Predator

Saturday afternoon, I opened the back door and saw this immature Copper's hawk eating its lunch in our tree.


I couldn't make out what the hawk was eating. I hope it was a mouse or lizard and not a songbird.  I dreamed it ate a titmouse, but thank goodness, that was just a dream. There wasn't any evidence that the hawk caught its prey in our yard. Instead, I think it was attracted by the sparseness of our dying tree – the perfect place to alight for a meal.

(As an aside, our tree has been dying since before we moved in. It has been a long goodbye. Yet with all of the fascinating birds that have used this tree precisely because of its declining health, – woodpeckers, great horned owls and now the hawk – it's been a asset, even in its waning state.)


When the hawk saw me looking at it, it hoped to a higher branch but stayed in the tree and watched me for a while.


I was interested to see that while the hawk and I looked at each other, three starling sat in the same tree about 12 feet above the hawk. Ballsy if you ask me!


Even more courageous was the blue jay who broke the silence of the other birds and screamed at the hawk to move on its way. I was surprised the hawk responded. All hail the hero blue jay.

Setember 2011 Foliage Follow Up

The backyard peasants (sparrows and starlings) are loving the fruit on my neighbor's palm tree. Before the berries turn black, they look like bubbles in a champagne glass.

The foliage is doesn't provide much shade for humans but the dead fronds give shelter to birds and bats. When the wind is blowing, the leaves look and sound so relaxing. From our upstairs guest room, when you wake up, the first thing you see is the top of this palm and blue sky.

To get your fill of other  inspiring foliage, check out Pam's blog Digging, where she holds a monthly link party. Today, she is showing off an agave that looks like a squid.

Signs of Spring

San Antonio is bracing for a few days of temperatures in the low 20s, but spring is not far off.



This is my neighbor's tree. Isn't it beautiful. It's a shade tree, but I haven't been able to identify it. The leaves are maplelike. They turn red and orange briefly before they fall.


This is my own silver maple in the back yard. I can see buds on a lot of branches, but too many others lack the swollen tips- a reminder that this tree's days are numbered. When the time comes, we're going to replace it with a Mexican White Oak. But for now, it's providing good shade from the west sun.


My hyacinth bloom is turning purple. I'm very excited to watch the process since this is the first season I've planted bulbs.


One more sign of spring: the buds on this Autumn Mini Joy sedum are about to break. That is, if tomorrow's freeze tomorrow doesn't damage them. Today the temperatures are in the high 70s. Tomorrow, we will yo-yo to the 20s, but it won't last long. The plants know. We've passed the threshold; most of the cold days are behind us.

When life gives you leaves...

My next door neighbor has a huge Mexican sycamore in her front yard. The bark, the foliage and even the messy seed balls are beautiful. I like how the light and the color come together at the very top of this photo.

She also has this other deciduous tree that I haven't identified. The sycamore is tall with big leaves and wide spaces between the branches. The second tree is shorter with a mat of dense branches and small leaves. The contrast of the texture and colors make this the most interesting time of year in her yard.


It also creates an extra garden chore for me. Weekly, her leaves pile up at least two feet deep near our side gate.


I would never bag and throw away leaves, especially these. They are thin and papery so they break apart easily but aren't too crumbly. Normally, I'd add the leaves to the compost, but by this time of year, both compost bins are full and we try not to add anything for a month before we empty them.


So... instead, I shred the leaves with the leaf vacuum and spread them in the flower beds as mulch. If you don't have a leaf vac, you could do something similar with a lawn mower and a rake.


It's smart to mulch during the winter. If you don't cover tender plants during a freeze, they'll die back, but if you mulch the base, the roots won't freeze too far down and the plants will come out quickly in the spring.  In beds where I expect to be digging seasonally, I prefer leaf mulch to bark mulch. The leaves don't mat together like bark so it's easy pull them back to reach the soil. Plus leaf mulch is free and it gives me a little incentive to pick up after my neighbor.

When life gives you leaves... make mulch.