Gardens through the seasons

3 Jan '07 4:19 am

Love the piccies, Faith; I, too, can envision a stunning view of your rose berm in the future - what you have described sounds heavenly; do these roses have a strong scent? If so it would make sitting on the bench even more of a soothing place to be.

Your horses are wonderful too - do you show them or compete with them, or simply have them for your own pleasurable riding?

3 Jan '07 4:27 am

Your new photos are stunning, too, dear Faith! I mostly love the adorable, beautiful horses and the birds! But all the photos are magnificent, artistically I mean...I am really happy for you!

3 Jan '07 4:45 am

Your home looks so peaceful ,Faith .I agree about leaving the pond (marsh) as it would be home to lots of tiny creatures in the cycle of life.
We do not have cranes here ,but we have little blue herons living on our place .They come and stand on the edge of the cattle troughs for a drink.They are usually in pairs .It always surprises me that such an elegant bird can have such a harsh 'Caw Caw 'call .
I do like your pots of pansies .Very welcoming beside the steps.
Dixie.

3 Jan '07 4:54 am

Wow! You two are fast. Thanks dear Liza and Bambi for your nice comments. To Bambi, yes both the roses I mentioned have strong fragrance. I always like to choose roses that have fragrance. This whole new berm will have all orange, peach and yellow toned roses because I am doing it sort of in honor of my mother, who loves orange roses. The larger (and first) berm was done in memory of my dad, who passed away in 2003. He loved roses and he was a minister, so I chose roses whose names reflected more spiritual things. Roses such as Spirit Abundance, Amazing Grace, Songs of Praise, Morning Has Broken, Winchester Cathedral, etc. However, I also included lots of others just because of their color or fragrance. Knockout, Mary Rose, Livin Easy, Betty Prior, Sharifa Asma, Everest Double Fragrance, Double Delight and Magnificient Perfume.

Some of the other roses I have chosen for the new berm are Rosemary Harkness, Welsh Gold, Orange Waves, Memories, Crocus Rose, Graham Thomas, Jude The Obscure, and Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

3 Jan '07 5:00 am

Oops, in my enthusiasm about the roses, I forgot to answer Bambi's question about the horses.

Now they are just big pets. I used to ride when I had them borded at a barn where there were other people to ride with. Hardly ever get the time to ride them anymore. Actually, the mare, Lady is the only one we ever used for showing. She was trained as a western barrel horse by my daughter, Jessica. That's a sport where there are three barrels set out in a triangular pattern and the rider and horse speed through the pattern, circling each barrel and returning to the starting gate as fast as possible. Not my kind of thing for sure.

Faith

6 Jan '07 2:17 am

Hi all,

I had the most amazing experience yesterday and I can't wait to share it with all of you.

I discovered in early November that I had a hummingbird still visiting the flowers in my garden. Here the normal season for hummingbirds is March through September and we typically get Ruby Throated Hummers; so I was surprised to see this little bird. I immediately re-hung one of my feeders and began to keep it filled with sugar water. In early December we had some very cold nights where the sugar water froze in the feeder. I brought it inside and thawed it under warm water and re-hung the feeder with a prayer that the little hummingbird had somehow survived this cold spell.

The first time I spotted him again after this episode gave me great pleasure; so I continued to protect the feeder from freezing and to re-fill the solution every few days.

I had read an article in our local County newspaper back in August about a group who is licensed to band hummingbirds for study. Included in the article was the name and phone number of a person to contact in case you had a hummingbird later than November 9. I had conveniently saved that article; so right before the Christmas holidays I called the number and left a message. I received a call back the next day and was told they would be very interested in visiting my garden and attempting to capture and band the bird (with my permission). I agreed and we tentatively set a time for them to come between Christmas and New Years.

I was excited about the prospect of this happening during the week when my husband and daughter would both be here to witness the event; however, we never heard from the group during that week. I figured they just got really busy and my little bird wasn't such a big deal.

Well, to my surprise, yesterday morning I had a call from the man with the hummingbird study group asking if he could come right then. I told him it was okay with me and that I had seen the bird as late as the day before. He arrived within the hour and quickly set up his equipment. I was afraid it might take him several hours to trap this little speeding bullet; if it was even still around. Within fifteen minutes of setting up his equipment; he was knocking on my door to tell me he had caught the bird. Excitedly I went outside with him to watch as he did his work. He told me it was an immature male Rufous hummingbird and that he was exceeding healthy. He took measurements; weighed the bird (commenting that he was very heavy with lots of good body fat); pointed out his stage of molt, the changes that were occurring with his plumage and what he would look like in a few short weeks; asked my permission to take a couple of his tail feathers (which he would be losing very soon anyway); photographed him; allowed him to take a long drink of sugar water and then ------------ he asked me to hold out my left hand! To my delight, he placed this tiny creature in the palm of my hand and demonstrated how to hold him in place with my left hand. As I held the bird, he took several photographs and then told me that he was going to count to three and then I should slowly remove my left hand to see if he would sit in my hand for one more shot. When I moved my hand, he sat placidly on my palm for two more photographs before suddenly flitting off to his favorite pine tree.

The most amazing thing I have ever experienced with nature!!
(Of course, not counting the birth of my own children.)

He promised to send me copies of the photos and the report he would be submitting. I will share the photos when they arrive.

What a wonderful way to begin the new year!

6 Jan '07 2:34 am

Faith, my love! What an amazing, blessed experience!! How I would love to read such stories everyday!! I followed your vivid, descriptive narrative, like in a film! Please, post the photos the soonest possible! We could , thus, be blessed a little bit, all of us!...

6 Jan '07 3:16 am

Oh, what a delightful and humbling thing, I am so happy for you to have experienced it! You are truly blessed that this little creature chose to make its home in your garden, and that it trusted you to hold it without restraint! Thank you for sharing with us, Faith. Very Happy

6 Jan '07 12:55 pm

That's absolutely wonderful. I'm looking forward to seeing the photos. Smile

6 Jan '07 5:10 pm

Hi, Faith!

I really liked your pictures! I especially liked the gate with the roof over it. If it works (I'm still getting used to uploading images, like you), here's a picture of a similar gate that I have.

-gordonf Smile

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