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matt_v

Planning my next habitat garden...in spite of snow!!

matt_v
18 years ago

Greetings! I was hoping to get some inspiration for this season, and Spring seems so far away. However, I think I found the cure..? I updated my website and added my 2005 achievements, as well as a 2005 Blooms section. Some folks might not have visited before, or forgot about my page. So, just in case:

goto www.fickity.net

click ENTER

page down and select YARD AND GARDEN

page down and hit 2005. Or, begin with 2000 if its your first time?

My page documents how I transformed an old goldenrod field into a haven for Birds and wildlife. Lots of landscaping and growing!! Also, MANY Bird photos!!

Enjoy!! I hope this serves to psyche you up for spring...

Comments (8)

  • gaylams
    18 years ago

    Matt,

    That is soooo beautiful, and I already had spring fever. Now look at what you have done. HA! We have had a few days in the 70's, so I really have the bug now. I put a new pond in last year, so I'm adding a butterfly/hummingbird garden around it as this year's project. Please show more pics of the pond and new bird garden.

    gayla in Mississippi

  • slowlane
    18 years ago

    Matt, what amazing progress you've made in a short amount of time! Thanks so much for the update and the "history." I've been wanting to undertake a similiar project for some time now and have felt overwelmed at the prospect, but your "process" pics give me confidence to try it myself.

    Gayla, I'm in Mississippi, too--up near MSU, at the moment, but I spend a lot of my time on the coast. Maybe we can compare notes :)

  • matt_v
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Greetings! Thanks friends!! You can see my pond as it was constructed under 2002 and 2003. I will take more images, usually I concentrate on the frogs, toads, dragonflies, treefrogs, and peepers I attract! I don't know if I'll do a new bed this year or not, I think my main goal is to plant many bird-friendly shrubs in the new acquisition property. I have my eye on Buffaloberry (Shepherdia), Coralberry (Symphoricarpos), Silverberry (Eleagnus, a native one) and Sea Berry. I will document all that I do...

    THANKS!!

  • gaylams
    18 years ago

    Ilove the pond pics. I am a pond and stream fool and love looking at how to improve my set-up. My goal is a wildlife habitat, but I am especially fond of birds which is why I put the pond in in the first place. This year I plan to plant a hummingbird/butterfly garden around the edges of my pond.

    Slowlane - I'm near Jackson. We had surprisingly a lot of damage from Katrina considering how far inland we are. Nothing like the coast, of course.

  • ellen_s
    18 years ago

    Wonderful pics and text, thanks for sharing!

    Ellen

  • slowlane
    18 years ago

    Gaylams, I think the whole state took damage from the storm. I'm 250 miles inland, and we lost the tops out of several trees, a tv, microwave, computer and game system to electrical surges (so much for surge protectors :P and were without power for four days. But as you say, I can't complain when I look at what happened on the coast.

    I'm just starting on flowers and hardscape in my yard--partly because of the "thinning" we got during Katrina. I have more sun now. I'm working on a butterfly/breakfast area first and will branch out from there.

  • candyinpok
    18 years ago

    I really enjoyed the odyssey. I have spring fever also. Spent the day outside, pruning trees and cleaning up edges. We're redoing our landscaping. Put in a butterfly garden last year and I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens with it this year. Had lots of butterflies and hummingbird moths. A new phenomenon for me. We planted a crimson cloud hawthorn because I couldn't find a cockspur which was what I wanted, but now I'm not sure Hawthornes belong here. Yours didn't make it?

    Thanks for the display. Look forward to updates.

  • matt_v
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Greetings! We lost our Winter King Hawthorne to a bad dig and transplant. It got borer infested, and I removed it. Hawthornes generally do quite well here. You see them all over Skaneateles, Camillus, and lining the entrance to the old Chase-Pitkin on Taft Rd in Liverpool. If you can't find a local source for Washington Hawthorne, I know Musser Forests has them. Good Luck!! In 5 years, I have recorded 142 Yard Birds and 27 Butterfly species as a result of habitat gardening!!

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