The birds in the garden on December 10th

 On December 10th the robins flocked to the holly berries and devouvered them all by early afternoon.  The birds were a couple of weeks early this year.  Those berries have been known to be ready on Christmas morning.

 Some of the flock of robins in the English Oak tree, what is in the back garden.  The robins were having trouble sitting on the branches of the holly tree, if there got to be too many of them at once.

 On the same day there were wood peckers on the other trees.  None of my pictures were very good.  But this is the only shot I have of the red headed woodpecker in the front tree.

 The downey woodpecker was on the apple tree, searching out bugs to eat.  There was a Flicker on the neighbours house, and a Starling in the holly tree for only a moment. 

 A photo of the Lily of the valley shrub in front of the Japanese cedar in the woodland, on Dec. 2nd.

An abstract for my Ice Art album.  This is ice on the patio table on the deck, highly photoshopped.

December: The little rockery in the back garden

 the strawberry jar on the little rockery in the back garden. 

 the lewisias on the little rockery in the back garden.  As you can see this rockery needs to be cleaned up, compost added and more pea gravel top dressing.

 The dwarf evergreen on the little rockery in the back garden.

 This little rock plant is a cutting from an older plant that is in the little rockery in the front garden.  I cannot remember the name of it.  It loves to have rocks to grow over.  It has tiny pink blossoms in the summer.  It spreads over top of the rocks.  It is easily propagated.

 This rock plant is an ice plant, delesporum.  I have taken cuttings of it and have them growing in tiny pots on the deck.  I will plant them into the little rockery in the front garden.  They spread quick fast.  I might want one under the magnolia tree, too.

 I spread chopped up leaves that I ran through the lawn mover, over the cutting garden.  I will add a light layer of compost over the leaves in the Spring.

This is the view of the little rockery, the troughs, the strawberry and rhubarb patch, with the cutting garden at the back.  This area has lots of tree roots and needs to be fed.  The English Oak tree leaves fall on this bed and become mulch.  I am slowly establishing a few perennials in this area.  I try to encourage the columbines, foxgloves, dames rocket, malvas, feverfew and other self seeding plants.  The michaelmas daisies are far too invasive, so they are not encouraged.

December: the old sidewalk in the back garden

 The orange trees on December 2.  I am going to leave them out all winter.  They are never going to bloom, so I think I will reuse the pots.

 The new Rhodo Oreotrephes planted in front of the old camillia.  The camillia is growing more branches, so I think I will keep it pruned and keep the rhodo trimmed also.  This will give some good screening for our back patio.  A couple of weeks ago I fed these plants, and the rest of the rhodos some rhodo food. 

 The old sidewalk from the steps to the back border of firethorn bush.  The lily of the Nile has turned a lovely golden color that looks good with the greening of the moss on the sidewalk.

 Another view of the old sidewalk to show the perennial bed that I renovated last Fall.  Hopefully the milkweed plants I put in there will grow next Spring.

 Further to the right of the renovated perennial bed is the apple tree and the stepping stones leading over to the little rockery and the strawberry patch and cutting garden and the neighbors fence.

 A closer photo of the Lily of the Nile plant.  This is plant is slowly spreading and is a very good plant with nice strap foliage and tall stalks of blue flowers in the late summer.  This flower bed beside the old garage needs some compost added.

a closer photo of the lily of the Nile.  You can see the spent flower head in silver high above the golden foliage.

December Leaves in the back garden

 I piled some of the raked leaves onto the little flower bed behind the old garage.  This is the landscape view into the woodland that brings us closer to the germander in the foreground, the blocks of wood, the fern, the water feature, and the Japanese cedar that the back.

 The leaves on the flower bed behind the old garage.  The old sidewalk has turned nice and mossy with all the rain we have had in the last month.  This old sidewalk is the path into the woodland.  It curves around the other side of the garage as a chip path.

 The epimedium with fallen leaves around it and the stepping stones path.  This area still needs to have the leaves and debris cleaned off the moss.

 A closer view of the Epimedium. 

 Closest to the Epimedium.  It would look better with the area cleaned up and a bit of compost added around the Epimediums and other plants along the edge of this stepping stone path.

This is the other side of the old garage with raked leaves spread over the chip path, and the Bleeding Heart area.  The other plants are still green and will have leaf mold and compost added to them later.

December leaf raking

 The holly berries from November. 

In December there were several days of leaf raking before all the leaves had fallen.  This is the thyme circle.

 A thick covering of leaves on the front little rockery

 More of the heavy fall of leaves on the front garden with the view to the David on our driveway side of the garden.

The grass path at the top of the front garden covered in leaves.

Shooting out my front window for an overview of the front garden at the beginning of December.

December stones and roses

 This was not a 'found' stone but bought.  I believe it is Morganite.  Morganite’s subtle color is caused by traces of manganese. Because morganite has distinct pleochroism—pale pink and a deeper bluish pink—it’s necessary to orient the rough carefully for fashioning. Strong color in morganite is rare, and gems usually have to be large to achieve the finest color.  A site for some gem stones: https://geology.com/gemstones/gems/

See my Post for some recently bought gem stones:  http://mmmee.blogspot.com/2018/11/october.html

 This is a larger rock that Bryan gave to me when we visited him in Yellowknife.  This precious rock has been outside in the weather for years and is beginning to grow moss on it.  I am undecided about whether to keep the moss or to polish the rock back to its sparkling finish.

 One of the stones on the deck railing in the morning frost.

 December 2nd simplicity rose.  The leaves are all fallen now and there are no more flowers.  I will prune the roses back in early Spring, and feed them.

December 2nd Iceberg rose reflected in the window by the entry way.

November some of the stones in my garden

 this is a tufa rock I bought at the Rock and Alpine Plant Society's show and sale, some time ago.  I have the special Rex Murfitt saxifragias planted around the tufa rock.  I will need to transfer them to a larger pot, soon.

 These three sit on the old plum tree's stump.

 This green rock keeps the lid on the fish food can.

 the rest of these stones sit on the deck railing.  I never remember where I collected them.

 I think this white one with the sea schell in it was found on a beach on Malta

 The red one on the left was collected from the Joshua Tree Monument area in California last February.

There are more around the garden.  I should collect them and put them in the little rockery at the back.

November 24 in my garden

 The water garden has been skimmed.  All the fallen leaves need to be cleaned off the plants and paths.  It looks kinda nice with its winter blanket on it, now.

 The cyclamen along the old sidewalk have been spreading everywhere in the garden. They are invasive, but very decorative.  They have a long blooming period and are ever green.  They are not too hard to keep under control.  Too bad about the branches in the photo.

 Pat can peel the apples in no time with his apple peeler purchased at Lee Valley.  We made up several cups of applesauce and froze them.  There are still apples left to process. 

 Water hawthorn is in bloom.  We have had some light frosts but the plant is still blooming, now.

 Schizostylis or Kaffir lily makes a good photo against the green of the mossy old sidewalk.

Feverfew blooming by the pond edge.  I shall encourage this plant to continue growing and spread around the pond edges. It is a tough but good looking, aromatic plant.  The leaves are rather fern like and soften the rock edges.