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OUR WINTER FLOWERS “BIRDS”

It has been a very mild winter with very little snow at times we had little or no activity at the feeders. We could however see the birds actively feeding on the natural sources. Woodpeckers and nuthatches gleaming the cracks and crevices in the tree bark. Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse, Juncos and others feeding on seed in the garden and around the yard.

There was of course a steady flow of birds at the feeders, one or two at a time. We had our usual pair of northern cardinals, three Eastern bluebird, a woodpecker or two, mourning doves on the ground under the feeders and of course squirrels. When it was very cold or we had a fresh snow the traffic at the feeders was heavy.

All of the signs and early spring are here. A week or so ago we had a flock of robins visit. The same day a few hundred blackbirds arrived starlings Red-wing blackbirds and grackles, stayed two days and have not been seen since. Daffodils are coming up all over.  We have had a few days of close To 80°now it’s in the low 50s.  We had a hard frost Monday night and a light one Tuesday night. Only time will tell how much damage to the plants and trees that are trying to come up.

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A SIMPLE SLIDE SHOW OF MALE DOWNY WOODPECKER

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Thursday afternoon at the Boston Flower show.  Some real nice exhibits with a lot of attention to water features, stone and wood structures and relaxing out doors in your garden.   Attended three of the lectures that day.   That consumed three hours leaving  about three hours to tour the show have some lunch and check out the vendors.   Took a lot of photos and have four of them here in full view and then a slide show of the others.

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Video Slide Show ” Blooms 2012″  not in any particular order. 

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So that’s it for the Boston Flower show.  Trying to get some slide shows setup and posted of the birds I photographed in the last few weeks.  Also working on a post about what is coming up in our gardens now.

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GARDEN WRITERS COME TOGETHER

Garden Writers from around New England gathered today for the annual meeting

Region 1 Director in Attendance:  C.L. Fornari

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GWA WORKSHOP

Boston February 3, 2012

Mary-Kate Mackey

PITCH PERFECT

What you need to sell your project

 Excellent Presentation by Mary-Kate, she presents things in a way that make it easy to understand.   An outstanding speaker that mixes right in with the audience and keeps things interesting.   The workshop included a lot of inter reaction between the participants and the speaker making it a pleasure  being here.

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All those attending are saying thank you to Mary-Kate for the excellent presentation and to C.L. for the great job of organizing and running the meeting.

All the Garden Writers, C.L. and Mary-Kate thanking the following supporters for their donations making this meeting possible.

Generous Donations from :

Gardeners Supply Company                                                  gardeners.com

Prides Corner Farm                                                                 pridescorner.com

Sample Donations by:

Black Gold Organic potting soils.                                            blackgold.bz

Droll Yankee – Made by American Hands.                           drollyankees.com

High Mowing Organic Seeds.                                                   highmowingseeds.com

Jeremie  Miniature/fairy gardening supplies                        jeremiecorp.com

The Environmental Factor Inc.  Organic Lawn in a Box     environmentalfactor.com

Espoma Bio-tone Starter Fertilizer                                        espoma.com

Natural Industries   Actinovate organic fungicide                 naturalindustries.com

Pleasant View Gardens/Spring Meadow Nurseries******************************* Proven Winners and Color Choice Plants – annuals/shrub/perennials***************** ************************provenwinners.com*******colorchoiceplants.com

Plants Nouveau  New and unusual plants                               plantsnouveau.com

Smart Pots – Alternatives in Container growing                    smartpots.com

Storey Publishing – Gardening Books (BOOKS!)                   story.com

Wildflower Farm’s Eco Lawn                                                    wildflower.com

That’s it see you all next year.

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GARDENS OF THE PAST

As we enter into the Year 2012 remembering some of our Flowers and Gardens of the past.  I put together two slide show’s of things, flowers and other resident’s at Liza and John’s garden that occurred in years past.   Not in any particular order or with any rhyme or reason just some of what we think are interesting.

I spent four hours today scanning the thousands of photos we have.  Did not even scratch the surface.    Started some “Save Files” today and already have over 500 Eastern Bluebird photos,  several hundred Northern Cardinal and lots of others.  Hope you enjoy the Slide shows.

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Click on the first thumbnail to start show, then toggle from side to side by clicking on the double arrows by the captions.  Click on the image to return to blog.

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GARDENS OF THE PAST 2

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LOOKING AT THE NEW YEAR

2012 is already looking better than 2011.  Working on a new blog theme and perhaps another blog.  Back problems getting better so should be able to work in the gardens more than last year.   Liza is slowly healing from the surgery she had last June.  Lots of nerve damage and that takes some time.  

That’s it for this time see you next post.  Have a wonderful New Year.

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FROM ALL OF US TO ALL OF YOU

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As 2011 comes to an end,  all of us at Liza and John’s Garden would like to express our thanks to those who read our blog and those who share their blogs with us.   Your comments appreciated and your blogs are wonderful.   As we enter the new year we are looking forward to new and interesting things. 

I close this post by expressing our love and appreciation to all of you for blogging with us.

          Liza                            Charlie                   Penny

                    John                           Bella                    Mozart

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