Amy Batog
21.07.2023 - 22:58 / awaytogarden.com
RAT-TAT-TAT. And then again, from outdoors, on the front of the house. It’s far too early for the annual woodpecker ritual of drumming to assert territory; it’s winter, not breeding season. Was the same squirrel who’s been gnawing on the furniture on my back porch shifting focus (and had he somehow developed a rhythmic action to produce that sound)?I sat in wait, determined to find out. The answer was a bit of a surprise:
It was a blue jay. And a few feet away, watching from a branch as the first bird chipped paint off a column on the porch, three companions cheered her on, as if awaiting their turns at bat.
But why? Maybe Google will know.
Though the original articles it refers to—from “Bird Watcher’s Digest” and Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s former membership publication “BirdScope”—are more than 10 years old and not online, this synopsis on Project FeederWatch provides the basic explanation:
Limestone, a source of calcium, is often an ingredient in paint (especially pale-colored latex paint birds prefer, apparently). The theory is that blue jays in the Northeast and Eastern Canada may collect and cache calcium in anticipation of increased needs in nesting season. Songbirds can’t store sufficient calcium in their bodies, and look to natural sources like snail shells, isopods including pill bugs and millipedes, and even earthworms—none of them easy to find right now.
(A related topic: In areas of high acid rain, those natural calcium sources have dwindled even when it’s not winter, posing a risk to nesting forest birds, such as ovenbirds, as appropriate habitat diminishes.)
How to discourage paint-chipping? Offer egg shells, the various online threads suggest, specifically after sterilizing them by boiling or heating in a 250FI had hoped to have several long stems of Dahlia ‘Geoffrey Kent’ to place into one of my taller slimmer vases, but it wasn’t to be and instead there are a few stems of varying length with blooms of variable openness, placed into the smallest of my Caithness glass ‘Ebony’ vases with stems of Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’ to add grace and movement.
How to Grow and Care for Braeburn Apple Trees Malus x domestica ‘Braeburn’
Every colour has its day and for blue that is often in Autumn. This is a selection of our blue to purple plants showing off during mid to late October.
I like a good strong blue in the garden and not because Chelsea FC play in a blue soccer strip. With the 2018 Chelsea flower show on the RHS calendar I have selected a few photographs to highlight my favourite colour.
Georg Arends was a German nurseryman who bred many perennial plants. His business was successful until the second world war and has been regenerated to be one of the oldest in Europe. It still remains within the Arends family.
What is the collective noun for a group of dandelions?  A drift or adrift in my garden!
I am no botanic artist and I am too old to learn and train but I do appreciate a good source photograph to paint in oils.
If you’re well-versed in TikTok food trends—cottage cheese, rat snacks, or boozy pineapple spears, anyone?—you may already know about the recent sushi-related food trend that influencers are trying their hand at: the sushi bake. This riff on the super popular Japanese dish is quick and easy to prepare, making the flavors of sushi much more accessible from home.
I recently had a call from a South Carolina resident who lost power for more than 24 hours and wanted to know whether the foods in her freezer would be safe to eat. This is a very common problem in South Carolina winters and could easily affect you in the coming months.
Are you looking at plants in your garden and wondering why they aren’t flowering?
You know by now that it's always good manners to show up to an event with a little trinket for the host in tow. But if you're feeling stumped about what to bring with you to the next summer get together that's on your calendar, we're here to provide you with a whole new list of ideas that are sure to be well received.