Kaseys Korner

breakfast companion

Just as we were sitting down for breakfast, the quick flitting of a small bird caught my eye out the dining room window.  I knew it wasn't the usual sparrow or finch we've had an abundance of lately ~ his behavior gave him away.  Also, instead of perching and dining on the black oil sunflower feeder, this bird would fly in swiftly, snatch a seed, then take off to crack & eat it someplace else.  Once I was able to get a good look at him, I realized it was a Mountain Chickadee ~ our first for this fall/winter season:

We don't normally see Chickadees in our yard during the summer months so his presence is definitely an indicator of the season.  More often we have the Black-capped Chickadees instead of the Mountain Chickadee that's pictured.  The latter can be distinguished by the white "eyebrow" versus the solid black head of the Black-Capped Chickadee.  It wasn't so easy to snap a photo because of his quick movements but luckily I got a few.  Maybe I'll have more chances over the next few months?  Ever so often he would fore-go the feeder to sample the contents of holes in the Aspen tree:

 

I'm not sure what he found in them, but it's good he's cleaning them out for me.  As quickly as he arrived, he was gone

and we were left to breakfast with the sparrows.  Oh well, that's what we were anticipating ~ he was the unexpected treat for the day.  Hopefully it won't be our last meal together.

Happy Veteran's Day

Just poppin' in to say "Happy Veteran's Day" and thank you to all the Veteran's for putting everything on the line to ensure our freedom.  We would not be the same country without you. I'm not sure one day is enough for that debt?

Photo from this AM ~ playing cat and mouse with the Blue Jays again....they're still getting the best of me.

a slow comeback

I first want to say thank you to everyone for the well wishes & messages you sent my daughter.  They are so uplifting and comforting to read.  I think it's going to be a slow road back to "normal" but after one week at home I'm feeling more confident that we'll get there.  The biggest thing seems to be exhaustion at this point.  It's been a long time since she's napped twice a day so I hover and get nothing done!  If only I'd had a crystal ball in June, I wouldn't have ordered all those bulbs.  and then there's the garden ~ it's waiting patiently for me to put it to "bed."  It will happen, just at a different pace this year.  Remember that snow photo I showed you two posts ago??  The next morning (same day my daughter was admitted to the hospital) it looked like this outside my kitchen window:

Does that look like a fall scene to you??  Well, maybe ~ because there's still green foliage on the rose bushes BUT not anymore.  We set a new record low that night ~ 16 degrees.  Whew.  Pretty frigid, right?  As you can imagine everything is brown as a result.  So many trees and shrubs never even changed color ~ they went straight to brown (from green).  I've never seen that happen before.  Also, my poor fish ~ I didn't have a chance to "winterize" the pond or get the stock tank heater installed.  All the water plants froze which makes me wonder if they'll come back next year or not??

I did manage to get outside last week long enough to trim back the foliage and sink the pots to the bottom of the pond.  (I'm trying to be optimistic that they'll pull thru the freeze because they were expensive!)  I also cleaned out the water hyacinths and decaying oak leaves.  The heater still needs to be connected and I need to construct a screen to keep out the remaining oak leaves.  Another reason I needed that crystal ball I guess ~ maybe this wasn't the year to learn about ponds??  If I weren't so distracted, I know I'd be putting more effort into figuring out what I really need to do to keep the pond going over the winter.  Oh well.  That's a curve ball of life, isn't it?  I was also worried that I was holding up the "Gardening by Letter" project I signed up for ~ organized by Anna (flowergardengirl blog).  Our cards are usually due to her by the 20th of each month.  I missed that date but had fun making up for it one cold afternoon.  I thought you might like to see the results (hopefully that's okay to share?):

You probably remember the fall wheelbarrow arrangement??  Good thing I took pictures right after I fixed it because the only spot of color left now is the pumpkin (which is a bit mushy).  Here are a few close-ups of the card just for fun:

and one more with the cute butterfly button:

 

Some of the supplies are older (like the button) but it's fun to pull them out and breathe new life in them.  I enjoyed myself so much that day that I even created a special packet for the hollyhock seeds I'm sending along with the card:

I hope Ann likes the color pink?!

I know it did me good to get my mind off the serious situation my daughter has endured.  I also hope your fall garden has a lot more color in it then mine?  It was an abrupt end to the season for us.  Darn it.  In some ways it doesn't surprise me since we've had a strange weather year all the way around ~  why stop now, right?!!!  Here's hoping next season will be a little more "normal."

fall surprises

I made a few discoveries yesterday while I was on my hands & knees planting bulbs.  It taught me a lesson too.  I always think I know what's going on in my garden but crawling around at ground level definitely proved me wrong.  The first, very exciting surprise was finding a Lycoris radiata bulb in bloom!  It was actually past its peak too so it had opened a while ago:

Oh boy, oh boy.  How amazing is that?  I was mad at myself last fall for spending money on the bulbs (I recklessly placed an order after seeing photos of them in bloom on other blogs).  What I didn't realize at that time is that they are only hardy to zone 7 or 8 ~ I learned that after planting.  Basically I wrote them off as money wasted (& lectured myself to pay more attention in the future).  Because of the hardiness zones (I'm in zone 5) I hadn't even bothered to look for blooms.  We had an unusually mild winter last year which must explain how this one survived?  However it happened, it was QUITE a thrill for me to find it blooming.

A funny story ~ my neighbor happened to walk by when I was photographing them and wanted to know what I was doing.  When I said I was taking pictures of "naked ladies," he got pretty excited.  His enthusiasm cooled when I pointed out the red blooms ~ I guess they weren't exactly what he had in mind!  tee hee.  I'm hoping to get some better photos today ~ I was so excited to find them yesterday that I grabbed the camera and snapped away despite the glare of full sun. 

Something else interesting was finding a bud on one of the Primula denticulata plants (drumstick primula):

 

I planted three of these primulas earlier in the summer but never expected them to try and bloom this year.  I was looking forward to a spring display but we'll see what happens with this bud.  Low temperatures over the weekend are expected to be in the mid to lower 20's.  I don't know if it can withstand that or not?  Maybe I should cover it?

This little guy better find a sheltered spot to weather out the cold front too:

 

because look what it's doing this AM:

Yes, that's SNOW.  Can you believe it??  I keep hoping I'm having a bad dream but it's not going away.  A fall surprise I'd rather not have...

fall makeover

Poor vintage wheelbarrow.  It's glory days of summer are over.  I knew the time was coming (although no matter when it happened, it would be too soon for me).  Let's look backwards (one more time) so we can "ooh" and "aah" over it in its "prime:"

Wasn't that just beautiful?  It hurts my heart (slight over-exaggeration) just looking at it.

But seriously, it was very sad when I looked out the window yesterday morning to see this:

Boo hoo.  There was no way I could leave it looking like that.  Too, too hard to see.  Replacements were sought:

and replanting began:

Wait, wait, wait.  Something was wrong.  The new arrangement was not coming together to my liking.  It took some standing back, a few "walk-arounds," and an hours rest until I figured out what the problem was ~  the small mums were not to scale.  Very important, scale.  Let's try again and let's also move it around to the front flagstone patio where it can show off properly:

Aaahhhh, SO much better.  Now I don't feel quite so bad about losing my summer plantings.   The sting of dead zinnias has been soothed.  We have moved forward into the season. 

Let's hope we can enjoy it for a while without winter creeping into the picture too early....

the back patio

features a whole line-up of containers, the most noteworthy of those being the "birdhouse" container.  I know I showed it to you earlier in the season (and I've showed you "parts" or macro shots since) but I thought you might like to see it once more before the frost gets it? 

It's the same as many of my other containers, pretty much devoid of impact.  Next year I seriously have to plan better.  Clematis 'Josephine' is in this container and I've decided I need to wrap some wire/netting around the post for her to climb on.  Originally I stapled some of the vines onto the post & birdhouse but those vines all died.  Another method needed to be adopted.  'Josephine' is starting over now and has one (almost open) bud on it.  At this point, I've just let her run amuck among the rest of the foliage in the container.  Other plants in the container include (1) Gardenia (back of the container), (1) Dahlia 'Bonne Esperance,' (1) sweet potato vine 'Blackie,' several Pink snapdragons & (2) White tuberoses (not currently in bloom).  Here's a look at the entire line up staggered along my fence line:

That just looks like a big green mass, doesn't it?  Let's take a look from a different angle:

Aaahh, that's better.  Now you can see actual pots.  From left to right, 'Black & Blue' Salvia container, 'Lemon Star' Thunbergia obelisk container, Veronicastrum container, Agapanthus 'Peter Pan' (in small pot), the featured "Birdhouse" Container, a 2nd Agapanthus 'Peter Pan' container and the "New Zealand Flax" container (shown individually in an earlier post).  Next year I want to do something with this fence to make my back patio more private.  I'm thinking of a stone/rock wall ~ maybe with a fireplace in the middle (that last part could be just wishful thinking)??  but that is a project to be pondered over the long winter months. Oh, one more photo before I close, the 'Lemon Star' thunbergia container just because my cute doggie is in it:

I've had this container planted similarly before and the thunbergia grew so full and thick you couldn't see the metal of the obelisk thru the foliage.  As you can see, not so this year.  Another "casualty" of our cool, wet summer.

PS  A big thank you for all the encouragement about the blog.  I will keep you posted about my decision.  Maybe I just need to discipline myself and apply limits to computer time so that the rest of my life isn't getting derailed?

Tachinid Flies

As with so many other creatures/plants, I didn't know anything about Tachinid Flies until I started gardening.  Funny how this hobby is so eye-opening to nature, isn't it?  Last year, I had the opportunity to photograph my first one and I don't think I shared the photos?  (I can't remember for certain tho?)  I put it on my list of future blog topics but still never got around to posting about them.  Yesterday, while photographing the fall arbor decorations, I had my first sighting this season.  Of course, I jumped on the opportunity to snag a few more photos and decided not to wait this time to share them with you.  Below you'll see the fly sharing a 'Honeycomb' Buddleia bloom with a honeybee:

Whenever I've spotted these flies in my garden, they've been quite large (about 1/2" to 1") ~ distinctly bigger than your common housefly ~ and the stiff abdominal bristles are a dead giveaway as to their identity.  You can see those bristles clearly in the photo below:

Tachinid flies are parasitic, laying their eggs on a host (by various methods), eventually destroying the host and emerging during the pupa stage of the hosts life.  You can read more about them in the highlighted link provided above.  I won't even attempt to capsulize the information.  It is very interesting tho and worth a read.  They seem to like Buddleias as last years capture was on 'Davidii.' 

'Honeycomb' is the perfect photographic backdrop for them, don't you think? 

A footnote:  Just to let you know, I've been thinking about abandoning this blog.  I've never really gotten that much traffic (except for google who has taken every single photo I've ever posted ~ anyone else have that happen?) and it makes me spend way too much time sitting in front of the computer (I'm sure you know the feeling).  I may or may not give up blogging altogether, but if I decide to continue I'll definitely be moving to a free forum so that I don't feel guilty when I am not posting regularly.  I will notify you of my decision before it occurs tho so you aren't caught off guard or wondering what happened to me.

some decisions are just good

I know you know what I mean.  One of those good decisions in my garden is electing to put an arbor over my side gate ~  remember I did that this spring?  Even tho the Sweet Autumn Clematis and Akebia vines never really took off (planted on either side of the arbor) look what a showcase it's turned out to be for fall:

We're having a Halloween party (for my daughters friends)in the back garden and this will be the perfect entrance.  btw, those pretty purple flowers protruding into the left side of the photo are Tibouchina blooms! Nice that they are still flowering, huh?  Here's a closer view of the cute little jack o'lantern lights dangling from the top of the arbor:

What Halloween/Fall scene would be complete without a black cat?  None at our house (or that I know of)!  Although this black cat is only outside when I am there to watch him:

Hello sweet boy!  I think he approves!  Now you know why I haven't been blogging ~ I'm still decorating.  :-) 

Magnolia 'Jane' & a snail

I need your help this morning.  I've been looking at my Magnolia 'Jane' thru the kitchen window the last few dreary days, and thinking to myself, "it doesn't look good."   Look at this photo taken today and notice how bare the branches are:

You may remember that I purchased this magnolia last year and never got around to planting it.  It overwintered in the nursery pot until I finally put it in the ground this spring.  At first, everything seemed fine.  It even put out a few beautiful pink blossoms.  Sometime over the summer tho, a change occurred (I don't remember when exactly) and she started looking a bit stressed and lost most of her leaves.  (Even tho I complained about a lack of heat, I think it was a great summer for planting shrubs and trees ~ there was certainly abundant moisture which isn't always the case). When I inspected 'Jane' up close this morning, I was surprised to find new growth/buds (??) along all her branches:

I guess I'm never satisfied because although I should be thrilled to find out she's not dead, I am now worrying whether this is a good thing late in the season as it is???  Anyone out there that grows 'Jane' know the answer?  If we get a killing frost anytime soon, I hope it doesn't permanently set her back.  Until I found out about 'Jane' I never dreamed I could grow a magnolia in this climate/zone.  Now that I've discovered her, I definitely don't want to lose her. 

On a different subject entirely, look what was crawling across my driveway this morning (as I was leaving to take my daughter to school):

A snail!  Woo hoo.  He was headed in the direction of my little pond.  I've never seen a snail in my yard before so I don't know where he came from but I'm thinking my tiny water habitat drew him in???  I helped him along by moving him nearer to his destination and out of harms way.  We'll see if he sticks around now.

it's a berry delicious

time in the garden for both the birds and me.  The viburnums (unknown variety) produced an abundance of berries this year:

in contrast to last year.  The branches are literally bent over from the weight of the profuse crop.  One of the benefactors of the bounty are the Robins who are harvesting the berries & gorging themselves almost to the point of not being able to fly:

Is there such a thing as getting "drunk" from too much berry consumption??  If there is, it's definitely happening in my yard.  They feast, drink then leave purple berry stains on everything.  It's good tho and makes me happy to see my yard offering sustenance to the feathered friends I enjoy watching year round.  While they are consuming the viburnum berries on the north side of the yard, I am busy picking raspberries on the south side ~ I think they're at the peak of their production right now:

 

Too bad my niece isn't here now to help me harvest them ~ she's always had a penchant for them and faithfully checked the patch every day while she was here.  Unfortunately it was just a touch early.  I guess I'll have to eat them all myself ~ hardship of hardships....

Something else delicious but not of the berry sort, is this 'Apple Blossom' dahlia:

 

Isn't it the most divine dahlia ever?  I am enthralled with the pale pink & yellow combination.  I saw a picture of it last year on the Internet and knew I had to have one.  So I ordered myself (and my Mom) one from Swan Island Dahlias.  It's taken all summer for it to develop a couple buds (thank you cool wet weather) but now the first bud has opened and it's every bit as beautiful as I remembered.  Needless to say, I will be overwintering this tuber!  Speaking of my Mom, she arrives today (for the weekend) so I will be away from my blog until Monday.  See you then and have a good one.