If you’ve got a garden or a flowerbed it’s always fun to leave some boards lying around on the ground. Come back in a week or so and you’ll discover some of the organisms that live in your garden but perhaps have never seen before under this makeshift shelter. A warning to the squeamish – you may not like what …
Gardening
What’s that Woodlouse?
My 3 year-old son and I spent some quality time in the garden looking under pieces of wood and brick left on the ground from last fall. We discovered all sorts of “bugs” (Alden’s word for them) and watched them scurry from the newly exposed surface for the safety and moisture of the dark underside of the wood and other …
Snow and Spring Flowers
Despite several centimeters of snow our crocuses are doing well along the south facing flower bed. Hard to believe with the snow we had last week but here on the west coast spring is definitely in the air. Our domestic hazelnut has produced catkins (so that’s why we’ve never gotten hazelnuts!) and along the south side of our house crocuses …
Amongst the Lily Seeds
A side view of the pod showing the seeds inside. Managed to get out to the garden with the kids today and did a little bit of fall clean-up. Today I focused on trimming the lily seed heads and collecting the seeds. From what I’ve read on-line, growing lilies from seed is a bit of a hit and miss project …
Fabulous Finches
American Goldfinch | Carduelis tristis The sunflowers are done in our back lane but the seeds are now attracting birds – primarily American goldfinch (Carduelis tristis) but also house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus), chestnut-backed chickadee (Poecile rufescens) and house sparrow (Passer domesticus). That’s one of the many benefits of growing sunflowers. Not only do you (and insects) get to enjoy the …