Wednesday, May 29, 2024

GREEN SPRING GARDENS CONTINUED, PLUS A BIT OF THIS AND THAT


I start off with another tree, as you can see. I'm not sure what kind but what I was more interested in was the vine growing up the trunk. I have never noticed it before, probably because it wasn't blooming. No doubt the reason I love coming in all seasons because you just never know what you'll notice that you haven't noticed before.


It is the Trumpet Flower, also known as Crossvine (botanical name Bignonia capreolata) and native to the southeastern United States. A cross section of its stem reveals a marking of the Greek cross, hence its name of Crossvine. I also read at this website the vine is usually a dark, glossy green but in the colder areas of its growing range, the leaves take on a reddish-purple color. 


I will be sharing Green Springs in bits and dabs for a while. I am behind on everything. I thought I would add a bit of a ramble and hopefully it won’t bore you too much, but it is where my head is at. 

Right now I am enjoying having the windows open and listening to the birds. Yesterday (the 27th) we had a tornado warning that lasted several hours. Rare for this area!  We saw a heavy yellow sky in the late afternoon, it was a bit windy but seemed to move away quite quickly. Then it rained hard and there was a thunderstorm. These things are horrendous, so I hope you didn't have any nasty weather in your area. 


It's been cooler today and there has been a lovely breeze blowing into the house. It rained again and it became even cooler. Hearing the birds twittering out there has been a joy and of course watching the antics of these little rascals. 


The Mourning Doves seem to have made this their permanent home. They appear early in the morning and late in the evening. 


I watched one stand its ground with a squirrel which surprised me. The Dove claimed its prize of a recently filled basket of birdseed, and the squirrel departed! Those doves have been very feisty lately.


I have seen Doves, a male and female Cardinal, a Black-capped Chickadee, several Blue Jays, and a Crow.  The Cardinals and the Black-capped Chickadee were hard to take photos of. Added note on 6/1/24: I am very grateful to David who hosts Travel With Birds, who let me know that what I am seeing is a Carolina Chickadee and not a Black-capped Chickadee as I have always believed. You can read what he said in the comment section.  David is very knowledgeable about birds and I always appreciate his expertise.  I am also very grateful to anyone who thinks I may have misidentified anything in my blog. I truly do want to get it right, and I love learning even at this time of my life. Thank you David! If you are curious how you can tell the difference, this website has a very good explanation.


The other bit of drama was watching the Crow being dive-bombed by the Blue Jays. It happened today and yesterday, but the Crow also stood its ground, leaving when it was good and ready. He was a big one!  Not the one above, I couldn't get a photo of Grandpa Crow. A couple of minutes after he left, each time, the Blue Jays flew in for a feed.


 We even had a chipmunk in the flat tray for a while.


And then several children started playing in the neighbor's yard at the back, and all critters disappeared. It was time for me to get back to my chores.

It has been a quiet afternoon with me going back and forth doing other chores. Very entertaining outside though! I have a ring-side seat of all the activity, which was what I had in mind when putting this feeding area together after saying goodbye to the old deck. 


I haven't done a lot of cooking this week, so nothing too exciting in the way of meals. Throw-together ones more than anything. Today for dinner I roasted four large Portobella mushrooms, spraying avocado oil on a parchment lined sheet pan and sprinkled with salt and pepper, in the oven on 400 deg. F. for 20 minutes. I had leftover (uncooked) cauliflower florets in the fridge, from a cauliflower cheese made the day before, along with (uncooked) strips of sweet bell pepper. I put two roasted portobellas on my plate, three of the cauliflower florets and a few sweet pepper strips, with a spoonful of hummus. I will have the other portobellas tomorrow with a poached egg for breakfast. I know we've got a bit of green in the refrigerator! There are times my dear other half and I fix our own meals. It's called "I don't like yours and you don't like mine, but I fancy this for a change' night! It doesn't happen too often but if we don't have anything planned, we go that route. We are both trying to eat extra healthy these days.

Waffling over with. See you next time!





49 comments:

  1. What beautiful photos Denise,
    I loved the flower climbing the tree,
    the bird photos and the cute squirrel.
    Looks like the yard is busy!!
    It's good to eat healthy, in all areas and this dish is definitely the best (for me at least)
    Be well and have a beautiful day

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    1. Thank you Katerina :) happy you enjoyed them.

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  2. Hurrah, you got a snap of the cute little chipmunk!!! We had them out back when I was a child. We would sit on the metal porch holding a peanut, and stay very still for a long time. And sometimes, one would run up and grab it out of our hands. They are the cutest! And not near as tame or bold as the squirrels. Blue Jays are bullies for sure. Great shot of this one springing up into the air! I didn't know about the warning! We don't live that far apart. And here we had a scary storm and lost power for the evening.

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    1. You were very brave to hand feed the chipmunk at such an early age and they are such cute little things. I was very surprised about the tornado warning. It’s been years since the last one. Blue Jays also give warnings about any danger to other birds. They are the neighborhood watch for birds :)

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  3. What I noticed was the bark of the tree. The grain on it is straight up and down. I wonder if the flowering vine harms the tree like ivy does? I hope not. Your 'rambling conversation' is charming and I like the fact that there is a blue sky. I can imagine the children playing, the doves cooing and I enjoyed seeing the different birds in your yard. Have a good day!

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    1. Thanks Linda, the bark on trees is always interesting to me too. I wondered about damage but haven’t come across any info about that yet. I am so glad you liked my rambles. It is fun for me to look back on my blog and have done that often to see what we were doing a few years down the road. I thank my mother for encouraging me to start a diary when I was young :) You have a good day too.

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  4. Love all the photos especially the squirrel too!

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  5. Watching the birds is always a delight - and your squirrel would make my day.
    Your dinner sounds good too - right up my street.

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    1. Thank you Sue, I have always enjoyed the photos of your colorful birds. Glad you enjoyed the look of my dinner. Simple things can be the best :)

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  6. I wish I could eat your dinner, if I did it that I would have stomach cramps and upset the next morning... it looks delish. I have been fixing two different meals for us for 18 months and it makes me crazy.. bob fixes his own breakfast but lunch is our meal of the day and yesterday I made meatballs and spaghetti for him by his choice and I had sticky rice with a small bit of burger in sweet and sour sauce, and forgot my tiny bit of cucumber and brocoli.. apple sauce also... your view is something I would love to have, I have the window on the world but only get a little action at day break and dusk. I love hearing about your birds and critters. the blue jay appears to be adept at levitating.. ha ha

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    1. I’m sorry you have these issues with eating certain foods. Making two different meals every day would be a challenge. I love looking at the wildlife we get outside. I would rather watch them than the TV. Always fun to have a levitating Blue Jay :)

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  7. Hello,
    The Trumpet Vine flower is so pretty, I am sure the hummers love it too.
    Great captures of the dove and blue jay. The Chipmunk is a cutie.
    I am glad the storm moved on, they can be scary.
    Take care, enjoy your day!

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    1. Glad you enjoyed Eileen and I think the hummers would definitely love them :) very relieved the storm passed. I have read about them in other areas, so scary! Thank you and you take care and enjoy your day also.

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  8. That vine is really pretty and I love that cute little squirrel you have sitting on your deck.
    I like your way of eating dinner. I tried so many times to get my husband to do that because he was extremely fussy and I like everything. He wouldn't eat if I didn't eat what he was having so I always gave in so that he would eat. It was quite frustrating.

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    1. Thanks Ann, happy you enjoyed everything :) Cooking for others can be challenging, especially if they are fussy eaters. That squirrel has no such issues, lol!

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  9. That's a pretty vine growing up that tree Denise.
    Always a joy after winter to open the doors and windows and listen to nature.

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    1. Thanks Margaret, and I agree with you wholeheartedly :)

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  10. Dinner looks yummy...and yes, it's been stormy here, as well.
    I love the squirrels too but that trumpet vine is a pain! My mom gave me a few seeds of it years ago and being newly wed and ignorant...lol...I planted them along the back fence. Talk about a mistake! We spent several years trying to pull it out and destroy it. That stuff will choke those trees out, if left! Awful stuff.
    hugs
    Donna

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    1. Hello Donna, I was wondering if you had any storms out your way. Thanks for the heads up on the trumpet vine. I won’t be planting it. Sending hugs :)

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  11. Wonderful entertainment watching the wildlife coming to the garden. They are all such characters.

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  12. What a fun post full of all kinds of happy.
    I love your squirrel statue...and I adore mushrooms of any kind
    Hugs Cecilia

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    1. And I am happy you think so Cecilia. Thank you and sending hugs :)

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  13. Weather seems more extreme every year.

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    1. I agree, it's pouring again today and we had another thunderstorm. No need to water the plants. Just need to fluff them up a bit afterwards after being flattened!

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  14. I love the flora and fauna in your area! Especially those beautiful trumpet flowers.

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  15. U nas też ostatnio padało i były burze. Cudne kwiaty a wiewiórka taka zabawna.. Grzyby na pewno smakują super. Miłego weekendu:)

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    1. U nas znowu deszcz i burze. Dziękuję, że mnie odwiedziłeś. Zawsze miło mi Cię odwiedzać. Cieszę się, że spodobał Ci się mój wpis na blogu. Miłego dnia!

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  16. The trumpet vine is beautiful. I love the chipmunk photograph.

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  17. What a fun collection of critters you were able to enjoy. They are entertaining. That vine looks nice on the trunk of that tree. I wonder if vines like those can damage a tree. Just hearing the word tornado is scary.

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    1. Hi Ellen, I am wondering about that vine doing damage also. I agree about even the word being scary. The critters are very, very entertaining :)

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  18. Those blue jays sound aggressive.

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    1. They are feisty but they are a great guard for our local birds. They give a very urgent call when a predator is about and this warns every bird within hearing distance.

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  19. I think Trumpet Vine is so pretty. I would have fun watching the critters, too. I used to feed the birds and squirrels right in front of the dining room windows, till the starlings started taking over.

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    1. I agree Rose, it is beautiful! :) That sounds so nice, I am sorry all the starlings turned up.

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  20. Great critter photos. Trumpet vines are pretty but they can get out of control.

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    1. Thanks Linda :) I am learning from this post how unmanageable this flower can be. One I won’t be planting.

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  21. I'm loving that trumpet flower and that is the cutest photo of a squirrel I've seen yet.

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    1. Thank you Kay :) it is a lovely flower and the squirrel was very cute.

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  22. I suspect that the chickadee in your area is Carolina Chickadee, Denise, and not Black-capped Chickadee, a more northerly species.

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    1. Hello David, that’s very interesting and I appreciate this information very much. Thank you! :) I will be paying extra attention to this particular bird from now on.

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  23. Thank you Linda :) I agree on the vine and I have been loving your birds at the new bird feeder. It sure takes great photos!

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  24. That crossvine is very pretty. And I love your sweet squirrel and your chipmunk, too. I can tell you've been eating well at your home. It all looks wonderful.

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    1. So glad Jeanie, and thanks for telling me :)

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  25. That trumpet flower dangling around the tree is soooo pretty. What a great photo of the squirrel and the blue jay. They fascinate me with all the detail in their feathers. We get the Steller's Jay around here, and they are a delight to see. In my hometown, I used to see the Scrub Jays, and they are beautiful as well.

    ~Sheri

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    1. Those Blue Jays are a pretty bird and I heard a different call that I hadn't heard before just now. I believe I saw the Scrub Jays in California Sheri. I agree, they are a very pretty bird :)

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