Clever crow…

birds, wildlife

he/she has found that if they put their talons out first, then they can grip onto the fat cake long enough to peck a big bit of fat out.  Unlike the magpies, and some other crows, who just fly at it and peck hoping to dislodge a bit that falls down then they collect the bits from the ground.  It’s the squirrels that usually hog it while the pigeons and blackbirds collect the bits that fall down while they are feeding.  The squirrels don’t like this much and will try and chase the birds away to no avail.  When this crow wants some however, it just pecks the squirrel to tell it to get lost!  It is very windy today so not a great photo as the crow, fat cake holder, feeding station post and all the background plants were all moving.  The long tailed tits are still about but all these big birds just scare them away.

wildlife, birds, crow,
Clever crow at the fat cake.

A couple of days ago while Harry was working in the garage with the door open, the sparrow hawk flew in and hit the back window.  Harry managed to pick it up and show me, then quickly let it go, quite unharmed by it’s experience.  I would have liked a photograph of it close up but we didn’t want to cause it any undue stress.

Ta Da Redwings…

birds, pond, wildlife

Yeah I finally managed to get a photo of the redwings have a bathing in the pond.  Not a great photo as I have a new lens which I haven’t got used to yet, and it was through a window, and my hands were very shaky.  I can count 10 (there is one skulking behind a plant). I am so please as I have only ever seen 2 and this is the first year I have seen them in the garden.  They were having a bit of a stand off with the blackbirds.  The female blackbird won and saw them all off, but as soon as she started to bathe, the redwings came back.  She did manage a few minutes bathing before she gave up.

wildlife, birds, redwings, pond,
Redwings (Turdus iliacus)

Dreich…

Uncategorized

meaning: dull, wet, gloomy and dreary.  Yep, that is what kind of weather we have had throughout December. Hardly any wind, and quite mild, and just miserable.  None of the plants are looking great just now.  The Hellebores haven’t really got going yet, the ferns have either died back altogether or are looking a bit tatty, there are a few sporadic, sad flowers on a couple of shrubs, and the catkins on the contorted hazel are just starting.  The witch hazel hasn’t done anything yet and even the cyclamen have stopped flowering.  The evergreen shrubs are at least still green but are rather a dull shade and everything thing else just looks grey or brown.  I did just about get a photo of the little fox, but, it leapt over the wall just as I clicked so I only managed to get the tail.  Poor little fox has a sore front right paw and was limping, but. is still got over the wall just fine.  I have also been trying to photograph the long tailed tits that have just appeared again at the peanut feeder.  They come in a little group and are very skittish so fly away quickly at the signs of any movement or noise.

Plans for the new year will include: getting the far end, left corner of the wall mended (once we have a contact for the person who owns the house (they have plans afoot to split that house into two houses), getting some sort of paving put down between the pond and the patio, lift some slabs at the right hand border and make it  a slightly wider border (it has always been too narrow), maybe get rid of the apple trees at the back of the garage as we end up chucking a lot of apples away (they are not keepers but I do make a lot of purée to freeze), and find something to grow over the back wall of the garage – colourful and scented.  And due to the worsening of the arthritis in my hands I must start looking for a new garden helper. Even simple dead-heading has become a painful chore no matter what secateurs I use.  I am soooooo looking forward to spring but there have been rumours of a prolonged period of very cold, snowy weather, depending on what course the jet stream takes.  Not looking forward to that but I do love the silence of those days where the snow flakes are large and soft and it makes a beautiful, velvety white blanket over everything.  Now, where is my camera?

Rain, rain, and more rain…

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what a lot of rain in the past few weeks.  Not that I cared much as I had a horrid lurgy for a few weeks and didn’t venture out much at all.  Getting over it now and I took a couple of photos of some fungi in the garden.  I don’t know what the brown/fawn ones are so I am just calling them little brown jobs for now.  The earth star looks like it is almost a double decker but I would need to pick it up and investigate properly to find out.   I would rather just leave it be.

plants,fungi,
Little brown jobs
plants,fungi,
Earth star double decker

Finally…

fox, wildlife

got a picture of the little fox that has been visiting the garden.  It pops over from the next door neighbours and through the gap between the trellis and next door’s garage.  After a wee bit pottering around it nips back over again but I have never had my camera with me when it is about until today.
One day, while I was topping up the pond with the hose, it heard the splashing noise and came to investigate.  It looked at me, and then the pond, then went back to it’s own business again.  What a cutie!

fox, wildlife,
Little fox

Brrrrrr it’s chilly out there!

frost, plants

So today is the first time the bird bath has frozen completely this winter, however, the pond is ok as it is situated lower than the bird bath.  I still wouldn’t like to be a little bird bathing in the pond today though.  As much as I detest being cold, I do love the patters that the frost makes on the different leaves. Hairy leaved plants pick up the frost sparkles on the tiny hairs, whereas the smoother leaves have frosted edges.  Others can have frosty highlights on prominent veins.  As a kid growing up without central heating and no double glazing, I adored the frost patterns on the inside of the windows in winter.  This morning I braved the cold to get a few snaps of some frosty leaves.  My hands were shaking a bit so they are a little out of focus.

patio,
Frozen bird bath
plants,
Frosty clematis Pixie
plants,
Frosty acer palmatum Garnet
plants,
Frosty hairy leaved thyme
plants,
Frosty tierella

Out with the old…

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and in with the new.  Yes I know it is a bit early for all that but I have noticed that the older branches of my Viburnum x Bodnantense ‘Dawn’ are getting rather gnarly even though they are still flowering well.  The nice young branches have fewer flowers but are lovely and sleek.  The perfume from the flowers is wonderful, and the colour change in the foliage is going from green to dull purple/claret right now.  It is situated in the raised bed and one side get more sunshine than the other and it is quite obvious which side is which.  The sunny side has more flowers and the colour change is more obvious on that side too.  I am going to have to remove some of the older trunks and branches to rejuvenate it.  We did start doing this last year but need to take out more next year once it has stopped flowering.  The Rowan, Sorbus hupehensis ‘Pink pagoda’, foliage is changing to red and has pink berries on it, and the Acer palmatum disectum ‘Garnet’ is turning bright red.  However my Acer Shirasawanum Auereum has gone from lovely bright green edged in pink to crinkly, brown, not very pretty right now.

plants,flowers,
Viburnum new growth
plants, flowers,
Viburnum old branch
plants,
Sorbus hupehensis ‘Pink pagoda’
plants,
Acer palmatum disectum ‘Garnet’

Autumn is approaching…

ferns, flowers, plants

and things are gradually slowing down in the garden. When I first started the stumpery area, I filled in a lot of spaces with ferns (soft shield ferns I think) with the intention of replacing some of them later with different plants.  Some of these ferns are huge now and are really outgrowing the space or hiding other plants, and not just in the stumpery. So, at the weekend, my husband dug out one of them from beside the ramp and replaced it with Persicaria amplex Blackfield – I love the colour of the flowers.  I just hope it isn’t going to become a thug.  I have another 5 or 6 of the same ferns so I will ask hubby to divide a couple of them so at least they will be smaller, and completely dig up the rest so I can buy some new plants for the spaces.  He also dug out the Rosa rugosa which has been a big disappointment.  It has been there for 3 years and only produced 3 roses!  All the rest of the growth has been hight and suckers. I would really like another rose there but it is just too shady, unless I can persuade our next lot of neighbours to chop down their rather large shrubs and trees.  I have acquired a bench to put in the dry shady area at the back of the garden but as not a lot will grow in deep dry shade so I will have to think about what else to put around the bench.  The corner wall is in need of repair but again I will have to wait and speak to our new neighbours.  The trouble with that is that the actual owners are planning on splitting that house and garden into two, but they haven’t actually started any work yet so I may have a heck of a long wait for that work to be done and the house sold.

At the Annual flower show last weekend my little Davallia canariensis Hare’s foot fern) won an award!  Not only did it win first prize for the foliage plant section, but it got the Jones trophy for best exhibit in pot pants too. Dead chuffed.  I am so glad I scrubbed the pot the night before and took off the not-quite-so-attractive fronds.

plants, ferns,
Ramp with overgrown fern to the right.
plants, flowers,
Ramp now with Persicaria amplex Blackfield
plants, ferns, foliage,
Davallia canariensis and Jones trophy

Duddingston Garden club Annual Flower Show …

flowers, plants

getting some plants ready to sell at the annual flower show.   There are: tiarellas, chives, rosemary, lavender, ferns, fuschias, grasses, sempervivums and a couple of unknown things that just popped up in the garden.  The weather isn’t looking that great though and some ninja showers on the way so it might put people off coming.  Shame we had to get rid of the greenhouse due to the neighbours high trees and the golf course trees as I am having to do all my propagation in the conservatory and on the garden table.  I keep having to move them to under the table outside when the heavy rains are due and bring them back out again once they have passed.  I was going to put a couple of plants in the show myself but my Streptocarpus saxorum  only has 3 flowers on it and my roses are either just gone over or just not quite open enough.  I may put my little Hare’s foot fern into the foliage section.

plants, flowers,
Plants ready for the sale.

A few wee snippets…

Uncategorized

I read somewhere that wasps feed on nectar and take insects back to the nest to feed the larvae as the larvae need protein.  I sat watching a wasp in the conservatory pulling wings from a hover fly (and the head too I think) then rolled it up into a neat package and flew off with it. This year there have been a lot of wasps around the pond and the bird bath to drink and I have had to save quite a few after they have fallen in.  I did put a stone in the birdbath and that helped a bit , but when they land on the duck weed in the pond it sometimes doesn’t support them, and they don’t appear to be able to fly away from the surface tension of the water.  I also read somewhere that if you want to keep them away when you are eating al fresco, they don’t like peppermint oil so keep some handy.  They might only after something sweet so maybe just leave a saucer of jam out just for them away from where you are sitting.  Or they might be after the ham inside your sandwich to take to feed their larvae.  I have watched them cut a small bit from my salad.
I spotted some brown spider’s webs in amongst the ferns.  All those spores falling on them make them look really tatty and dusty even with some of the nija showers we have been getting.
I also spotted a mushroom on a log at the back of the stumpery.  Someone else has spotted it too and had a nibble.  I have no idea what type it is and it looks a different colour when the sun shines on it.  Brown on the top in the sunshine, but a dark grey when the clouds come over.
We have had a few showers lately, which the garden and the pond desperately needed so things are looking a little fresher and less arid now.

wildlife,
wasp with hover fly
wildlife,
spore covered cobwebs
plants,fungi,stumpery,
in the sun
fungi,olants,stumpery,
in the shade