Birdsong

One of my favorite things is to listen to the birds. They are just getting going when Monty and I head out for our first walk of the day. And, they’re active in the gardens at the feeders and the baths all day. Over the years, I’ve gotten good at recognizing their calls and voices. But, I can’t always distinguish a happy chirp from an alarm chirp. The main reason I don’t wear an iPod in the garden like some gardeners do is because I like to hear the birds while I’m working.

Some birds, like the Cardinal and the Chickadee, are here all year. Others, like the Red-Winged Blackbird and the Oriole, are here for only a short while. For me, the first time I hear the call of the Red-Winged Blackbird marks the official beginning of spring. I haven’t heard the Blue Jay for a couple of years but did hear one a couple of weeks ago. I couldn’t spot it and haven’t seen them at any of the feeders, yet.

I hear the Robins most when I’m planting and weeding. I wonder if it’s because I sometimes unearth some worms. The sparrows and chickadees seem to be around more when I’m watering. One day, a sparrow hopped right into a bath as I was filling it. And, there are always a few that sit under the sprinkler—chirping the entire time.

Is there a bird whose call you don’t recognize? I found a cool website called BirdJam, where you can listen to bird calls to help match birds with their songs. What birds are visiting your gardens?

Lake Harriet Rose Garden and Peace Garden – Field Trip #2

I wasn’t ready to go home after my visit to Eloise Butler, so I drove the parkways and headed over to Lake Harriet to see the rose gardens and the Peace Garden. I don’t remember ever having seen the perennial/annual gardens there, but they’ve been there since 1963, so either I was very focused on the roses on previous visits and skipped the perennials altogether, or visited at a time the gardens didn’t impress me.

This year, however, the perennials and annuals impressed me much more than the roses did. I didn’t see anything in these gardens that I added to my wish list, though. Sadly, almost all of the roses were infested with Japanese beetles. Eeew. One of the things I love about roses is the names. I saw Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen), Betty White, Ole, and Lena! Some of the roses were fragrant, but they weren’t that pretty to look at because of the beetles. So sad. Only one of the fountains was working and I did take advantage of the splashes to cool myself off.

The highlight of this visit was the Peace Garden, where I made my first ever peace crane! The sculpture “The Spirit of Peace” provides origami paper and instructions on bronze plates for creating the cranes. I saw people of all ages and heard several languages as we all walked around the sculpture and folded our cranes. I didn’t remember to take photos while I was there, but another blogger visited earlier this year and did take photos. I would make this visit again in a heartbeat.

Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary – Field Trip #1

If you can’t stand the heat, go on a field trip. I tried working in the garden yesterday, honest. It was one of those days, though, where making breakfast made you sweat buckets. So, I decided to get out of the kitchen and my garden since I really wasn’t up for perma-sweat two days in a row. I packed a picnic and went on a couple of field trips.

First stop – Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary. It’s close, and as I said in an earlier post, I haven’t been there since the third grade. Interestingly, two other women on the “History Tour” had the same comment!


I walked the garden twice – once on my own and once with a guide. I was surprised at how many more things I saw with the guide. Because everything is so far ahead this year, all of the woodland and wetland plants – including the Lady Slippers -- had already bloomed. The prairie, however, was just getting going! I saw a few plants I’d never seen before and am considering adding to my gardens.

Prairie coneflower is the first on my plant wish list. I thought these flowers looked like delicate ballerinas. Their cone is more thimble shaped than cone shaped and the petals drape gracefully rather than protrude stiffly from the cone. Lead plant is the second plant I’m considering. It has interesting foliage and the flowers seemed iridescent moving from deep purple bases to orange tips. The third plant on my wish list is chicory! Yes – the plant whose root was/is used as a coffee substitute. The flower is very much like the annual bachelor button and can get as tall as 3 ½ feet. The pale blue is a fantastic contrast to the yellows and pinks in the prairie right now.

I’m definitely going back to this garden – and I’m not going to wait 40 years to do it.

Productive Day in the Garden

Day Two of the Stay-cation was much more productive than Day One—even though we had temps in the 90s with dewpoints in the 70s. People were wondering whether this was Minnesota or Florida. My game plan was to work in the shade as much as possible for as long as possible and quit when it got unbearable.

I got two more monarda “Marshall’s Delight” planted in the Fragrant garden and moved the last “Magnifica” from the west side of the house to the Fragrant garden. I had gotten one Marshall’s Delight last year and I love the height and color of it. Adding the Magnifica gives me five roses in the garden and a deeper rose color to play off the monarda.


I added a juniper on the west hill. It’s tiny, but adds a different color and texture to the hill. The biggest part of that job was building up the rock wall to hold the soil.


After a passer-by (apparently a regular) asked Friday, “Are you ever going to plant these hostas?” I figured that should be my next project. So, I got the hostas planted on the west side of the front walk and moved the trollius in for some texture and color.

In the evening, I got the last rain barrel installed and stopped up the leaks on two others to get ready for the rain we were expecting (and did get this morning). There’s still more to do, so I’m feeling grateful for a few more days off. I think I’ll wait on the stone steps until the humidity drops, and will stick with planting and weeding until then.

Hope everybody has a safe and happy Fourth of July!

My Canning Pantry

Every time I go to the basement to empty the dehumidifier into the sump pump well, I walk through the canning pantry. It’s two rooms, actually, lined with shelves floor to ceiling designed to store the bounty and abundance of the year’s harvest so the family could enjoy potatoes, tomatoes, pickles, onions, jams and jellies through the winter (and possibly to the time when crops started yielding and fruits started bearing again in the spring).

I know it sounds sort of dorky, but I like that the house has a canning pantry. I like living in a place that reminds me on a regular basis to “plan ahead” and to not waste. I don’t know the first thing about canning, so, right now, it’s more like a canning pantry in waiting -- the shelves in one room are empty and I’ve stored paint on the shelves in the other room. But, I am sure I can learn how to can and make jam. My dad has pickled some peppers and tomatoes in recent years. And, my neighbor, Pat, makes spectacular raspberry jam. Betsy makes salsa and tomatoes. So, I’ve got some good teachers around.


My goal is to start small – with salsa. The tomatoes and peppers and onions are coming in really well. And, Betsy has a good recipe. Next year, I hope that the berries bear enough that I can make jam. And, then, I’d like to try making “saft,” a berry juice to mix with water for a very refreshing beverage. Tante Mie made the best saft ever. Raspberry/Currant was my favorite. I found a recipe for saft that my grandmother had written when she was in “Husmor skole” and think I’ll use that one.

I can’t wait to have something other than paint on the shelves in the canning pantry. If anyone has tips/tricks for canning or is willing to give me a lesson or two later in the year, you know where I am!

Hooligans in the Garden

Filing a Destruction of Property report is not exactly how I imagined starting my “stay-cation” in the gardens. But, unfortunately, that is what I have to do this morning. Last night, vandals – teens, probably – ran through the neighborhood pulling up plants, decapitating some plants, and tipping over potted plants and lawn furniture. Most of the targets were older folks, who will be devastated when they see their beloved plants completely destroyed.

In my yard, vandals tipped over the Adirondack chair, birdbaths, wheelbarrow, and all the potted plants. One potted tomato was rolled down the hill and landed on the sidewalk. A few perennials were stomped on in the process, but I believe they will come back next year. These things were well within my property and the vandals had to come into my yard to perform this brazen act making my ire even greater. On our way home, I found Monty’s water bowl smashed in the middle of the street.

My first reaction was anger, but when I saw the peonies ripped out of the ground and the decapitated hydrangeas, I cried. I just don’t understand the complete lack of respect – not only for personal property, but also for creation.

So. I am off to the Police Station to file my report. Then, I will come home to the gardens and continue planting.

Another Way to Recycle Your Cardboard and Newspaper

I’m not a huge fan of landscape fabric. I’ve already posted about my opposition to plastic in the garden, but I’m actually opposed to most “permanent” forms of weed block and here’s why. Even though they block the weeds from coming up, they also block your plants from coming up/getting bigger. I saw this in a couple of gardens earlier this year. One gardener wondered why her peony looked so “sickly.” I noticed big lumps under the landscape fabric. “It’s not sickly, it’s trying like heck to survive and come up through this fabric!” We tore the fabric to let the misshapen peonies come up and looked around the garden for other plants confined by the fabric.

Weed seeds and tree seeds will still find their way on top of the landscape fabric and their roots will go right through the holes cleverly designed for water. Then, you have a mess, because you almost always tear the fabric when you remove the treelet that has rooted itself through the fabric.

The method of weed block I prefer is good, old-fashioned cardboard. I know it doesn’t sound very glamorous, but, it works. If you plan ahead, you can get the cardboard good and wet before you plant – with a good layer of leaves underneath to enrich the soil and a little compost on top to hasten the decomp of the cardboard. (It’s easier to get the shovel through that way, too.) When you get the area planted, put some mulch on top of the cardboard. I’ve done this on a couple of occasions. Sometimes, however, I don’t prep an entire area before I start plopping things in the ground. So, I put the leaves, cardboard (and mulch) down afterward. It’s a little more difficult because you’re working around the plants but still manageable.

If you don’t have cardboard, you can use newspaper. You need to use between 6 and 10 thicknesses of newspaper for this alternative to be effective. A couple of sheets won’t be enough to keep the grass and weeds down. Wet it thoroughly. It will help make the cardboard less stiff and more receptive to the mulch and it will help keep the newspapers from flying around until you get the mulch on.