As a gardener, one of my main goals is to develop a landscape that provides a safe habitat for birds (and other wildlife). I have added plants to provide food and shelter and have been gratified by the amount of birdsong I hear in my garden. However, much of this birdsong remains a mystery since I have somewhat of a “tin ear.” I would like to be able to decipher this unintelligible mixture of sounds. I recently stumbled on a free App that has helped me with this goal, and I am totally hooked. The Merlin App is produced by Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology which is at the forefront of bird research. Merlin has enabled me to begin to understand the songs and calls around me. As a result, I have significantly broadened my life list beyond common feeder birds.
On its main menu, the Merlin App has three options “Start Bird ID, which asks several simple questions to suggest a possible identification (location, time of day, size, main colors, and behavior). “Get Photo ID” is the second option. You can either take a photo with the App or upload a photo you have already taken. You are then given photos of the closest matches. The third feature is the “Sound ID”, and I have found this option the most fascinating, educational, fun, and very addictive.
This sound feature is beneficial to me as a listening-challenged birder. Merlin shows the birds’ sounds in real-time! As each bird is heard multiple times, the notation for it lights up. This allows me to focus on the variety of calls, songs, and chips made by each bird and begin to discern who is talking! Once you have finished recording, you have a list of the birds the App has found. You can listen to your bird’s pre-recorded songs, learn more about it, report it to eBird and
The website greengrove.cc is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
Bloomcore, also known as flowercore, is an aesthetic trend that is just right for gardeners. It embraces the natural world, and most importantly, flowers. Putting nature first, it creates a pretty, flowery look both indoors and outside in the garden.
A cherry plum, sweet, thin-skinned and very prolific (you’ll also find it sold under ‘Red Grape Sugar Plum’). It was in the top three of our recent taste test and everyone liked it for its strong tomato flavour that’s sweet but not overly so, and its firm not mushy texture. It has a slight acidity running through it which all sweet tomatoes need. It ripens quite late compared to ‘Sungold’ and produces for a long period of time. It’s lovely in a mixed salad with the larger varieties.
Welcome to the wild ride known as parenting teens! If you’ve ever found yourself caught between eye-rolling moments and heartwarming instances of wisdom, these quotes about parenting teenagers will definitely hit the spot.
As the country begins taking stock of the damage caused by hurricane Ophelia and works to restore power to much of Scotland and Northern England, gardeners throughout the country are lamenting the destruction of their gardens.
Birds make a great addition to your garden, they’re great to look at and they’re useful as well. For instance, they will eat slugs, snails, aphids, insects and other well-known troublemakers.
No food signifies summer more than watermelon. We’re so sweet on the hot pink (or yellow) fruit that we designed an entire watermelon bar party showcasing the many ways to snack on, sip, and even centerpiece-ify the hydrating produce item.
No other plant native to South Carolina has such fragrant and beautiful spring blooms and stunning fall color as the witch-alders. Fothergilla was named after Dr. John Fothergill, an English physician and gardener who funded the travels of John Bartram through the Carolinas in the 1700’s. These beautiful shrubs have been planted in both American and English gardens for over 200 years, including gardens of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
Spring bulbs will soon fade, and the foliage of hardy summer bulbs will start to emerge. Even though it may be tempting, do not remove foliage from the faded spring bulbs that have past their prime. These leaves are necessary for photosynthesis to occur which will produce carbohydrates to be stored in the bulb for next year’s flower production. Do, however, remove old blooms from the spring bulbs; this will allow the plant to send energy toward rebuilding the bulb instead of producing seeds.