My Garden

Every morning, I get up at around 6- which has been a real challenge since I am not a morning person. I get up about 1 1/2 hours before my daughter, make a cup of Earl Grey or Constant Comment Tea (I’ve given my stomach a break from the coffee), take my current knitting or crochet project, and head for my front porch. I park myself on the porch swing, and watch the early morning traffic.
Traffic- not of cars (although I have a few neighbors that are up and about at this time), but of critters! My small (maybe 30 ft square)front yard is a Native Wildlife Habitat. All my plants are native to Pennsylvania, and provide some sort of benefit for songbirds, butterflies and other insects, or hummingbirds. There’s a pond, and a modest fountain. It’s been a "work in progress", but, oh the results!
As soon as my husband put in a flimsily-made birdhouse, a pair of house sparrows moved in. They’ve been there now for 3 years. I love to hear the cheeping of the babies! I was too lazy to prune my butterfly bush this year, and it grew huge! But, laziness has it’s virtues, since Mr and Mrs Robin have decided it’s perfect for their nest. Same goes for the backyard hedge. It’s a beast. (I hate it!) But cardinals, wrens and catbirds nest in it, so I can’t bear to remove it.

Much to my daughter’s delight, I’ve got butterflies galore- Monarchs, Swallowtails, Red Admirals, Painted Ladies, Clearwing moths, Skippers, Hairstreaks, Blues, Question Marks, and others I haven’t figured out yet. (I’m not too good at my butterfly ID ‘ing yet). And I’ve got at least 4 species of wasp that visit the flowers too, beside the fat bumblebees and the occassional honey-bee. For the first time I’ve even got Dragonflies breeding in my pond, which is way cool! I love dragonflies!

I just discovered my Swamp Hibiscus finally decided to bloom- after taunting me for 5 years. Early this spring, this plant and I had a discussion. I told it either it was going to bloom this year or it was heading for the compost pile. Guess it worked. It’s got 3 lovely rosy blossoms on it.

As I sit and knit, I might hear a soft squeeky twitter by my ear. If I hold very still, our little female hummingbird might check out the flower patterns on my malong. (yes, I still wear my malong!) She steadfastly refuses to use either of the fancy hummingbird feeders I diligently keep filled just for her. (sigh). But she loves the honeysuckle and the Cardinal flowers. She might nab a spider or fly as well. Never had a male visiting. Wonder why.

We have a family of Mourning doves as well, and they are so tame. They like to drink from the basin at the end of the cascade. When I had to reconstruct the cascade/waterfall this spring, they flew down and waited for me- about 3 feet away- as if to make sure I was meeting their specifications!

I also believe there’s a family of rabbits living nearby- not sure where, but they do like to take shelter in my garden. My daughter loves to chase them. These rabbits have figured out that she’s not much of a threat, and just stay a few hops ahead of her- around and around and around my pond- then they zip into the foliage. Hannah keeps going around and around and around! I can imagine the rabbits chuckling as they watch her!

Now my Coneflowers are going to seed, and the Goldfinches are feasting on them. Such beauties are a delight to the eye. I have decided that it is impossible to be grumpy and watch a goldfinch.
A few years ago, we had a huge orange Orb-weaver spider(think "Charlotte’s Web") that would spin a gorgeous web every evening between the pillars of the porch. This web had to be 4 or 5 feet across, and it was a work of art. Jef and I actually went out, sat down, and watched her (?) spin it each night. It was amazing. That was 3 years ago, and there haven’t been any since. Hmm. Wonder why.

I am always loathe to sacrifice my morning ritual of watching the hummers, the rabbits, robins, doves, bees, mockingbird, etc. Everymorning brings some new discovery. Maybe I’ll turn into a morning person after all.