Facebook
X (Twitter)
Reddit
Pinterest
Tumblr
Delicious
LinkedIn
StumbleUpon
Posts Tagged: morning
Who Tie-Dyed This Flower?
Did someone come in the middle of night and tie-dye this flower? No, just Mother Nature showing us some tri-colors: combining a brilliant blue,...
The dwarf morning glory, Convolvulus tricolor, putting on a show. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A fly takes a liking to the dwarf morning glory, Convolvulus tricolor. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
How a Praying Mantis Seizes the Day
If you're a praying mantis, it's important to start the day out right by meditating, praying, and exercising. Close your eyes and...
A female Stagmomantis limbata nymph starts the day by hanging upside down: keeps the blood flowing and the heart pumping. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Balance training? Turn parallel as if you're on the parallel bars. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Stretching is a great way to kick-start your day. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Lunges are good to make sure your coxa, trochanter, femur, tibia and tarsa are flexible. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Daily morning exercise completed. Now turn upright and you may see a bee coming your way. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Good Morning to You
Cool, sunny spring mornings bring a visual and aural symphony to my neighborhood. Just the other day, I saw and heard this variety of fine-feathered friends in and around our yard:
- Harsh, assertive yet beautiful scrub jays. I can usually find my cat by following the yelling scrub jays.
- Twitchy, flighty but amazingly versatile mockingbirds. We have the world’s loneliest mockingbird in our area. He goes through his repertoire of songs 24/7, in hopes of finding a mate. Alas, no luck yet.
- Lovely, perfectly named mourning doves, always in a pair. Their coordinated flights are graceful yet pensive.
- Pert and perky finches and sparrows, arguing over a cache of ants or seeds.
- Chatty, glossy black and super smart crows and ravens. They do sky-high battle with the owls and hawks. Quite a sight.
- Acrobatic nuthatches, defying gravity by turning sideways and upside down on vertical surfaces as they forage.
- Hummingbirds of all kinds, glittering in the sun while they forage at the salvias. I have had hummers stop by the business end of my hose, just 2 feet away from my hand, as I water out back. What a gift! Stunning little creatures.
- Hawks, mostly red-taileds, riding the thermals and screaming their primeval cries. They often cruise by our chicken run, always hopeful of a quick fly-thru meal.
- California quail — lots of quail — sending out a sentinel, then the covey emerging, crossing the street and setting up shop in the shrubs. There’s a daily commute, across our street in the morning, then a return trip around dusk.
I am not a birder, but I sure do enjoy watching the local winged wonders. What about your yard? If it’s devoid of chirps and screeches, perhaps you need to put in some bird-friendly landscaping. This guide offers plenty of suggestions to get you started, if you’re closer to the Bay. Here’s another that is more specific to the Sacramento Valley.
I know birds can be voracious pests to backyard gardeners, especially if you’re growing fruits or nuts. Heck, we had to build Fort Knox-like frames of bird netting for our raised beds in order to protect our tomatoes. This publication is full of good ideas to keep the birds away from your future harvest.
Noisy scrub jays thrive throughout California. They can be aggressive pests, but are lovely to look at. (photo by Jack Kelly Clark, UC Statewide IPM Program)
Rufous hummingbird visiting a 'Lipstick' sage. (photo by Jennifer Baumbach)
Confessions of a Master Gardener
I hate to admit that I am a Master Gardener. People expect me to do everything the right way. You know, to actually follow all those helpful hints you read in books, magazines and garden blogs. Well, don’t tell anyone, but the reality is that I am human. And, I don’t always follow advice - even my own. And yeah, I make mistakes. These next few blogs are the confession of a so-called Master Gardener. Honestly, way too many to contain in a single blog.
I still buy plants on impulse! Just because I like the color of the flowers, without the faintest idea where it will go in my garden, or how to make it grow. And shhhh – I’ve often killed many of those plants. Then there are the plants I can’t seem to get rid of. For example, once I carelessly sprinkled Morning Glory seeds (Ipomoea tricolor) in my backyard. No big deal right? After all they are annuals. They’ll die back in the fall. I had gotten seeds from a friend, who stored them inside an old mason jar. I have always loved Morning Glory because they remind me of my Grandmother in Japan. Her name was Hatsue, but everyone called her Obachan (Grandma). One day, I just carelessly sprinkled all the seeds along the fence. I planned to hang string for the vines to climb upon, once they sprouted. Boy, did I underestimate the tenacity of those itty bitty round seeds.
Year after year, they spout, grow and then manage take over the entire backyard. They will crawl along the ground, climb on the fence, and wrap around bushes and the tree. If I don’t start pulling the sprouts early in spring, my yard will be completely covered by summer. Then as to grandstand the fact they have won, they start to bloom. They seem to mock my every effort to contain them. I do manage to hack them into some kind of submission each year, and then clearing them out in the winter. So here’s a warning to Morning Glory lovers, they can become a highly evasive plant mostly because they reseed themselves. But in the right location, they are very beautiful and provide flowers every morning from early spring until late fall. Every fall, I pull and remove the old vines and sweep up the pods, but I haven’t managed to remove the Morning Glories completely.
But to be honest, I don’t have the heart to completely get rid of the Morning Glory because there is a part of me that loves it when they bloom. Each spring when I see the first tenacious deep purple flowers, it reminds me of Obachan. She was a gentle and quietly stubborn woman, who always managed to get her way - much like these vines. Perhaps Obachan’s sprit has something to do with these flowers coming back year after year. She’s using them to remind me of my Japanese roots and to make sure that I wouldn’t forget her. It appears that the lesson learned from my gardening mistakes don’t necessarily yield only practical knowledge, sometimes they provides lesson for the heart, too.
Ready for the Day
Insects are cold-blooded so their temperature coincides with their environment. Before the sun rises, they lie ever so still. As the sun warms them,...
Aphid in early morning sun
Soldier Beetle
Quick Turn
Upside Down
