June 1, 2015 by Born To Organize

Fostering a Hummingbird

It’s been an amazing 24 hours. Our neighbor came to the door last night with news that she’d found a baby hummingbird. She spotted the hummingbird on the sidewalk while walking her dog. They brought the bird home but were unable to contact a rescue group on a Sunday night.

Together we went back to the spot a few blocks over hoping to spot the mama and the nest. Alas, no luck.

So…I brought him home. My boys were pretty excited to have a fledgling hummingbird in our midst and a social one at that. They took turns keeping him warm till I figured out a temporary nest.

My oldest son keeps watch for a while

In the end I used a small Sake cup, which is about the size of the nest mama bird would build. I lined the bottom with cotton, then shredded mohair fibers and made a fluffy nest for the night.

Cozy in his homemade nest

Mike made a batch of sugar-water using the formula we put in our feeders: Four parts clear water, and one part sugar. I offered our tiny guest drops of nectar from the tip of my finger. His tiny tongue lapping sugar-water from my finger was almost imperceptible.

He was mellow and trusting and once resting on my thumb, he didn’t want to let go. I eventually transferred him to his surrogate nest and after one last check, turned out the lights.

I should also mention that I live with three cats so finding a safe spot was critical. We have a laundry room off of the guest washroom, so I set him up in there. We used the ‘clean room’ method of walking into one room and closing the door, then going into the inner room and closing that door. Even then, I covered the nest with a ventilated laundry basket *and* a towel.

I tossed and turned in bed this morning starting at 4:00 am. Eventually I gave in and got up to take a look. There he was, cozy in his nest and looking content. I fed him three more times before leaving to take the boys to school. My friend, Laura offered the great tip of feeding him from the end of a drinking straw. In between feedings I did some research online. I checked in with my friend Ellen who volunteers at the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley. I’ve been listening to Ellen’s stories for months during our shared Pilates class. I know her to be caring and knowledgeable.

Hummingbirds are not easily rehabilitated and require constant care. They must eat every twenty to thirty minutes from dawn till dusk. Can you imagine? I had two clients today, on different sides of town in addition to carpooling three teenagers to school. It would not be possible to give him the care he needed.

Still waiting for his tail feathers to grow in

After checking in with my client and dropping the teens at school, I drove to the Silicon Valley Wildlife Center one town over. While it was a relief to know the hummingbird was in excellent hands, I was melancholy too. I connected with the tiny creature and felt just a twinge of sadness when I let him go.

The Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley. Can you see the mature hummingbird flying toward me in the lower right corner?

Here’s a one-minute video from this morning. I’m feeding him with the tip of a coffee stir straw.

Good to know:

World of Hummingbirds: Hummingbird First Aid

Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley: A Rehabilitation, Release & Educational Facility

How to tell a male from a female? It’s hard to know

May 28, 2015 by Born To Organize

Controlling Mosquitos Naturally

Great advice for naturally repelling mosquitoes. Thanks, Betsy!

What's Green with Betsy?!?

Along with the cookouts, volleyball games, hiking, camping and other glories of summer come mosquitoes and ticks. But pesticides or products containing DEET, are associated with a variety of health problems ranging from dizziness to seizures with children being particularly susceptible. There are several safer and effective alternatives.

Natural Repellents

A garlic spray in your yard provides excellent control. Garlic has natural sulfur which repels insects, including mosquitoes, ticks, fleas and even black flies, yet does not harm humans, pets, bees, butterflies or plants. Mosquitoes are soft-bodied insects and garlic juice is toxic to them in increased concentrations. Mosquitoes are also extremely odor sensitive and garlic can repel them for up to a month or more, as long as they can still detect an odor. Farmers have been using garlic for generations. Organic based landscaping or pest control companies often offer a garlic spray or you can buy a product called Garlic…

View original post 241 more words

May 26, 2015 by Born To Organize

The Fairy Garden Goes Native

When water is at a premium, you cut corners where you can. I’ve emptied most of my pots, and either replanted with succulents or used the pots for something else.

Our deck top fairy garden requires very little water, but seeing those precious drops fall through the holes in the bottom spurred me to action. Last week, my miniature fairy garden went native.

Fairy Garden Newly Planted with Succulents

I meant to save the markers so I could record the name of the plants, but they’ve gone AWOL…or I tossed them with the transplanting newsprint. The good news: the plants sat on my deck for two to three weeks without a drop of water. They passed the test!

Succulents Up Close

I’m actually quite smitten with these plants. They fit right in, don’t you think?

There’s a story behind the little wooden house (it used to be haunted!). You can read more about that here. After replanting the garden, I spruced up the house with some new drapes. If you look closely, you’ll see that they’re carefully assembled from the finest Washi tape in the land. Nothing but the finest for mystical fairies. The new garden path is also special. I gathered those lovely, flat green stones on the beach in Victoria last summer. Wilma of the Creartfuldodger took Boomdee and me beach-combing along the beautiful island shore. These stones evoke special memories of that day.

You can view the gallery by clicking on the first photo, then follow the arrows. It took me a bit of time to sort that one out. ;-)

Fairy Garden, Just Outside the Front Door

Replanted Fairy Garden, The Long View

Little Free Library, Fairy-Sized

My Own ‘Victoria Garden’ Path

Newly Hung Washi Tape Drapes

Secret Path to the Reading Garden

Fallen Log Bridge

Reading Nook

Extra Chairs for Story Time

Aerial View

Succulents Up Close

All the other treasures in the garden are found objects or gifts. The wooden house came from my son’s craft collection. I rescued it from the trash. The reading patio is an upside down candle holder and the charming chair, cat and rose pillow flew here from Canada via Boomdee. Marcia and her girls surprised me with the pink mushroom one cool fall day.

I built the (little) Little Free Library from matchboxes, stickers and an empty box. A clothes pin and a bit of duct tape keep it in place. A friend taught me how to make the heart-shaped chairs from the top of a champagne closure.

Are you a fairy gardener, too? It’s easy and fun and incredibly relaxing. You can garden anywhere at any time, limited only by your imagination. Jump right in. The [lack of water] is fine!

Postscript: You won’t believe this. Just before sitting down to write this, I received an out-of-the-blue package from my friend Kristi. Inside: her lovely note and a couple of fairy garden treasures. Check back tomorrow, for updates. I can’t wait to show them off. Thanks, Kristi xox

May 20, 2015 by Born To Organize

Purple Garden Palooza

Purple garden palooza

Peter Piper may have picked a peck of pickled peppers, but I’m picking purple petals from my perfect garden. It’s a purple palooza.

Ha! Say that three times.

The small corner garden near the walkway to our door looks like royalty. It’s awash in three shades of purple, with dots of orange and green accents. Last year’s sweet peas re-seeded and came back in a royal flush.

Sweet peas

Sweet pea flowers give way to seed pods

They’re in good company too. Love-in-a-Mist scattered seeds everywhere and now lines the sidewalk in a purple haze. Pay no attention to the dying grass in the background. The lawn is on its way out.

Self-seeding love-in-a-mist line the walkway

The Statice flowered early this year, showing pearly white blooms in the center of the calyx. I love the way they compliment each other.

Statice: calyx and flowers

One California poppy grows at the edge, but I fear a dog is lifting its leg once a day as the foliage is looking a bit…tired. The plant is still hanging in there though. Go Team Violet! Go state flower!

California poppy wrapped up for the night

Love-in-a-mist blooms and seed pods

Things you many not know:

(I didn’t)

The word ‘purple’ comes from the Old English word purpul which derives from the Latin purpura, in turn from the Greek πορφύρα (porphura), name of the Tyrian purple dye manufactured in classical antiquity from a mucus secreted by the spiny dye-murex snail.-Wikipedia

Today, science has revealed much more about purple than our ancestors ever realized: Purple is the most powerful visible wavelength of electromagnetic energy. It’s just a few steps away from x-rays and gamma rays. – Color Matters

The color purple is a rare occurring color in nature and as a result is often seen as having sacred meaning. Lavender, orchid, lilac, and violet flowers are considered delicate and precious. –Bourn Creative

May 12, 2015 by Born To Organize

Contentment

Scabiosa ‘Vivid Violet‘

con·tent·ment

/kənˈtentmənt/

noun

a state of happiness and satisfaction

“The gardener spent a lovely 45 minutes working in the curb garden today.”

Gardening brings about a unique contentment: The work is satisfying, the results are rewarding, and the time spent with my face towards the earth grounds me like nothing else.

We had a nice breeze today, keeping the temperatures manageable. Once finished with my appointments for the day, I spent ‘drop-in’ garden time at the curb. I love working the curb garden. I can take care of the entire box in about an hour, then continue to enjoy the fruits of my labor from my kitchen window.

Snapdragons, Freesia, Cilantro and a self-seeded yellow annual

Love in a mist volunteering around the edges. Wooly thyme slowly filling in over the gravel.

Can you spot the visitor on this yellow flower?

The last of the daffodil foliage looked tired and spent, so I trimmed the bunches down to a few inches and tidied up the rest of the bed.

I spotted one or two lady bugs visiting the aphids. The ‘ladies in red’ generally consume a lot of aphids in one sitting, but they are currently outnumbered. I snipped off a few of the heavily infested branches and hope the ladybugs will tell their friends to return at dusk and take care of the rest.

Aphids!

My son pointed out a small wasp’s nest inside the hollow ceramic bird perched in the center of the garden. The ‘bird’ used to be part of a ‘self watering’ system but it broke off at the base. I put it at the top of the small trellis over the winter for a bit of color. Since wasps eat garden pests too, I’m going to leave the nest undisturbed. I know many people have aggressive wasps that chase them around the garden, but the ones that nest near our house are fairly mellow. Case in point: I lifted the ceramic bird, spotted the nest and one adult who simply hovered nearby till I replaced her nest. I guess she’s content too.

Ceramic bird housing a wasp’s nest

Did you find contentment today?

Chocolate mint escaping the confines of the box

April 23, 2015 by Born To Organize

Garden Snapshot

Busy, busy, busy.

Did I mention I was busy?

I’m having fun in the garden in between appointments, exercise and carpool duties. Here are a couple of snapshots as I go about my day.

garden snapshot potatoes, watering can, geranium

Patio corner springs with life

There are two steps leading from our back door to the garden patio. They form an L shape, resting against the house and leading to the garden. The steps currently house a potted geranium, my new watering can and a ceramic bowl of water for the cats. I’m energized by all that color. The small fountain that the cats like to drink from is off-limits so that the birds can have a swim unmolested. The fountain is now surrounded by a small wire fence.

Staked inside the geranium are a pair of gardening tools, a gift from Talia and Belinda. They spotted them at a cat show and thought of me. Sweet, eh?

That small bowl of red potatoes grew in the center of my sheet mulch compost project. I’m looking forward to steaming them later this week. Red potatoes are one of my favorites.

Red Potato Compost Harvest

Here is a closeup of my garden fork and spade. Aren’t they cute?

Charming gifts

And I’m off…

I hope you’re living life in the slow lane. I’ll catch up soon.

April 22, 2015 by Born To Organize

Loving Our Earth

I’m spending Earth Day getting my hands dirty. I started yesterday, since there is always a lot to do this time of year. After dispatching every last weed in the garden, I got busy staking the tomatoes I didn’t plant and harvesting the potatoes from the compost pile. I didn’t plant the potatoes either.

So far it’s been an interesting spring in the garden. We’ve stopped watering pretty much everything. This is year four of the California drought, prompting Governor Brown to issue mandatory, 25% state-wide water restrictions. Later this week I’m meeting with a landscape designer to draw up alternative plans to replace our lawn.

In this semi-arid state, we have no business planting lawns in the first place. It’s an old tradition, imported from the lush gardens of England and Europe where water is plentiful. Somehow it became a status symbol and then the status quo. Those days are over.

I’ve been contemplating several ideas but I seem to lack the overall vision of what a replacement will look like. It will be nice to meet with J.P. who designed our beautiful front ramp and deck in 2010 and the circular patio out back.

J.P. Bergez, Landscape Design

Completed Landscape, 2010

Two years ago we removed the grassy sidewalk strip and replaced it with a flower garden. The sidewalk garden uses less water while attracting beneficial insects. I think it’s much prettier, too. We should have done it years ago.

Sidewalk strip before and after

Yesterday I gathered all of my stored seeds including my much-loved sunflowers and planted them in the curb garden. There they will grow or perish. They’ll have to get by with the water available to that narrow strip.

Late last year Garden Sunshine blogged about her sheet mulching project and I knew immediately that I wanted to do the same thing. I drew a mental line down the center of the lawn in our back garden, then sheet mulched half of it. The area is still composting, but I achieved the desired effect: that section of the lawn is gone. Slowly, gradually, our water-thirsty suburban grass is going away.

I’ll let you know how the consult goes.

Here are my goals:

Reduce the amount of water needed to maintain the garden by half. Since 50% of residential water use goes to irrigation, cutting that use in half means we’ll achieve a 25% reduction overall.
Create a small seating area for my swing under the shade of the orange tree. We used to have the swing under the tree, but it rested on the lawn. We had to remember to move it every two or three days, or deal with a soggy swing. No grass, no problem. My future, summer afternoon napping place is secure.
Share the process and what I learn along the way with others via my blog, Facebook, Twitter and email.

Please let me know if you take the Earth Day quiz, below. I only scored five out of ten but was happy to know I beat the average score of four.

Planet Natural: The Lowdown on Lawn History
New York Times: California Imposes First Mandatory Water Restrictions to Deal With Drought
The Guardian: Earth Day Quiz

April 20, 2015 by Born To Organize

Turning Lemons into…Dinosaurs

Our lemon tree is covered with flowers again, promising another banner crop later this year. What I didn’t expect was this:

It seems our enterprising tree has given birth to a baby dinosaur.

Thank you in advance for keeping your congratulatory comments to a dull roar. We don’t want to wake the baby.

Is there any ‘funny business’ happening in your world today?

April 19, 2015 by Born To Organize

The power of celebration

I’ve loved reading the different perspectives of our blogging extravaganza. Julia speaks eloquently of our time together, and on the power and importance of celebration.

April 16, 2015 by Born To Organize

Sowing Mysteries and Garden Sprawl

Have you ever planted one of those seed assortments that promise extraordinary results with no effort? According to the package, a jaw-dropping butterfly garden will appear within a matter of weeks. All you have to do is scatter the seeds in the soil, cover, water and enjoy.

I’ve fallen for the sales pitch twice now and I should know better. It seems irresistible when you see the photo on the packet with 100 square feet (30 meters) of wildflowers. In my experience, ‘thousands of seeds’ turn out to be one, maybe two hardy plants. The end.

Or is it?

I present to you, garden sprawl.

Both Love-in-a-mist

Love-in-a-mist edging the sidewalk

I love this self-made border

Love-in-a-mist fills in all the space around the Sweet Peas, California Poppies, and Statice

and Four o’clocks

Four O’clock, time to wake up

Four O’clock, the long view

have sown themselves throughout the garden. They’ve traveled from the front to the back of the house, filling in the spaces in between. I even saw a few in the neighborhood on our evening walk. Those seeds get around!

They’re all welcome in my garden, with their tender greens, pops of yellow and soon, love-in-a-mist lavender blooms.

We’re on strict water restrictions as we work our way through year four of the drought. So far, the seedlings are getting by on morning dew and an occasional watering. We’re turning off the sprinklers to the lawn completely and hope to eventually replace lawn with a native alternative.

Meanwhile, I’m enjoying these unexpected gifts and their presence in my arid garden.

What’s the water situation in your neck of the woods?