'The Winds of March With Beauty'

Copyright © 2007-2008. Suburban Wildlife Garden. All Rights Reserved.

Spring is in the air. This American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis) and his friends come by almost daily to take a bath in my water garden.


They seem to prefer it to the birdbath; maybe to avoid the neighborhood tomcat. Here is one goldfinch balancing on my solar fountain...


My son and I went to The Natural Gardener where we bought some small ice plants that we just popped in to the left of the lavender, below...


I've hesitated to plant things before putting in a pool for my son's therapy because I know the workmen will likely stomp the plants -- not purposely, but in the line of duty, as it were. But with displays like the one below, what is a gal to do?


We saw some beautiful Texas Mountain Laurels (Sophora secundiflora) at the nursery as well. They are spectacular in Austin this year. I wish I could afford to have a goodly-sized specimen planted in my front garden to replace my crepe myrtle. Too bad they grow so slowly. I do love them as do the butterflies and birds.

We are getting ready for Easter here. Our lovely friends in Scotland -- my son's pen pal's family who we've known for over 10 years -- sent a box of Easter goodies that arrived today. What a wonderful surprise! My son opened it to find a plenthora of treats...

Mysteriously the Scooby-Doo Chocolate Egg vanished almost immediately. Heehee! There was even a package of "Scottish Wildflower Mix" for me (my friend knows me so well). Looks like there are all sorts of wonderful seeds included. [And it even meets the Worldwide Agricultural Requirements. So take that Seed Police!] We are truly blessed. I hope all of you will have a Happy Celebration as well.



Free Easter Greeting Cards.

I'm trying to keep my mind calm before my son's spinal surgery. When we lived here in 1989 I began reading the China Bayles mystery series by Susan Wittig Albert and loved it, (I still do). Recently I discovered Ms. Albert's Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter series of books and recommend them to anyone who enjoys mysteries and gardening.

These are delightful books that transport the reader directly into Miss Potter's world. I love the way some of the characters 'hear' the animals speak without realizing it. The books are a real solace for me right now as I crave peace. As you can see, they go well with a morning cup of coffee...

Some of you may know that Susan Wittig Albert has kindly agreed to join the Garden Blogger's Spring Fling for a book signing. Please take the time to check out Susan's impressive Lifescapes gardening blog as well.

Speaking of reading, I read a sort of love story on Der Spiegel recently. Seems Petra the black swan fell in love with a swan-shaped paddle boat and wouldn't leave its side. Officials in Muenster decided to bring the swan and the boat into the city zoo over the winter. Happily, Petra met her Prince Charming: a real flesh & blood white swan named Paul. Whew! You can see them here...

As my friend Nancy so aptly phrased it: "Goodbye Mr. Right Now. Hello Mr. Right!" Well said. Though is it just me or does Petra seem to look a little wistfully at Herr Paddle Boat? Ah, unrequited love can be a real bite. sigh.

Update: As of 3/26/08 Petra's 'real' swan dude seems to have left her and Petra is to be reunited with her Paddleboat once again. Read about it here.

I hope all of you have a very Happy Easter, Spring...or whatever you happen to celebrate. And for a little smile, please check out Ceasar the cat's photo from Stuffonmycat.com.

"First a howling blizzard woke us,
Then the rain came down to soak us,
And now before the eye can focus -
Crocus." ~Lilja Rogers

Copyright © 2007-2008. Suburban Wildlife Garden. All Rights Reserved.

Of Wrens and Butterfly Plants

They're moving in! The Carolina Wrens have decided that the birdhouse in my back garden is worthy of consideration. You can see one of them sticking its head out the entrance below. They were stuffing grass, twigs and anything else that wasn't nailed down into the house today. I'm so pleased!



Meanwhile, I've been busy planting the front bed with hummingbird and butterfly plants. This weekend we planted more red columbine (Aquilegia canadense), winecup (Callirhoe involucrata), red bee balm (Monarda didyma) and bat face plant (cuphea). I need to move some of the previous owner's plants out of the 'triangular' bed -- in the foreground below -- but the new red yucca and variegated lantana seem to look okay, even in the jumble. I still have my eye on an orchid tree for this front garden, but cannot bring myself to cut down the crepe myrtle yet.


I'm excited about planting the columbine since it's always been one of my favorite flowers.

The neighborhood is starting to pop with color. I saw this red rose draping down over the fence next to the sidewalk and had to take the photo.

Speaking of color: On our way to The Oasis last weekend we discovered the largest bank of bluebonnets we've seen so far. It's on Oasis Bluff Drive, West of 620 if any of you want to take a look. It really is a dazzling spectacle. Wish my photos did it justice.

Of course I had to stop and take the ubiquitous photos of my kid sitting in the middle of the bluebonnets. We used a 'sitting spot' that someone else had already made. While we were shooting photos other cars stopped. One couple even took photos of their reluctant Chihuahua in the midst of the blooms. I wish I had gotten a photo of that.



I saw this white wildflower along the drive as well. It looks a bit like either a Woolly Daisy or Blackfoot Daisy, but I'm not sure.

On Saturday we decided to visit The Natural Gardener Nursery again. Of course, we had to visit the animals first. My cats would love this screened-in cat porch.

Then we had some fun in their Butterfly Garden.

Their poppies looked fantastic!

I'm going to have to put some poppies in my garden now.

This almost looked like a variegated violet. The black caterpillars loved it.

And below is another lovely mystery plant that was not marked.

We noticed a white stone with a hole in the center hanging from a string in a tree. I'm guessing it's to scare away birds. Any other ideas?

After buying some new plants and picking up another free booklet -- this time the NWF's "Gardener's Guide to Global Warming" -- we took the hint from the donkeys that our time there was at an end.