Miscellaneous « The Garden Worm blog

February 11, 2010

This and that

Filed under: Creatures,Miscellaneous,Shows and Tours — Judy @ 4:15 pm

Reminder that tomorrow the Great Backyard Bird Count begins. Be a good citizen and count your birds! Link is in the sidebar or read more about it here. I’ve also added a few more bird pictures to the Winter Birds slideshow or open it from the slideshow link in the sidebar. The little Carolina wren and the Red-bellied woodpecker are new and I’ll add more pictures periodically. And here are the results of the bird picture quiz: there are nine cardinals (5 papas, 4 mamas), three house sparrows, and one tufted titmouse. Did you find them all?

The plant and seed catalogs have been arriving almost daily since before Christmas with all their enticing pictures! Hard to get motivated to order anything when there is still snow on the ground, but looking at the catalogs and seeing what is new out there in the gardening world nudges one in the right direction.

I have been hearing reports from my sister in Texas that they are cleaning up from unusual frost damage and things are starting to pop out of the ground. She volunteers at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens and according to their website, they have Alyssum, Camellias (Camellia sasanqua cultivars), Creeping phlox/thrift (Phlox subulata), Drummond red maple (Acer rubrum var. drummondii), Flowering quince (Chaenomeles spp.), Leatherleaf mahonia (Mahonia bealei), Narcissus, Pansies, Paperwhite Narcissus, Saucer magnolia (Magnolia x soulangiana), Winter daphne (Daphne odora), Winter honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima), Winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum), Witch hazel (Hamamelis vernalis) blooming in January and February.

We’re not even close to that, but pretty soon it will be time for GardenScape 2010. This is an excellent annual event featuring landscaping and nursery professionals in and around the Rochester area. In its 19th year, there are display gardens, a marketplace, seminars, and other special events that visitors can experience. Mark your calendars for March 11th to 14th!

And finally, a note on the creatures of the garden other than the birds. The snow is full of tracks now. The deer herd rambles around munching everything in sight and we have a fox that makes nightly forays looking for, I suspect, innocent bunnies. Seeing the always-maddening squirrels completely foiled from discovering the birdfeeder with our soda bottle device makes me gleeful! And my own boot prints and ski tracks as I wander around just enjoying the fresh air. I wish I could identify all the tracks, but there are so many now that we need a fresh covering of snow to erase the old ones. Or, maybe not.

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January 29, 2010

Great Backyard Bird Count 2010

Filed under: Creatures,Miscellaneous — Tags: birds, Great Backyard Bird Count — Judy @ 1:12 am

The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is an example of “citizen science” at its finest! Over four days in February (Feb 12-15), participants of all ages and bird-watching experience anywhere in the United States and Canada count birds. This creates a real-time snapshot that helps researchers gather information about birds and their wintertime habits.

It’s easy and fun – and it’s free! You can count for as little as 15 minutes on one day or count for as long as you like on each day. Count the birds at your backyard feeders or, if you don’t have a feeder, just in your backyard. Or take an outing to a local park or wildlife refuge.

The GBBC is a joint project between the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Audubon Society, and Bird Studies Canada. On their website (click here or on the bird picture link in the sidebar), you will find more information about the count, how to attract birds to your feeders, and help on those tricky bird IDs. You can also download tally sheets to help you keep track of your counts. Then, post your results and watch the counts come in on their map. What kinds of birds will you see?

Some birds seen in my backyard this year:

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Young Hawk, unknown variety

Mama Northern Cardinal

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January 22, 2010

January thaw

Filed under: Miscellaneous — Tags: January thaw, snow — Judy @ 6:58 pm

This week definitely qualifies as our “January thaw.” Temps in the high 30’s, low 40’s with brilliant sunshine have melted most of the snow. I worked outside today savoring the warmth of the sun, listening to the birdies, and generally enjoying Mother Nature. The Cabaret grass was starting to disperse its broken blades hither and thither so I cut that back and found a few more things to take care of that got missed in the Fall cleanup. It was good to breathe the fresh air and get some of the cobwebs out of the brain. The picture above shows the evening sky here tonight with a promise of another pretty day tomorrow.

Meanwhile, relatives down in Flagstaff AZ are experiencing some real winter weather. This picture was taken Thursday before it started raining, followed by a possible 2-4 feet more of snow. They are celebrating with a “snow-pocalypse” party!

Then, family in California are deluged by rain with mudslides and mandatory evacuations in their area, and my sister in Texas has had record low temps with frost damage to her plants. Seems like Mother Nature is not happy elsewhere in the country!

What is going on in your neck of the woods?

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January 9, 2010

We’re baaaaaaack!

Filed under: Flowers,Miscellaneous,Our gardens — Judy @ 9:50 pm

After a long hiatus to immerse ourselves in the earth with garden design, planting, and then maintenance, the outdoor gardening has finally come to a halt for the time being. The holidays have passed and a new year (and a new decade) has burst upon us and awakened our crafty brains. We’re in the process of updating all of our websites, trying out new sites for marketing our craft products (more on this in another post), thinking of new craft products to make, and, yes, checking out the myriad of seed catalogs to see what is new and making lists of seeds to order. We’re also tucking away ideas for garden designs. This is all in addition to normal daily life, cooking yummy foods from our freezer stock and trying not to turn into a blob. In short, we’re NOT hibernating!

Keeping busy is a powerful antidote to the seasonal depression that strikes in January and February for some of us. Finding tasks that must be thought about, mulled over, and brought to reality pushes away the darkness and sadness that threatens to drown us. Getting outside to breathe the fresh air, admiring the sunlight glinting off the snow, feeling the swish of the snow under your skis, hearing the birds chirping and chipping all help to chase those demons away.

What are you doing to keep busy?

And just to remind you what will be coming up in a few short months: