Boy are we excited; for the very first time we spotted an Indigo Bunting at our quad feeding station. It was here for about 10 minutes hitting various feeders. To say the contrast between the indigo blue and bright yellow of the finches beside it was striking, is an understatement. It's hard to believe nature could come up with something so intensely brilliant in color.
Once again, I spent the entire morning watering flowerbeds and pots (I really don't mind ;-).
Then after lunch, Don and I started clearing an area in the tree margins by our pond. Wow, this was hard, hot, dirty ,work. The area was filled with wild raspberries that were taking over and making it very difficult for anything else to grow. Someday I am going to reclaim the pond area, and turn it into a fairly nice water feature "we" can enjoy, as well as the frogs and ducks.
Speaking of frogs, while I was out there I spotted two large Green Frogs (BTW, that's their name, Green Frog) I almost stepped on before they jumped into the water. The time of the male frogs picking corners of the pond and croaking their best croak (these frogs sound like ducks) to woo the females is over, and the fruits of their croaking is here. Every time I mow, I have to be extra vigilant so I don't mow their babies, which are everywhere! Sometimes the babies are
so stubborn, I have to turn off the mower, pick them up,and move them to safety.Once the area was cleared enough for planting, we moved a Washington Hawthorn Dawn had given me as an Arbor Day gift. It came two springs ago as a bare root sprig, and has grown to over 4 feet tall. It's going to be a beautiful tree one day and is going to fill this area wonderfully.
When the tree is mature it will be approximately 25' tall by 20' wide. It gets white flowers in the spring, which turn into edible red fruit by late summer. It turns a beautiful orange and red in autumn, and is rated very high by the Arbor Day Foundation for bird sanctuaries. I hope our birds appreciate us . . .
