I have been seeing a lot of Great Blue Herons flying around heading to their favorite watering hole this spring.

Joyce Meyer of Spillville sent me a couple of photos she shot of these lovely birds.

 

I know that I have seen the Great Blue Heron well into November and I noticed them this year late in March into early April, but the Range Maps that I have seen mention that they are in our area year round.  I suppose if the water is open and the fish can be had, the GBH would probably stick around, but I know I’ve never seen them in the depths of winter.  Of course, I am not out looking for them.  You will have to let me know if you have seen them in January and February. 

Great Blue Herons are the largest and most widespread of the herons in North America.  They can be found on the shore of the ocean or the edge of a small inland pond.  Here in Iowa, we have plenty of the latter and none of the former.  They are large, long-legged, long-necked birds with an “S” shape to the neck.  They have blue-gray back, wings and belly with either reddish or gray on the neck.  They have a white crown stripe with a black plume running from the eye off the back of the neck.

You can see where their range extends over the Americas, their song and learn some cool facts of the Great Blue Heron by clicking here.

Posted under General, Photos

I managed to get some cleaning around the house done last weekend.  And when I say “around the house” I mean around the house.  I got all the winter detritus out of the plants surrounding the house along with getting the front raised bed cleaned out. 

There is plenty more to do, but the yard waste bins got full.  They are empty now, but now I just have to wait for Mother Nature to cooperate.

Dig it!

Posted under Spring

I got an email from Lisa who asks about thinning out her Ajuga flower, also known as bugleweed, pruning raspberries that have been munched on and what to do with too much Lamb’s Ear. 

Ajuga is also known as Bugleweed, Ground Pine, or Carpetbugle.

It includes 40-50 species of annual and perennial plants the mint family, Lamiaceae.  Ajuga prefers sun or partial shade in well-drained soil. They bloom in May and sometimes into June.  If you remove the flower stalks after they bloom you will prevent reseeding along with cleaning up the plant.  It may also encourage a possible second flowering later in the season.  One note I found mentioned that you can rejuvenate large planting by mowing them at your lawn mower’s highest blade setting or use a string trimmer to cut them down to 4 or 5 inches. You can thin out the plants when they become overcrowded with the best time in October, but anytime will do.  You can plant divisions in spring or fall.  There isn’t any particular method recommended for it, so prune or thin whatever way works for you.  Click here for how to care for you Ajuga through the year.

As for the raspberries…

The rabbits ate a lot of plants this year, including the raspberry canes. While the plants’ roots and crown are perennial, the stems and canes are actually biennial.  Each spring, red, black and purple raspberries produce new canes from buds located at the base of the previous year’s growth. Each cane lives two years and then dies.

For the shoots of purple, black and summer-bearing red raspberries, they are strictly vegetative, meaning they don’t produce fruit, the first year.  They flower and produce fruit the second year, then die.  If this is the type of rabbit mangled raspberry you have, they will survive, but may not produce much fruit this year.

If you have fall-bearing red raspberries, they naturally produce two crops. The first is produced in late summer or early fall at the tips of the current season’s growth. The following year, a summer crop is produced on the lower portions of the same canes. After that second crop, the canes die.  This means that rabbit browsing will have little effect on the total crop yield of fall-bearing red raspberries. The damaged canes will produce little or no fruit in the summer, but the new canes should produce a good crop in the late summer or early fall. 

On to Lamb’s Ear…

Lamb’s Ear, Stachys byzantina, originated in the Middle East, near Turkey and Iran. Some say it is a native to the Caucasus Mountains in Europe. If you have ever seen it, you know it got it’s common name from the shape and feel of the leaves.  It is a member of the Lamiaceae family, so it is related to the above Ajuga.  It tends to be invasive, so make sure you keep it in check or that it is in an area where you won’t mind it taking over. If you keep it in a border, it will help keep it from spreading too far.

It is easy to grow in well-drained soil. It can handle a variety of weather and soil conditions and can require thinning every few years.  This is a plant that will do very well in children’s gardens due to the soft and fuzzy nature.  They can also take a lot of abuse from small hands and still survive.

The flowers of the plant attract bees and other pollinators and smells a bit like pineapple.  Just before it flowers, the stems start to stretch and the plant begins to look leggy. It can be cut back after flowering and it is a good idea to deadhead the plant.  There is no recommendation about the best way to thin out the flower, but it can be propagated by dividing the rootball, so dig some up and give it to a friend.

Click here to read more on Lamb’s Ear.  This article includes the fact that Lamb’s Ear makes a good companion for roses and is also a good protection barrier against deer and rabbits.  I’ll have to try that one out.  It also has the distinction of being one of the plants that will grow well near black walnut trees.

Dig it!

Posted under General, Spring

According to my husband, it is NOW spring. 

While many of us think that the first harbinger of spring is the American Robin,

some hold out that it is only spring when the Red-winged Blackbirds get here.

Others may wait for the kill-dee sound of the Killdeer.

Click here to learn more about the killdeer and hear their call.

Dwayne says it is spring when the buzzards return.  He saw his first ones a week ago, so it can be officially spring now.

Dwayne seems to be fascinated with them, so here is a bit of information…

They prefer rangeland and areas of mixed farmland and forest.  They also roost in large trees or on large urban buildings.  I am pretty sure I have seen Turkey Vultures flying into a barn along Highway 30 while I was driving to Des Moines.  Of course, they need a big building since they are big birds.  They are 25-32 inches long with a wingspan of 67-70 inches. They do not build a nest but put eggs directly on the ground in caves, crevices, mammal burrows, hollow logs, under fallen trees or in abandoned buildings.  That explains the barn.

They eat a wide variety of carrion, from small mammals to dead cows. They will also eat some insects, other invertebrates and some fruit.  That sounds like a well rounded meal. Yum.

They summer over much of the Continential United States with the Southeastern US, Central and South America getting to see them all year long.

Some facts you may or may not want to know about the Turkey Vulture:

-The Turkey Vulture uses its sense of smell to locate carrion. The part of its brain responsible for processing smells is very large compared to other birds. Its heightened sense of smell allows it to find dead animals below a forest canopy.

-The Turkey Vulture maintains stability and lift at low altitudes by holding its wings up in a slight V-shape and teetering from side to side while flying. It flies low to the ground to pick up the scent of dead animals.

-The Turkey Vulture usually forages alone, unlike its smaller and more social relative, the Black Vulture. Although one Turkey Vulture can dominate a single Black Vulture at a carcass, usually the larger number of Black Vultures can overwhelm a solitary Turkey Vulture and take most of the food.

Whether they thrill you or scare you, they are a sign that spring has returned to Iowa.  Finally!

Dig it!

Posted under Spring