Winter

Winter

Monday, March 17, 2014

Saint Patrick's Day


Happy Saint Patrick's Day! I hope your day is off to a wonderful start. Can you believe how fast March is racing by. I feel like once March hits we begin racing to get all of our major work accomplished before the heat comes on.

Even in drought years weeds still grow. Maybe not as fast but they still grow. We were able to get our berry vines trimmed. Last years canes cut out and the new vines put up on wires. I was very nicely surprised to find that the berry vines did very well from last year. I am happily anticipating
a nice crop of boysenberries.

We also got the artichoke plants cleaned up and I was very happy to see how wonderful they had done through the winter. The thing about artichoke plants is never be nice to them. Just ignore them and they go crazy, but if you pay attention to them they will just up and die. This was originally two plants that I think has morphed into about eight. There are babies coming up every where.

The end that is planted at was about five feet long and it has now filled in all of the space. Fresh artichokes are wonderful.


I wanted to show you this little Japanese Maple. I wish I had taken pictures when she was first coming out and her tiny leaves were so red and perfect. I love her name. It is Red Haired Dancing Girl. That is one thing I have liked learning about Japanese Maples is all of the cute names they have. That whole table that you can see in the background is different kinds of Japanese Maples.

I was finally able to get a picture of Mr. Pointy head. Those of you who know your birds do you think you could tell me what kind he is, I am terrible with bird books. He normally never sits still this long so I was glad to get these couple of shots. His breast is snow white.


That is a tiny bit better you can see how black he is so that now the black and white make a very sharp contrast. He eats all of the bugs around the lights on the porch and his favorite place is the swimming pool where he gets bugs there too.


I was able to get this little finch eating these weird blossoms in the cottonwood trees. This is the first time I have ever seen these blossoms and at first I thought it was bats hanging in the trees. The finch and Mr. Pointy Head fly from tree to tree when I am out there walking. Today they let me get their pictures.

Finally I have iris blooming. Spring will be here officially this week. I have tomato and gourd seeds coming up. I have lots of weeding to get done this week. I need to get some kind of planting plan drawn up this week too.

I hope you have a lovely Monday.
~Kim~

  "Like all magnificent things, it's very simple."
---Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt, 1975

21 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

i bet your first one is a black phoebe. :)

and i love your red haired dancing girl. :)

http://bitsandpieces-sonja.blogspot.com/ said...

On this St.Patrick's Day, I'm a little bit green with envy over your artichokes! I love 2 green things better than anything... artichokes and avocados. Do you have avocado trees? I'm betting you do! Love your pictures as always.

Beth said...

Wonderful photos today Kim! The red haired dancing girl is lovely.

Miss Debbie said...

Busy as usual! Sounds like you are off to a great start! :-)

Debbie said...

Great pictures! Love that name too...."the red haired dancing girl!" so perfect! sounds like you are going to have a wonderful garden as always...enjoy!

Christine said...

Great to see the garden is already flourishing. I've never seen a whole artichoke plant before and it is huge!
Have a wonderful week
Christine

Meg said...

Oh! He's an Olive Winged Fly Catcher! We had one around here last year so I looked and looked and looked on the internet and I'm pretty sure that's what he is. He likes to sit in out cottonwood tree, then dart down to catch a bug and fly back up to his perch real quick. He's very cute!

Kessie said...

So many plants! It makes me so happy. My basil is going nuts, but its 85 today and I hope my seedlings don't scorch. The sun is so harsh.

Julia said...

Happy St Patrick's Day Kim, I wore my green farm boots today, lol...
I'm so anxiously awaiting for the snow to go and the green grass to grow. My tiny petunia seeds have minuscule green leaves showing. They are so tiny that I almost need a magnifying glass to see them.

I'm enjoying seeing your garden photos.

Have a great week.
Hugs,
JB

I looked up that black bird on the web and it looks like a Black Pheobe bird like Tex Wis Girl said. It's a sort of a fly catcher.

Pom Pom said...

Look at you, all go-go-go in the garden!
I do not know what that nice California bird is, but I like him!
Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Betty Manousos said...

happy st. patrick's day!

love your photos! simply beautiful!!
:))

Buttons Thoughts said...

Oh I LOVE Red Haired Dancing Girl. Oh love to have one of those. Hug B

Kathy ... aka Nana said...

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you!!

It was COLD today but thankfully it'll be warming up tomorrow. I think I noticed, as we were leaving on Friday, that our pear tree is getting buds. I need to walk out and check ... maybe tomorrow? I'm SO ready for spring!

Nellie said...

My goodness! You have really been busy! Everything is looking so very nice! I hope you will have a good crop of boysenberries! You have a very helpful bird there who is eating all the bugs. xo Nellie

Debbie said...

Pretty images today Kim, you are becoming a birdie ;)

Very fun name for the Japanese Maple!!

annie said...

wonderful photos!

Janettessage.blogspot.com said...

I so enjoy your garden...the plants..the birds..how peaceful. I know it is a lot of work. All the plants that wouldn't grown here are wonderful to see...thanks for sharing

jennifer768 said...

As usual the pics are beautiful and the post wonderful! Have a great day.Be blessed,Jen

From Beyond My Kitchen Window said...

What ever kind of bird it is you are lucky it eats all your bugs. Beautiful photos Kim. I love artichokes but never had one picked directly from a garden. They must be very tender.

Kim said...

We have such different climates. LOL. Love artichokes but they are so expensive here

Sue said...

It looks like you are off to a great start with your spring, we are back to winter, then some warmth, and then back to winter. We have also had lots and lots of rain, which will slow our planting. I love to see what is growing at your farm, your photos are always so pretty. We have lots of different kinds of birds who eat insects around our garden but your pointed head doesn't look familiar to me! Enjoy your gardening, think of me when you are out there getting those hands dirty. ~smile~
Hugs,
Sue