I found my own surprise this week - I'd pulled two little clumps of germinating seedlings from my hellebores, thinking they were strange, definitely not hellebores. Hmmmm, what kind of pod could have blown in there that all those '???' seeds had germinated almost on top of each other. Pod? Fruit? Berry? Duh. Clump three and closer examination, they're sunflowers. Little stashes of sunflowers. We don't have squirrels, but occasionally a chipmunk. I suspect it was Chippy :)

Thanks everyone. I don't raise them inside like alot of you do. I don't really want to do that. Yes, I started realizing too that all the plants with worms/bugs on them are fair game for the birds. Oh.....don't worry about the birds around here not being fed! We have 35 acres of woods and fields......most of which makes berries/seeds/nuts/ and grows tons of bugs and worms! :) I think the wren with the nest in the swingset in the garden is getting more used to me. It doesn't scold me as often. Its fun hearing the babies yelling for food, when mama comes back with a bug or a worm. Here's a pic I got of one of the parents coming out of the swingset. Hmmmm.....maybe it will get those milkweed bugs! haha I just can't believe that they can stand the heat out there, but they seem to come back every year and do it again. Its 91 out today and I hate to think what the inside of the tube is. I think I'll put an umbrella up over it.......but I don't want to confuse them. Maybe the milkweed will offer some shade. That milkweed is almost 8' tall! It all blew over in a storm last week, but I put it all back up with a bunch of bungee cords and its doing fine. :)

That is funny! I was expecting to see a rubber snake or something. Let us know if the gnome works!

Saw the bluebird pair shopping at my HOSP trap house..??!! so I went to investigate their other nest.. TWO eggs are GONE!! I looked around and didn't find any shells. It wasn't a snake because it has an electric fence, plus he probably would have still been in there... I'm guessing a dang wren! (sparrow spooker in place and I'm trapping all the time!) I was hopeing it would just be okay, but murphies law.. My open house never had any sticks in it.. so I hoped they weren't nesting here. What about the other egg? I'm surprised they are shopping and left that one behind! So, If the pair renests, I will work with her to get a guard on there. I'll try a perch and everything suggested. I don't know if it was the guard or the ants last time, so maybe she'll work it out. If she can't figure it out, then I'll just have to let her move on. ok, my plan for possible new nest. Once I find the first egg I'll put on the training guard and add a removeable horizontal perch. When I wake up if there isn't a new egg, I'll remove the guard for a few hours. Once the egg is laid I'll put it all back on. I'll keep this up until she works it out, maybe allowing the guard in place longer each morning. Once all the eggs are laid, the guard will have to stay on. IF she hasn't figured it out by then, she will just have to abandon the nest. No reason to keep trying here, it just won't work.