A Flock A Day

This woodpecker appreciates my twig tuteur,
checking it every couple of days for yummy bugs

And suddenly it's Fall.   As soon as the first cold snap hit, my quiet summer yard turned into a raucous bird party.  A large flock of cedar waxwings paid its annual visit to my cedar, stripping it of berries.  (It's so fun watching their antics.) Yesterday, a flock of robins came through, taking over the bird bath for several hours.  Flickers and robins and gray squirrels have been out in force inspecting the newly turned earth where I planted my recently purchased plant bargains.

Carrionflower vine berries

I'm always amazed at how much attention my gardening activities receive from the resident wildlife-usually when I'm outside there'll be at least one curious chickadee or wren hanging out in the trees, commenting on what I'm doing, or maybe a ticked-off red squirrel hollering at me from above. Robins and chipmunks tend to check out any ground I've dug up, sometimes so impatient they don't even wait for me to leave.

I recently moved some phlox to a different bed and as I was digging the new hole I was thinking about the hummingbirds who come to the phlox every day, wondering how long it would take for them to find the new location.  I needn't have worried-I didn't even get the plant in the hole when I heard the heavy buzz of hummingbird wings and looked up to see one just above my shoulder, chirping and eyeing the proceedings intently.

Probably should have waited until spring to move the phlox but I decided to chance it.  Besides the phlox, I've been trying to fix some design flaws, transplanting shrubs as well as perennials.  And with all the bargains I've gotten on plants this fall, I've had plenty of new stuff to plant too.  I even scored a nice-sized 'Golden Shadows' pagoda dogwood for $30!   It was on my want list this past spring but I couldn't bring myself to pay $120 for a plant that is only marginally hardy here and well-loved by deer.  You just know it's not going to live long.

Just love Laura phlox!

Thankfully, we've finally had some rain the last couple of weeks.  Here in Waukesha County we are still under drought conditions and I'm worried that next year will be the same.  Despite the awful growing season we had, there were still some new plants I found in the yard.  One handsome specimen turned out to be a native pokeberry.  It's berries were gone the day after they ripened so I guess something is immune to its poison.  Another turned out to be white snakeroot, also poisonous.  (Why are all my woodland natives poisonous?) This is listed as invasive but native, and I guess I don't mind it going nuts in the far back of the yard where it can battle things out with woodbine, solomon's plume and sweet cicely.  Those are all native thugs too.  I hope I haven't made a mistake letting it survive.

One of my favorite Fall combos-goldenrod and aster

Another garden surprise was a phlox that just popped up in a completely different bed than where I have my original stands of phlox.  It has white blooms with a small pink eye ring and looks gorgeous paired with my Autumn Joy sedum.  That's actually why I decided to move my phlox in the Fall while there were still some blooms.  When we moved here there were two large clumps of tall phlox-one was white with a large pink eye ring and one was pink with a large white eye ring.  This year I noticed 2 others-one short and purpley-pink, and one like the new one that just turned up.  Are they remnants of plants that were planted too close together?  Are they seedlings that didn't come true? (That would explain the new phlox plant I found)  I'll be curious to see what kind of phlox I get next year now that I've "separated" out the various colors.

All my asters are looking good but I'm disappointed with the colors of Farmington, Wood's Pink and Wood's Purple-all are very pastel and I was hoping for something brighter, like the native asters I see in the prairie planting across the road.  Now that is the perfect Fall combo!  Magenta and bluish-purple asters paired with goldenrod when the sun is low in the western sky-Yowza!

One of the native asters in my yard-I think this is Calico Aster