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There’s a certain satisfaction in autumn chores. When the weather’s right, cleaning gutters, touching up paint, or splitting some firewood can feel less like manual labor and more like a rite of the season.
But if you want to make your backyard a welcoming winter haven for birds, some fall tasks call for a laissez-faire approach. “Messy is definitely good to provide food and shelter for birds during the cold winter months,” says Tod Winston, Audubon’s Plants for Birds program manager.
So let someone else keep up with the neighbors this weekend. Sleep in, linger a little longer with your morning coffee, and follow these tips for a bird-friendly yard you can be proud of.
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An interesting link found among my daily reading
* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs
** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
Historical Seed Catalogs: Flowers for springtime by Miss Mary E. Martin (1900) – 41 in a series
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THE EDELWEISS.— THE ALPINE SNOWFLOWER .
As white as snow- But lasts forever.
No other flower in the whole universe— not even the rarest orchid has cost so many lives as this chaste little Alpine beauty. A recent publication states that “scores of lives ” are lost annually by venturesome tourists in their efforts to obtain it. It is well known that travelers circling the globe will stop at the mountains of Switzerland and climb to almost inaccessible heights to be the proud possessors of the precious little treasure
It requires patience, courage, strength, endurance, andaperiloustaskitis. No wonder, therefore, that it|is prized so highly, that the ladies ornate their hats with it as trophies ; no wonder that gathering the plants in their native home by crafty guides, who know their value, is now prohibited for fear of their extermination. Like the wonderful Rose of Jericho from Syria and the Resurrection plant from Mexico, the EDELWEISS is the natural curiosity, for one may say the “flower never dies,” as it remains as white as the snow from which it sprung, and soft and velvety even longer than human life.
There is also some romance connected with it, it being an ancient local custom for the Tyrolian lover to present his affianced as an engagement flower, one that he has gathered himself from among the snow-clad rocks, and the higher the altitude the more cherished it is.
Certainly they are chaste and beautiful, as white as snow and as soft as velvet, growing sometimes 30 on one plant, with grayish white foliage, spreading Rosette. Naturally as hard as a rock, they grow in any way, on sandy moist soil, preferably gritty and well drained, or on raised rockwork, and even as a border plant, in chalky open soil lasting for years. In beauty, it would certainly prove a wonderful attraction, aside from its intrinsic value.
It is well known that owing to the scarcity of EDELWEISS flowers and the great demand for them, imitations made of white cloth, etc. , are palmed off on credulous and unsophisticated travelers. As a ” fad” for the coming Summer, I offer the dried flowers (especially imported for this purpose by me) to be used as a mountain symbol. They can be worn on the “hat, coat or waist.
Three very fine perfect flowers sent for IOc. by mail,
Fresh Edelweiss Seed, Pkt. IOc. Plants of Edelweiss, 15c. each ; 2 for 25c. Yours very truly,
MARY E. MARTIN, Floral Park, New York.
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* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
An interesting link found among my daily reading
Annual, bound, editions of each newsletter throughout the year.
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This is an amazing resource of cactus and succulent plants for Zone 9. The infographics lay out each selection with clear photos and names. I know I am going to keep this around for future succulent identification purposes. — Douglas
ZONE 9
Zone 9 is commonly known as a year-round planting zone. Summer time in zone 9 last around nine months with extreme high temperatures and dry weather. Summer heat presents a challenge to typical plants and vegetables. However, these kind of temperature hardly pose any threat to water-filled succulents.Typical states include California, Florida and Arizona.
WHAT TYPES OF SUCCULENT THRIVE IN ZONE 9?
Zone 9 is paradise to succulent-lovers. The hot and prolonged summer provide a favourable environment for many succulent genus to thrive. Such succulents can be Cactus, Echeveria, String of pearls, Sempervivum, Sedum, Cotyledon, Aloe and many others listed below.
Read Choosing Succulents For Zone 9 – California, Florida And Arizona via Succulents Box
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Historical Seed Catalogs: Elm Valley Seed Gardens/Zack Davis Company (1919) – 40 in a series
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TO OUR FRIENDS
TO the old friends who have for years bought their seeds of us perhaps we can give no new message this year, except that we have added a number of improvements in the way of handling our goods, so that they will arrive better than ever. We take this page to thank them for the patronage that in more than twenty years has enabled us to build up a good sized business, founded, we are glad to think, upon the confidence of our neighbors and friends, including those known to us only by the letters that have passed between us. We are grateful for the patronage of the past years, and we are honestly and tirelessly striving to deserve more.
That we are succeeding is proved by the large number of new friends every year adds. Perhaps we need not tell our customers that Davis’ seeds are really superior seeds of quality. Because they are so, these old customers have remained with us for twenty years. But to the new friends we would say that back of our steady increase in business lies the determination to always give the best. What we offer is tested as to purity and vitality, and we are constantly extending our lines to take in the proven best, remarkable for highest yields and marketing qualities.
Our Garden and Flower Seeds are grown on contract especially for us by competent and reliable growers in various sections best suited for their production. We believe, from a practical experience in the seed business in all its branches for twenty-five years, we are as thoroughly posted and competent to handle the business as anyone in the trade.
We want every customer to be a friend. Our interest does not cease when you receive the seed sent you. If we, from our long experience, can help you in any way ; remember we want to serve you and write us freely.
May we urge upon you that you send in your orders early? Perhaps we will have enough of everything to last the whole season, but it may be we will be short before all orders reach us. As we fill all orders the day they reach us, usually, the late comers may be disappointed. So we urge you to send in your orders as early as possible.
Thanking all our old friends and assuring them and the new ones that we will try under all circumstances to please you, we remain as ever,
Very cordially yours,
ZACK DAVIS CO.
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Dahlias are a beautiful companion plant for the rose shrub. In this post, we discuss roses vs. dahlias in the autumn home garden.
In The Autumn Home Garden
Chances are if you grew up in the Midwest like I did your grandmother grew dahlias with her roses in the home garden. Dahlias are a beautiful companion plant for the rose shrub. Both roses and dahlias obvious require a little maintenance. If you live and grow in the U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 8-11 the dahlia grows as a perennial. My garden is in zone 5b and the dahlia tubers must be dug up for winter storage. The roses get a nice fresh layer of mulch, remove all the dead leaves and pruned back to about 2 feet tall by October 1. Removing all the dead foliage on the roses will help prevent fungus and bad bugs from moving in.
Read Roses VS. Dahlias in The Autumn Home Garden via Creative Living with Bren Haas
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An interesting link found among my daily reading
The pleasure of hanging out with plant people is what you learn from them. Such people, and the plants they grow, are typically full of wonderful surprises.
Just the other day, I met Ash Jahanbin, whose mission in life is to grow and to care for exotic fruit trees. To this end, he runs a nursery at 10943 DeSoto Avenue in Chatsworth. He also has a busy crew of ten employees whose sole task to is plant and maintain fruit and nut orchards throughout the Valley and beyond, with dozens of customers in places like Woodland Hills, West Hills, Northridge, Sherman Oaks, the Hollywood Hills, Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Santa Monica, and Malibu.
Before I met Ash, if someone had told me that not far south of Mulholland Drive, close to Sepulveda Boulevard, there was an orchard of more that 100 macadamia nut trees that were annually producing hundreds of pounds of nuts, I would have had serious doubts about that person’s sanity. While I had heard of macadamia nut trees in Malibu, I had no idea that they could thrive so close to home.
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† Available from the LA Public Library
An interesting link found among my daily reading
