Let it snow

Today we received the first snowfall of autumn 2015. Usually, some kind of snow falls by Halloween, but the weather is late this year. Climate change? El Nino? Who knows.

Yesterday I did manage to water the new prairie plants on the south side of the house and top dress them in straw. The strawberry bed is protected as well. Today I put away the hoses and cleared the front porch of soggy Jack O' Lantern and dead coleus.

The flamingos are garaged and the driveway markers are set, so bring it on.

End of the musts, more or less

Last week I replaced the DOA cherry tree with another (Grandpa's Orchard gives great customer service), then my SO and I hauled in three loads of horse manure, and last Monday I planted the garlic. That marks the end of the must-do items on the yardening list. Of course, there is always more that can be done, but nothing that can't wait.

Look what the manure brought

Oh. Except strawing the strawberries and the newbies on the south side of the house. It's really windy today, and wet, so maybe tomorrow.

Pinetree Garden Seeds again wins the award for earliest seed catalog of the season. I haven't looked at it yet - it's just too soon, still recovering from this past year, although I am making plans for next (always).

The birds finally showed an interest in the homemade birdfeed thingies. A squirrel stripped the toilet paper rolls - must have been the peanut butter.

Taken through a wet-with-rain window

You can give the birds some feed but...

The g'daughter and I gooped together some homemade bird feeding thingies, made with a seed mix that included all kinds of goodies one would think the birds would like. But no. Not even the sparrows have shown any interest in our creations.

One recipe we used was from Alpha Mom and included gelatin as a binder. Most of it went into cookie cutters, which didn't work as well as I had hoped - too crumbly. I put some of the leftovers into orange halves, some into muffin liners. I have yet to see any evidence that the birds find this mixture palatable.

I have higher hopes for the peanut-butter-on-toilet-paper-rolls-rolled-in-bird-feed objects, although there is the risk that squirrels may tear these to shreds. So far, no takers there, either.

My observation is birds favor different foods in different seasons, so hopefully they will become interested in our offerings someday, before they rot.

WTH?

If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would not have known that it is sparrows (or at least one sparrow) stripping bark from this branch on my tulip poplar tree. Has anyone else witnessed this kind of thing?

Last mow?

It has been warm but dry here, unusual weather for us this time of year. While the grass growing has been slow, it didn't stop altogether. I think it is done now, so I mowed for what I hope is the last time this season. I also trimmed and weeded a bit out front; the backyard needs more attention, but then that is always the case.

I took these pix a couple of weeks ago.

Dwarf Fountain Grass 'Hameln', from the front

Dwarf Fountain Grass 'Hameln', from behind, with cotoneaster

, Pampas Grass, Northern Sea Oats, Switchgrass

Little Bluestem

Tulip Poplar

Blueberry ('Patriot' I think)

Hydrangea 'Limelight'

The garden mid clean-up

Viburnum 'Blue Muffin'

Rhubarb

I have been calling the grass pictured below Big Bluestem, but BB does not get such a plume-like seed head. So now I have no idea what this is.

The little squirrel came by for a closer photo op. I can't decide if he is a small species of squirrel or just a young one. I have seen a couple of black squirrels here and there, in other neighborhoods.

And I spotted the albino robin; he is hard to miss.