mid 70's and dry, so I really enjoyed my time in the back yard after supper tonight. And while sitting on the swingset deck I was able to catch videos of both the male and female hummers at the honeysuckle vine (within minutes of each other)...

The male stopped by first...

...  and then the female paid a visit.

One more that I shot of the male.
(You can really see his ruby red throat at the 32 second mark!)

I know I've shared this in the past, but here's a quick way to make sugar water for your hummingbird feeders. It cools down in a fraction of the time that it takes the normal recipe to cool off!

Quick Hummer Solution: Put 1 cup water in saucepan. Put 1 cup sugar in saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring regularly with a wooden spoon to dissolve sugar. As soon as it starts to boil turn off the burner. Add 3 cups very cold water to the sugar solution and stir. And that's it!  Now it will still need to cool down before you fill your feeders (I always check it with my finger to make sure it has cooled enough), but it's just ready so much quicker than boiling the entire 4 parts of water and then having to wait for all 4 parts of water to cool!

I'm linking to Show & Tell Friday at My Romantic Home this week.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Donna

Winterizing, honeysuckle, window boxes & Baby Cat

This is our typical winterizing process...

  

...which became a top priority last weekend with the threat of Hurricane Sandy.

Each year the furniture, planters, garden statues, etc. get arranged like an interlocking puzzle in the center of the patio.

 

Everything is then covered with a heavy duty tarp and weighted down by rocks from around the perimeter of the patio. The tarp is also staked into the ground in the front.

 

Do you have any idea how much I wish this was still the view? Winters and I don't care too much for each other.

 

And it's going to be a looooooong time before the backyard looks like this again. This is the birdhouse that was taken down off its pole last weekend, the one you saw in my last post where Baby cat made herself at home inside of it.

 

I forgot to share these short little videos that I took that day....

 

... so here they are!

 

Did you see the honeysuckle vine in the first birdhouse photo above, growing on the obelisk right next to the swingset deck?

 

It is actually still budding and blooming in a few random spots! I've decided that next spring I'm going to plant one at each of the front legs of the swingset so it grows up and then across the monkey bars. I'm already envisioning sitting there on summer evenings watching the hummingbirds flock to it! Our hummers have been gone for over a month now. How I miss them...

 

The honeysuckle also has these little berries which must be what is attracting the birds lately. Another plus!

 

And speaking of the hummingbirds, the nasturtium that I grew from seed started to bloom profusely at the end of September (sadly, it was after the hummers had headed south). Amazingly, it's still blooming.

 

Next year I'm buying plants rather than starting them from seed. Our growing season just isn't long enough. I'd love for them to be in bloom while the hummers are still here to enjoy them.

 

Elsewhere in the yard there are leaves, leaves, and more leaves.

(Photo with watercolor filter)

 

Almost all of the leaves have fallen now...

(photo with dry brush filter)

 

I don't think this fall was quite as spectacular as some we've had in years past...

 

... perhaps in part because we lost so many of our foliage trees in last year's freak October snowstorm.

 

The Bacopa is still blooming in the shed's window boxes, albeit under a canopy of fallen oak leaves.

 

Most of the trees in our side yard are pin oaks. Their leaves go from green to brown, and many hang on the trees until spring, when new leaf growth then forces them to fall to the ground.

 

So there is always an abundance of raking to be done in the fall and the spring around our little yard.

Look at the size difference between our brown oak leaves and one of our yellow tulip tree leaves!

Yes, lots and lots of raking...

 

Don't forget to turn your clocks back this weekend!

 

This week I'm hooking up to Brenda's "Tweak It Tuesday" at Cozy Little House!

Stop by and share something you've been tweaking!

 

Donna

 

 

 

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