Now Blooming On The Patio
There has been so much rain, I do believe a few of my plants have drowned. Or their roots anyway.Â
They look sad. I’m trying to breathe life back into them.
This is what the sky often looks like these days…
Meanwhile, I hear the mockingbird out there singing up a storm. And the male cardinal. It’s full on mating season, I suppose.
Lemon grass. This particular container seems to draw the pupsters in.Â
I added two purple petunia plants to this container, and IÂ sometimes find them munching on the flowers.Â
I keep trying to surround it with things to keep them out, but they’re pretty creative.
The blooming flowers make me smile every time I go out there or stand at the patio door staring out.
I don’t think I’ve ever met a daisy I didn’t love. You can see them there in the background. I hope the pupsters don’t take to munching my daisies!
Someone asked me what the trailing plants are in a couple of photos, but I wasn’t sure which ones they were referring to.Â
The trailing plants that I currently have are vinca and creeping jenny. I also have sweet potato vines, but they’re not to the trailing stage yet.
I wonder if the cardinal couple are the same visiting couple every year? Do you know what their habit is?Â
What birds are visiting your yard or patio?
Here on the Oregon Coast, I put seed out daily for: Steller jays, robins, towhees, redwing blackbirds, goldfinches, flickers, ring-neck doves, rock pigeons, crows, assorted sparrows and finches and we have a resident family of 5 chipmunks. I also get visits from robins, starlings, and some bunnies. Occasionally we've had a Peregrine falcon and a merlin show up and, one time, a bald eagle. They are better to watch than TV!!! I enjoy reading about your garden and pupsters.
I know you mentioned before that you have no control over your ads when someone mentioned them, but it is really getting bad now. They have been putting their ads over the last 1 and 1/4 in. of every picture you post and now, they are swirling the ad over the whole photo first before going down to that 1 and 1/4 in. on some of them. Just so you know what they are doing.It is irritating but I realize you are a captive because of the income.Still, they should know that some of your readers will probably not be coming back because of their poor behavior and they will lose the perk of many, many eyes reading their ads.
Hello Ance, The same thing used to happen to me and it was very irritating. The ones on the sidebar don't bother me.I downloaded an ad blocker and it works very well. It's called Adblock Plus. It just keeps them from popping up on top of the pictures and we love to look at Brenda's pictures!
Your flowers look beautiful! I can see why they make you smile. I just planted my containers last weekend and we have had a lot of rain as well so I hope they do not drown.
I do not know anything about cardinals but I have a pair as well and I love to see them at my feeder.
I haven't planted anything yet in my containers, I should have had them ready by now but other things have kept me from it. I do see a lot of birds in our backyard. The bluebirds, cardinals and goldfinches are my favorites. We have had some very warm days but it's supposed to turn cooler for a few days with more rain.
Ahhh…look how beautiful everything looks- green and growing–rain and shine keeping company with each other to make your patio lovely. I am so anxious for some plants to bloom here. It is in the 40s today so I have hope. xo Diana
Thank you! It is Creeping Jenny. I will be visiting the nursery for some soon. You have inspired me to plant in large containers and they are doing well.
My neighborhood birds include robins, mockingbirds, blackbirds, cardinals, doves, sparrows and a large red tail hawk.
I love it when all the flowers start to bloom and the birds sing. Gorgeous.
Your garden is looking lovely.
I love this time of year when every morning I see some new color in the garden.
I can't believe the pupsters are eating the petunias! My dogs have never eaten any of my flowers – the only time they munch anything outside is when they eat grass, and then throw up immediately after. I read that there's a type of grass they eat on purpose to induce vomiting when they don't feel well, so I guess that's what they are doing. I have all my usual winter birds plus the addition of the brown headed cowbird and his mate, the red winged blackbirds, the robins who are bouncing around the back garden and nesting in the shrubs at the rear of the house, and a pair of flickers I see eating bugs in the back garden also. Oh, and the turkeys, of course! The finches are getting so colorful now, they are gorgeous!
I've got young cardinals visiting my feeders and they are so cute. I see Dad once in awhile. Roses are blooming finally.
You will miss those spring rains this summer when it is hot and the wind is sweeping down the plains!
Everything is so lush and colorful. I love your cozy gardens.
We've got cardinals, titmouse, chickadee, bluebird, woodpecker, nuthatch, starlings, crows, ravens, red tail hawks, cooper hawks, junco, sparrows, purple finch, and a few cantankerous squirrels.
Your flowers look so pretty. I haven't planted any flowers because rabbits or deer ate my tulips and I haven't decided how to deal with that threat yet. Don't want to see more flowers eaten. I just remembered that I do have a tiny shady spot where I planted a couple of ferns, some Jacob's Ladder, and a white violet, and they all came up. As for birds, we've spotted mourning doves, cardinals, pileated woodpeckers, robins and blue jays. This is all thanks to a woodsy patch in the neighbor's back yard, because our yard is pretty bare. We have planted some dogwoods and a redbud but they are pretty small.
Your cardinal is beautiful! I don't see them around here. We have several birds that seem to come back year after year. A pair of tiny birds, who got quite upset when we enclosed our front porch, where they used to nest in the rafters. They found another spot nearby, however, and will hop around, always about 3 feet away, quite close, but maintaining that distance. They go "cheep, cheep, cheep," which my kid imitates quite accurately. And another bird likes to perch right at the point of the roof and sing. Really sing, like arias. Sometimes it starts at sunrise, which is a very pleasant way to wake up.
It is so great that you are able to enjoy nature and gardening while living in an apartment. And isn't it nicer to have containers with plants you love than to have an expanse of grass that offers little to birds and insects?