Happenings in the garden by SIGNYM

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Happenings in the garden

POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Sunday, May 19, 2013 20:17
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Sunday, May 19, 2013 8:16 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

So, the scarlet flax... which has seeded itself all over the garden.. has faded, along with the CA bluebells (Gosh, they're pretty!), CA poppies, and clarkia. But not to worry! The coreopsis is blooming like crazy- creating a beautiful golden yellow show, the pink and white cosmos (which has also seeded itself all over the garden) and the wild marigold (also seeded itself everywhere) are going strong, along with the pink alstromeria, and the yarrow is just beginning its show.

When visit my sis', I'm always struck by how many birds are in her neighborhood. Mornings are filled with twittering, chattering, cheeping, cooing, cawing, pecking, and warbling! My neighborhood is silent by comparison. Despite the fact that I live in a large-lot neighborhood, this area seems to be a beautifully-manicured desert, as far as wildlife is concerned. So when I put in plants, I tried to pick the ones that were hardworking- friendly to bees, or butterflies, or birds, or sometimes even all three.

So I've been gratified to see a breeding pair of juncos and warblers coming by to feed off the seeds and bugs they find in the mulch. And we have a pair of lesser goldfinches who stop by to hang onto the cosmos stems (they manage to hang on, evenupside down, without breaking the stems, they're so light) to pick the seeds off the seedheads. And, we have a hummingbird which has staked out the alstromeria. There is an orange butterfly, exactly the color of marigolds, which seems to favor them, cabbage butterflies, monarchs, viceroys, and yellow swallowtails, and more fence lizards now than before.

Alas, I have to keep trapping feral cats. I wish people would be more responsible about their pets!

I hope that as the CA currants, salvia, buckwheat, and manzanita get old enough to bloom reliably and to set fruit/ seed, I'll see even more birds, bees, and butterflies. I also plan to plant verbena lilaceum, sundrops, sinaloa sage (a beautiful clear blue, like bluebells), white perennial morning glory, and monkey-flower this fall in a spare rectangle of dirt, and add a birdbath.

Managed to plant a veggie garden, too, altho it was late and very spur-of-the-moment.

For those of you familiar with xeriscaping, if you have any suggestions on what you think would be pretty and pollinator/ bird friendly, let me know!

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Sunday, May 19, 2013 9:15 AM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

St Catherine's lace is supposed to be good food for butterflies - not only for the butterflies but for the larval stages. Sorry - that's all I got.

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Sunday, May 19, 2013 11:27 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

This is not a pic from my garden, but could be.

SCARLET FLAX

COREOPSIS

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Sunday, May 19, 2013 11:46 AM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

My garden is geared for very low water use (no sprinkler system) and also ease of care (lots of mulch rather than lawn). Also, my preference is for tall trees and shrubs to provide shade and let breezes flow underneath. So while my garden meets my preferences, it's not what I'd call wildlife friendly except accidentally. So this hasn’t been on my radar. B/c of that I did some searching -
perhaps these might interest you?

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.cnps.org/cnps/education/kids/wo
rdsearch/butterfly_ws_cnps.pdf&sa=U&ei=8kKZUZSVKMOQiQL3i4GIBA&ved=0CBgQFjAA&usg=AFQjCNH0BYbghLgwRF9OHcCxWMqok4D9og

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.lvmwd.com/home/showdocument%3Fi
d%3D711&sa=U&ei=DUSZUffDKOj-igL62IGgCQ&ved=0CBgQFjAA&usg=AFQjCNEVENG03E8kc7V1f-xNjTgtS8NlcA

http://www.baynatives.com/

http://www.beautifulwildlifegarden.com/planning-a-butterfly-garden.htm
l

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Sunday, May 19, 2013 11:49 AM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Here's a photo of St Catherine's lace

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Sunday, May 19, 2013 12:35 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER

My elms are shedding their leaves, so the whole garden is full of yellow and orange. Very pretty, but a pest to clean up, especially from the gutters.

I don't know the name of a lot of plants in my garden, they've been given to me as cuttings and I forgot what they are. Things either survive or they don't and if they do survive, it's little to do with me.

I have a mix of native and exotics. The exotics thrive in this climate, which is very European, but the natives smell so nice, especially the bush mint.

I love my tree ferns best. Been around a lot longer than the house.

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Sunday, May 19, 2013 1:11 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

PAST

CA bluebells

CA poppies

clarkia

scarlet flax

PRESENT

coreopsis

pink and white cosmos

pink alstromeria

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yarrow

FUTURE

verbena lilaceum

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sundrops

I actually know this plant. In fact I found a photo on google that looks a lot like one I took and emailed as I was trying to identify it - I put my hand in the photo to show scale:

But most of the photos aren't properly colored. The flower is a clear lemon yellow.

sinaloa sage

white perennial morning glory

monkey-flower

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Sunday, May 19, 2013 1:39 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER

I must love salvias, they grow all over my garden

and pineapple sage smells delicious

the native mint bush also smells divine

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Sunday, May 19, 2013 2:06 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

That's a native mint ... uhhhh ... bush? It kinda' looks like a tree!

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Sunday, May 19, 2013 4:43 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER

ha ha. I think in this photo its sort of combined with another tree. Mine is definitely bush like.

we're moving into winter here, so its past time for a lot of flowers. Except my camillias, which start flowering from now until through spring.

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Sunday, May 19, 2013 6:04 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

There is a large individual variation in color, but the guy-finch who visits our garden looks most like this

And the lady-finch looks like

The juncos, both of them, are like this

Haven't figured out WHICH hummingbird has commandeered the alstromeria, but looks most like

And guy-warbler looks most like

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Sunday, May 19, 2013 6:25 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER

The juncos are so cute.

Remind me of willy wag tails

We get flocks of sulphur crested cockatoos making a raucus and destroying everything. They eat wood off verandahs, the pests

the crimson rosellas

and high in the trees a beautiful king parrot that have a beautful calm call

tawny frogmouth on our backfence (its chicks hiding behind it)

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Sunday, May 19, 2013 7:22 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

There are a ton of scrub jays in my area

many different types of hawks, but especially the red tail

a lot of acorn woodpeckers

many kinds of LBJs (little brown jobs) including English sparrows, common house sparrows and a bird called the butter butt

mourning doves

mockingbirds

different types of hummingbirds

crows and ravens

the occasional non-native (naturalized) parrot

quail - and yes, the chicks run after the mom all in a straight line with their little deally-bob feathers on their heads, just like in the cartoons

roadrunners, who really do go BEEP-BEEP

and too many more to mention ... for a few years I had great horned owls nesting in my incense cedar

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Sunday, May 19, 2013 7:54 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER

Beautiful. I love birds. I am becoming something of a twitcher in my advancing years.

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Sunday, May 19, 2013 8:17 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
I must love salvias, they grow all over my garden

And they love you back, apparently!

I planted a scrub, oak hoping that it'll entice some scrub jays and acorn woodpeckers into the yard. If nothing else, it'll give the squirrels something to eat beside our avocadoes!

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