Friday, June 8, 2018

A Second Look--June 8, 2018

It's that wonderful time of the year when everything just wants to grow. The extreme hot and cold temperatures aren't present and the rain is plentiful. In fact, maybe a little too plentiful. I've been working a lot outside, but have to plan everything carefully between the rain storms. The grass is lush and we have to mow twice a week now.

Having gone through one season at our new house, I'm starting to understand the yard a little better. There are invasive plants in every bed, but I think we're making progress against them. We still have poison ivy, but we have eliminated it from several areas. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed, but for now, here are somethings I saw recently during a Second Look.


The pansies I planted last fall are actually gone now. I recently replaced them with begonias.


The iris are almost gone. I've started to divide and move them because they have grown into the fence enough that we can't shut the gate.


The rain brought out mushrooms of various kinds.


I hope the coral bells continue to bloom most of the summer like they did last year.


As I do for the purple sage.


A few poppies emerged above the ground covers to bloom. There are several other flowers in there that have been overtaken. Someday I hope to move them.


I have pulled several beginning oak trees from the beds. I always get excited when I see the acorn still attached. This acorn was gone the next day. Maybe a squirrel come back to claim it.


I showed you this pileated woodpecker the other day. I forgot to mention that it was a female. You can tell by the stripe by the beak. In females, it is black. In males, it is red.

While I recently saw the "rare" pileated woodpecker, the most common bird at our feeder is the house finch.