Gordon - Thank you! My dh used to be a cabinet installer, so he knows how to work with wood and square and level up anything he builds! LOL! I knew he would come in handy in my garden some day! LOL! Actually he has built many of the wooden hardscape structures and I help him with installing (and I do all the painting, etc). He has also been instrumental in building and leveling up my raised beds especially with the yard being on a slope! He is a stickler for having things level. Thank goodness!
Holly - Thanks! My dh and I have added a little hardscape project pretty much every year for the past 10 years. It is all finally starting to come together. BTW - I am still hoping you will post some updated photos of your amazing garden areas and new outdoor additions!
I continue to garden for Butterflies and Hummingbirds. I now have lots of butterflies in my yard and host over-wintering Ruby-throated hummingbirds from Fall to Early Spring. I have discovered that male Monarch butterflies are territorial and will claim a location until they die. They will run off any other male Monarch butterflies. So I have two territorial males in different parts of my yard. I let Scarlet Milkweed grow wherever the seeds land and sprout. So lots of milkweed growing around my yard attracts them. The females lay their eggs on many of the plants. I am still hand-raising many of the caterpillars because I have a bad wasp problem in my yard. The prey and the predators are never-ending here. My efforts to protect the caterpillars pays off because I have lots of butterflies flying around my yard every day! Definitely my own little private paradise!
I hosted 4 male Ruby-throated hummers this past Winter. I love those little birdies! And I also have become a over-wintering spot for the Painted Buntings. There is currently an east coast banding project going on for those birds, so a bander came and caught 5 of them. There were more, but the birds got smart and wouldn't go into the traps. So only 5 are sporting colorful anklets! The bander caught and banded other birds too. It was so cool to see all these different bird species up close and personal. I was very lucky to get a bander to come to my yard! Always exciting!
I am hoping to have a bander come to my home this coming Winter to band hummers again. I had a bander come in 2011 who caught and banded 2 of the 3 hummers that were coming to my yard feeders. Those were both females. It was a really neat experience to see all these birds banded and released. I never did see the females again after that Winter. Sometimes they come back to the same location each year and sometimes they don't. The following year I had all males. I was told by a hummingbird expert that the males will often run off the females, so that may be what happened. She said my yard may have become more desirable to the males with all the plants I've added, so they move in and claim the territory because they tend to be more aggressive than the female birds.
