Fall Birds are Arriving

Yesterday the Cedar Waxwings arrived to strip the Juniper of all of its nicely fermented berries.  Each fall they arrive in droves and take care of it in no time.

It has been Very windy here for the last several days, and I’ve seen hardly any birds.  But this morning the yard was just filled with all sorts that I haven’t seen in quite some time, along with the usual goldfinches, house finches, and chickadees.  The first Dark-eyed Juncos are here, which is a sure sign of winter.  Also a couple of Nuthatches, I think a Hermit Thrush, and a gaggle of Robins helping out the Waxwings. 

We’ve cleared off most everything from the deck that matters, although some pots still look OK.  This year I think we’ll empty all of the soil from the deck planters, which we don’t always do.  Will be plenty of work, but will make storage much easier over the winter. 

Took cuttings of everything that I care about preserving over the last several weeks.  The light gardens in the basement are filling up, as are the windows in the atrium.  Grace is happy to have her papyrus plant back in the house so she can have a little bite now and then.  The big windstorm back in September knocked it down and broke the pot it was in, so I have it now in a slightly larger, plastic one that I can just keep filled with water and add a little fertilizer now and then.  It seems to like that even better than being planted in soil. 

We’re planning to have the willow in the back cut down later this fall.  The windstorm took a huge toll on it, and many branches are broken, split or hanging oddly.  It was certainly dramatically beautiful for many years, but its time has come. 

The late rains and warm weather encouraged a lot of second blooming on a variety of things, including several of the Clematis plants.  Nice to have flowers this late in the season.  The frost this week may take care of that, though.