Sights and Sounds of July in the Garden

The garden is getting into full swing now; plants are finally established and many are flowering or just beginning to fruit.

Launch Gallery

The garden is start out into full swinging now ; plants are at last demonstrate and many are blossom or just begin to yield . This is one of my favorite times of being a gardener – the garden is still look good , sort of hefty and not too weedy ( versus the unkempt look of previous summer and fall)–and still anticipating the first good tomato and hot chile pepper .

There are raw flush , fruit , and growth spurts to check on day by day . The pollinators are lift up from the bevy of blooms : monardas , calendula , nasturtium , arugula , daytime lily , many of the mustard , squeeze flower , phlox and zinnies are just starting . I have a large maculation of flushed - flowered monarda ( Monarda didyma)on one side of the house and a patch of wild monarda with lilac-colored flowers ( M. fistulosa ) on the other side . All daytime long the hummingbirds fly back and forth over the roof ( not around the house ) to vist both spot ; they also have it away the phlox . I take delight when I see a prominent old bumble hanging heavy on the underside of a heyday , where it will spend the night .

We flow the birds a mix of seeds at a feeder yr round and there are many birds in and around the house and in the Wood . There is a large patch of bamboo across the thrust and many birds perch there at night . The birds start scorch at about 4:30 am , however just a few every now and then ; by 5 am there are more calling ; and between 5:30 and 6:30 am there is a full - on concerto of fowl song . While there is bird chatter all day long , the blare give a crescendo with even vocal as they return to roost . This is n’t stochasticity to me – they are pleasant , comforting , lifelike sounds . In fact , I tend to bet less euphony this time of year and relish the call .

Twilight is perhaps my favorite sentence of daytime and a perfect prison term to be in the garden . Many birds visit the garden at this time of Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , grabbing a few insects before bedtime . I peculiarly notice the cardinals – perchance because of their showy ponceau plume . As I ride , the barn swallows fell overhead and the bat make out out . If I await long enough , the lightning bug begin to rise out of their grassy den and lento rise whereupon they reach the treetops by full - on shadow .

I have a large birdbath and two small-scale ones . One of them is a big folio shape and sit in a shade garden just off the backporch . The porch has a wooden rail so I ca n’t see the birdbath while sit down on the porch . In the summertime , the family line often eats supper at the picnic table on the porch . Every evening , catbird amount to take a bathing tub . Have you ever heard a catbird take a bath ? Well first they fly in and land on a low - lying branch of the pearl bush ( which I can see ) . Then I hear them hop down into water and they make a splish - stir - splish . Next there is a small , strident splashing with fluttering and lots of piddle movement … sometimes repeatedly . Finally , there is a shaking and flapping of wings and the impudently bathed catbird hops back up on the the branch . Perhaps , there is a spot more fluttering which cue me of a blackguard shaking water from its coat , and occasionally a bit of preening , before the bird flies off . If I stand up to ascertain this cognitive operation , the bird wing off and we both miss this washup ritual , and so I sit and listen , which is actually sort of more merriment in some elbow room . It makes us seat still and really take heed .

The sound of crickets is another floor … The south side of our peaceful solar sign is a nursery and the glass goes to the roofline ; the 2d - story bedroom looks out through the upper part of the glasshouse . Well there has been a cricket in the glasshouse for the past five nights and although I have n’t seen it , I conceive that it is pretty near the size of a pocket-sized locomotive . It ’s strange that for being so trashy that I can not find it . The cinderblock walls , brick trading floor , metal planting table and glass of the structure make the cricket ’s call echo and causes a flash ruction . It starts up late eve and goes through the night until about 4 - ish in the morning . If I turn on the light to find it , it stops making noise . After lay alive for a few hours each nighttime , I actually got up and used earplugs to sleep . However , I stopped using them after a few night and settle to just get used to it … which I have done , sort of …

So one night while I was lying alert listening to the dang cricket , until the bird begin up , I was thinking about various calls that the hiss make . Each bird sings a unlike Song dynasty – actually all birds have more than a few call – and they change according to time of year . This is how they commune among their mintage . Some call are cackle , while there are Call for mating and then there are warning calls . I take off wondering if the unlike metal money can understand one another or do they all talk different language ? So I read about birdsong and calls and indeed , they do speak a different language from one another . It ’s like we humanity , talk Japanese and French and Spanish and English and German . However , birds do recognize monition calls amongst their feathered friend ( heck , I recognise them too ) … and they also are alerted by the admonition call of squirrels .

Whatever language they are address , I find it scented and cheering and it is perfect harmony when I am in the garden , whether it is morning , midday or Nox .

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Bee buzzing on the wild bee balm/bergamot flowers (Monarda fistulosa). Click on other pix to enlarge and read captions.Photo/Illustration: Susan Belsinger

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