Monday, May 31, 2010

Early Summer Updates and a Woodpecker Query

It's nearing the prettiest time of year here, before the flowers are ragged from extreme summer heat. Two types of Endless Summer Hydrangea are blooming profusely (Original and Blushing Bride):



Scarlet runner bean vines are covering a bunch of spare tomato cages.


Red hot poker plant:

Two (unknown) daylilies, clearance purchases last fall, are blooming:


Black-eyed susans are starting their multi-month flowering period. This is rudbeckia hirta, which grows as a biennial here (though it's advertised as perennial).

Mums from our wedding brunch three years ago:

A pair of brown thrashers have a nest in some dense shrubbery next to our carport. We can't see or hear the babies, but the thrashers are constantly bringing them huge numbers of bugs and worms - even in the rain. Devoted parents! (This one has a worm.)

The little backyard vegetable garden is coming into its own. We're just harvesting tons of green beans these days, but tomatoes aren't far behind. We also have corn, winter squash (which I'm hoping is not as susceptible to borers), butterbeans, purple hull peas, shallots, corn, peppers (hot and sweet), cucumbers and eggplant planted. Herbs and fruit are elsewhere in the yard.

My mom asked me to post about a strange problem she's having - a woodpecker pecking on her (asphalt shingle) roof! She went outside to check and it's definitely pecking on the roof and not exposed wood. And she lives on 13 wooded acres! Does anyone have any idea why it would do this and how to get it to stop? It's driving her crazy and she's afraid it will cause a leak. Thanks!

6 comments:

Randy Emmitt said...

Ginger,
Lovely hydrangeas
About the woodpecker maybe it is pecking at knot holes in the siding or wood trim? Shingles if so I have no clue.

Ginger said...

Randy - it's definitely pecking on shingles and not trim - my mom and brother have both seen it. Crazy!

Susie said...

Crazy bird! Mine peck on the the metal gutters. Makes a crazy noise.

Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog said...

We have some red-bellied woodpeckers who peck on the metal trim around our chimney. They only do it in the mornings and it's always a male. And it's usually only done in spring and summer. I'm surmising that they do it as a mating or territorial drum, because it's louder than doing it on a tree. Your veggies are looking great!

Darla said...

Your flowers are beautiful...veggies are growing good too. Can't help you with the woodpecker, birds are weird sometimes.

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

Your garden is much further ahead than ours. I can't wait to see Hydrangeas and daylilies here. Your vegetable garden looks great. I love the trellis you have.
We had a male woodpecker pecking on the metal flashing on a bathroom vent. It scared me to death. He only did it for a short while. I think it was a mating call of some type and he was trying to be extra loud.
BTW I see that you won in the photography contest. That's great!!