Twiggybet1's Blog

Here's a photo of a pair of ducks enjoying the neighbor's pool.  The female was really keeping an eye on me, she seems somewhat wary of people.  But the male just went about his business as if I wasn't there.  He just kept preening himself.  Perhaps he was more concerned with making himself attractive to her than worried about what I might do.  I still haven't determined where their nest is, but I'm guessing it's not too far, because they have been visiting the pool every day.  I know they haven't nested in my yard, and I doubt they nested in the neighbor's yard because she has a very large dog, unless they found a secluded area where the dog can't reach.

Here's the newest resident to the garden.  My hubby found him while mowing the lawn, and relocated him to the garden.  I hope he will be happy there and eat lots of bugs. 

 I cleaned up my bird houses.  What a job!  It took a few days, because I really wanted to make sure I drowned the paper wasps.  I used a large bucket with a lid, and filled it with water and a little bit of dish soap to help remove the nests.  I put in a bird house, made sure it was totally submerged, and quickly put the lid on and left it like that for at least a few hours.  Then I would remove that one, and put in the next one.  I think I cleaned seven in all.  I have some pictures of them in my photo albums.  The area doesn't look very impressive yet, but come june when the ditch lilies are in bloom it looks nice. 

I planted a couple more plants in the rain garden.  I put in another blanket flower, this variety called "Oranges and Lemons".  I'm not sure the one I planted last year came back.  I think quite a few of the things I planted in the fall became casualties of winter.  *sigh* I'll have to fill in with annuals this year, until some of the stuff gets more established and larger.  I need to split some peonies in the fall, which are planted in the front bed.  I promised my neighbor some, but hopefully there will be enough to move a piece to the rain garden. 

Well, I think my wintersowing experiment was pretty much a flop.  Not only did my labels fade so I don't know what is what, but only a few of the things survived.  My indoor sowing also had limited success.  I do so much better with transplants.  I have a favorite nursery that has absolutely beautiful, sturdy, stocky, healthy looking plants.  Everything I have purchased there has done well -  I don't think I've lost a single thing I've gotten from them over the years.  We made a trip there on Friday afternoon, and got some tomato, pepper, broccoli, cabbage, and a couple of herbs, not to mention our Mother's day gifts and a flat of petunias to fill in some bare spots.   

Happy Mother's Day, ladies, and happy gardening to everyone!