What a Difference A Week Makes!

I took some photos in my garden during the first week of December and discovered, if not a blooming parade of summer flowers, at least some quiet snippets of  late autumn beauty.

 The sage was still quite green and the skimmia had tiny flowers on it!

 I leave many flower heads in the garden for two reasons.  The birds visit from September to November to feast on the seeds and I enjoy the golden sculptured look of the spent flowers.

 The leaves remain on the beds all winter too.  They keep my perennials warm and  eventually break down  into compost.  If they are still around in spring, we rake them into the compost.

 The euonymus is covered with berries at this time of year - another food source for the birds.

 My rhododendron has set buds for next year already.  Now if only they can escape the notice of hungry squirrels in mid-winter.

 This week we woke to a lovely snow shower which dumped an inch or two of snow on us, turning the world outside my window into a white sculpture garden.

 The sage wears a white fur coat this week!

 The snow clings to the seed pods in new and ,sometimes, dramatic ways, creating some unusual patterns.

 St Francis stoically remains a fixture all year round. (I think the birds come to visit him, not me)

So while everyone else is searching the malls for the latest toys and the biggest bargains, I wait with quiet anticipation for the gifts of December to come to my garden - family, celebrations, a new season of cold and snow and a new season of renewal of the heart - with the retelling of the ancient story that still has the capacity to make hearts leap with joy! The Christmas Story.

Winter Companions

  When the snow flies and the garden is sleeping soundly under a white blanket, birdwatching becomes a diversion for us.

White throated Sparrow

 There are no flowers to photograph and no herbs to preserve, no weeding or mowing or planting to keep us busy so  we haul out the bird feeders,  fill them up with seed and sit back to wait for company to arrive in the yard.

Purple Finch

 The birds are faithful winter companions and,  having no children at home or pets to spoil, we treat them well.

Dove and Francis

 Over several years we've discovered that certain feeders and certain seeds attract the smaller, prettier song birds while the bigger more annoying birds stay away.

Purple Finch

 We use a feeder which discourages the bigger birds (and squirrels) by closing when there is too much weight on the platform.  We only offer sunflower seeds,  safflower seeds, niger seed and suet in special feeders for woodpeckers.

Downy Woodpecker

  The smaller birds reward us with hours of pleasure with their antics and songs.  We always know when a hawk is in the area.  The birds disappear and the silence and lack of movement is immediately noticeable.

Cooper's Hawk

 Yesterday we watched a Red-tailed Hawk circle for a few minutes before moving on.  What a beautiful bird he was! (Not that I want him to take any of my little birds! Still,  he is magnificent.)

Female Cardinal

   To make our yard more attractive, we added a bird bath as a water source and planted many small trees and shrubs to provide shelter and as food sources.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

I  have taken many of these photos over several winters and, although they aren't great, they give an idea of which birds winter over on Long Island.

Yellow-shafted Flicker

  This year we have added three  birds to our line-up.  A group of three or four tufted-titmice arrived when we set out the feeders and they have come regularly since.  I have not gotten a good shot of one yet.  They are somewhat skittish and don't pose very long before flying to shelter.

Goldfinch 

  The other new bird we've spotted this winter is a red-breasted nuthatch, a cousin of the white breasted nuthatch.

Carolina Wren

  It is always fun to spot a new visitor.  We have a book of birds to help us figure out what we are seeing.

Male Cardinal

  The Red-tailed Hawk was another new bird for us.  We've seen them while hiking but never in the neighborhood.

Song Sparrow

Mourning Doves

Nuthatch

  We are lucky to live on the North Atlantic Flyway.  Many migrating birds pass through in spring and fall and some will stop in our backyard.  Others, we  observe out in the woods and near the beaches along the shore.  But the best birds of all, are the ones who stop by everyday to say hello!

  Take away for today - Birds are good neighbors!

Hope for the Flowers

   Yesterday, I took a quick walk around the garden looking for some signs of spring. 

Tiny crepe paper petals

 My witch hazel (Hamamelis) never disappoints me.  It always blooms in early February regardless of dire weather predictions and cold temperatures.   Even when the bird bath is frozen and the anemic sun is still struggling to move north,  it unfurls  tiny flowers that look like confetti.

*

hazel

flowers in the snow

a good witch

*

February sun is enough for hazel

  Not much else going on, but then it doesn't take much to make a gardener's heart sing a spring song!  I find my garlic, small but  green and alive!

Garlic, planted in the fall, is coming up

Daffodils venturing out

The daffodils may be a bit premature but they pop early every year and seem impervious to the ice and snow, blooming in April no matter what.

Lenten Rose buds come right out of the frozen ground!

The Hellebore or Lenten Rose is sending out its flowers too and it will be blooming in early March even if we get the predicted blizzard.

Back inside!

When I'm too cold to putter, I return to the house and tend my indoor flowers, fussing over African Violets and Cyclamen .  I crush a bit of rosemary and a scented geranium leaf to inhale a whiff of  summer, then  pour myself a hot cup of herbal tea and wait for the snow.

Recuerda Mi Corazon 'Haiku My Heart'