Chickadees and tree sap

A few weeks ago I noticed the chickadees were eating out of the hummingbird feeder.

I thought that odd, so I looked it up. I found it is not uncommon for chickadees to do that. It is similar to their eating pine sap. Sure enough, when I watched, I saw them eating pine sap.

We really enjoy the chickadees and are hoping they stick around through the four seasons now that we have the seed feeders available for them.

The hummingbirds have moved through, but we have left the feeders up for a few more days. This weekend we’ll take them down, clean them, and put them in storage until next spring. Until then, enjoy, chickadees!

Not without a bloom

When I started our gardens here, I wanted to create a place where one set of blooming plants rolled into the next. Crocus to daffodils to hyacinth to tulips to asian lilies to irises to … It was a great idea but my husband was not crazy about the look, especially as things died off and we were left with a few … sunflowers! It was also busy, and it looked like a giant mess as the siberian irises gradually took over a large part of the garden. So I dug them out and gave them to my mother-in-law who had space, along with, regrettably, some daylilies that I had put in front and didn’t look so good there. Then I started to build the gardens we have today.

Along the way I also discovered that no matter how many crocus, daffodils, and hyacinth I planted here, they would only come back one, maybe two years. Believe me, I planted hundreds, en masse, and they just don’t thrive here. Some don’t even come in one time! So, I decided tulips are enough. Some stay (I have one patch of purple tulips that has come back 14 years)

and some come back every year as greens (not too exciting). Once again this fall I bought a bag of tulips, and have already picked out the spot for them.

After the tulips come the clematis (from the original garden). Then come the asian lilies (some original, some newer) and then the hostas, the weigelia (original) and the ninebarks (newer). Then come the daylilies for months, followed by the sedum, with the hostas blooming throughout. Continuously blooming are the shamrocks and the hibiscus.

They bloom even when they are brought in mid-October, and go well into December.

In January I head off to the garden store and get a watch ’em grow garden, which blooms into March, and somewhere in Feb the amaryllis blooms. In late Feb the hibiscus starts up again along with a little bit on the shamrocks. And then in April, as the hibiscus and shamrocks are lightly blooming, we are moving outside again.

This progression has run through my mind lately. Yes, I am sad the daylilies are done and the hostas are wrapping up, but truly we are never long without blooms in our “garden”.

Sunrise, Sunset

Last Friday I couldn’t sleep past 5am so I got up and had a leisurely start to the day. About six I thought about taking a short snooze but then looked out the patio blinds and … It was the start of an absolutely glorious dawn.

Just on the edge, the crickets were still chirping and the first bird flew past. Then I heard rustling, and a chirp. Then the cardinal tested out his morning singing. Absolutely wonderful. I had to grab a sweatshirt, a cup of hot cider, and my phone.

The first squirrel came by.

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Mama cardinal came for some breakfast. Two hummingbirds flitted around and around for over half an hour, sipping at the feeder a bit, and stopping by the ‘Rainforest Sunrise’ blooms. An hour and a half later I reluctantly reminded myself that no, an impromptu vacation day was not an option this time. But it was a fabulous start of the day.

The sunset that night was cloudless. A beautiful, gorgeous fall day. No clouds meant a clear sunset.

The next morning the sunrise had just the faintest line of clouds.

Another gorgeous day. The squirrels and birds arrived. The hummingbirds chirped. Our guest in the garden arrived and we enjoyed his company.

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And so it goes. Tulips to lilies to hostas to sedum to an abundance of leaves on the ground to snow drifts. Ground with frost to days with air conditioning and back to days with sweatshirts on. I have worn out another pair of my oldest sandals, dubbed this year’s “garden sandals” and am considering which pair will have the job next year.

There are big moments and tiny moments, moments that sneak up on you, moments you plan for, moments you anxiously await. I had a crazy busy week at work, overbooked myself socially, and fell into bed last night early. My husband had a routine week. After months of planning and outfitting and practicing, our oldest son and his girlfriend will start their first season of bow hunting today. We are waiting patiently to hear our youngest son has completed his Pacific Crest Trail through hike. The sun comes up, the day proceeds, the sun goes down.

Today, in this moment, the sun is rising in a completely different place than last week. It is shining through different pine trees. While I sit here, at the same moment, a few geese went honking by and the humingbirds approached the feeder. The hummingbirds are still, in this moment, dancing and chirping. The first squirrel of the day has arrived. The robins are gone (that we can tell). The geese have been flocking up, and it will be quite a few months until the dark-eyed junkos arrive. We probably won’t be sitting out on the patio for very long periods of time then.

Sunrise, Sunset

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Sedum and more seeds

The official start of fall is almost here and the sedum are starting to really shine. The front of the house is starting to look ‘fallish’.

The ‘Purple D’Oro’ seed pods are opening and showing an abundance of seeds.

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I counted 28 seed pods on the ‘Purple D’Oro’ daylilies alone. Very exciting!

This spring I planted one spot in front with some of last year’s ‘Purple D’Oro’ seeds and got greens. I’m considering tucking more in the front among the sedum next spring and seeing how sedum and daylilies co-habitate in our garden. (Sedum I previously had among asian lilies and tulips were not so nice – lol – but I’m hoping the daylilies might be able to hold their own.)

Should be fun to see what we get in the next few years.

Lyndale Park Rose Garden

Tonight a friend and I went to the Lyndale Park Rose Garden in Minneapolis by Lake Harriet. We picked up dinner from a french bakery and ate by the lake after our garden walk. We did this last year too. Absolutely delightful!

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You keep some, you lose some

It was very rainy here yesterday, and I wasn’t able to get out to look at the daylily seed pods. Today after work I checked on them, and bummer, one opened. One shiny little seed remained.

Oh well, to nature the others returned early. Or maybe into some bird or squirrel or bunny’s belly? (Not sure, do they eat daylily seeds?)

“Mornin’ Neighbor!”

A week ago, fairly early in the morning, I was sitting outside in the garden, and a street over I heard, “Mornin Neighbor!” Although I don’t know who they were greeting, I’m guessing I know who the greeter was. It was a pleasant “over-hearing” and it made me think – Over the years here we have enjoyed many days of sitting on the patio and having neighbors come over – to see the garden, or just to chat, just as we have enjoyed walking our dogs and stopping by to talk.

We are also coming up on the time of year where we literally “give” some of our garden to neighbors. It’s so cool to have neighbors tell us in the spring to come and see how well something we gave them is doing! It’s different from the neighborhood we raised our kids in, but just as fun, and just as social.

It was a perfect morning that day I heard the “Mornin’ Neighbor!” greeting and a nice reminder that almost 16 years later we’ve made a lot of memories here, and friends and neighbors.

September showers bring … falling leaves

What a delightful weekend it was. Our guest in the garden was here. He got a new collar (fancy padding on the inside even 😍).

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We spent a lot of time just relaxing, watching the young chickadees and cardinals. The monarchs are coming through, and the hummingbirds too. There were also quite a few dragonflies.

The bees are all over the ‘Chocolate Drop’ sedum (out front) now,

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and the daylily (and hosta) seed pods are starting to dry. A few early daylily seeds were added to envelopes again this weekend.

Yesterday cleared up just in time to give a beautiful sunset.

We expected it would be rainy and today did not disappoint the predictions. The linden was shedding early leaf turns all weekend, and the rain is assisting.

It’s transitioning into fall.

Lazy weekend

We’re planning a lazy Labor Day weekend. Sometimes those are THE BEST! Our Gueat in the Garden (Sandy the dog) is here, I went to the store and got a whole bunch of questionably healthy food items, got him some treats, got my garden clippers handy for the Saturday morning trimming, queued up a book for the thunderstorm times that are forecasted Sunday and Monday, and we are just going to chill.

If we don’t post until Tuesday, have a wonderful weekend!

Onward

My cloud photo reminders (This day in 2017, 2016 …) are kind of tough to look at right now. I had three huge ‘Touch of Class’ hostas that bloomed about this time of year, cheering up the garden after the daylilies finished blooming, and drawing the hummingbirds and bees.

Something got them over the winter/early spring. Only one came back, and that one is about 1/4 of the size of previous years. I am sad. But I used that space for more daylilies this year, some of which were seeds planted directly in the ground. I also used some of that space to add the two new ‘Hush Little Baby’ daylilies I enjoyed so much. And I took the opportunity to buy another ‘Rainforest Sunrise’ hosta to put in that space. I am fairly in love with those, similar to my affinity for ‘Blue Mouse Ears’! Multiples, multiples.

So onward and upward – gardens evolve. Which leads me back to the ‘Rainforest Sunrise’. Could there be a more beautiful leaf? And combined with the purple scapes and lavender blooms, no wonder they draw the attention in the garden this time of year.

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I think I “need” an arch of them, similar to the arch of ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ that bloom so profusely in early summer.