Mr. Robin Redbreast

Mr. Robin was sitting on the arbor last night just surveying his kingdom.  More great photos can be found on Murrieta365 for Straight Out of the Camera Sunday.  Take a look.

Red-wing Blackbird and Relatives

My husband found a  rusty old vent cover, found on the ground by an abandoned barn, on one of his job sites. It looks like a witch's hat.   He thought it might make an interesting roof for a bird feeder.  He worked on it last weekend and I painted it blue because I wanted it to stand out.   The first visitors were a pair of house finches.  Around supper time last night this group of red-wing blackbirds along with their kin the brown headed cowbirds showed up.  I grabbed the camera and this is what I got.  Nice group shot I thought.  Go and visit Camera Critters today and tomorrow to see other kinds of critters caught by a camera.

Come on Spring

Oh Mother Nature is fickle this week.  We went from having almost summery warm weather where everyone was pulling out the shorts and the tee shirts and the men were polishing up the lawnmowers for the season to today.  Today is just at the freezing mark and I did see the odd snowflake in the air.  I ran out to take a photo of these poor white crocus that came out a couple of days ago and have not opened yet because we had two days of rain and not it's too darn cold.

The tulips up against the foundation on the south side are pushing ahead and look like they might be a nice picture in a few days.

There is no stopping the rhubarb coming up in the vegetable garden.   I look forward to that.  I love rhubarb. I have a good recipe for a rhubarb cake that someone pased on to me a couple of years ago.  It is is hit where ever I take it.  I will post it one day when I bake one.

Just this morning despite it being so cold I saw these two trillim leaves in the front flower bed.  So, I guess spring is coming this way just at a few steps forward and a few back.  I was in the city (Toronto) yesterday and the forsythia was just amazing.  The trees all had little leaves on them.  They are way ahead of us north of the city. 

Signs of Spring

We had a lovely day again today.  Weather has been so wonderful.  The family was here for dinner.  I ate too much even though I said I would just take just a small portion.   I hope you had a wonderful day too.  For more springy mosiacs visit Mary at DearLittleRed House.  See you there.

Butterfly in the Pansies

I purchased a pot of pansies today at Costco.  So lazy...I did not have to pot them up.  Just plopped the container into the urn at the front door.  They smelled so devine.  A cabbage butterfly thought so too.  Happy Easter to you and your family.   More Straight out of the Camera photos can be found here Murrieta365

Love Is In the Air

Oh...it must be spring. These two were getting pretty cosy on the fence. I hope his intentions are good. More Camera Critters can be found at Camera Critters meme.   It is lots of fun.  Join us there.  

Good Friday

Happy Easter Everyone.  It is Good Friday and here at the Sandbox it really is just the most perfect day.  It is warm and sunny.   I may get a little colour on the skin today.   I have been out in the garden doing a little cutting back of all the plants I left standing over the winter with seed heads.  The ornamental grasses had gotten a trim.   Frankly, the whole garden looks rather flat now.  But it won't last long.

Looks a little barren right now.  Hubby and I were out raking the vegetable garden this morning.  Hope we have better luck than last year.  We had a very poor showing of tomatoes as it was a very wet and somber  weather last summer. 

The Helleborus Niger is opening its petals more now.

I found these two in the front yard.  I hope that it is a Good Friday for you too.   I  must add Happy Spring.

Helleborus Niger

In Europe Helleborus Niger is a traditional seasonal plant at Christmas time.  Why call it a Lenten Rose then? It should be called an Advent Rose shouldn't it?  I digress.  In the middle ages it was considered a medicinal plant by herbalists. The Greeks mentioned the use of Helleborus Niger in philosophical books as a melampode.  Thats just another name for the Helleborus Black Rose.

The Christmas Rose, Lenten Rose or Helleborus Niger is a rhizomatus rose in its native habitat in the mountains and flowering from December through April.

Botanically, the Christmas Rose belongs to the family Ranunculacae. Helleborus is Greek for H. Orientalis "elein" to injure and "bora" food.  Niger refers to the colour black of the roots.

In my garden the Helleborus Niger makes its appearance as soon as the snow is gone and the days grow warmer or about late March or April.  This particular variety of Helleborus is cold hardy to Zone 5. It is growing in a sheltered spot under an old rose bush.  I have tried planting the prettier "Orientalis" but it bit the dust never to be seen again.  My BFF has the prettier one but her green thumb is greener than mine. At the moment the plant is covered in little white buds that just appear at ground level.  There blooms even when fully open are not very tall and nod to the ground as if they are afraid to show their pretty faces.

Do you grow this plant in your garden? Tell me how it performs for you.

That's A Lot of Water

Every spring the banks of the Holland River overflow and some backyards get flooded.  For more Watery Wednesday photos go to  http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com/

In a Yellow Garden

Yellow in the garden is a favourite of mine.  It is a sunny and happy colour.  Real Estate Agents tell you to place yellow flowers at your front door when you are selling as it says to potential buyers "Welcome".

• From the top is: calla lily, coreopsis and Stella D'Oro. 
• Second row gallardia, yellow daylily, lemon iris.
• Third Row is sunflower, brown eye susan and a rambling sunflower and prairie coneflower. 
• Last row is a chrysanthamum, daylily and marmalade coneflower. 

More cheerful mosiacs can be found at http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/  or if you too are into yellow check out this Mellow Yellow Monday at

http://mellowyellowmonday.blogspot.com/

The Demise of Barns

It is a shame to see how barns are left to rot and fall away. Once a very necessary part of a farms existence they are now being replaced by buildings made of other materials other than wood. Perhaps the wood from this barn came from the property long time ago. Will there be anybarns left for great grandchildren to see? Just a thought. For more Straight Out of the Camera entries visit Murrietta 365 at http://www.murrieta365.com/search/label/SOOC%20Sunday