A baby hummingbird...

So, yesterday afternoon I was looking out the window/sliding door at my collection of pots when I saw a little hummer going to the flowers. As I watched, it fell on the deck. Since at least two of the three cats were also on the deck, I hurried out to rescue it. It was scared of me and flew off the deck, but landed in the grass. I was afraid that Princess would go after it, so I ran down to get it before she did. I think she actually didn't even see it. Thankfully.



It was sprawled in the grass and I was able to gently pick it up and bring it in the house. I really didn't want Princess to get it. It wasn't hurt. It was just a baby, still learning how to fly. First it flew toward the sliding door, but since it couldn't fly very fast, it didn't really hit it. It just slid down and sat on the rug. It sat there and closed its eyes, while I ran around like crazy making sugar water for it and dashing out to the shed to find a hummingbird feeder.



Finally the mixture was cool enough and I was able to get it to drink some. It still wanted to rest, so I let it rest. I put it on the paper because it would get its little bitty claws caught in the rug and I didn't want it to get injured in any way.



It was such a tiny thing to hold. I held it very gently to help it drink. And a few times it would cling to my fingers, but for it to drink, I would have to hold it and put its beak into the sipping hole on the feeder. It was content to sit and rest on the feeder for a long time. It was so little and such an amazingly beautiful creature.



Once it preened itself a little bit, sticking its long beak into feathers. And several times it chirped very soft little sounds. It also would try to fly a little, almost more like exercising its wings, trying to figure out what it could do.



I knew it had to go back outside. (Mommy hummingbirds will take care of their babies even after humans have handled them as hummers apparently have no sense of smell.) I gave it some more to drink and then it flew a little ways inside the house, so I figured it would probably at least have a chance outside. I took both the feeder and the little bird out. I carried the little hummer but finally set it on the feeder which I had hung at about shoulder level on my rose arbor.




It sat on the feeder for a few seconds and then made a flight of a couple of inches to a rose cane. The baby hummer rested there for a few more moments and then flew up and sat on the rain gutter. It sat there for a long, long time. I watched it to see what it would do. Several other hummers came and went in the garden, but it just sat. Finally, it flew down and perched in my garden for a minute and then back up to the roof, where I think it found a tiny insect to eat. And then it flew over the roof. I like to think that one day I'll see it again, even if I don't know it, eating bugs and sipping nectar from flowers in my garden.


Have a beautiful day!

Bloom Day August 2010...

Wow! Can you believe it? Another Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day has rolled around. Time sure is going like crazy. Carol at May Dreams Gardens hosts GBBD on the 15th of each month. Stop by her blog to find other garden blogs to visit. And thank you for coming to visit me! Here is some of what is blooming in my garden. Morning Glories, Cardinal Climbers, Cypress Vines, and Bat-faced Cuphea all keep the little doggie company on my deck.



One of two matching pots on my minuscule front porch.




I love this combination; only it doesn't show up well in pictures. Maybe if you click on the picture for a larger look, you can better appreciate its beauty. In the foreground in my rhubarb patch. And obviously the white blooming trees in the back are Myrtles. But in between is one of my favorite plants: the beautiful blue Salvia uliginosa or Bog Sage. I just love the blue of it and its sagey scent. You can also see a tiny bit of my chicken house and the chicken yard.



Even though the gardens on both sides of the path to the back door need to be revamped, they don't look too bad! I've got Roses and Salvias. And Catmint, Cleome, Morning Glories, Cypress Vines, Cardinal Climbers, variegated Lirope. And did I mention Salvias?


These are volunteer sunflowers. They attract the bees...




... and the butterflies.




Speaking of butterflies, my Blue Chip Buddleia has lately been attracting some Monarchs. Salvia coccinea has reseed itself in the pot, too, and although I don't generally put red and purple together on purpose, I've left the S. coccinea there, because I kinda like the combination.



And on the back deck, I have this collection of pots, most of which are designed to attract hummingbirds. Which they do. Come back tomorrow, for have I got a tale for you! In the pots are a white Salvia coccinea, red Salvia coccinea, red, pink, and white Cypress Vines, a blueish purple Calibrochea, Yellow Shrimp plants with a blue Scaveaola. And one other plant whose name I can't remember which is just starting to bloom. Happy Bloom Day and thanks for stopping by!


Have a beautiful day!

Fuschia...

My Fuschia is blooming.


O.K., so maybe that doesn't sound like such a big deal. I mean, after all, there were plenty of Fuschias blooming at the box stores earlier in the year.



But, there is something special to me about this Fuschia.



You see, I rooted it. Last year, there was a bent twig that had almost broken off, but not quite, on a plant at one of the box stores. I knew that twig would wilt. I knew no one cared about that twig, so I snapped it off and brought it home.



I stuck it in damp sand. And waited. And it rooted and grew.



And now it is blooming.


Have a beautiful day!

Bee-utiful sunflower...

O.K., so sorry about that awful title. But these are some rather cool pictures that Kirstin took several years ago.



I didn't plant sunflowers this year, but I do have some volunteers. They have gorgeous buds so I anticipate being able to enjoy the flowers even though I didn't plan for them.



How do you like all those little sweat bees collecting pollen? Pretty amazing, huh? I wonder how many there are.


Have a beautiful day!

Farewell...

Yesterday afternoon, I received a sad email: Randy's Quilt Shop is going out of business. He is closing one week from today.


I ask you to understand. I love fabric. I love fabric as much as I love plants. When I moved to North Carolina, finding Randy's Quilt Shop was such a comfort to me. Fabric was a language I spoke in the midst of a foreign land.



I have no idea how many yards of fabric I have from Randy's. Some of them have been sewn into clothes. Some of them have been sewn into quilts. Many have not, but are merely waiting, like treasures to yet be enjoyed.




In loosing Randy's, I feel like I am loosing a friend. There will be a void because I often went there just to look. To absorb the colors, the options, the possibilities. It was an oasis of peace and calm and beauty to me.



Maybe it is fitting that the last pieces of fabric that I bought there, before I knew the shop was closing, like many, but not all, previous fabrics, depicted roses and flowers and birds. Like a garden.


Have a beautiful day.

Along the path...

O.K., so today's plants are some of the ones that are growing along the left side of the path as you are walking toward the back door. Although, around here, the back door is used as the front door. I've even seen some houses with a front door but absolutely no path to it. Go figure. Anyhow, these lovely purple 'Grandpa Ott' Morning Glories have gotten a little out of hand this year.



There are supposed to be just 3 or 4 of the Morning Glories growing at the corner of the deck for Tiger to nap under. However, they did not cooperate and none of them are growing there. Instead, they have moved out to take over what was supposed to be my hummingbird garden. I still have hope for things in their proper place next year.




How many different types of plants can you spot in this picture? Feel free to click on it for a larger view. It has turned out to be quite a jungle. I guess if one didn't know better, one might suppose that I had simply gone for a lush, full look, rather than the truth: I simply didn't get around to pulling out what I needed to pull out nor planting what I wanted to plant.



My lovely variegated Lirope muscari grows on the corner and I like it very much. A pink Salvia coccinea has reseed itself against the Lirope and I think the color combination of the striped Lirope and its purple buds and the pink Salvia is so pretty.



Isn't it amazing how well plants look with the colors of their blooms? Or the blooms with their plants? I know that may sound funny, but I often think about that. If you want to see a great picture of the Lirope buds after they have opened, go see Daricia's post about Lirope muscari.


Have a beautiful day!

Be careful...

Here is 'Molineux' in the morning sunlight. I love this rose.




Be careful what you wish for. When I bought my Yellow Pitcher Plant, there was another little plant growing at the base of the Pitcher Plant. It had tiny leaves and I liked the contrast that it made with the Pitcher Plant, so I left it to see what it would do.




Well, it bloomed with tiny yellow flowers and it was very charming. I had no idea what it was, but I hoped it would live through the winter, and maybe even reseed so I could have a couple more of them in my bog garden.





It did survive, but it didn't reseed last year. It did reseed this year. And look what happened! It has taken over my bog garden!



No, I am not complaining. I can easily thin out the plants but I just haven't. I still have no idea what they are but I do like them.


Have a beautiful day!