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Tuesday, January 31, 2006

A Gardener's Notebook 002 - January 30, 2006

This week I talk about trellises, tree trimming and more.

I am always interested in what is happening in your garden. Send you questions, comments, photographs, MP3 audio comments, etc to agn@welchwrite.com or post them as comments on the web site and they might find their way into a future show.

Listen to Episode 2


Link: Subscribe to AGN via iTunes
Link: Subscribe to AGN via other podcasting software
Link: AGN photos on Flickr.com
Link: A Gardener's Notebook Blog
Link: Original weekly AGN Columns

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Monday, January 30, 2006

Event: Great Backyard Bird Count Bird Walks

My good friend, Keri Dearborn, writes...

Have you ever wanted to be a field biologist?

If you are between 5 and 95, The Great Backyard Bird Count is your chance.

Feb. 17 - 20, across all of North America citizen scientists, like you, will be counting birds to establish how many birds there are and where they are located. You can participate on your own through www.birdsource.org/gbbc

or you can come out and join me. I will be counting birds:

Friday, 2/17; 3:30 - 5:30 PM at Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Refuge
This is one of the best local wetlands for seeing a wide range of birds. There will be lots to see so we will need lots of eyes.


Saturday, 2/18; 8:00 - 10:00 AM at the L.A. Zoo
This is a Bird Walk through the Zoo before it is open to the public. This event is free to all Zoo members by reservation. It is a great opportunity to see birds and the Zoo in the quiet of the morning. For reservations send your name, membership #, and the number of people in your party to lstoneman@lazoo.org.

Sunday, 2/19; 8:00 - 10:00 AM at Serrania Park in Woodland Hills
This is a great place for beginners. The park is small and the birds are many. I saw 22 species there this afternoon; including Northern flickers, cedar waxwings, and thrashers.


This is a chance to contribute to science, have a little fun, and maybe see a bird you've never seen before. When it comes to birding, we are all learning and kids make great birders because they have young eyes. If you'd like to join me Friday or Sunday, let me know, and I will send you directions to the meeting site.

Friday and Sunday locations are open to anyone that wishes to join me, whatever you birding ability.

The best way to learn about birds is to just go out and look.

Happy Birding, Keri Dearborn

Link: Great Backyard Birdcount Web Site
Link: Related info on birds from WelchWrite.com
Link: Books on Birdwatching

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Sunday, January 29, 2006

First Daffodil


First Daffodil
Originally uploaded by dewelch.
The Daffodils are rapidly blooming now.

This was the first one to open fully, but I am counting 1-20 more that are ready to pop.

I am so glad I planted these a few years ago. They are such a nice, colorful accent at this time of year when we can get our grey days like anywhere else.

Click the photo to link to more garden photos on Flickr.

Link: Last Year's Bloom
Link: Previous Mentions of Daffodils
Link: Books on Daffodils

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Tomorrow, tomorrow...

Well, it seems I have finally gotten my act together and started making some major movement in the garden. It will cost a bit of money, but, by focusing on the back garden, we will setting ourselves up for some trouble-free years to come.

First, the dead willow will finally come out. I have been crossing my fingers every time the winds picked up that the tree wouldn't come down on its own. I will not bother having the stump removed completely, as a very vigorous (what I think is a) Sickle-thorn Asparagus (Asparagus falcatus) is already covering the area.

Next, the large eucalyptus and ash trees will be pruned and shaped. Both of these provide significant shade to the house during the hot summers, but they can also shade the back garden a bit much. Eucalyptus is know for shedding large limbs, so I am also trying to prevent any major events in that regard.

The 2 large ficus trees that act as the entrance to the back corner of the garden will be brought back into line by some judicious pruning and shaping. Finally, the locust tree just outside the back door is looking a bit wild. I was going to prune this tree myself, but the price offered by the landscaper was so good that I will let him deal with it and get onto other projects.

Finally, while all this is occurring tomorrow morning, I will be starting 2 trellis projects. One involves replacing our existing wisteria trellis with a new pergola made from 6x6 and 4x4 material. Once compeleted, this should last for the foreseeable future. We need to dig four holes for the new post footings, let them cure for a day and then begin staining the wood and assembling it. The brother of a good friend is organizing the project.

I will also start to strip all the Clytostoma Calistigoides vines off the smaller pergola outside my office. One member has failed due to a knot and subsequent rot, so we will be replacing that 10 foot section. Removing all the vines and leaf litter will also significantly reduce the amount of weight on the trellis, prolonging it life for the next couple of years, at least.

I will be taking lots of pictures and video, and probably recording a complete AGN podcast of all this work. It is rare that so much happens so quickly in my garden, but sometimes you have to take the opportunity to jump on a project when all the aspects come together.

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Saturday, January 28, 2006

Propagation

The folks over at Abstractions shows me what a piker I am when it comes to propagation. My poor, pitiful passionflower test is nothing compared to their relative fervor for planting. (SMILE)

It is always good to see others who are interested in gardening. I must admit, I was looking out my office window today and noticing that that lovely Brunsfelsia (Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow) would be a nice addition to the south bed. A quick Google search later and I had information on taking cuttings. I think I just might get the propagation fever myself!

Neat & Tidy Propagator

I always grow from seed. I always have the seeds indoors because its warmer. I’m very careful, but I’m told by my beautiful wife that I always leave soil around. Weird.

I found a cheap coldframe/propagator when I was christmas shopping. Its a clear plastic box. I don’t like buying plastic but I wanted something that I could move easily between the house and garden without loads of mess and would double as an indoors propogator and an outdoors cold frame....I planted some tomatoes, ganzania and some other thing this evening as you can see. I think I may just get away with it this year!

(Via Abstractions.)


Link: Previous mentions of propagation
Link: Making More Plants: The Science, Art and Joy of Propagation

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How to Go Organic in the Garden

I am not totally organic in my garden, although I don't use herbicides or pesticides to any great degree. I do use a bit of fertilizer for the roses each month or so. I have a compost pile, but need to get it working better.

Still, here are some great ideas on how to move towards organic gardening in your own backyard, or back forty.

How to Go Organic in the Garden Take a proactive stand for the environment by starting in your own backyard. Go organic to make your garden a healthier place for every living thing.

(Via eHow.com: How To Article of the Day.)


Link: Previous Mentions of Organic
Link: The Organic Home Garden: How to Grow Fruits & Vegetables Naturally -- by Patrick Lima and John Scanlan
Link: Other books on Organic Gardening

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January 27th Outage @ WelchWrite.com

If you were wondering what happened to WelchWrite.com yesterday, we suffered an outage at our web host from around 6 pm PST to 2:30 am PST. I haven't heard an explanation from my hosting company, but while the web server was out, email, which is probably hosted on a different machine continued to function.

If you use iTunes to download your podcasts, it may have marked any WelchWrite feed as having trouble. You can tell this by a little grey button (it's actually a white exclamation point inside of a grey circle) next to the name of the feed. If you see this "splat", you should right-click (control-click on Macintosh) and select Update Podcast. This should get things flowing again.

Sorry for the inconvenience!

Friday, January 27, 2006

Real-life Tree Huggers?

Well, it had to happen, I guess. Treehugger.com points over to this art project of actual "tree huggers", created out of natural materials. These look really neat and I could even foresee having, or making, one of my own. What a great way of expressing your joy for the natural world.

Another Treehugger Project

treehuggers.jpg



After checking with our copyright lawyer and being shocked to learn that we don't own the word, we present the Treehugger project by artists Wiktor Szostalo and Agnieszka Gradzik, who use twigs and branches to make what else- treehuggers. It is "environmental art designed to help us rediscover our relationship with nature at a very personal and intimate level" ::ArtMOCO



(Via Treehugger.)


Link: Treehugger.com

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Thursday, January 26, 2006

Japanese Garden Mini-Tour - Video and Photos

As I was returning from a computer training client this afternoon I made a short detour by the Glendale-Higashioska Friendship Garden and Tea Room near the Brand Library in Glendale, California, 1601 W Mountain St, Glendale, 91201 - (818) 548-2051

I used to work near this park and often took my lunches here, enjoying its calming influence before heading back to my cubicle.

Today, I shot some video and put together the first AGN "mini-tour". I will be creating a series of these videos over the next year and beyond. I would love to hear your comments about the video, the still pictures and the garden itself. You can leave your thoughts by clicking the "comments" link below.

To automatically receive future audio and video podcasts, subscribe to A Gardener's Notebook.

Music: Silk Route by Satya

Music for this video podcast provided from the PodShow Podsafe Music Network. Check it out at music.podshow.com.

Link: AGN Mini-Tour 001 - Friendship Garden Video
Link: AGN Mini-Tour 001 - Friendship Garden Photos
Link: Previous mentions of Japanese Gardens
Link: Books on Japanese Gardens

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Pink and White Azalea


Pink and White Azalea
Originally uploaded by dewelch.
The azaleas are blooming and it is a beautiful sight.

Returning from my walk today I spotted 3 different varieties in bloom in the front garden. These were planted by the previous owners, so I have no idea what varieties they actually are, but they are reliable bloomers every year around this time.

I have thought of removing some of them to make management of the front garden a little easier, but they always impress me with their show, so they have survived the last 10 years since we have owned this property.

Once all the blooms are finished it will be time to trim all these azaleas, which are planted in rather formal geometric shaped beds. My arms are tired by the time I am done with the hedge trimmers, but it usually only requires one "haircut" a year.

Click the photo to see a larger version and be linked to additional photos over at Flickr.com.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Adventures in the Garden


Adventures in the Garden
Originally uploaded by dewelch.
Joe had some friends over the other day. They went bug hunting, complete with backpacks and water bottles.

It's nice to know that they can enjoy a little of the outdoors even here in the middle of the city. Scenes like this make me appreciate all the work the garden can sometimes bring.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Passiflora Seed Testing

Sprouting Passiflora SeedsI came across a dried Passionflower seed pod in the garage a couple of days ago. I had taken a couple of pods from a neighbors vine which we pass on our regular walking route through the neighborhood.

I have no idea whether the seeds are still viable, so I decided to do a quick test to see if any of the seeds would sprout. I took 10 seeds, out of the perhaps 50 in the seed pod, spread them out on a wet paper towel and then sealed that in a zip to bag. Ten seeds gives me a quick and easy methods of discovering the percentage of viable seeds that I can expect in the entire batch.

I really like Passionflower vines, but the butterfly larvae seem to love them, too. We can always find 2 or 3 in various stages of their lifecycle. They completely strip the one vine we have right now. I keep thinking the vine is dead, but it seems to come back again and gain.

I will let you all know how many seeds sprout, if any. If so, I will take those and pot them up to a good size before trying to transplant them in the garden.

Link: Previous mentions of Passionflower
Link: Book: Passiflora by Torsten Ulme

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happyflowers from Flickr.com


happyflowers
Originally uploaded by Jacco Noordhuizen.
Wow! I love the colors in these flowers. They are so dramatic against the dark green and bright yellow.

Can anyone identify the species for me?

Event: Winter Botanical Drawing Workshop

Winter Botanical Drawing Workshop

TUE 1/31 11am

Sooky Goldman Nature Ctr

Artists of all levels, draw or paint plants while learning about native flora. Group size is limited. Reservations required 323-656-3899. 4hrs WODOC/ MRCA

Link: Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area Info
Link: How to Draw Plants by Keith Wes
Link: Other books on botanical drawing

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Monday, January 23, 2006

Add yourself to the AGN Frappr Map

Where is your garden? Click below to add yourself to the AGN Frappr map.

What's special about your garden and where your located? Let us know!

AGN 001 - Getting Started - January 23, 2006

Here is the first podcast episode of the A Gardener's Notebook.

After producing my other podcast, Career Opportunities, for over a year now, I wanted to expand my podcasting into some non-technology areas.

I plan on producing an episode of AGN each week, although there might be a few lapses here and there as I get things moving. I might also be releasing short audio and video snippets in-between the regular shows.

I am greatly interested in what is happening in your garden. Send you questions, comments, photographs, MP3 audio comments, etc to agn@welchwrite.com or post them as comment on the web site and they might find their way into a future show.

Listen to Episode 1


Link: Subscribe to AGN via iTunes
Link: Subscribe to AGN via other podcasting software
Link: AGN photos on Flickr.com
Link: Original weekly AGN Columns

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Illuminated flower pots

Light up your garden

I came across these interesting solar-powered, illuminated garden pots. Just the thing for a high-tech geek (like myself) who's also into gardening. (SMILE)

"Here’s a stylish solar way to brighten up your potted plants. The resin Solar GardenGlo planter by Patio Living Concepts uses sunlight to power six LED bulbs, which last 20,000 hours, according to the manufacturer. "



Link: Patio Living Concepts
Link: Garden products at Amazon.com

(Via Treehugger.com)

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Sunset Magazine Online Idea File

Sunset Magazine has some interesting links to previous articles organized by type.

For example, visiting http://sunset.com/path give you list of past articles on garden paths. Similar searches included in the Feb. 2006 issue include http://sunset.com/roses and http://sunset.com/planterbench.

Link: Previous mentions of Sunset
Link: Sunset Magazine Web Site
Link: Subscribe to Sunset Magazine via Amazon.com

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Squirrels

Here is a short video of our regular garden denizens. While we can get quite a variety of birds in the garden, other wildlife is a bit sparse here in the center of the San Fernando Valley. There are almost always squirrels about, and opossums make regular nocturnal journeys, but little else if you don't count the large number of tame and feral cats.

Some people say you can learn to identify individual squirrels as they come back to your garden again and again, but for me they all tend to look the same. Maybe by shooting some video, and getting a better closeup I can start to differentiate them. I noticed that this one has a distinct spot near his shoulder. Tails are also supposed to be a good field mark, as the males often pull at each other's tails when fighting, leaving bare spots and such.

Here is a bit of trivia. The Italian word for squirrel is scoiattolo. I had to look that one up one day when our Sicilian relatives were visiting. They were quite amazed to see squirrels romping right here in the garden, as the squirrels in Sicily are very shy and only populate the forests around Mount Etna. I am guessing that since the urban density is much higher in the big cities, the squirrels don't find hospitable areas within the city iteslf. Too much stone and concrete.

Link: Previous mentions of squirrels
Link: Books about Squirrels

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Eucalyptus Flowers

While waiting for my son at Little League try-outs this morning, I noticed this eucalyptus tree in full bloom. I am not sure how much this might contribute to allergies, but a quick Google Search turned up the fact that some folks are allergic to the leaves and oils of the plant.

Eucalyptus are not native to California, but were planted extensively as a possible source of lumber (for which they are entirely unfit) and wind breaks. Several parks in the area have started programs to remove the eucalyptus to allow native species to return.

Link: Google search on eucalyptus allergies
Link: Previous mentions of eucalyptus
Link: Books on eucalyptus

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Saturday, January 21, 2006

Rite in the Rain Notebooks

Rite in the Rain

These special writing pads would make great gardening notebooks. They stand up to water and mud and almost anything else. I have also recommended them for my friend who runs a restaurant and is constantly inventing new dishes. He needs something that stands up to not only water but sauces, grease and steam.

The notebooks comes in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and specialties. There are specific books for law enforcement, EMS techs, military, hikers, fishermen, contractors and more. You can find their entire product line at the Rite in the Rain web site.

I see now that they even have inkjet compatible paper that absorbs the inks and produces a virtually waterproof document. I think this would be great for Google Maps and hiking topos.

Link: Rite in the Rain Products at Amazon.com
Link: Rite in the Rain Web Site

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Friday, January 20, 2006

Look what's growing behind my garden...

After 10 years of living here in Van Nuys, the dreaded day has arrived. the car dealership that shares our back property line has decided to build a 3 story parking garage where there was once just a flat parking lot.

Over the years we have had the benefit of basically having no neighbors along that property line. Our trees could spill over the fence and no one complained. the wooden top, added onto the concrete block wall years ago could fall into disrepair without much worry.

We have seen plans for the structure, and in some ways envisioned it, as the same dealership built another structure 1 block over. From the plans they seem to be the same design. I have tried to visualize how much morning sun it will block, but until the steel actually goes up I don't think I will have a clear idea. I could get all geometric and figure out angles and such, but math was never really my strong suit. (SMILE)

They have included a 20 foot setback in their design and will be installing a green space between our back wall and the structure, so this should help to screen the building a little, although we already have a significant screen of trees along our back wall. Some neighbors, though, well be staring at a blank wall from their back porch once the structure is complete. Luckily, the rear wall (facing west) will have no openings so we won't feel like people are looking into the backyard. This particular effect immediately quashed potential homes when we were first looking to buy. I don't want to feel I have to dress up to take my kitchen scraps to the compost pile.

I have included a short video in this post as the first step in providing more audio and video material in A Gardener's Notebook. If you subscribe to the AGN RSS feed at the top of this page using iTunes, you will receive these file automatically. Expect to see some garden tours and, perhaps, some interviews with other gardeners and gardening professionals in the future.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Light and shade study for your garden

Here is a trick that can put some of your technology to good use in the garden...creating a Sun/Shade "map".

Unless you have an entirely open garden with no trees or large structures, the light changes from moment to moment and season to season. Have you ever noticed how your neighbor's large tree shades your rose bed for hours each day? How about the fence that effectively shades the shrubs at it's feet throughout the winter?

If you have a camcorder, digital camera or webcam, you can make a sun/shade map of parts of your garden or the entire garden if it is small enough. As you know from all those cool time-lapse movies that get shown on the Discovery Channel, compressing time makes the movement of clouds and sun much more dramatic.

Using a camcorder, you can videotape the garden and then speed it up by fast-forwarding or bringing the video into your computer and increasing the speed. You could also shoot a series of still photos and assemble them into a video. Finally, and one of the easiest methods if you have the equipment, is to set up a web cam designed to shoot pictures at regular intervals, say every minute. I can do this using my camcorder as input into my computer which is running EvoCam software and setting up a schedule.

When you play back this video at the end of the day you will have this wonderful map of exactly where the sun shines for this particular season. I recommend doing one on the Summer Solstice (June 21) and one on the Winter Solstice (Dec 21) so you can mark the extreme extents of sun and shade in your garden.

Link: Previous mentions of solstice
Link: Gardening Products from Amazon.com

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Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Snowbells here and daffodils rising


Snowbells
Originally uploaded by dewelch.
The snowbells are in full bloom and today I noticed that a bunch of the daffodils are pushing up out of the leaf litter, some as high as 5-6 inches.

The ash tree, which only lost its leaves in the last rain shower, is already putting out seeds and leaves. The camphor, which is evergreen is putting out tons of its little black fruits. I am not sure if any of the birds eat these, but they can be a bit of a mess.

If you visit the Flickr set that includes this photo, you will see 4 more photos from the garden.

Top 10 Gardening Gripes for 2005

Most of us enjoy gardening....a lot, but even on our best days there are things that can get us down. My own personal albatross is the back garden triangle where aggressive tree roots make it impossible to grow anything else. Still, maybe by focusing on our troubles for a little while we can come up with some solutions.

This article for About.com discusses some common gardening gripes and ways to address them.

Top 10 Gardening Gripes for 2005 It's time to start planning next year's garden and a good place to start is by reviewing what didn't work last year. On that note, here's my list of my Top 10 Gardening Annoyances and Frustrations for 2005. Feel free...

(Via Google Blog Search: gardening.)

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Making Compost in a Backyard Bin

A visual guide to composting from the Vancouver Compost Demonstration Garden.

Making Compost in a Backyard Bin

(Via del.icio.us/tag/gardening.)

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Saturday, January 14, 2006

Catalog: Garden Shed

Garden Shed Catalog

I was poking around in the Google Catalog Search last night and came across this catalog (although it looks more like a magazine) from Garden Shed. Even though it is an old catalog (2001) it contains some nice content and great photographs. I am always amazed at what I can glean, even from the oldest gardening books and magazines. In the computer world (where I do my work) a magazine is out of date usually before it even hits the newsstand. It is good to see something can hold its value a little longer.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

I HAVE to garden a little!

A busy work week has kept me out of the garden for most of the week, but today, as I brought in the trash bins, I picked up the rake that my wife had left and raked all the leaves out of 1/2 of the long bed south fence. It certainly wan't much, but it was something. Sometimes I have to take the little successes where I can find them.

This area hasn't been mulched in a while and is in need of additional TLC. The shade here has deepened and that is really stressing the shrubs. I need to find some more shade tolerent varieties and get them into the ground. Otherwise, this part of the garden is going to look a little nare when it comes time for our annual summer music party.

The new trellis project moves on apace. We are getting some further material costs and it looks like I am simply going to pay my (more knowledgeable) friends to come and isntall it. I will help out where I can, but setting posts, etc. is beyond my skill set. I will probably start to dismantle the existing trellis as soon as I know we are "Go" for a specific date.

More rain expected this weekend, which is a very good thing. We need to give the garden all the help will can to see if through the long dry summer to come. Even though we have had some rain, a small wildfire cropped up near Chatsworth last week, showing just how dry everything still is.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

To prune, or not to prune, that is the question

The time for yearly rose pruning is quickly approaching, but I am unsure whether I will do it this year. The roses had a pretty tough year, last year and I am thinking that a heavy pruning will only stress them all the more. I am hemming and hawing and looking for more information. Do any of you have an opinion? Drop it in the comments and help me out.

Basically, last year was a very dry year her in LA and none of the roses got the water they needed. I had thought I had lost several plants totally, until the first rains came and they sprang back to life. We are getting decent rain right now, but I need to adjust my watering system and and insure they get enough water throughout the summer. I am also struggling with shade in the back garden.

When we moved in 10 years ago the trees weren't as large, so the back rose beds were still getting a decent amount of sunlight. Now, though, the ash tree has developed a deep canopy that has cut the daily sunlight in half. A good pruning of the tree would help some, but I am also thinking of moving the roses from one bed to the front garden where they would get more light. Then I would replant the current bed with more shade-tolerant plants.

In my last post, I mentioned that the azaleas were not yet blooming. Silly me! Yesterday, while leaving to visit a client I noticed that the large bush right in front the chimney was covered with pink blossoms. I need to get out of the house more. (SMILE)

See also: Previous posts about roses and azaleas
See also: Books about Roses and Books about Azaleas

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Wednesday, January 04, 2006

A new RSS Feed for AGN

Note: If you don't understand this, don't worry. It is a bit of technology gobbledy-gook for those AGN readers who are subscribed to the RSS feed.

If you subscribe to the AGN RSS Feed, I am asking that you move over to this new FeedBurner-based feed. This will allow me better statistics about the feed and allow me to include a few more services, such as del.icio.us feeds, Technorati links and more.

New feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/agn

The current feed will eventually be re-directed to the new feed, but your RSS Reader may not understand the re-direct, so it is best to perform it manually.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Rain and Wind and Paperwhites

As anyone who watched the Rose Parade on Monday knows, we had a sizeable rain storm that day, although nothing like the doom and gloom that the media might have have predicted. They still tried to make the most of a few rock slides, flooded streets and, worst of all, many downed trees.

While a large number of trees lost branches of varying sizes, several found their roots saturated enough that wind and gravity took over and drew them to the ground, on top of cars and homes. No one was hurt and property can be repaired, but the tree is gone forever. I always hate to see a stately, mature tree succumb to a relatively small ailment, but they are much like us as we age. One small injury can start a rapid decline and then we too are gone.

I spent an anxious day watching the dead willow tree in the back garden, figuring it would shed limbs or topple over with the next gust of wind. Oddly enough, though, it survived. I thank my lucky stars for this as much as I cursed my procrastination in calling the tree company to come out and remove it. The tree could do a significant amount of damage if it fell as one piece as it is within easy reach of our old, decrepit garden shed, the cable television line and, worst of all, the electrical line to the house. I have scary images of the wires being ripped from the room and sparking their way across the garden.

Now that the rain has stopped, though, we will get someone out as soon as possible. There is no sense in creating your own anxiety when there is so much already around.

Today, taking a tour of the back garden to check for any damage, I noticed that the paperwhites have started to bloom. The foliage has been up for weeks, arriving immediately after the first rain, but then we received no rain for almost 2 months. They held and they waited, and now that we had several inches of rain yesterday, they have decided to continue in their yearly progress. We should be see snowbells soon, too, as I noticed them rising up in their usual patch under the trees. I have seen no evidence of our daffodils yet.

It seems to odd to have bulbs blooming in January, but that is the norm for us. I noted in my calendar that in 2004, I spotted the first blooms on New Year's Day, but the first Daffodils didn't arrive until January 16th. The pink azaleas in the front garden bloomed that same week, but I have not seen any indication of a bloom yet this year.

Click on the photo above to get a larger version

See also: Books on bulbs -- Previous posts on paperwhites

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Sunday, January 01, 2006

Thinking of bats on a cold winter's night

Delicious user Beth Young posted some great links today about bats and building bat houses.

If you have the proper habitat for bats in your area, why not start a great indoor project and build a bat house (or several). The links below include detailed information on the buildings of bat houses, where you can buy them and where they should be mounted.

I love to sit at twilight and watch the "changing of the guard" as the swallows finish up the day shift and seamlessly transition into the night-shift bats. You only really become aware of the change when you notice the more wobbly flight paths of the bats as they dart about for mosquitos and moths.

Links: Bat Information Links | All AGN Links
See also: Books about bats | Bat Houses