jhugart's blog: Things Observed

Looking In to the Yard

I am still recuperating, though I did login and do actual work today, for the first time in a couple of weeks. But I want to talk about some of the wildlife in the garden.

First, the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird is back. While I'd left my kids an e-mail during my absence, including how to care for the bird feeders, they just brought the hummingbird feeders inside rather than try to clean and refill them. I didn't have the wherewithal to do it, either, last week. But I did on Sunday, and today I saw a hummingbird at one, then fly off. It is so reassuring to see the hummingbird again.

Second, we have a baby rabbit, or a very young one, at least. I'd put together a brush pile -- this is one of the wildlife-attracting items, like water -- and I saw it hop under that a couple of times. It is smaller than a full-grown squirrel, and was chewing up the weeds in the flowerbeds, so it is welcome to continue doing so.

Third, the goldfinches are hungry. They have been hopping through the sunflowers, climbing up the stems until they can reach the flower heads, and going for any seeds they can.

Fourth, there's a Chipping Sparrow that has a fledgling Brown-Headed Cowbird begging for food. Cowbirds lay their eggs in other birds' nests. So the Chipping Sparrow has been raising an intruder. It was certainly going through a lot of work to feed it.

Fifth, we've had deer visit the last two nights. My older daughter, who sleeps through the day now, says she saw two adults and a fawn Sunday night, and last night she saw one adult and two fawns. And they will linger for quite some time. It appears that they were eating some of my dogwood (Cornus sericea) as well. It does grow back, but I think I'll need to plant more to keep up with the hoofed mammals.

Looking Out of the Yard

Last night was clear, so around 10:30 PM we got outside and went comet hunting. We found it! In the middle of Saint Paul, Minnesota, with streetlights and light pollution, we were able to find the comet and clearly see the tail with binoculars. That was pretty cool. And we did it standing in our front yard, the western edge of the north side.

Looking to the south, over the house we could see Saturn and Jupiter just over the roof of our house. My cell phone was capable of getting a picture of them.



I'm sure it would all have been more spectacular if we drove out of the cities, but that would likely have taken a couple of hours. This was sufficient unto the day.

Freely-Given Help

Best of all, my wife decided to go outside and weed the East planting bed, the one that got overrun by weeds. She did a fabulous job, and it looks so much better. When I felt able to get there I intended to work on it more, but I was getting light-headed carrying hummingbird feeders. She also weeded around the dogwood, making it stand out much better. So it was a great gift.

If you ever need to give a gardener a gift, give them a hand-made coupon for so many hours of free weeding. It should be a hit.

What's Next?

The grasses need some clean-up weeding, and there's the last of the weeding to do around the perennials I planted last year. There is clean-up wedding around the herbs. When I have that done I'll feel I've earned the right to start clearing the hummingbird section.

My Prairie Smoke, Geum triflorum, is still alive but doesn't seem to be thriving, and I'm not sure why. It could simply be that we planted it after its fruiting season, and it will do better next year.

My serviceberry, Amelanchier x grandiflora 'Autumn Brilliance,' sent up several suckers this spring. I've noticed some white dusting, maybe a mold or fungus, on some leaves. It needs pruning anyway, and from what I've read, it can be pruned anytime if needed, unlike oaks. The dusting sounds like could be taken care of with a soapy water spray.

I need to do something with my cilantro plants. They have all gone to seed, but haven't dropped it yet, and I'd like to keep them in their zone. Also, I need to do a better job of harvesting some seed to plant at staggered intervals, so I always have some fresh cilantro in the warm months.

Along those lines, I have some Thai Basil I should try to plant. Seed was given to me as a gift, but I didn't have a cleared area for it originally.

Again, no lack of things to do!

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