Greetings, salutations, etc.! It’s late March and I’m back and I’m a lot warmer! That early spring that I was anticipating a month ago is here, just no longer early.
The advent of daylight savings time two weeks ago as usual took me by surprise. The suddenly longer evenings are welcome and I can once again reinstitute my evening routine of sitting on my five gallon bucket outback on the cement pad (cold beer in hand) and finish my day by observing and admiring nature in the adjoining woodlot. It’s time spent on my bucket that reminds me how much I agree with Thoreau: our human nature needs a regular dose of Mother Nature to remain balanced.
The first week of March (when we last “spoke”) I was walking out our dirt lane in the pre-sunrise semi- darkness to get the morning paper. As I walked to retrieve the paper this week, I happily realized that I was hearing the song birds in full serenade for the first time since late last fall. Ah, a good spring sound it was! And one that made me consider our feathered friends!
Singing apparently serves multiple purposes for birds. It is their primary method to mark their territories caution rivals. (All animals do this in some manner. If you don’t think this is true check out your local school bus or the school hallways.) Singing may also serve to help the birds regroup after the darkness of the preceding night. As you may expect, it’s most important use is as a mating tool. The singing, done primarily by males, is an advertisement to all qualified females in the area that there is a male available and willing. (Please refer back to previous reference to school buses and hallways.)
If you have hummingbird feeders it is not too early to put them out. The ruby throated hummingbirds are on their way north from their wintering grounds in southern Mexico and Central America and should arrive in southern Pennsylvania around the first of April. The color red is important in attracting humming birds to your feeders. You can put red coloring—be sure to use safely consumable food coloring—in your sugar water mix. Other red items (flowers) placed in the vicinity of the feeders also seem to aid the hummingbirds in finding the feeders.
Ruby throated hummingbird
A few weeks back, my wife and I visited our daughter in Philadelphia where they took (dragged?) me to the flower show. They had previously attended, I hadn’t. I must admit that I enjoyed the show. I was unaware of the workings of the show and was surprised by the complexity. I had not previously understood that the show consisted of exhibitions sponsored and created by various plant nurseries and landscape companies. The elegance and complexity involved in the floral displays was very impressive. The landscaping was widely varied, very attractive and offered many ideas to be tried, in a more basic manner surely, at home. There were, of course, many booths selling all sorts of plants and almost any gardening tool and accessory that you could imagine. Information and instruction in many facets of gardening was readily available. There is truly something for everyone, including food booths, but not including anywhere to sit down. I found the lack of any seating to be ill-advised considering the “mature” crowd (myself included). Still, I highly recommend the flower show for pleasure, education and supply. It is a fine event for the city.
"Springtime in Paris" at the Philadelphia Flower Show
After the show, while walking the family Chihuahua in the local park (yes, we cleaned up!), I noted the difference in the seasonal development of the plant life relative to the Harrisburg area. The grass in Philadelphia was substantially greener and the buds on the bushes were starting to push out their leaves and blooms. In Harrisburg this development would take another week. At my home twenty miles west of Harrisburg and at a substantially higher elevation it would be three weeks before we saw this bud development. Now, our ground-hugging Crocus’ are in full bloom in the flower beds around the house. The daffodils are blooming in the bed with a southern exposure and the protection of the basement wall. Those in the open in the garden are only now showing full buds.
Crocus' in bloom
Three years ago we decided to remove a large Forsythia bush when we tore down our dog kennel. We didn’t want to lose the bush so we broke the roots down into twenty three plantings and strung them along a section of the property line. This was done without sufficient thought as to the location. When I subsequently planted raspberry and blackberry bushes nearby, the two groups proceeded to declare war and spend the entire growing season trying to strangle each other. After a year of refereeing this I decided to move the Forsythia before it buds this year. (The fact that part of the Forsythia planting was on my neighbor’s property was also a potential problem although he professed to not care. I strongly recommend clearly marking the property lines before you plant, as I obviously did not do.)
A Forsythia bush
When I set out to move the Forsythia, it soon became apparent that it had developed formidable root systems in three years. I was most impressed as I pried them lose with a six foot bar. The twenty three plants were broken down—very grudgingly I might add—into sixty nine plants. (Yes, I am a glutton for punishment.) All sixty nine are now in a nice row where they will ultimately hide something my other neighbor did—a story for another time—on my property and away from its bitter rivals the raspberry and blackberry bushes. One of the Forsythia’s many fine traits is that it is almost impossible to kill while planting or transplanting. Also, it will thrive in almost any type soil or sunlight. My kind of plant!
Well, enough of my rambling, for now. Hope to “talk” again soon and in the meantime, get out there and plant!
- Papa Perry
