ALMOST SPRING 2013....

 You can feel it in the air. It won't be long.
The grackles and red wing blackbirds are coming to the feeder. The daffodils are coming up. The days are getting longer.....Yup......it's coming!
 SPRING!!!!!

MIRACLE GERBER....ONE MORE TIME

This is the third Winter that I have managed to keep this plant going indoors. From what I understand that is not supposed to happen! Last Spring when I put it outside it looked barely alive but in a few short weeks little green shoots were coming up and my "miracle gerber" was back again! It bloomed many times last summer and I am just so tickled that at the end of February it is still producing it's beautiful flowers! Never try to second guess "Mother Nature". She is always full of wonderful surprises!

THE PROMISE OF SPRING.....

The daffodils are anxious to make their appearance for 2012!
Our pretty snowfall quickly disappeared by afternoon.

I put a "roof" on the bird/squirrel feeder to keep out the rain and snow.
As you can see the critters appreciated it!

OUR FIRST SNOW OF 2012.....

Well at least it warded off the snow until yesterday!
I was so happy to find the "hummer of snow shovels"
just before Christmas. It was only about an inch or so
of snow but it was topped off with a layer of ice and this
baby took care of it in now time! After the wacky weather
year we have had here in Baltimore I wanted to be prepared
for whatever Mother Nature was going to dish out!
This is the view from my workroom window. As you can see the wildlife including two foxes are frequent visitors to my
back yard. Five squirrels in particular were very happy that
I put fresh seed in the feeder this morning! Last week a
beautiful hawk was sitting on top of the feeder just biding his time until "breakfast" came along. I was amazed when a squirrel chased him away! Obviously the hawk was not very
hungry but the squirrel was and wasn't about to miss his
breakfast!





As you can see the "storm" was more ice than snow and my
solar cat light doesn't look to happy about it!

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!.....

Irene and Lee took their toll on my gardens.
I decided to transplant 24 of the big zinnia plants that were scattered all over the yard.
The sunflowers were bending over almost to the ground and the little stinker squirrels bit off every one of the heads!
I made a Fall display with my homegrown corn fodder and two of the three pumpkins from the garden.
Pansies and mums always help the gardens to stay nice until heavy frost takes it's toll.

The day I transplanted the zinnia plants it was 90 degrees! They have settled in nicely and the vegetable garden looks so much better! They were not at their peak anymore but I couldn't bear to toss them out
when the birds and bees could still enjoy them. We have had a steady parade of goldfinches, monarch
butterflies and hummingbirds who seem to love the zinnias as much as I do!

BIRDBATH GARDEN IN JULY.....

Thanks to daily watering the gardens are doing very well. I now have over 20 "clumps" of black-eyed-susans and after a few plantings of seeds the zinnias are blooming and are hands down my favorites!

Here is my new "garden buddy". He has little fear and seems to enjoy a wide variety of greens in the yard from the grasses, weeds and the leaves of some flowers and vegetables. I saw his "twin" with him yesterday. I hope the neighborhood cats who roam through our yard leave them alone!

JUNE IN THE GARDEN.....

We had zuchinni for dinner last night. Can't beat fresh from the garden! I have another volunteer sunflower which has really shot up in the last couple weeks with all the heat we had. I planted my peppers closer together than usual after I dug in a couple bags of sand. Hope they do OK.

I planted sunflowers again in the low spot after I added the potting soil from 32 pots from last years plants
and 4 or 5 bags of topsoil. I added a couple rows of three sizes of zinnias in front. The back daylily garden is in full swing and loaded with blossoms.

While in Kmart this fella jumped in my cart! He has a green solar light and I just couldn't resist!