Spring creeps in

[pameladean]

The Weather Underground says that the forecast for this afternoon is "Artly cloudy." That sounds about right. I took Ari out on his leash.

The small crumpled leaves of the violets are up. There are many more winter aconite sprouts. A dead stalk of dame's rocket that I noticed on Sunday and thought of, "I should move that somewhere I need more dame's rocket" has a little rosette of green around its base. The tulips are taller, and there are more of them. The peony in the warmest spot is putting up its blood-red shoots. The daylilies are rioting in green. The cranesbill geranium has new leaves. A few columbine leaves are up. The first red woundup stems of the Japanese knotweed have appeared, but all in the neighbors' yard. I wonder if the sunflower toxins really did in some of mine.

A house finch is singing a very nice run of notes, over and over and over. Eric mentioned to me in email that the elm buds looked about to burst, and when I looked at the huge elm across the street, its fuzziness was visibly red.

I am NOT taking the mulch off the flowerbeds until after this weekend. The lows are supposed to go back into the twenties.

Pamela

Comments

Bide, bide ...

[kightp.livejournal.com]

... it will all happen soon enough. You don't want to emulate my sister, who got overexcited in February and had to replant the sugar snap peas twice.

I love "Artly cloudy." We get lots of days like that in Western Oregon.

Urban wildlife

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

I wish we had house finches. In the canyon formed by two rows of rowhouses, all we get is a small flock of English sparrows and a pair of Canyon Doves (pigeons to everyone else).

Since we only have one pair, and they never seem to fly higher than the roofline (and thus don't encourage other pigeons to swoop in to feed), we are pampering them with birdseed. We've named them Walter and Hilary, after the actor of course and after a direct mail merchant named Hilary Pridgeon whom we knew in a former life. We saw them mating about a month ago. When kightp and johnpalmer (will this make links properly? dunno, I'm new) were here last wekeend, Walter and Hilary were flying about with bits of nesting material in their beaks. Now I only see one of them at a time, whereas they always traveled in pairs before. So I infer that Hilary has clutched and theyr'e taking turns on the nest. (Why didn't I name them Ramoth and Mnementh...? Probably best I didn't, I'd giggle every time I looked at them...)

We heard a mockingbird in the ailanthus up the block yesterday, and I saw a disoriented robin on one of the fences about a month ago. But we have no real birds taking up residence.

Re: Urban wildlife

[pameladean]

(Hi! Welcome!)

You probably know the tricks. But one thing birds love is fresh clean water, especially if it's dripping or moving. I think your part of your city is more urban than my part of mine -- we've got large untidy yards and lots of trees here with the traffic and the litter, and while the Department of Inspections and the police frown on dense shrubbery and brush piles, the DNR publishes little books encouraging them.

I've also found that house finches, like goldfinches, will appear if you plant sunflowers, safflower, or coneflower, whether purple or yellow.

Pamela

Pamela

Re: Urban wildlife

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

(Hi yourself and thanks for the welcome)

My "backyard" is a 17' x 17' square of concrete, although we've broken out four of the smaller squares that make it up in order to give Mr. Darcy space to do what he must. All the "yards" within hailing distance are similarly paved over. The only plants are container plants or evil things that come up through the cracks (ailanthus and worse). This may explain why all we have is sparrows and Canyon Doves.

Up at the community garden we get finches, including a seasonal invasion of goldfinches. We plant lots of sunflowers and echinacea there.

The American elm in the churchyard across the street from us in the front is a temporary resting place for a male Baltimore oriole every spring, but when the missus gets there she tells him the error of his ways and they take off for some other place.

Re: Bide, bide ...

[pameladean]

It's hard for a gardener to avoid stuff like that. Either you're wasting weeks of better than usual weather, or you're replanting and recovering stuff like mad.

Pamela

Re: Urban wildlife

[pameladean]

Indeed, it must be quite homelike for Canyon Doves.

I suspect that some largeish trees in pots would attract birds, but they'd be a lot of work, and I have no idea what one would do with them in the winter.

Pamela

Re: Bide, bide ...

[(Anonymous)]

I admire your firmness of spirit Pamela--my sweetie has just started seeds in our kitchen and can't wait until it's planting time. He'd sow them directly in the window boxes in April if I didn't hold him back. I can only imagine what he'd do if we had a yard of any kind. He's already been digging in the abandoned green space at the top of our block, and looks at his seed catalouges nearly every day.

Of course, maybe he'd find the repetitiveness of unmulching, remulching and unmulching again fun--like what Real Gardeners Do. Me, I'd rather wait and buy plants at the Farmer's Market. My seedlings have always died from ennui. Mine.

CindyL in Mpl