For The Birds!!

I've not been feeling like getting in the garden lately… its not the heat, that's let up, its just that I've been a bit discouraged - mostly due to a crabgrass infestation that came about during a hot spell (too hot to treat).  I've treated now, but will probably have to re-treat… sigh… I'm also discouraged that I've not made the progress I'd like on the brick edging project (which will help keep the lawn out of the flower beds), the arthritis in my hands has been acting up & I've been fighting off some sort of infection, so the combination has kept me from moving bricks & digging - both required for the task.

In the mean time I've had lots of visitors to the feeders & birdbath lately, some unexpected visitors among the bunch, I was able to get some pictures of the usual characters…

Little Woodpecker on the Oak, female.

Little Woodpecker at the Suet, female.

Sparrow on top of the feeder arm… female, kinda hard to see...

Same Sparrow, zoomed in...

Chickadee & Sparrow sharing a feeder...

Chickadee at the Suet...

Chickadee at the Birdbath...

Sparrow at the feeder...

Nuthatch joins her for lunch...

They seem to be enjoying each other's company...

That might be a female Finch on the left… hard to tell the female Finches from Sparrows

Nuthatch and Sparrow...

Sparrow is now in the tree, almost hidden by the leaves...

Later, when I was filling the feeders, this little Woodpecker was cleaning
himself on a branch above me...

You can tell he's a male by the red spot on the back of his head...

To my frustration I wasn't able to get pictures of: House Finch, Gold Finch, Red Winged Blackbird.  There just aren't as many of them & I've not had my camera on hand when they've been around, but they've been here the last couple days!! Today I went to my favorite local bird food supplier, Chickadee's House, & picked up some new foods to try that might encourage these new visitors to stick around, and might tempt the Cardinals to come by more often.

In other garden news, my next-to-last-to-bloom Hosta has put out her blooms, they're a deeper purple than her cousins put out.  My last-to-bloom Hosta hasn't even put shoots up yet… stubborn girl!!

Italian Parsley, Sage, Thyme

Dill, Cilantro, Tarragon

My herbs, except my Peppermint, continue to grow like crazy.  What's going on with my Peppermint?  Well….

That's right, she's been blooming… normally blooms on plants are good… but for herbs I've been told to keep the blooms off to encourage better leaf production… so I've been a bad plant-mommy…  Well, maybe just a discouraged plant-mommy, since she'd been a bit of an unhappy plant & I'm not sure why, so I'd let her do what she wanted for a while… that is until today.

Peppermint blooms in a bud vase...

Peppermint leaves pulled from the bloom trimmings...

Yep, I trimmed off all her blooms…  I thought they were kinda pretty, so I put them into a tiny bud vase - after I removed the big leaves of course, we'll be having the leaves with our Sorbet tonight (Yum!)…