After a day like today, I ask myself how can anyone not love to spend a day in the garden. There are so many wonders to behold if we just take the time to look and listen.
We started the day hearing the woodpecker, as he does every morning, working away on the utility pole.
The sweet warbling type sound the pair of blue birds make as they work on and guard their nest is so sweet.
That's a gorgeous picture! You should submit it in the photo contest this year!
I was surprised to see this little turtle in the flower bed. On occasion we have lots of huge turtles at our stock pond but I've never seen one of these little guys before.
Those are adorable Glenna.
I rushed into the house to get the camera when I saw the turtle. I had been mowing and had worried that I would disturb the blue birds because the nestbox is just a few feet around the corner of the house from the back yard. I looked out the window before going out with the camera and there sat a blue bird on my lawn mower handle! I was in such a hurry to take the picture through the double pane of glass, it didn't come out too clear and I'm not positive whether this was the male or female blue bird. Guess the noise didn't bother them at all. LOL.
And then we had a nice refreshing shower of rain. I sat a while and gave thanks that I'm able to live in peace and safety, that my home is not flooded or blown away, and that the hard part of overhauling our back yard is almost complete. Have been working on this for over a year. I have laid every stone myself and have about 5 feet of flagstone path yet to complete and a little leveling on the side of the dry creek/drainage swale and the hard part will be DONE. And I can still walk. LOL. Hallelujah !! Quite a bit of planting yet to do but that's the fun part, isn't it?
Happy Gardening.
It looks beautiful Glenna!!! Great Job!!
That is an awesome hardscape...and no injuries too! I would love that look in my garden.
Thanks. Got a ways to go as far as pots and solar lights, etc., but I do feel I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. And it has solved our drainage problem, which is one of the best things about it.
Lovely rocks, what a nice restful environment you created.
C
Your little garden area looks so peaceful, especially after the rain. Great job!!
That is beautiful, Glenna. And doing it all yourself gives such a feeling of accomplishment. Your bluebird is beautiful. It's on the handle of the lawnmower probably wondering when you're going to start it up again and mess up some bugs out of the lawn for it to feast on.
Carla
Glenna, you have done a beautiful job......I wish we were close enough to trade out some skills.......I grow tall bearded iris and water gardens in the woods
Thanks, all.
Sharondippity, your water garden in the woods is beautiful. Had seen where you posted photo of pond iris somewhere, I believe, and have that on my "hope to do in the future" list. We have a stock pond that is in view of our front porch that I have wanted to do something with. Would have to do a test to see if llamas eat irises, though, because when the weather gets hot, our two llamas wade into the pond.
cocoa-lulu, yes, that flag stone sure causes some aches and pains! Don't know how long it is going to take my right hand and knee to recover from this. I keep telling DH I hope we don't have trouble walking across this with our "walkers" one of these days. He says we'll get walkers with wheels on them. LOL.
I've decided to try to document all the wildlife in our gardens.
Two frogs greet me every morning at the back door. I guess they're catching flying insects drawn to the light.
It looks like this squirrel is a Momma or about to be. She managed to climb the post to the bird feeder this morning. Got to put a squirrel baffle on shopping list.
The Honeymooners.
Careful starting a colony of squirrels...they can damage a bunch of potted plants in no time.
Love the results of all the hard work Glenna. It is so good when a project is almost done. Trouble is you start adding to the never ending list. LOL!
Well, the squirrel population has decreased tremendously in the last few years. But they don't do the damage the rabbits do.
Speaking of rabbits, they came out this afternoon to have their picture taken. The weird thing about these cottontail rabbits is they are not afraid of me !! Just run right up to 3 feet away from me. They were a little spooked today by the Cooper's Hawk. Maybe they thought it would be better to be close to a human.
This one likes the wine cups, I think.
I like the wine cups too....and what I think is green milkweed in the left of that picture.
This Cooper's Hawk, I think, is what started the rabbit stampede this afternoon.
Then the crows ran the hawk off. That surprised me.
Yes, Sheila, there's dozens of those milkweeds. We quit mowing them down once we got interested in butterflies. I have checked them over and over and never see any BF eggs or signs of activity, though.
Not any on a single MW plant this year at my house. I am so sad, hope they make a rebound from all of the cutting of their habitat and the wildfires in TX, tornadoes and who knows what else they have encountered.
I seen the the crows chase off red tailed hawks as well, they create such a ruckus when they are in the neighborhood. It amazes me, they could so easily 'take out' one of the crows and choose not to. You got such a great pic of the Cooper's hawk!
I saw a huge stand of antelope horn in a ditch into town. Surprised me, I think of them being a west Texas flower. Tho, I have seen one or two in the pastures over the years. The good news I don't expect the county to mow that area anytime soon.
Some of my pics are still not coming out quite as clear as I would like with the new camera. Still have a lot to learn about the new camera and lens. All I'd ever used before was a point-and-shoot camera.
Oh, Glenna, it's beautiful!
