Quick update

Check moving the aloe out of the front garden off the list. Add re-mulching with pea gravel.

Went to a cactus sale on S. 1st over the weekend. Picked up some feather grass, a small golden barrel, and two new sedums. All for the new garden, which is looking very nice.

Seeing our ladder-back woodpecker (maybe 2?) on the suet just about every day now. Looks like we've got new neighbors!

Cactus Garden #2

Rainy Weekend

Three inches of rain over the weekend. Back garden looking much better. Still need to mulch that.

Bought some flagstone for the new cactus garden on Sunday. Looks much more finished now. Reminder to try and post a pic later.

Weekend weather

Got about two inches of rain this morning. It's still drizzing out, so no birds have been fed. Hope it stops raining soon; this would be a good time to mulch the garden.

Owls have continued coming by at sunset. It's frankly becoming commonplace.

Blackfoot daisies are dead. Dead dead. I'm guessing overwatering. May have to amend that soil before planting another. No use throwing good money after bad.

Yard

Owl Update

Last night at about 9:00, we got another visit from screech owls. After closer inspection, we figured out we had three of them, all drinking and bathing in the birdbath. Guessing mom and two babies?

Elsewhere, watering the back garden today. Indigo Spires seems to be taking hold, but temps are in the high 90s for the rest of the week.

Still 11 days until summer

Front yard: There are about 9-10 open blooms on the sunflower now. Sedum and ice plants in the new cactus garden are still trying to grab hold, but everything else seems to be coming along ok. Blackfoot daisys are starting to look pretty stressed. I would say it was the heat, but I’ve seen them do well in 90s before. Still need to clear the aloe from the small garden.

Back yard: Indigo Spires and Plumbago we planted last week are still struggling. I’m watering them and the new butterfly weed every morning until they catch up. Everything else is looking good. Coneflowers are at about their peak right now, and they and the mistflower attract butterflies just as the garden goes into the shade (5:00 or so). No blooms on the mint marigold yet. Nigel found a dead possum in the back corner of the yard this morning. Probably not an owl victim. Maybe a cat?

Birds: Been filling the hummingbird feeder for the third week today, and still no sign of them. Saw what we’re guessing is a baby red-bellied woodpecker on the suet earlier this week. Finally got something good instead of just those starlings. Mostly just feeding doves lately, though blue jays still come around for peanuts. Cardinals still hit the hopper feeder and birdbath, and we’ve also seen a robin in the bath this week.
Had our second night of seeing owls at the birdbath last night. First night (Thursday) was just one, drinking water then trying to bathe just at around sunset (8:30ish). Last night we saw two of them at the bath, then flying around the yard. For their big finale, they went and perched on the hook in the middle of the garden and stared at us staring at them! They seemed far less freaked out about the whole thing than we were. Are these the two owlets from the owl box? No telling. They certainly seemed full-grown, but I don’t know how long that takes.