Author: LAH

Posted on in Gardening, Surviving Winter

Nothing to Do?

Winter landscape with grasses @XG LAH 002Our gardens are sleeping, waiting for the warmth of spring. Here in Colorado there’s not much a gardener can do this time of year—or is there? If gardening is your passion, you can always find something garden-y to feed your soul!

Travel. It’s hard to leave our flowers and veggies during the growing season. Weeds put on a growth spurt the moment we leave town, zucchini grows to humongous size, and our favorite perennial blooms and fades while we’re gone. In winter, the garden lingers in a state of suspended animation. We’re free to leave knowing everything will be more or less the same when we get back.

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Posted on in Birding Trips, Birds, Hotspots

Trip Report: Merritt Island NWR

It’s January. Where can you find warmth, green leaves, and lots of birds? We found all three at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Located on Florida’s Space Coast, Merritt Island shares a boundary with Cape Canaveral. You can actually see the launch pad off in the distance as you enter the refuge. Apparently launches don’t discourage the birds from hanging out nearby. Maybe that’s because they know they can fly circles around any rocket!

The day we arrived, the temperature was predicted to hit 83°. In my opinion, that’s perfect January weather! We planned to show up at dawn but we didn’t quite make it. Still, it was plenty early and the birds were out and about.

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Posted on in Gardening, Surviving Winter

Dreaming of Spring

Dormant_DBG_LAH_6943The holidays are over, winter has settled in. The reawakening of spring is so far away, it might as well be never. In spite of our best attempts at landscaping for “winter interest,” let’s face reality. A garden full of dead grass, dried stems, and bare limbs is drab, boring, and gloomy.

Sure, winter isn’t all bad. It’s nice to have time to relax while the weeds sleep. The mower is idle, pots are empty, and not a whole lot needs doing. Still, if you’re as enthusiastic about gardening as I am, January can be a bit depressing.

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Posted on in House Plants

Cat Grass, or How to Save Your Spider Plant

Starla_ErieCO_20091219_LAH_5709It was my daughter on the phone: “Mom! Starla has been chewing on the spider plant again! What can I do?”

No, Starla isn’t our granddaughter—she will know better than to chew on the houseplants. Starla is one of our grand-cats. And like our own pet feline, she loves to chew on foliage.

Our pets are all indoor cats—it’s safer for the birds and other wildlife, and it’s safer for them too. (Did you know that birds may carry diseases that can kill your cat?) While they contentedly preen on the window sill and shed on the sofa, they retain their instinct to munch on leaves. Since the only leaves available are houseplants, that’s what they eat.

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Posted on in Gardening, Veggies

Development-supported Agriculture?

I’ve mentioned Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs) as an alternative to growing one’s own fruit and veggies. Well, the developer in this NPR story is taking the matter one step further:

If I have to live in a housing development, I would love to live one that has its very own farm. I could still have chickens and get dirt under my fingernails in a garden, yet not need to hire a house-sitter when we’re going to be away. It seems like the best of both worlds.

Having access to food grown in one’s very neighborhood is the ultimate in eating locally. I’m not sure how successful this would be in our neighborhood (at 7,000+ feet elevation), but it could certainly work in most of the country.

Who knows—maybe Pete and I will “retire” (hah!) to Ft. Collins. If so, this is the first place I’m going to look for our next house.

Posted on in Public gardens, Surviving Winter

Hunting for Warm and Green

Boettcher-DBG_LAH_6632As I stare out the window at brown and dead, I’m dreaming of warm, green, lush gardens. In past years I’ve had to make do with visits to Denver Botanic Gardens’ greenhouses (left) or the Butterfly Pavilion in Broomfield, Colorado (another walk-in greenhouse full of tropical plants). This year, however, we’re heading south to where plants are green and you can walk around outside without lays of insulation. I can hardly wait.

As we aren’t leaving quite yet, I have some time to ponder which direction to go. We’re driving, we have no reservation, and we can be as random and carefree as we like—at least until the money runs out.

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Posted on in Birds

Christmas Owls to Munch

LAH_2567’Twas two days before Christmas and here in my house
I had just finished wrapping up gifts for my spouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
The feeders were full and the birds were all there.

The juncos were nestled all snug in their nests,
While visions of sunflower seeds filled their rest.
And I in my old sweats, with hair all undone,
Decided to whip up some cookies for fun.
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