This Grandmother's Garden: Mother Nature

Showing posts with label Mother Nature. Show all posts

Thursday, July 11, 2013

The Highest Award a Garden Can Ever Achieve...

is bestowed by Nature.

It's an award you'll forever treasure.

And how do you know if your gardens have been selected

for this Honorary Award?

It's simple...

Nature's little creatures

choose to make your gardens

their home.

Male California Quail

And for the second year in a row,

Mister and Madame Quail have given

This Grandmother's Garden

that very distinction.

What a pleasure it is to receive it.

For weeks we've watched these two walking about our gardens

hoping they would choose to stay...

and they did!

Female California Quail

Mister Quail is quite smitten.

He never lets her out of his sight.

He oftens find a perch to sit on

where he watches intently.

He is the sentry in charge of her safety.

Madame Quail goes about her business

of pecking the ground

for morsels of seed and bugs and buds.

Occasionally she can be seen

carving out a bowl shape in the dirt

and plopping into it

as though it were a bathtub filled with aromatic herbs.

We have lots of those bowl shapes in our gardens.

Silly Madame Quail.

Devoted Mister Quail.

Sometimes he chases her

and she runs away.

But then she lets him catch her.

Isn't that just like nature?

Anyone want a piggy back ride?

We have fun...

watching them have fun.

Don't move.

He's looking right at you.

If he senses danger he'll signal her to run.

Those little legs can move really fast.

And if you startle them...

they'll flush and fly to safety.

Mister Quail on Sentry Duty

I'm careful not to let that happen.

I want them to feel safe in their new home.

Next post we'll welcome the Little Ones...

Can you guess how many babies we have?

♥ I should note that Quail are not the only little creatures that call our gardens home.

They just happen to be the ones we're squealing with delight over today. ♥

Highland, Utah, USA

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Farewell My Little Flying Jewels...

I knew this day would come...

it's all a part of Nature's eternal plan for the Universe.

Reason tells me it's a blessing...

for with every Fall comes Winter

and with every Winter,

a bitter cold these little jewels could not abide.

So they fly South to Mexico for the Winter.

But oh...
how I'm gonna miss my Hummingbirds!

Did I know that very morning

would be our last photo shoot?

And if I did,

would it have been any sweeter?

And how did they know it was time to go?

There were still blooms left to sip from

in my gardens.

Were the mornings getting too cold?

I've learned that it actually has nothing to do

with the availability of food

or with the temperature;

in fact, hummingbirds migrate south at the time

of greatest food abundance.

As Autumn approaches, the urge to leave is triggered

by the shortening length of sunlight...

and when the bird is fat enough...

it migrates.

This little guy is quite plump

don't you think?

Yes, they were ready...

but I wasn't.

I've also learned that a hummingbird may retrace it's path

every year as long as it lives.

This means I'll see my little Flying Jewels again next Spring...

when it's warm again.

I can live with that,

it really was getting cold out there every morning

sitting patiently

capturing their frolics with my camera.

♥ ♥ ♥

Oh!

For those of you who saw

my delightful little slideshow

at the hummingbird feeder...

here's an update:

Not only did they figure out

how to sip the nectar...

they also became

quite territorial over it.

Naughty little fellers...

there's really enough in there for all of you.

Farewell My Little Flying Jewels!

*BTW, the Audubon Society tells us that in the Fall,

we should keep our feeders up for two weeks

after we see the last bird using it.

As the hummingbirds migrate

they'll benefit from the extra boost

the nectar gives them.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

A Time to Remember the Beautiful Things

A sweet song from my childhood...

Rain falls
soft rain at my window
Every butterfly has hurried away
All the honeybees have called it a day
And the columbine are bending their heads in the rain.

Rain falls
soft rain making puddles
for the children's feet
the puddles are sweet
And the skater-bug fleet finds small pools a treat
And the columbine are bending their heads in the rain.

While the rain is falling there's a quietness about the world;
While the thunder is calling there's a quiet hush about the world
A time to remember the beautiful things,
To look for tomorrow and your fondest dreams...

Rain falls
soft rain through the tree boughs
Bringing ev'ning birds a quick friendly bath
washing afternoon dust from my wide garden path
And the columbine are bending their heads in the rain.

Rain falls

soft rain at my window

I will go outside where sleepy rain blows

Feel the wet on my face, feel the wet on my clothes

And like the columbine

I want to bow my head in the rain.

Today I'm remembering the beautiful things...

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

COLOR is Dancing in My Gardens...

...and it's NOT just the Flowers!

There's more color this year than we can ever remember...
and we're lovin' it!

Blue...

Orange...

Yellow Orange...

Lemon Yellow...

Red...

We could get use to this!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Oh My Heart...

Delicate ROSE petals form the shape of a HEART...

on a rose growing in a corner of my gardens.

In your Sweetest Dreams could you ever imagine

such a beautiful bloom as this?

Oh My Heart Rose

Actually a bloom from a "no name" Rose Tree
I fell in love with several Summers ago at Costco.
I just had to bring it home!

And its blooms are ENCHANTING!

I guess my garden is just giving a little love back!

Oh my heart!

Such tender mercies growing in my gardens.

Have YOU ever discovered an OH MY HEART ROSE in your gardens?

Friday, June 3, 2011

And the MYSTERY is SOLVED...

This is WHAT it will become...

Photo by Digilbo

CICADA

This insect's amazing lifestyle has been a source of fascination since ancient times. Several cultures, such as the ancient Chinese, regarded these insects as powerful symbols of rebirth.

"Cicadas are known for their loud, piercing song. Only male cicadas have drum-like membranes on their abdomen that vibrate, making creepy tones. From June through September, adult males sit in treetops throughout much of America producing a variety of rhythmic ticks, buzzes and whines to attract females. Female cicadas produce timed "wing flick" signals in response to male calls. Every species of cicada has a unique call. The frequency of the sound is related to the temperature and time of day.

Cicadas spend most of their time underground feeding on roots. But every now and then they come out. There are annual and periodical cicadas. The cicadas in a periodical cicada population are synchronized so that almost all of them mature into adults in the same year. The fact that these cicadas remain locked together in time is made even more amazing by their extremely long life-cycles of 13 to 17 years."

"Cicadas help the environment. They improve soil, provide food for other animals and prune treetops. Periodical cicadas achieve astounding population densities, as high as 1.5 million per acre. Densities of tens to hundreds of thousands per acre are more common.

Some people even like to eat the bugs! Whether they're curious or doing it for shock value, people are eating cicadas. Eating cicadas is not a new thing. People have been eating them for centuries.

"When you eat them when they're soft and mushy, when they come out of their skin, they taste like cold, canned asparagus," Kritsky said.

Cicadas are harmless. They do not bite or sting defensively, nor do they attack people. If a cicada lands on you, it does so only because it finds you to be a convenient place to land."

♥ ♥ ♥

HUGS to to Ben who was the first commenter with the correct guess. (I'm so impressed!) You have won dinner for three on the Garden Terrace of my back yard. Bring my daughter and granddaughter please. ♥

And KUDOS to the following:

Joey at the The Village Voice who discovered the very same creature in her soil way far away in Michigan. So nice to know we have such a deep connection.

Holley at Roses and Other Gardening Joys who made me smile with her Mexican Jumping Beans guess.

Beth at PlantPostings who knew it's a big year for Cicadas. Not so much here in Utah but surely in the south.

Christine at The Gardening Blog who's seen similar in her own garden.

Karen at Glimpses of Glory who is a new visitor to my gardens... so glad you found me!

And Susan at Ink and Pestemon whose comments are always a welcome sight.

And for the curious,

no... it hasn't emerged yet.

At least I don't really know. I just leave them in the soil when I find them so that they may fulfill the measure of their creation. (Don't wanna mess with Mother Nature.)

Friday, February 11, 2011

Blooming Friday Winter

Some time ago I discovered a wonderful Swedish blog Roses and Stuff by Katarina. I must admit I'm a bit partial to blogs (and bloggers) in Sweden. My youngest son has lived in Sweden for the past year where he is serving a mission for our church. He will be there for another year before he returns home. As you might imagine, I miss this young man more than words can say but I am so happy for the opportunity he has been given to serve in such a beautiful country. Sweden is the land of many of our ancestors and I have been blessed to become familiar with this country and many of its beautiful people by visiting some of the blogs originating there. Katarina's blog is one of those.

Each Friday Katarina hosts Blommig Fredag

or Blooming Friday.

This week the theme is WINTER.