… and other doings this last weekend in April.
I’m no goose expert. But I think that what we have going on here is a couple of young geese who fly in to the beaver pond daily and honk in hopes of attracting a female. They play king of the hill on the beaver lodge. But so far, no domestic activities that I can see. The prime territory (and the big loud goose fights) are to be had out in the main body of the wetland to our west.
The marsh marigolds (Caltha palustris) are probably at peak. Here are two views below the beaver dam.
The reddish blotches are leftovers from ferns from last year.
Hank mentioned that — based on the pix I’ve been posting — that my garden must be looking good. Well the past couple weeks are the time of the year when they really look like crap, or more kindly they’re going through that awkward phase where you have to get down on your knees and look very closely to find the beauty. But I am to the point where I’m starting to step back a little, with this image of a variegated albutilon friends sent as a get well greeting for Elly and containers waiting to be filled with tropicals in the coming weeks.
Alchemilla mollis is back. Dew on lady’s mantle is pretty trite as images go, I know. But I’ll keep shooting it until I get it right.
One of those fancy primulas nearly in full flower.
That may be a trite image, but I never seem to tire of looking at the little beads of water on the soft lady’s mantle leaves. (And I never tire of taking them, either, based on my pic files. lol.)
That abutilon of Elly’s is absolutely stunning. Sorry to hear that Elly hasn’t been feeling up to snuff, but I hope that beautiful flowering maple raised her spirits a bit.
In all that beauty, what catches my eye? The blue bottle tree. What is the base and can you tell me how to make one? While my husband (and the neighbors) would probably be horrified, I think my garden NEEDS one. And making it would give me an excuse to drink more wine.
Hi different Kim:
The base is one of the lower branches off the Norway spruce in the background. (It was blocking the view of the wetland beyond.) I drill holes in it and insert dowels or short lengths from broken plastic-covered stakes. Traditionall, the bottles should be suspended upside down to catch the bad spirits rising up from the ground. So I guess I miss a few. In addition to wine bottles I’ve got some old Arizona ginseng iced tea bottles (I think they discontinued the blue bottles) and Skyy vodka. I like variety.
Be aware: Even though my tree is in the backyard, I’ve had folks say when I describe where I live say to me, ‘Oh that’s the house with the blue bottles.’