March has almost come and gone but not before giving us much to hope for with the bright colors of sun hitting the earth in the form of daffodils, primroses, narcissus, hazels and ranunculus. We all needed this cheer I’m sure. Plus the vaccines seem to be spreading – I’m happy to say Tom and I now have two which will make life less stressful.
Brita Fisher did this lovely arrangement for a special order.
The Canada geese are back nesting on Sieverts pond this year and other pairs are checking out the nest sites on the lower ponds. In the spring, two years ago, we hosted a wonderful class with both my brothers talking about ducks, geese, reforesting and our local history of the trees on the property. I sure look forward to when we can repeat something along this line. In this photo Dr Frank Rohwer is holding geese eggs ( which didn’t deter the geese a bit ) and showed about candling the eggs.
The star magnolia is in it’s glory now amid the hail, wind and rain – it seems unphased by it all! Boy are plants tough.
Leah Nguyen has made this Democracy pattern tee shirt ,which is available on our Arts and Crafts Market page in various sizes. This was designed after the attack on the nations capital on January 6. It’s patterns are to promote healing past wrongs and better embody the promise of democracy.
It’s a very soft cotton shirt perfect for everyday or using as a sleep shirt.
As you can see, it’s good for men or women.
Spring means it’s time to fix up the hen boxes on all the ponds – wire tubes held above the pond on posts and a platform. It’s always an adventure I look forward to with my older brother Sievert. Found a large glob of salamander eggs on some canary reed grass I was going to remove but we left it in place so there’d be more salamanders.
From a large old clump of daffodils under alders Sievert noticed something facinating which will show up lightly in the next photo.
Threading away from the clump of blooms was a thin line of daffodils where he had never planted any in the past. It became clear that ants were carrying seeds toward an ant hill they had at a distance, where they intended to stash them for eatting.
Perhaps the ant died on the way back home, or couldn’t get the seed lifted again, but in any case the seeds germinated and grew to produce a new bulb & flower!
The thin, smattering, irregular line of daffodils leads to where there had been a large thatching ant mound in the past.
It never ceases to amaze me what insects and animals do to survive – so many things we aren’t aware of. It makes me really appreciate tidbits I hear from Sievert.
It’s hellebore season again – can’t ever see to many of these beauties. I’ve noticed the newer cultivars being developed are so vigorous they increase rapidly, offering so many blooms each year – well worth the initial investment.
This very stunning and handsome Trumpter Swan is a lone representative on the large pond off Cultus Bay Rd near the Red Door Farm. It’s been a resident for over a year and transformed from immature foliage to elegant adult foliage.
I always look for it when I drive by. Sometimes it’s feeding and looks like a giant puddleduck with only it’s tail and partial body above the water as it’s harvesting pond plants. They do not eat frogs – vegetarians only!
This photo was taken from my friends Craig & Sue Williams driveway – it’s part of the huge pond along Cultus Bay Rd. Sometimes water comes over the many rocks they have added to make the driveway passable.
The huge benefit of living near this incredible pond which still floods the driveway at times are the many ducks, kingfishers, wrens and the lone Trumpeter Swan that are so close by. One day they were leaving home and the swan was swimming across the driveway headed to a little pond on their property. I’m jealous!!
The talented Sheila Carbon has made more bird baths for anyone interested. After a special request last year for a junco she said she would make some on ‘spec’ if I desired, so I eagerly agreed.
They are listed on the Arts & Crafts Market page and can be picked up here at the gardens. They are curing now and will be ready by mid-April.
The profile of the baths photographed above all look like this Junco bath.
The baths can be left out safely all winter as long as water remains in the basin. It’s ok for the water to freeze too! With the rough surface the birds have good traction for flying away from danger quickly.
These are natural dyed eggs from our class 2 springs ago. With Easter just around the corner I thought you might like to be able to try your hand at dying some gorgeous eggs like these.
Red-Cabbage dye: 4 cups chopped cabbage ( turns blue! )
Turmeric dye: 3 Tablespoons ground turmeric ( deep golden yellow )
Onion-skin dye: 4 cups onion skins ( bright yellow )
Beet dye: 4 cups chopped beets ( dull pink )
Select a dying agent from list above and place in a pot with 1 quart water & 2 Tablespoons white vinegar. Add more water to the pot if needed to cover dye material, proportionally adding more vinegar too. Bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer 30 minutes – strain.
The longer you leave eggs in solution the deeper the colors. For darkest eggs boil in the dye solution.
Some of the ones above with broad white stripes had rubber bands placed on them before immersing in dye solution.
I’m happy announce we will be hosting the Summer Arts & Crafts Market this year.
On Saturday, July 31& Sunday, August 1 we will have many artists from both Whidbey and elsewhere selling their wares. Food of some sort will be provided by a certified food truck and garden umbrellas will grace the gardens with happy vendors anxious to get back to selling their wares in person.
Scenes from our last Summer Market from 2 years ago. It will be so lovely to be able to get together again and we will do so safely requiring face masks even if vaccinated.
With the large field as well as inside the old nursery area we have room for all the vendors to be spaced out at a good distance.
I hope you’ll mark your calendars for this happy event.
Wishing you a good spring and happy gardening.
Mary Fisher
Cultus Bay Gardens