Bunnies be gone; Orioles be back

Made a container garden yesterday, one of the joys of my life

happy days, he is back though this photo is 5 weeks old. He bolts when he sees the camera

Bought another succulent garden

not sure what this is but I have a lot of them

Where are the bunnies? The nest was completely uncovered this morning and empty. Were they old enough to go out on their own? Predators? They were covered up so owls wouldn't see them. Snakes would just eat one and there are no signs of bunny fur or half eaten bunnies. We don't seem to have feral cats (coyotes will eat them). I guess I didn't need bunnies in my vegetable garden. Most at risk is my Swiss chard which so far, is uneaten.

 

I made a trip to the water plant store (motto: we are so excited that we wet our plants). I bought some water hyacinths which are highly invasive species but as I have them well contained, it should be OK. I really wanted water lilies but as they are very expensive and need a lot of light (my pond is in a shady corner..I have it surrounded by shade loving tuberous begonias), I passed. Besides, I noticed plenty of potentially free water lilies are in the local lakes in bloom. Besides that, the store is very expensive. Back to the tried and true store that was on my old bike path; home of the cheddar cauliflower and purple carrots (have to wait until fall). They have the best prices on bedding plants and make interesting container gardens.

 

So I did a lot of gardening yesterday between weeding, fertilizing and making a container garden. Steve and I finally had time to go out to eat last night on an expiring Groupon. We come back to see the oriole on his specialized feeder. I quickly replenished the grape jelly, his favorite, and the orange that his mate prefers. No sign of her. He was back this morning. So beautiful. Barn swallows must really hate blue jays. They persisted in dive bombing one who was at our feeder. Did it try to steal the babies? (blue jays can be nasty, they are just pretty crows)

 

The service berries attract more than just the wax wings. Finches love the berries too as do the robins. Surprisingly the robins have ignored the freshly uncovered dirt in the vegetable garden, which should be full of worms in favor of the berries. The berries are on the tips of very fragile branches which the clumsy robins are too heavy for. But they spend a lot of time trying.

 

Reluctantly we lowered the price on the house. We had a viewing Wednesday in which the potential buyers loved the house and yard but said the master bathroom situation was 'unworkable'. Steve took that to mean that the fixtures weren't working (there are new) but buyers these days want more showers and bathtubs than those when the house was built. We will be so relieved when this house is gone. We are trying to have an open house this weekend. The last open house was during a very strong storm and the next Sunday will be Father's Day  when buyers will be with families.