Honeysuckle and Caladiums

Honeysuckle is in Shakespeare, sometimes as woodbine.

Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms.
So doth the Woodbine the sweet Honeysuckle
Gently entwist; the Female Ivy so
Enrings the barky fingers of the Elm.

--- Midsummer Night's Dream, act iv, sc. 1 (47).

There are two ways to garden vertically. One is to go down with root crops, like carrots. The other is to go up with vines.

Our fence on Mrs. Wright's side is booked for the summer, and the opposite side is reserved for roses. Therefore, the best supporters left are the trees.

I chose our dead tree for the honeysuckle. I have never grown it before, but various sources claim the vine is vigorous, butterfly, bee and hummingbird friendly.

The little pot of honeysuckle was growing green, but I still soaked it in rainwater for a time. Last fall we covered the base of the snag with newspapers and wood mulch. All winter the soil had a chance to convert the weed-choked base to compost.

The shovel went smoothly into the soil near the tree trunk, and the plant went in the hole. I poured more rainwater in to settle the soil and tucked the mulch around the plant.

The vine seems to need help in climbing, so I may need to provide some extra support. However, it is called twining, which may help. The abundant flowers attract all kinds of insect life and hummingbirds. Hummers do not hover for the nectar. They need insects too, so their tweezer beaks are ideal for grabbing them while sipping the sweetness of the vine.

Sweetheart Caladiums love shade.

I did not want to spend rose dollars on tender bulbs, for another reason besides the Scrooge Prime Directive. They are work - not at first - but later when they need to be recovered in the fall. Spring (tender) bulbs are spectacular in their beauty, but they do not tolerate frost.

Catalogs do not sell bulbs but flowers. The glossy close-ups send gardeners into reveries where labor cost and price fade away. I thought these might be colorful under the maple but we will soon prune the maple. When someone helps out, trampling the new flowers is a consideration.

The bulbs were ugly, like little lumps of mud. Directions told me to plant the bumpy side up, but the each cluster was bumpy all over. They should say "smoother bumps on the bottom." Ultimately it does not matter, so I troweled out mulch and soil to plant them. When I showed their picture to Mrs. Ichabod, she said, "Great. We always had them at home, every year."

Another win.

All Creatures Great and Small - The Bird Spa Loves Them All

All things bright and beautiful, 
 all creatures great and small, 
 all things wise and wonderful:  
 the Lord God made them all.

1. Each little flower that opens, 
 each little bird that sings, 
 God made their glowing colors, 
 and made their tiny wings.  
 (Refrain)

2. The purple-headed mountains, 
 the river running by, 
 the sunset and the morning 
 that brightens up the sky.  
 (Refrain)

3. The cold wind in the winter, 
 the pleasant summer sun, 
 the ripe fruits in the garden:  
 God made them every one.  
 (Refrain)

4. God gave us eyes to see them, 
 and lips that we might tell 
 how great is God Almighty, 
 who has made all things well.  

Grasshopper - "I'm ready for my close-up."

I would steal the first verse of this Anglican hymn for book titles, but James Herriot beat me to it. We watched the entire series - All Creatures Great and Small - during a Netflix binge.

The hymn happens to describe perfect gardening - all creatures great and small. We have two neighbors who tried various poisons and have suffered the consequences.

The primary cause is work and expense: the result, an impoverished garden. One can hardly imagine all the work involved in created a rose garden full of weeds. It took various herbicides plus landscapers cloth to diminish the roses and favor the weeds. Creating raised beds was a lot of
work for the man with good intentions, but each additional step was harmful rather than beneficial.

All creatures, great and small, were fashioned for a purpose. Our knowledge of Creation can enhance the work they do by design. One example is the Jackson Bird Spa. 

The total experience consists of:

• The spa with seven birdbaths and many levels of food, various seeds plus three bags of suet.
• The food and baths resting on wooden mulch and a newspaper layer below, which fosters critter life for the birds, keeping food dry and the soil moist.
• The window feeder for small birds, and the adjacent Jackson EZ Bird Swing.
• The aerial aqueduct (soaker hose on the fence), creating dripping showers for plants, birds, toads, earthworms, slugs, bacteria, protozoa, and fungi.
• Bits of string and lint for bird nests.
• Mulched zones under the entire fence, also covering the vegetable and Three Sisters gardens.

Everyone's backyard will have birds, squirrels, and other creatures from time to time. Ours is alive with many birds and squirrels - feeding, drinking, splashing, vying for position at the food or baths - all the time. A starling may land on the file cabinet only to find a squirrel popping out to assert his dominance over the food scattered inside.

Dustmites are a good reason to change pillows.
They live on the skin cells we shed.

Starlings will check out baths and pick one, only to have another one land and take over. So the second choice becomes the alternative bath. Then a third lands and looks for a place in line or jumps in to force one out. The one shoved out may fly directly to the window to feed on suet bags.

If the starlings take off with the scout bird, the doves will dither and just go behind a tree, then return to feeding. Squirrels often feed at the same time, or one sits on the filing cabinet  and dares any bird to interrupt his eating.

The birds invited to the Jackson Bird Spa include - cardinals, mourning and rock doves, blue jays, goldfinches, purple finches, chickadees, starlings, grackles, and woodpeckers. If I put seed on the window sill, a baby squirrel will come to feed there. 

I expanded the spa to make some spots useful for toads. I still need some crockery around the yard for toad shelters, but shallow water and frequent watering is a good beginning.

The pests eaten by all the birds, toads, and spiders is astonishing to consider. Anyone who doubts this should read just one example from the observations of nature enthusiasts.

People kill insect-killing spiders with insecticide.
Does that make sense?

Toads Eat:

The common toad usually moves by walking rather slowly or in short shuffling jumps involving all four legs. It spends the day concealed in a lair that it has hollowed out under foliage or beneath a root or a stone where its colouring makes it inconspicuous. It emerges at dusk and may travel some distance in the dark while hunting. It is most active in wet weather. By morning it has returned to its base and may occupy the same place for several months. It is voracious and eats woodlice,slugs, beetles, caterpillars, flies, earthworms and even small mice.

Toads eat slugs and many other creatures.My toads will get broken clay vases, not castles.