Tag: nature

Columbine Close Up

~ Ruth ~ 1 Comment

Pale pink columbine close up for today’s Flower of the Day 🙂

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Birds & Bees

~ Ruth ~ 3 Comments

We like to encourage small birds into our garden, but are not so keen on the larger ones, who need no encouragement. We live close to the sea, so seagulls are regular visitors, as are crows and wood pigeons.

At the other end of the size scale we have dunnocks and sparrows, coal tits and blue tits, all of whom fly in and out to eat seeds from our bird feeder, and at times we’ve even seen an occasional goldfinch. In the winter we have robins, too, wary with their wonderful red breasts.

But the real characters when it comes to the garden birds are the starlings and the blackbirds. The starlings with their speckled backs and their funny little calls seem to travel around in groups like attention-seeking teenagers, jumpy and agitated and strutting their stuff with attitude, as if they own the place.

My favourites are without doubt the blackbirds, they always seem so friendly as they watch us as we’re gardening, getting surprisingly close as they wait patiently for worms and other delicacies disturbed by our endeavours. Sometimes when I’m sitting quiet and still on the bench they’ll hop about happily by my feet, and I love to hear their song, clear and melodic…

Oh, and of course we have bee-friendly plants growing in the garden so there are always bees buzzing around happily, and butterflies too 🙂

Weekly Prompts: Birds & Bees

Just Stick it in the Ground

~ Ruth ~ 7 Comments

My favourite kind of plants are the kind you simply stick in the ground, give them a decent drink, and pretty much let them grow themselves.

I love my garden, and enjoy gardening, but as much as possible I prefer to choose plants that can look after themselves.

This Ladies Mantle (Alchemilla Mollis) is one such plant – it appeared all by itself, as several small plants growing in odd places, so I transplanted them to where I wanted them to be and they’ve all flourished wonderfully well 🙂

Stream of Consciousness Saturday: Stick