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End of Month View FEB13

So… I remembered to get few garden views (bonus with early morning sunshine) to join Helen and other Bloggers with an end of the month view or two from my garden.

It’s always tricky to decide which way to do this – do you choose close-up captures or the long views where you don’t get the same detail in planting? I’ve opted for the later for now but may add close-ups when there’s more to see other months. After considerable chat on my previous prequel post I think captions would be best – I like the visual record anyway 🙂


The garden watching window view – how nice of the Mr Blackbird to pose on the bamboo snow perch when I took my photo! Today saw a frosty morning. Next month the snow shelter bird feeding table will be moved. This border had Hellebores in bud near opening, Snowflakes and Heather in flower and newly planted Snowdrops adjusting to cold roots.

The house corner view – the Robin on the coral barked maple tree wants to say hello too! I’m seriously looking forward to see the milk chocolate foxglove (group planting) flowering this year. I’m not going to weed too much here (my excuse) to see if last year’s new Astrantias self-seed. This border has a special hidden area!

The walk-way view – to show the wildlife pond view from the stone dyke side. The grass mounds are seen this way – I need to tweak them yet. The garnet Acer on the left will make its presence known in a couple of months as will the golden sedge grass. I can’t wait to see who will eventually visit here when there is a pool of water!

The pergola to new wildlife pond view – yes, there is no pond there yet (coming soon) and yes this photo was taken on JAN31 for last month’s EOMV. But this view will make the hard work ahead appreciated. I’ve lots of ideas for here but stopping hedgehogs from drowning is my highest priority.

The taking in the washing view – I’m loving this area now. This is also the wildlife pond to hedgehog feeding station view and the summer garden table view (at present has outside guinea pig hutch stored under here until April). Can you see the opening to the left of the grasses? That is where the hedgehogs come in to feed at night (birds that learn food is here during the day too). I love the height aspect here to see and photograph the plants.

The extra special February views – outside and inside the feeding station for hedgehogs (known as Hedgehog Manor) that has and IR camera in it. Even though the nights are cold I’m putting food and water here for any hedgehogs that are coming out of hibernation. March 2nd was our 1st sighting last year. The outside shot was taken last summer but shows location on right. Yay… we have had a Blue tit Roosting in our camera nestbox all winter and I watched it come in tonight at just after 5.30pm 🙂

Finally, the absolute best view for February (for me only I know) is a page on my YouTube Channel  that shows ‘no videos were found’ on private uploads!! It has taken an incredible amount of time and concentration in locating missing videos (many without dates) within my blogs, making them public and updating and embedding them into posts all over again. I’ll take a guess that subscribers to my channel will be getting fed up of emails for the 124 videos I’ve worked my way through. It’s finally done… woop woop!! On the up side, it’s been another great trip down memory lane to see all the old nestbox footage again. If you are new to my blog and missed the nestbox posts just follow the link to my channel as the old stuff has been listed as new uploads. You’ll find links to the posts the videos appeared too (I added these links during my embedding – they helped me keep track of the videos when I located where they were in my blogs). This was a beast to do!!

Before I wish you a great weekend and suggest you might consider joining in with EOMV’s too (it’s a great garden record and everyone loves to see garden views) I’d like to point you in the direction of Veg Plotting and her post on Chelsea Sneak Preview: What’s Your Plant of the Centenary? What would yours be? If you’d like to think about it – Wednesday, 6th of March is the date other bloggers will be putting up their posts. Sounds fun to me 😀

Have a great weekend – I’ll have my camera’s running again. I wonder who will visit? Oh… I forgot to say… EXCITING NEWS… last Friday a bird on my garden wish list arrived in my garden… this time I couldn’t reach my camera in time. What was it? A stunning male Bullfinch which was feeding right outside my garden watch window… I could only look… still a brilliant sighting 😀

This post was published by Shirley for shirls gardenwatch in February 2013.

7 thoughts on “End of Month View FEB13

  1. Congrats on the male Bullfinch. I like this end of month view of your garden. Those beautiful tall hedges. Wow… How long did it take for them to grow that tall?? I love seeing the long views of your garden. Your garden is gorgeous, even in winter. I usually take pictures of my garden the first of the month. I will try to retrain myself and actually post. I too love to see what the garden looks like from different vantages during different times of the year.

  2. It is amazing how much has been revealed in the garden in the last week. Every day I notice something new; many of which I had quite forgotten that I had planted or transplanted!

  3. I'm in awe of 'Hedgehog Manor' – what an amazing thing to have in your garden.
    Our local hedgehogs live in a neighbours unkempt garden. I've only ever seen one once, Halloween evening last year.
    Isn't it great that our gardens are coming 'alive'.
    You won't be disappointed with your Milk Chocolate foxglove. I grew them last year for the first time but unfortunately the wet finally took hold and they drowned!
    Mmm, I wonder how my brother got on with his – must remember to have a look on how to propogate.
    Lovely blog Shirley.

  4. I loved seeing the overviews, I feel as if I have a much better sense of your overall garden. I'll really look forward to seeing your hedgehog friendly wildlife pond come together.

  5. Hello everyone, thanks for all your comments 🙂

    Lisa, thanks – I was delighted to see the Bullfinch – hahaha after OH pointed it out to me as he walked near the window! The hedges are fast growing (Leylandii )and not popular here in the UK as they often get left without trimming and cause issues with neighbours. We keep ours regularly trimmed. Thanks, each year I try to add another bit of interest for the winter garden. Oh… do join in with an EOMV – I’m a newbie at this too 😉

    L, you are quite right there. Enjoy your garden 🙂

    Angie, I have loved using this previously unused extra guinea pig hutch as a feeding station – even more so now when it is hidden in my border (hard work at the time!). I had to give it a name and this one stuck instantly. New for this year I am considering the motion detector capture software for during the wee small hours as hedgehogs could be seen out of hibernation around now- this should be fun. Yes, it’s a great time of year for the garden. Ah… last year I had one milk choc foxglove in flower and after loving seeing the bees on it so I picked up five more plants at Gardening Scotland to get a bigger show for this year I’m wondering if it will self-seed. Thanks 🙂

    Christina, thanks, you know how much I love to see the bigger views of your garden. I’m delighted that others can enjoy Hedgehog Manor too 😀

    Janet, me too and I hope mine show the amount of birds and wildlife can come when there are lots of plants. I’m looking forward to frost free mornings so I can get a good run at working on completing my pond. I hope it comes together as it is in my head 😉

    John, thanks, if they miss another year I guess I should perhaps consider moving it. Good luck with the Great Tits in your nestbox. Hope 2013 is a good one for nestbox families 🙂

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