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It's become clear to me through posts and PMs that there are some gardeners here just waiting for the chance to discuss gardening!

So, I was thinking... how do you use gardening, or how does it affect you if you need a break, need some respite, need to relax, need inspiration....how do you use it as a therapy tool in caregiving?

What are your activities: Do you go out and pull weeds, read a magazine, design new beds? Look through garden catalogues? Go to garden stores?
And what interests have you added to your gardening? Visit estate or garden displays? Do you go to garden shows?

Does anyone design and plant Knot Gardens? Raised bed planters? Assistive gardens? Pollinator gardens (and have you thought of ways to help the bees and butterflies?)

Are your gardens primarily for pleasure or food, or a mix of both? Do you grow plants for medicinal purposes? Which ones, how do you harvest and process them? Any suggestions?

Do you grow plants that can be used in crafts, such as grapevines for wreaths and lavender for lavender wands? Do you make herbal products such as creams, lotions, chapstick?

What else can you share about gardening and the means in which it nurtures your soul?

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Potted Mums are everywhere in grocery stores, so I snagged one medium pot on sale. Went back and they were gone.

It's yellow blossoms are full, looking good.

This plant is seasonal and I have not had any success bringing them back the next year. Not sure if they are supposed to come back.
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I know, right?🦗😱
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Crickets in-house, no way.
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The sea anemone was very cool. It was during my time in St Andrews where you could find sea anemones and other creatures in little pools by the shore. A friend and I took a small one home in a large beaker of sea water. It was easy enough to replenish the water anytime. I can't remember what it did eat, but one day we gave it a bit of bacon. It "swallowed" the bacon then turned purple and spat it out. It was very clear that the anemone didn't like it. Not surprising, come to think of it.
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Golden, you must have had a salt water aquarium? I think that's cool!
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Funny you should ask that Send. I was reading posts on reddit from people who had tree frogs show up in their sinks and showers and people told them not to worry, tree frogs are very undemanding pets. I guess all they need is average room temperature, a branch for climbing, a puddle for dipping and some crickets from the pet store. Uh, I think I'd rather not.
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I had a sea anemone for a pet once. It didn't like bacon!!!
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cwillie,
Can a frog be a house pet?
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My little frog is back, this time I got a picture of it. But now I'm a little worried because it was in a flower pot and I will soon have to bring all my plants indoors and what if it hitches a ride inside?
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Just "as if" it were a coincidence, a Blue Jay returned to do a fly by in my yard.
Bright and perky, (characteristic of the other bird), it flew behind my husband as he was filling the bowl with sun flower seeds. Have not seen it for just under a month.
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I just did my first pass of trimming back for fall, most things are still blooming but looking a bit bedraggled. So as I was removing spent blooms from a big limelight hydrangea, I found a bird nest, now empty. It was the answer to why, months ago, every time I was planting or weeding in the area, there was an obviously angry pair of birds nearby. They’d fly swooping near and make noise but the nest was well hidden in the leaves. I hope their babies all made it and are happily flying high
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The Blue Jay was upset one day, and went to the driveway of a neighbor, calling out, jumping on the fence. Later that day, we saw both parents perched atop the highest tree and pole, over-looking the neighborhood.
We never saw them again.
Nature can be harsh, and when humans interfere with nature, it is not only harsher, it could be criminal. There are laws in place to protect nesting birds. Of course I am fighting the sadness, but gaining acceptance instead of anger.

When I first moved here there was a black feral cat who attacked a bird at my front porch. A neighbor took it in a plastic bag and threw it in the dumpster. I rescued it, took it to the animal shelter, who said it was alive and would be okay. My neighbors hated me ever since, even though I never came against them or told them what happened, or that it was against the law to dump the bird into the dumpster, as told to me by Animal Control.

What is unique is how the orange cape honeysuckle blooms and thrives, no matter what we are doing to neglect it. And the Bouganvillia, never growing more than two feet, is again thriving with blooms.

So good of you to take into account the wishes of your Kitty Golden.

ITRR,
We had morning doves trying to nest on a tiny ledge on our front porch, twice.
A squirrel got the eggs, the birds moved to a better place, and I stopped feeding the squirrels and the birds back then. I was willing to feed the blue Jay parents, and they came by for food and water, but have since left.
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send - How are the blue jays? A Garden Rain Drum sounds interesting,

cw - Love frogs!!! I'm glad you saved that little one. Love hostas too.

Wondering what to do with my pots of grass for the kitty that have lasted all summer. I think I'll leave them be and replace them next spring. She is very attached to them and doesn't like me doing anything to them except water them.
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CWillie,
Thank you for that, I enjoyed looking up about the tree frogs.
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Just googled a Garden Rain Drum on Amazon.
It makes music as the rain drops fall.
So cool.

The rain may be coming soon.
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The season is turning to fall so I was out today tidying the garden and weeding out some perennials that have been a little too aggressive (mostly echinacea). I was about to dig up a hosta that had gotten too big when I spotted a tiny green frog nestled among the leaves - according to google likely a gray tree frog. I'm so thrilled, I've never spotted one before! We had some very high winds a couple of days ago, I wonder if the little creature was knocked out of it's perch?
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There is a lot to learn about the Blue Jays!

Hoping the neighbors will step up to protect the birds from harm when the
Utility Conversion Project starts, any day now. They will be using heavy equipment to dig 6 ft. trenches that will greatly harm the bird's habitat.

I am expecting delays in the construction because of the government's protections
for the birds. I never wanted to be a nature activist, but I will if it becomes necessary.

If I am going to go full on and advocate for these birds, maybe I should name them?

Any advice would be welcome.
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Send, it must be common in the south western United States for the female and male birds to look alike.

We have mourning doves that nest on our back patio and the only way I can tell which is which is the dad bird sits on the nest during daylight and the momma sits overnight.

Blue birds are so beautiful. They'll keep nesting at the sendspa for BB. :-)
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The only notable difference between the male and female Blue Jay is size.
This species is different than most other bird species - the blue jays look alike!

But then, we live in Southern California, so our birds are going to be the exception, imo.

I ran the hose from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. dripping through a bush to a shallow tray on the ground. This is going to cost me. But the Jays are regularly drinking there. When the water is turned off, there is some water in the tray overnight.
I may try a circular sprinkler to keep the water moving, but they can get an easy bath with the water dripping from the bush.

I hope this bird family stays safe!
They are so very busy about 10:00 a.m.
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send - hope the baby blue jays stay safe

cw - not just for gardening! I still have a "lemon" 🍋 kitchen timer for cooking. In a similar vein, the reminder list on my iphone gets longer and longer.
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I ran the sprinkler under my trees for over an hour this morning before I remembered. Always. set. a. timer 🙄
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Cwilllie, I have been asking the same thing myself!

The same as with many bird species, I think you tell them apart because the male is always brightly colored, and the female has very little bright blue coloring at all.
This one female looks plain and haggard (for now), but the male is very actively caring for the family. Busy birds, I will call them.
But I am just guessing. Lots of finding out going on since 3 days ago, I thought there was just one blue Jay, until I thought what is it doing so busy, so loud, so friendly, and keeping so close-by?

Maybe it's like humans. You can tell the one who is being well taken care of, often by the sacrificing wife. Gladly, it is not always this way, and the wife takes great care of herself as well, so the couple looks and feels great! Hmmm, I think that I might have offended everybody not identifying with this description. Maybe there are really bright looking female birds too. I dunno.

I read that the fledglings stay on the ground learning to fly after 3 weeks. There is no place for them to do that except in the street. Nature is planned ahead by instinct, not my business to say they could have picked a better place. But I really needed this new development, as I love the birdies.
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My only question is how can you tell the male from the female, they both look alike to me 🤔
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Newly hatched Blue Jays just 25 ft. from my window, I can watch them!

I provided a water source and the male drank immediately.

Making space in my life to observe, enjoy.

[So, is this post more positive than the first Blue Jay announcement?]
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Blue Jays have moved into neighbor's tree, located in a high traffic area.
Only 5 ft. from one neighbor's front door.

There are newly hatched baby-jays, yesterday.
Parent's have mouths hanging open @ 100 degrees F, very hot this week.

A happy, but unsafe occasion.
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Little late to respond here about monarchs, but I just noticed a swarm of tiny monarch caterpillars on one of the milkweeds in the rock garden. They must have been at it for a while, because all the lower leaves are gone. They seem to be working their way from bottom to top. I live in a condo, but we're able to plant and take care of plantings in established garden beds. A previous owner had created a lovely garden on a rock mound in the front of my unit, with lots of perennials and a few shrubs. They had moved to another unit some years earlier and had told the condo association they could no longer maintain the rock garden. It was in pretty rough shape when we moved here, but over the years I've tried to restore it. The milkweed showed up several years ago, and now I have to fight to keep it from spreading and taking over, but I leave plenty for the monarchs.
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R would be there gleaning what he could. He hates seeing stuff go to waste and is very good at making use of old materials.

It's a real shame to see useful things going to the dump especially lumber.
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The house up the street in dismantling their above ground pool and deck and just throwing everything in a dumpster so I scored a piece of lattice, one of the workers even carried it home for me😄. It's pretty beat up but hopefully I can use it to make my compost pile look prettier so my neighbour has one less reason for giving me the stink eye. Wish I could cull through all the rest, there's a lot of usable lumber just going to waste.
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cw - Yay!!! 🦋
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Years after allowing common milkweed to remain in my flower bed I finally have a monarch caterpillar 🐛
Yay!🦋
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