Every spring I face the same conflict: weed the "yard" (the patch of dirt with weeds on it) or let the weeds go crazy? And every year it basically resolves itself, as it did this morning, in the same manner. If you let them grow densely enough and then mow them fairly short, the weeds look remarkably tidy. It's too shady in that spot for grass to grow well anyway, so once again, I'm learning to love my weed patch...
Judging by the number of sneezes around here, it is now fully spring: oak and molds levels are soaring, much to our allergic dismay. But it has good sides, too. This morning on my walk I got to go by a stand of incredibly sweet-smelling acacias. They only seem to bloom for about two weeks around here, so I try to be around them as much as I can. (There's another good cluster of them by Trudy's on 30th.)
I spent some time yesterday cleaning up my flower beds and planting some stuff we got on the weekend (a delphinium, an icelandic poppy, and a blue hibiscus). The exotic little corms that I put in last fall are all starting to bloom, but unfortunately I can't remember what they're called. I posted this pic of one of them on flickr, but got no responses:
[click it for a larger version]
Anyone recognize it? Most of them are orangish-red.
Using this database at something called Percevia, I finally identified the amazing tiny bird that's been living in the tree in front of my desk for several years. It's a Hutton's vireo, and I am so glad to finally have this riddle solved. Here's an image for those interested in birdies.
Percevia lets you choose various characteristics, narrowing your search by location, shape, color, size, etc. It took me all of three steps to find the right bird after spending years never being quite sure with our guidebook.
My desk sits at a large window looking out into our "yard" (large patch of muddy, sandy, weedy mess) and beyond that, into the Taco Bell parking lot. Sounds not so great, but actually in the summer when the leaves are on the tree I can't see past our fence, and it's very pleasant. There's always a lot of bird action in the yard, which I really love. At the moment there's a family of four cardinals hanging around.
