irises and salmonberry

Those little irises that speak of spring in my oak barrel.

What a lovely day today was. The promised sun never showed yet, even with a strong breeze the air was warm. I spent a few hours cleaning up, potting up, and pulling up! The birds are definitely agitated. Black-capped and chestnut-backed chickadees, spotted towhees, red-breasted nuthatches, song sparrows, and a distant pacific wren were all calling or singing. I put some suet out and everybody comes in quickly for a free and easy meal. Little did I know the weather forecast for tonight and tomorrow is snow and then the lows may dip into the 20s. The birds will appreciate the extra energy. I know they can survive without my extra help, though. I enjoy watching their antics on the suet feeders.

I can only cross my fingers that the motherwort and chickweed (yes chickweed) seeds I planted make it through the cold. Good medicinal herbs to have around the yard. Not to mention the native shrubs I potted up from the Soil Conservation Services's annual plant sale. It has become so popular that by the time I got there Friday the flowers and some shrubs were gone! I was able to find some nice native groundcovers that birds and bugs love- sword fern, deer fern, kinnickkinnick, oregon boxwood, and salal plus a shrub-pacific rhododendron, and a tree- Pacific madrone. I like to pot them up in 1-gallon containers and either plant them in the fall or winter them over until they're bigger and hardier.

I expect to hear the buzzing of the rufous hummingbird soon, now that the salmonberry flowers are blooming (see above). The Indian plum (aka osoberry) is also blooming and its leaves are out. The understory of the forests I drive past every morning and night now have the lightest of greens mixing it up with the browns and grays. The hummers will soon have plenty of nectar. I can't believe how fat the red-flowering currant buds are! You'd swear they were going to pop instead of just create one of the loveliest flowers of spring. Both the salmonberry and currant are great for birds both flowering and once their seeds ripen. I highly recommend planting them in your yard although salmonberry is notorious for spreading and the currant can get big. I just can't pass up those vibrant pink flowers, though!

"The birds I heard today, which, fortunately, did not come within the scope of my science, sang as freshly as if it had been the first morning of creation."
Henry David throeau