Hawk visit

Today, while watching birds at the feeder, I noticed they were very skittish.  Then, I saw the reason.
There was a hawk flying over the feeder area and finally, brazen as can be perched on the fence next to the feeders. It stayed there long enough for me to go and fetch my Olympus camera and fuss with it for several minutes, then just took off.  Perfect photo moment lost.

Not so, 15 or so minutes later, I stepped out onto the patio and spotted the same hawk on my arbor. Bold as brass.  Not skittish at all.  It must be very hungry.

I did get a few long distance shots of the bird finally. Not as sharp as I'd like, but it has been a struggle to get a picture of him.

Don't forget to click on picture for a larger view

This is not a Cooper's Hawk/more than likely a Red Tailed immature

Life after the storm (so to speak)

What a difference a day makes.  Ice has melted, the sun is out and it is 52 degrees.
I finally went out to survey the "damage" and was pleasantly surprised.

Frost damaged blossoms were removed last week and this is what greeted me when I went outside to check on freeze and ice damage.













I was pleasantly surprised to see the 3 clumps of Alysum still
in bloom.                                                               

 These plants were not protected by overhanging trees or other things that would protect from frost. They are not particularly thick leaved and the blossoms look quite fragile.
One of nature's mysteries.  I could probably do some research and find out why these plants are freeze and ice hardy.
Somehow, I like to think that nature takes care of things in spite of the weather.

Scarlet Sage

I took these pictures in early October.  They are worth mentioning in that the flowers were along a stretch of road side, looking uncared for and more or less wild.

Scarlet sage is a not really a wild flower. It was introduced from Brazil. It is really an annual. It sows seeds prodigiously  after every blooming period.

I have a Tropical sage that does the same thing. It is a lovely, delicate white and pink and looks quite a bit like the flower on the Scarlet sage.

Birds in my back yard

This is an aside from gardening.  Birds are really part of the nature of gardening.  Even though they, except for the hummingbird,  are around me every day when I am in the garden. They may not use the flowers, but kill insects "good and bad", eat the fruit of the trees if they are lucky. Since wearing a hearing aid, I can hear small twitters, gentle little chirps, distant calls of a pair of hawks.
The hawks are here because a neighbor has racing pigeons. Pigeons are prey for hawks.......
One morning this week, while at breakfast, I noticed a big bird in the pine tree.  I was a Cooper's Hawk. This is a large hawk and so beautiful. 
It sat in the pine tree for a long time and then flew off.  Gathering my camera and binoculars, I went outside to check if the hawk had gone to another area of the yard and heard a cry from a bird I had not heard before.  We don't really have a large variety and I am familiar with most cries and songs.
This was new.  If you have ever been fortunate enough to hear a hawk cry, you know what you are hearing the next time.  It was a pair talking back and forth.  Bet they were commenting on the fact the pigeons were still in their coop and that nosy human with the binoculars was out and about.

I couldn't get a picture of the bird in the tree, but I will not forget.

Potting up California Poppies

Half the interest of a garden is the constant exercise of the imagination. ~ Mrs. C.W. Earle, Pot-Pourri from a Surrey Garden, 1897

After a relatively mild (heat included) spring, summer with more rain, not much in the way of downpours, seedlings are presenting themselves everywhere. Last week I was so carefully potting up bluebonnets and California Poppies to transplant later.

A few weeks later, "What was I thinking?"  There are hundreds of poppy seedlings in places that they cannot stay.  So, I go from treasuring every petite  potted poppy to pulling them out like weeds.  This doesn't happen every year.  Nature has to cooperate to produce this abundance.  Sort of like spring and summer last year when the peach trees exploded with an over abundance (perish the thought). All pieces of the nature puzzle met up and gave us this bounty.  This spring, the same trees were in bloom and hit by frost.

Back to the poppies. I have transplanted the larger seedlings still in the ground and decided enough is enough. 
Since I never did get to amend the front flower bed because of the weather, I think I will do that and put the potted poppies there.  That area does not really get full sun and poppies require that.  At least, they will be in the garden when they die instead of pots on the patio.

 

November weather is odd

Up early as usual. Checked weather for today. One of the odd things is to see a current temperature of 51 degrees at 4:00 AM, humidity of 86% and then the forecast for the day?  High of 48 degrees and slight chance of rain.  I ask you, what's wrong with this picture.  I know, I know, a front..... maybe that accounts for wind of 21 mph and gusts of 29 mph.

That bit of information aside,  if at all possible today, I want to clean weeds and mulch from front flower bed.  I bought some Garrett Juice to pour over the poor soil in this bed.  It is great stuff and need to get it on/in the ground before it gets really cold. 
I read the label (I am so proud, it comes in handy sometimes) and see that it is not supposed to freeze. Well, that means the jug of concentrate won't be living in the garden shed.  I am also adding 3 bags of "good" compost.  This may well make "too much soil" for this enclosed space. I think of it as sort of a container with no drain hole................

Anyway, for the morning, that is the plan. 

Aside from plans; I will share a senior? moment. 
I have purchased 2 inexpensive solar lights.  I stuck them in the garden to see how  they work. Disappointed after several mornings..................I took one  inside and really looked at the thing. Now, I really pride  myself that my age, I can still do a good bit. Therefore, why in the world I didn't check these things out at first, I will never know.
There was a little slip of something hanging down inside the bulb, from the top. I "assumed" it was a light filament or some such. Don't ask me why. I truly know better!!  I unscrewed the cap and put on my bifocals. The green tag said "remove first".........................What can I say?
So, this morning I go and still no light? There was plenty of sunshine yesterday.
I checked a web site about this and find it may be the battery. Ok, I didn't know I needed to pay attention to a battery. 
Back to this later.

Now, I see a forecast for 20's tonight. I will have to cover the mum since they took a beating in a lighter frost. They have daisy like flowers and, obviously, not as tough as the ones everyone is setting out.
At these temperatures, even the pots will have to be covered.  I am going to drag out the blankets and hope they don't break the stems.  The wind broke a lot of stems.

 Maybe I need to think of another kind of fall flower.  I do love these so.
They grow quite tall and spindly before they "lay over".  It is fascinating to see this behavior and actually look forward to it.
I put a cage thingy in the pot and they are standing taller.

The red blossoms poking their heads in here and there are Pentas. 

These red blossoms are zinnias that reseeded themselves.

 These are all so beautiful right now.  They have tough looking stems. Brittle actually. I can snap one off pretty easily.