Category: The land

Through an upstairs window, I saw the ghost deer this morning for the first time in weeks. Deer season is over. Game cameras belonging to neighbors confirm that there may be two white deer. All the local hunters have sworn not to shoot them.

The first trees I ever planted at the abbey were four arbor vitae trees, four feet high at the time. I chose them only because I like them. I think that arbor vitae trees have a kind of old-fashioned magic about them.

Now there are 13 arbor vitae trees at the abbey. I wish I had room for more. What I didn’t appreciate until fairly recently is just how important evergreen trees are to the birds. The number of birds that wintered over this year at the abbey has really impressed me. They sleep in the arbor vitae trees. At dusk, the arbor vitae trees all chirp.

The trees also provide hiding space for birds to duck into during the day. I’ve been spatting with a hawk lately that is stalking the chickens. The wild birds duck for cover if the hawk is around. The native cedar trees also provide a lot of cover. I have too few cedar trees, but I do have one very large one that fills up with doves every evening. The big magnolia grandiflora also provides lodging for lots of birds, as well as a hiding place for the chickens during the day.

I’ve decided to plant a kind of low-growing magnolia along the uphill side of the driveway. That should provide yet more bird shelter.

During the recent snows, I scattered seed on the deck for the wild birds. They ate it like crazy when the ground was covered with snow, but after the snow melted, they’ve ignored the seed. That tells me that there is no shortage of natural food for the ground-feeding birds and that more shelter may well raise the bird population even more.

By the way, don’t be tempted by Leyland cypress trees, which look somewhat like arbor vitae trees. The cypress trees (to my eye) are not nearly as beautiful. Plus I understand that they are slower-growing and more susceptible to disease.

February is the grimmest month, and you have to look closely to find signs of spring. But they’re there.

But if I put out a water bowl for the squirrels, then the possums would be wanting one, too.

Unseasonably warm weather teased my spring-blooming camellia into unwisely blooming too early. Some buds survived the weekend freeze, and this partly opened flower survived, but the other blooms turned brown.

It was the same story with the Carolina jasmine.

The late roses are all gone.

For several years, I’ve been observing the work of the moles in the yard. Sometimes they’ll work an area so thoroughly that the ground feels weakened and soft. But ultimately, if they do any harm, I can’t detect it. In fact, I think they improve the soil and the growth of the grass by aerating the soil. They particularly seem to work areas where the grass is not growing well and needs aeration, so that’s a good thing.

Here in the South, where they are a common wild tree, we call them cedar trees. They actually are a juniper — Juniperus virginiana. This time of year, many of the trees are heavily loaded with berries. I think that not all birds like juniper berries, but some birds certainly do. I had a large flock of birds (were they cedar waxwings?) feasting on juniper berries in my largest tree just this week.

Birds also use these trees as night roosts. This particular tree has a bunch of doves in it every evening.

I posted a while back about abelia, an old-fashioned flowering shrub that the bees and butterflies love. I asked my local plants and landscaping shop to find me some more, and this week six new abelia plants went in at the edge of the yard, up against the woods.

No place could possibly have too much abelia. Its dense, tiny flowers go on blooming for months. It makes a fine hedge. I figured that the rabbits, which are humorously abundant at the abbey, would appreciate a new hedge at the edge of the woods. Plus the birds love to shelter in hedges.

My little unicorn is back. This time she was in the front yard, at dusk, with a sister (who is not an albino). It was a difficult shot with a long lens, high ASA setting, and low light. But I’ll get a good picture of her yet.