My wife Nancy has spent a lot of time working in our yard and it really shows. She has watered and weeded regularly and keeps things trim with edgers and weed eaters. Throughout the yard, her flowers and shrubs are lovely. But the ones I believe both of us are proudest of are the wildflowers she planted around our birdbath. They were perennials and are flowers like you would typically find in a … [Read more...]

He showed up about two weeks ago, a baby frog sitting in the catbird’s seat in our small lily pond. Don’t know how he scaled the three foot sides with a rim, and I don’t know how he even knew there was a pond up there somewhere, but he came and I am delighted. I love frogs. I call our new guest, Uh-Huh”, the same name I have used to describe the 4 or 5 frogs we have had in the past. “Uh-Huh”is … [Read more...]

I saw some the other day. Weeds. Beautiful weeds. Milkweeds, actually. I saw them at Trump National Golf course near Charlotte. They were growing tall and proud beside the cart path. Fortunately, the course manager knows good weeds from bad ones and he left the milkweeds alone. The monarch butterflies thank him for that kind act. Milkweed is the only plant that can sustain a Monarch caterpillar … [Read more...]

People spend a lot of money these days to add beauty to their yards. They hire landscapers to maintain lush, green lawns and install pools and water falls for a soothing backdrop. Homeowners extend patios, add brick walkways and build outdoor kitchens for entertaining. They plant flowers and shrubs and seemingly spare no expense to beautify their yards; yet, the most beautiful addition of all is … [Read more...]

One of the joys of a backyard garden is harvesting a mess of peas – green peas, or sweet peas as I call them. They are called sweet peas because the tasty veggies have both sugar and starch. At the same time, they are extremely healthy, loaded with something called phytonutrients, which provide key antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits. That’s all well and good, but the main reason I plant … [Read more...]

As a backyard gardener, I have been struggling with my tomato crops, of all things. We don’t require a lot of tomatoes, just enough for some sandwich and salad makings, and maybe a few to can. The past two years have not been good. Two summers ago I bought some small plants from a nursery and they grew mightily, plant-wise. They grew so tall I thought maybe they were tomatoes of the Jack and … [Read more...]

A male bluebird and two chicks flew to my main feeder and left disappointed. All they found were safflower seeds, and bluebirds can’t eat whole seeds like these. They need to be the form of the hearts or chips from the seeds. “Blues” especially love sunflower hearts, but the damned grackles had been pounding my feeder, dislodging the seeds and were eating me out of house and home. So I had … [Read more...]

I never had a nanny, my children never had a nanny and none of my friends have a nanny in their homes. I do, however, have a bluebird family now nesting in my back yard with their own personal nanny. Let me explain. Last year, after a run of 8 or 10 years, we did not have bluebirds nesting in our yard. It was a sad summer. Early this spring, I held out hope when I saw a pair of the blue … [Read more...]

You see a lot of interesting things on a golf course beside grown men making collective fools of themselves. Birds, for example. I was once playing golf with my uncle in Charlotte when we saw a female quail thrashing around as if she was injured. I knew she must have had babies somewhere and I saw them, tiny birds, each about the size of a walnut, scurrying across the tee box. The little covey … [Read more...]