Hi Hickory. A greenhouse is on my wish list that likely will never come true. :-( The orchids and cyclamen are hardy varieties and multiply worse than my mimosa tree! The tree fern, Dicksonia antarctica, is enduring his first winter here. There is an area on the south side of the house that is a happy microclimate for over wintering things like dahlias, glads, and some volunteer petunias have been caught blooming in February here. As an added bit of insurance, the tree fern is enclosed in a WALL-O-WATER and heavily mulched and insulated with maple and magnolia leaves. It acts as a wind break, warms the surrounding air plus is a nice way to stop my 110 pound German Shephard from "watering" it, if you know what I mean. I use this technique for other wee trees in the yard until they are large enough to withstand extra waterings. It also protects the small trees from bunnies munching on them. I believe if you click on MY PAGE, there are some pictures to illustrate what I'm rambling on about. The banana, Musa basjoo I think, is in his third year outside. Again, against the house in a warmer microclimate and heavily mulched. Since I do not have a greenhouse, I transplanted many geraniums, and other more tender things into that bed. The whole bunch is underneath a giant tarp supported from the overhang of the roof. I did peek at my plants when it was in the double digits a few days ago and they are doing well. The banana is about 6 ft. tall and has the edges of the upper most leaves browned..that's it. The tree fern was as content as can be. So far..said with fingers crossed. I don't have a particular theme for my yard, as you may have guessed. I plant what I like and it seems the more unusual the better. You want me to list my plants? I didn't think anyone would care about it. I will if you want. I'll put it on MY PAGE or something like that. Clever way to encourage me to do my list too! :-) Will do.

I'm on two acres in semi-rural central Massachusetts, bordering conservation land (wetlands). This is the first time I've thought about itemizing what I've seen in my four years, here. It's a long list, and I'm sure it's just a fraction! We have a pond, and keep half the property meadow. (Maybe, by some standards, the whole thing is a meadow....) I've been putting up birdhouses, lately. We see (in rough order of how interesting...) great blue herons, red tail hawks, egrets, a large flock of cedar waxwings, redwing blackbirds, barn sparrows (how do they know it's a barn?), downy/hairy/piliated/red-breasted woodpeckers, orioles, juncos, nuthatches, and the usual finches, bluejays, cardinals, yadda yadda yadda. A wood duck down the road, and I wish he'd visit. Spring peepers (I can't wait for them to come back!), leopard frogs, other various frogs and toads, garter/ribbon/maybe milk snakes, 4-toed salamanders. Turtles nearby, but not at my pond. In the pond, various snails, leeches, more frogs, infinite insects (especially mosquitoes). In the orchard, every pest an apple tree has ever known. Mice, groundhogs, rabbits, grey squirrels, flying squirrels, chipmunks. Coyotes, foxes, deer. Neighbors have seen a bear and reportedly minks, but not me. Beavers have us surrounded, but they are not my own yard. Some lovely spiders, and some plain ones too. Lots of paper wasps and various bees. More mosquitoes. In fact, mostly, we have mosquitoes. And worms. --Jonathan

We had daily visits from cardinals immediately after hanging our new birdfeeder this spring. Unfortunately, we also attracted all the neighborhood squirrels, english (?) sparrows, and rats! We gave up on the birdfeeder after the squirrels killed two plants underneath and pulled the birdfeeder down; it was a good try. Now our fountain attracts a pair of catbirds and the sparrows daily, the cardinals occasionally, and a pair of doves just recently. One of the pools in the fountain seems to be just the right depth for baths! The rats seem to have moved in under our porch despite the removal of the feeder, where we piled some bricks and rocks from garden excavations. Apparently we need to clear it all out to convince the rats that not only will we not feed them, but we won't house them, either. Sigh. Our campaign to attract birds continues, however. We just replaced some sad-looking lilacs by our porch (moved them elsewhere) with Black Beauty elderberry, which we are hoping will contribute to a bird feast this fall. We also just added a blue princess holly and her prince, and a couple of low-bush blueberries. Susan

I'm guessing it must be house sparrows; no other sparrows come in such large numbers. There is no food that house sparrows will not eat including nyjer and especially black oil sunflower seeds. They really like BOSS. They eat the nyjer seed as well; it's just not as easy for them to get at because of the small holes. I know as I have lots of HOSP so the only solution for me was active control of HOSP. Now I have their numbers under control and I have had other song birds galore that I never really saw much of before. I live in an urban area and have a small yard. I used to get overrun with HOSP because they seem to love the area I live in. Even -35 in the winter doesn't deter them. They are very hardy and adaptable. They will eat anything put out.