Happy Thanksgiving Wild Birds and Geraniums November 29, 2014

Welcome to my post.  Flocks of Chickadees roaming through the Western Red Cedars stop by for a snack of black sunflower seeds on my deck, they are getting braver as the fall goes on and sometimes fly up even when I am out putting on more seeds.   Some are definitely Chestnut-backed Chickadees-

"Float like a chickadee, sting like a bee!"

"just walkin' on sunshine, woh-oh"

Others are more brown, possibly the Black-capped Chickadee, I'm not up on the latest names.  "Score!"

Today I am linking with-

Wild Bird Wednesday hosted by Stewart M.

Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen

Today's Flowers hosted by Denise

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

They are delightful little birds, very quick.  At a camp in California some would eat nuts out of my hand.  Maybe one day....

The next in my series of featured tough houseplants is one that has been in flower for most of the spring and summer in my windows, a Pelargonium type geranium.   This variety stays small in a pot, and I have been growing this plant several years.   At one point it had split enough to be divided into 3 plants.  I also had the plant on the left next to the then-empty pot on the right and it dropped seeds onto the soil which grew and started blooming this summer as well.   Here they are with one series of spent flowers, still kind of pretty, and new flowers budding out-

And here they are trimmed to show off the new flowers-

I love the salmon / peachy color which makes me think of my favorite time of day in the garden, sunset and twilight.

More budded out-

With more light the peachy colors come through-

And floral arrangements with Thanksgiving colors-

I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving.  I got together with some of my grown children and grandkids.

Hannah

or cameras are macro

©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved.   I enjoy visiting your blog and commenting, but can't do so if google+ is the only format, so I will comment here.

Wild Bird Wednesday, Post-Frost Houseplant Revue November 22, 2014

Today I am linking with-

Today's Flowers hosted by Denise

Wild Bird Wednesday hosted by Stewart M.

The Bird D'pot hosted by Hootin' Anni

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

Now that we have had killing frosts, I am going to feature flowering houseplants that give me nearly  continuous bloom indoors.   Blooming now is my Thanksgiving Cactus, some other blogs have this same plant blooming now.  The trick to getting them to bloom for me is to have them in my basement by a south-facing window where they don't get artificial light at night.  If they are behind a curtain it can shelter them from light so that they can bloom as well.  Taken outdoors a couple of weeks ago-

And in the house later-

The flowers make me think of bird spreading their wings to fly-

Speaking of birds, I finally got a few shots of birds eating black sunflower seeds on my deck, here is a raucous but timid Steller's Jay, even though they are a big boisterous bird they fly away if they even see me in the window-

"I've got my eye on you!"

"Don't point that thing at me!"

Cracking a seed- Oof, you can do this!

It's fun to see the birds come for the seeds, they seem to be a little less cautious over time.    What birds visit your yard?      Hannah

or cameras are macro

©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved.   I enjoy visiting your blog and commenting, but can't if google + is the only option, so will comment here.

Skywatch Friday, GBBD, Last blooms of the Season November 8, 2014

Welcome to my Skywatch Friday post, hosted by Yogi, Sylvia, and Sandy,  click on the link to see other sky photos from around the world.

Today I am linking with-

Today's Flowers hosted by Denise

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day hosted by Carol

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Magical Mystical Teacher

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

We had our first killing frost which also went down to 24ºF / -4ºC a couple of days ago, but I took these late roses earlier in the week, Evelyn-

Apricot Nectar-

A new Persicaria affinis I planted last year from a little 2" pot, and now spread out 12 x 18" and blooming, I'm very happy with it as a new ground cover-

The flowers start out white-

And deepen to a nice rose color-

Other flowers that were still blooming include Polygonum capitata, Browallia americana, and Camellia Apple Blossom.

In preparation for the frost I cut greens and pulled winter radishes-

The rows I didn't finish I put up some makeshift tunnels with pvc pipe supports at the ends, I finished in the dark-

Some white, red, black above the 5" knife blade, and a large Luo Buo from last spring-

I steamed the greens and froze some-

The view from the hill to the west of us, looking east, the power line at bottom right is one in the series that runs behind our house in the big pasture.  We can't see the mountains from our house, just trees.

I hope you are warm in the cold temperatures, safe driving!   Hannah

or cameras are macro

©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved.   I enjoy visiting your blogs and commenting, but can't if google+ is the only option, so will comment here instead.

Rainy Fall Bloom, Leaves, and Fungi November 8, 2014

A week of rain and cold is significantly reducing the flowers in my garden.
Today I am linking with-

Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen

Today's Flowers hosted by Denise

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

But the winter-blooming Camellia sasanqua 'Apple Blossom' surprises with an occasional bloom-

Also still blooming, Polygonum capitata-

Fall color is progressing here, Aronia in its glory, a yellow mulberry tree to the left-

Blueberries can have pretty fall color-

The rains have given new life to the fungi, many mushrooms springing up as a result-

And a more delicate white one-

Critters of the week- my ducks.  They are troupers, they outlay chickens and stick out the weather no matter how bad it gets.   They are in a movable run.

It is frustrating trying to take them in their run so I brought one in the house-

A little critter humor

The bats with their funny little wings make me think of a song I like to listen to when gardening, about  flying away like the bats.

     

-Hannah    or cameras are macro

©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved.   I enjoy visiting your blog and commenting, but I can't do so if google + is the only option.   So I will comment here, or by email if a link is provided.

Sky Watch, End of the Month View, Late Flowers, and a Critter, November 1, 2014

A Sky Watch sunset photo from my back fence-

I am also linking with-

Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen

Today's Flowers hosted by Denise

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura


I'm also joining with other gardeners for End of the Month View, hosted by Helen.  These are views from my house windows, to the north, a weeping cutleaf maple in the right foreground, then one of my blueberry gardens, one has really pretty fall color now; behind is a butterfly bush, to the right a Rhodie-

Northeast, header Japanese cutleaf weeping maple and Rhodie-

Southeast, one of my garden beds surrounded by a fence to keep out the deer and rabbits-

Southwest, pears and beyond that cherries, walnuts, heartnuts, hazelnuts, apples-

West, Aronia, Hardy Kiwis, Turkish Tree Hazels, Trazels-

So, lots of Red Cedars and Big Leaf Maples, plus lots of fruit trees that I planted expecting most would actually be semi-dwarf as labeled.  It seems all plants can do here is GROW.

A few new blooms, I've never seen the Choisya 'Aztec Pearl' bloom in the fall before-

The tea plant, Camellia sinensis, has its 1/2" blooms-

The tiny Cyclamen hederifolium are blooming, the same magenta as a hardy geranium-

Some shots of one of my useful critters, who reduce the pests in my yard-

Seasonally, I want to share a few ghost stories.

The first happened in 1976 when we moved into a house in San Diego on a street carved out of the top of a ridge with canyons on both sides, a row of houses on each side of the street.  What the builders did not consider was that rattlesnakes migrated over the ridge every spring.   We had just moved into the house, and our back yard was all dirt and rock, but I had my wooden pottery kick wheel sitting there with a tarp over it.  A couple of boys were visiting my two children.  The phone rang and I went into the house, my husband was calling for the mail report.  I looked out the back window and saw the smaller boy was crawling under the tarp because he wanted to spin on the big concrete wheel.  Suddenly a still small voice (the Holy Ghost*) spoke in my head, "There is a rattlesnake under that tarp."  I hurriedly told my husband goodbye and ran out.  I pulled the little boy off of the kick wheel and then grabbed a shovel and pulled the tarp away from the kick wheel.  Coiled up next to the kick wheel, which was open on the sides, was a rattlesnake!   To me, incredible evidence that I am loved.

My second ghost* story happened in 1991.  We were still living on the canyon.  We had a cedar shake roof which was getting very old and cracked.  We decided to reroof ourselves, so first we removed all the shakes from the roof.   So picture piles everywhere of wooden shakes.  We were picking up the shakes and loading them into a trailer.  I bent forward over a pile of shakes, when a still small voice* spoke in my head, "There is a rattlesnake in that pile."   I went and got a 3-prong rake and pulled the shakes off the pile.  There was a rattlesnake coiled underneath!

Then we moved to the Pacific Northwest.  Three times while driving home in the dark, I heard the still small voice* say, "There are deer by the road."  So I would slow way down and look cautiously.  The first time I saw 2 deer right by the road.  The second time I saw 2 or 3 deer by the road.   The next time I felt impressed to stop and when I did, a deer walked in front of my car.

What I think about is what might have happened if I just dismissed the voice and did not act....  Like the time the still small voice* told me "You are going too fast."  I was anxious about getting late and had a lead foot.  I slowed down then got distracted and forgot to watch my speed.  Bright red lights appeared in my rearview mirror.   It was a speed trap.

*The term "Holy Ghost" is an old English term from the 1611 King James Bible for the third member of the Trinity, the term Holy Spirit being used now.  The original word in Hebrew, Ruach, means wind, and hence breath, and the Greek word is Pneuma, also translated breath.   I see the Trinity as being analogous to the sun, God the Father could be thought to like the sun itself, all-powerful and awesome.  The Son, Jesus or Yeshua, the visible likeness of the invisible God, could correspond to the light waves that emanate out and hit us and the earth, bringing life and color.  The Holy Spirit could be like the heat of the sun carried in the Infrared radiation, bringing warmth and touching our spirits.  From the time I was a small child one of my most powerful and enduring interests was to study Nature and through the things made, to acknowledge and fellowship with my Creator God, indeed many of my earliest memories are of plants, and songs of worship.

Hannah                                                 or cameras are macro

©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved.  I like to visit your blog and comment, but cannot do that if Google+ is the only option, so I will comment here or by email if a link is provided.