boncrow, thanks so much for your good wishes and prayers. I'm still hopeful that El Nino will come and revive my garden to some extent. It would be such a joyful experience if that happened. Carol, I've so much appreciated your encouragement and praise, and want to thank you for your unwavering support. The story of your mother's efforts and struggles truly resonates with me, and anyone who gardens in caliche, amended or not, has my total admiration. It's not as though the caliche amends itself, and that alone must have taken grit and hard work. I think Aunt Margy's Rose deserves some consideration. Mine is not as lush as it was before, but it's backed against my house wall and even in the earlier hours the heat transfer is huge, and still she does her best to bloom. I'm wondering whether I should have a second one which I'd plant in a more benign location. My pictures look cool since I rarely venture outside before the sun begins to set except to fill up all the birdbaths and water bowls for the animals. The young squirrels have decided the bowl are perfect bathtubs and several times a day I'm looking at empty or near-empty bowls except for the layer of dirt at the bottom. Carol, thank you for the compliment, but you or Melissa in Italy or Daisy in Crete should be writing books. Compared to all of you my prose seems dull and prosaic, just the facts, ma'am. I don't know who would read it either, except for equally obsessed forum members, since hardly anyone comments when they see my garden. My idea of nirvana would be to have everyone's gardens here grouped together in one spot, so that we could all walk from one to the other. We'd probably all come away with thousands of pictures, major sunburns and beaming faces, secretly telling ourselves that ours is still the best! I've wondered several times how your garden redo is coming along and what exactly it is you're doing. I would love it if you'd let the cat out of the bag, assuming you're willing to reveal all before it's actually completed, and tell us all about it. What part do the roses play in the overall scheme; are they the major theme or just one of the players of a much larger orchestra? Is there a central theme (of course there must be), and what part does color play in it? Also, how close are you to completion, although of course I use that word advisedly, since gardens are never complete? Pray tell all, if you want to. Ingrid

Kenn, Spectacular photos!! I love the shots of the Bluebirds so much. They are my favorite bird of all. I have a good camera on order that I will have soon. I hope to get some real good pictures of my martins this year and the Bluebirds also. Very good once again and it looks as if you have a native bird paradise at your place. That is the only way and from your great pictures I can see how much you love our treasured American songbirds....Mike

Nice! I'm looking forward to spring as well. Here's my back yard. This is last fall after I finished planting the back of the yard. It's on the edge of the property looking toward the house. In the foreground are two nannyberry shrubs (a viburnum related to cranberry) and then an area where I've planted a prairie garden and covered it with compost. You can see where I've left space for a path to walk through, and I plan to put a bench there. Back towards the house there is where the garden starts, and I had started planting there last year. It's nice in the summer sitting out on the patio, where I can watch the bird feeders and enjoy being surrounded by native plants. The area where I'm standing, with the nannyberry and the small post right beyond it, used to be completely infested with buckthorn and many invasive weeds. It took me 2 years to clear it all out. Now that the area is opened up a bit, I'm hoping that I'll have bluebirds nesting again (saw many here during fall migration.) I left this post standing as a spot for the bluebirds to perch, and to hang a nice sign. The post used to be completely obscured by buckthorn.

Thanks Donna...I'm in eastern Maryland. This is my first year in bluebirds; I saw them on the bike trail which is just a few yards from my house, so I put up a house, and they arrived! At first HOSPs chased them away and made a nest. (I had NO idea how awful that was at the time!!) When the sparrow babies fledged I washed out the box and waited. The blues came back soon after that and had 1 clutch of 4 babies. I have no reason to think I won't be overrun with sparrows, except that it hasn't happened yet. I see loads of house finches, cardinals, goldfinches, titmice (is that right?)and chickadees mostly. I do see sparrows and wrens, but they don't linger. But if they chase my Blues away, I'll lose my mind. I did not make the suet---I bought non-melting insect-filled suet at the local wild bird store. It's pretty revolting! Is it possible to buy dead bugs in bulk?? I don't really get it...how are they preserved? Why doesn't suet get rancid? The whole thing is very distasteful to me, but there's little I won't do for my birds. My mealworm farm is proof of that! I also don't want to leave the house! After I harass my 5 year old to hurry up and get ready to go, I have gotten caught at the window staring at the birds... She hasn't called me on it yet, but I'm sure it's coming! Donna, I'm so sorry about your HOSPS. Maybe they'll be gone as fast as they arrived and the blues will be back! Ann