For the birds.

For years my husband didn't want me to feed the birds ,  he didn't like the mess. Well all things mellow with age even husbands.So  for the last several years , the birds have been enjoying my many feeders. When I told my husband what I wrote about him ,he said "well they are messy",with a grin, and I guess, I have to agree. : ) But that doesn't stop me from adding more feeders.
I have also been buying berry producing scrubs for my birds. I took  pictures yesterday of  the berries that are ripening .

Dwarf cranberry bush viburmum

Beach Plum

American Elderberry

Blacklace elderberry

This Arrowwood viburnum was loaded with berries until last week when the dark blue berries ripened. In one day the birds cleaned it out.When I got home from work there were only a few berries left ,a couple of birds were flitting through the bush looking for every last one. I didn't get a chance to get my camera. I really wanted a picture because I wasn't able to identify the birds.

Picked clean not a berry to be found.


I  have a Saskatoon service berry called Regent but the berries were eaten buy robins early this summer.

My dogwood (Ivory Halo ) is blooming now so there should be some berries soon. Tried to take a picture but it is too windy today.

 I wanted to show you the downy woodpecker having a drink from the hummingbird feeder.
Notice the red bellied woodpecker at the suet feeder in the background.

Oh ya, guess I've never mentioned that I also have pygmy and fainting goats.: )
Nine in all , started with two pygmys added 2 fainters ,now I have 9. Ugh! Needless to say I now have the one billy goat separated from the rest of the herd.   : )

Beginnings. Ponds

Thought I would show you some pictures of my ponds  in the beginning. I have a hill from my front porch to the  driveway , so I thought it would be a great spot for a water fall.  The  first year I just put a preformed pond that I bought from Menards at the foot of the falls.

But I just couldn't live with that itsy bitsy pond. So I spent the next summer digging out a new one  I did have someone come  with a back hoe in May and dig the holes, ( I also decided I wanted two separate ponds  with a bridge between)  anyway  I thought that once he was done I could put my liners in and they would be finished.  Unfortunately it took me till August to get the hand digging done.  Then another month to line the ponds with sand, install the liners and  to place the rocks, I had gathered.

 It was all worth it, I loved the way it turned out.

Heres some pictures this year, five years later.

It sure looks different now , and I really enjoy the sound of the water.
As an added advantage, the birds love it too.  

Planning for next August

Lately , I have been planning on what to add to my gardens in the spring. I know it's kind of early seeing we are till in the midst of summer, but it's next August I'm thinking about . There isn't much color in  my garden now, and most of the perennials are finished or on their leg. I want more color next year cause my son and his finance are  getting married August 20th,2011. They are not having the ceremony here, but I will be having the rehearsal dinner. So for that reason  I WANT MORE COLOR .

One of the annuals doing great now is  the New Guinea impatience.I want to get several more next summer in different colors.

I want to sow Zinnia seeds in the garden.The last couple of years I  started seeds in the house and they hit there peak too early. Or maybe it's just because this summer was hotter than usual. The cleome and cosmos are still looking good so , I know I can can count on them for color. If not color , I love the green of the plants,especially the cosmos.
If anyone has suggestions of late summer blooming perennials that would work in zone 4 or 5b, that would be great.

Here are more random shots from my gardens.

View from the lower pond.

This  is a Turtle Vine plant I bought at Kmart , and I just love it.

Seeing it's a house plant , I am going to try and keep it over the winter in the house.

Well, think I will tour other gardens for a while and jot down ideas.  : )

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

 Wow, my first Garden Bloggers Bloom Day This is a whole new world for me .I stumbled upon Carol's site about 2 months ago when I was searching the web for different annuals.I found Annie's Annuals and from there a link to Carol's web site. ( Note ,I just found out how to link in my text , this really is exciting )

I never knew this gardening blog world existed.When I was on the computer , I was playing Farmville ( a thing of the past now, no more time for planting virtual crops,when I can travel the world looking at the real thing). It's wonderful to tour all the gardens and you can go on forever from one link to another.

I knew I had to try this blogging thing, I have always taken pictures of my gardens, so over time I will post some "from the beginning" pictures.

Through trial and error ,I posted a few pictures last month.( If anyone has suggestions for me about blogging and how to improve my site, it would be deeply appreciated.)

For a little history about my gardens, for now I only plant flowers , shrubs or in others words nothing edible. I am very fortunate that my 83 year old dad grows ample veggies for his whole family.

So here it goes ...... here's what blooming in my garden  August 15th 2010.

 

 I have a bog garden at he foot of the pond where I have this Ligularia planted .

I bought a flat of jumbo white impatients in May and they are still look great ( if I don't forget to water them) Fortunately when I have missed  watering they have recovered .

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I started these Rubeckia ( Irish Eyes ) in the house from seed . 

The Echinacea and Rubeckia  have some blooms left .

Cleome

The lady that gave me this plant called it "the chicken coop plant "cause the 6 foot height hide the chicken coop.I did know the actual name but have since forgotten. : (

French Hollyhock (malva sylvestris ) My dad give me this plant many years ago , it reseeds and come  back faithfully every year. The only problem I 've had is, " the rabbits love it". Since my son's dog Onnie is staying with us tho,no more rabbits,so this year they are getting to be hugh plants.

Well that 's the pictures I've taken. Hope you enjoy . Now I need to link this to Carols page, thanks so much Carol for this opportunity.You can see  the really impressive gardens at Carol's site 

May Dreams Gardens.

This picture was taken earlier this summer before the leaves were all eaten.  After researching , I think it was sawfly larvae. There are absolutely no leaves left now.

                                                                                                  

Random shots from the garden this summer.

One of my favorite things to do, is buying treasures at garage sales for my garden. These are some patriotic items I found.The totem   ( only the top in the picture) was made from glass items I found.