Impractical Gardening

January

There’s 18″ on the ground, and even three days after the storm snow is still sticking to the trees.

The rhododendrons are bowed over with snow.

Tracks (squirrel?) leading toward the bird feeder (behind me as I took the pic). Also, you can maybe see the snapped branch on the lilac in the background.

Here’s a closeup of the suet cakes I made before Christmas. They’re mainly made of peanut butter, cornmeal, and lard, with pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries mixed in.

The promise of bloom to come: buds on the forsythia.

Moving inside for something green: my bay tree is doing well in the unheated, south-facing entryway.

The rosemary’s also looking healthy in the same location.

Think green thoughts…

…and plan for Spring.

Seen in our yard:

Birds

• some sort of brown sparrow so far un-IDed invasive house sparrows, bah — frequent
• black-capped chickadee — frequent
• tufted titmouse — frequent
• dark-eyed junco — frequent
• northern cardinal — frequent
• white-breasted nuthatch — frequent
• bluejay — frequent
• American robin — frequent
• mourning dove — frequent
• downy woodpecker — frequent
• northern flicker — seen a few times
• red-tailed hawk — occasional
• common grackle — they were frequent last year, but didn’t see any this past year
• red-winged blackbird — seen once (they are frequent by the nearby pond)
• carolina wren — frequent during Winter 2010
• great horned owl — we heard its mating call once, in early January 2011
• baltimore oriole — frequent in spring 2011 (arrived in early May)
• red-bellied woodpecker — once
• European starling — hordes
• American goldfinch — appeared about five days after we put out a thistle sock (April 2011), now daily visitors
• gray catbird — frequent in spring 2011 (arrived in early May)
• brown thrasher — seen once by husband, spring 2011
• house finch — these started showing up in winter 2010-11, occasional
• ruby-throated hummingbird — occasional since we put out hummingbird feeder, I’m waiting to see what happens once the honeysuckle flowers open

Butterflies
Sadly, none are frequent except for the ubiquitous non-native cabbage white that eats my kale.

• cabbage white
• clouded sulphur
• red admiral
• eastern tiger swallowtail
• pearl crescent
• eastern comma (I think) — hovering around an elm tree on May 20, 2011

Other Bugs
Loads, as yet unclassified. Honeybees, bumblebees, yellowjackets, worms, spiders….

Mammals

• squirrel
• chipmunk
• woodchuck
• coyote
• rabbit
• white-tailed deer

Reptiles and Amphibians

• common garter snake — seen a few times
• unidentified toad — once in Fall 2010

Other

It’s December, and all the leaves are gone.

No snow yet, but cold enough for December

But even in December green things are still growing…

Unknown moss

Young eastern white pine, caught in the wind

Tiny mountain laurel, planted this year

Red lowbush blueberry stems peeking out from leaf litter

The veg garden is mostly done, but the kale’s still putting on new leaves

Looking up from my back door