Sunday, March 16, 2025

A Touch of the Tropics


The parakeets still come to our bird feeder almost every day -- at least, every day that I remember to put food in it. They and their equally squabbly avian cousins, the starlings, can demolish four suet balls in the course of an afternoon. A lot of it winds up on the ground, where the pigeons and other little birds manage to peck it up. These two were out in the garden yesterday.

I had a quiet day, taking care of some tasks around the house. I watered the orchids and took the citrus tree out into the garden for a hose-down. I think it has spider mites -- the leaves have that vaguely speckled look that plants with mites get. I gave it a bath despite the fact that it's not very warm out there -- a high of 48º F at noon (9º C). Olga tried to sunbathe but it was too cold even for her!


The single little fruit on the citrus has turned decidedly orange. So it is, in fact, a mandarin orange, as my plant app said many months ago. That mystery is solved.

When I lived in Florida I used to hear that citrus trees need chilly (but not freezing) nights to make the fruit sweeter. I have no idea whether this is true or not but maybe being out in the chilly air yesterday, and being bathed by chilly water, will not only knock back any mites but give the fruit a boost.

I also spread our last two bags of mulch, so that task is finally complete. I didn't get achy like before, I suppose because I wasn't out there as long or dealing with as much of it.

And I got out my hand-saw and acted all butch by sawing in half an old fence post that had been left lying in the front garden. (Perhaps I should have sung "The Lumberjack Song" as I worked.) It's been there for years but until our recent garden butchering pruning, it had been hidden by foliage. It sawed pretty easily, probably because it's so old and rotten, and once cut down in size I threw it in the bin.


Here's a close-up of our bird bath. In the right light the poem on the side really stands out:

The kiss of the sun for pardon
The song of the birds for mirth
One is nearer God's heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth


This often-quoted bit of Victorian doggerel comes from a poet named Dorothy Gurney, who (according to Wikipedia, which is never wrong) wrote it in 1882. It's part of her longer poem "God's Garden." I suspect our birdbath is very old and has been standing in this garden a long, long time. The words are weathered and worn away by scratchy little starling feet and not always easy to read.

Oh, and I'm just seeing that our forsythia is blooming! That literally happened overnight.

45 comments:

  1. I know that Lumberjack song, and I have no intention of clicking on the link.
    Many of our parrots are so gaudy. Your parakeets look somewhat dignified.
    One of the suet balls looks a bit like 'The Scream' painting.

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    1. I love that Monty Python clip. I could watch it over and over again, politically incorrect though it may be. You'd scream too if you were being consumed by a parrot!

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  2. We have parakeets here too, but they mainly stay nearer the river so they haven't discovered my bird feeders yet! I have enough trouble with the pigeons scoffing everything that they can reach!

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    1. Yeah, the pigeons are a problem here too. Fortunately it's too hard for them to cling to that feeder so instead they mop up whatever falls on the ground.

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  3. So tropical down there with your parakeets and orange trees.
    It's freezing up here this morning.

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    1. It's cold here too. Don't be fooled by the tropical scenery!

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  4. Are there any pictures of you acting all butch like a Canadian logger - wearing a padded tartan shacket and one of those fur-lined leather hats with ear flaps?

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    1. A shacket? Is that a thing? Sadly I don't have any appropriate Canada-wear.

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  5. I would have preferred a video of you singing The Lumberjack song. The parakeets are so beautiful! I would love having them in my garden. The birdbath does look very old. Damned spider mites.

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    1. Oh, believe me, you would not have preferred that.

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  6. Now I will be singing The Lumberjack Song all day ... "and it's okay."

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  7. I think you should have sung the song and driven Mrs Russia mad. But that's me. Parrots, oranges? You can take the boy out of Florida, but...

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  8. Those parakeets are beautiful and they make such a colorful addition to your garden. I like that little bird bath poem. The bird bath really does look like it's been there a very long time.

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    1. I really couldn't even begin to guess how old it is. Decades, anyway.

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  9. I still can't believe you get parakeets at your feeder in London. Hardy, adaptable little birds, aren't they?
    I've always heard that about citrus needing a chill too. They say the same about collard greens. I, too, have wondered if it's true.

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    1. It's funny how these agricultural rumors take hold and who knows what's true? I'm pretty sure I remember the spokeswoman for Florida Citrus Mutual saying that about the cold, though, so that's a pretty official source.

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  10. I wondered how the front garden ended up. I guess I missed that post. And that's definitely a mandarin orange. You ought to leave it outside now.

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    1. It is outside as we speak! We've warmed up a bit so I'm going to leave it out for the foreseeable future.

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  11. I love mandarin oranges and so I hope you get a lot of them and they are very sweet!

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    1. I would be tickled to death if we get to eat this one. (And a squirrel doesn't get to it first!)

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  12. I like your birdbath. We had one for a while, but it was too shallow and the birds never really visited it. Does your tree have much fruit on it?

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    1. Just that one fruit, but lots of flower heads that could eventually become fruit, if we're lucky!

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  13. Guard that orange. Somebody is going to steal it and then you don't get to eat it!

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    1. Yeah, it's almost a given that the squirrels will steal it.

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  14. Our forsythia is just opening now, too. I love the parakeets. I know they're noisy and can be a nuisance, but I'd love to see them in my garden. Not very likely at present, but give them a few more years . . .

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    1. I really enjoy watching them but they ARE loud.

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  15. Steve, that photo of the two Ringnecks on your bird feeder is a beaut. Still hard to believe that the population of those guys in London came from a couple escapees. Talk about adaptable......

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    1. And they are EVERYWHERE. There are tons of them in South London and on Hampstead Heath.

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  16. And Were You Supporting A Flannel While Wildly Swinging Your Saw

    Yahooo00000
    P.S. Please Post An Olga Girl Photo Tomorrow , Thanx

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  17. Wow, that little mandarin orange seems to have done well, and so quickly! Maybe next year you'll have even more.

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  18. Our forsythia is blooming too! After its severe pruning (in the wrong season) I was relieved. I would pay good cash money to see you singing the lumberjack song. Ha!

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    1. Forsythia are tough. Our was just a stump when we first moved in but it has filled out nicely.

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  19. Today is 66 degrees F in Massachusetts and it surprises me that you might be cooler.
    It must be lumberjack season! Yesterday we had a tall pine taken down because it was uprooting and if it had blown over it would damage the garden.
    I love your birdbath and the poem.

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    1. We are indeed colder than 66º! I guess lots of garden and tree work gets done in the spring.

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  20. I still can't believe that parakeets can survive there. We had some for several years, indoor only. They were SO messy! I'm finding that several plants have bloomed without me realizing it. (one of my hyacinths)

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  21. Hooray for the mandarin. I have that same garden poem on a concrete slab, it was broken and lying forgotten in a graden where the tenant had been taken to a nursing home, so I rescued it and repaired it.

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  22. You've been seriously productive! Well done. I love that you have parakeets just "out there." And a fruit tree that is actually delivering fruit! (The first time I grew a tomato, it rotted on my windowsill because I couldn't bear to eat it.) It's 47 here right now. I have daff shoots. I'll take it!

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