Urban Garden Winterizing Update Part Two

It's Wednesday, December 18th 2013, and soon it will be Christmas Day, and as you will see in this post, the flora in my garden is not only prepared (winterized) for the 2013-14 winter season, it has also been decorated for the coming feast days of the holidays.

Yesterday as I began to write this entry, the snow was falling heavily in my garden where it accumulated very quickly, since my having gone out to replenish a few of my bird feeders early that morning.

In spite of the snowfall, Emily, my lone Baltimore oriole (who I introduced on HT in mid November @ http://www.hometalk.com/diy/q-bird-id-needed-2540073) flitted around from feeder to and feeder, noshing in my garden all day.

This is indicated in the first two pictures accompanying today's post, where she can be seen exiting my supposedly pigeon-preventive tower feeder (formerly referred to as a shine feeder) and zooming toward one of my thistle feeders.*

And also as of yesterday, it had been one month and a day since she arrived in my garden — unannounced — on November 16th 2013.**

Because I have since learned that "Baltimore Orioles are mostly in the tropics, though a few individuals linger, even in the northern states and provinces. No one knows why some individuals are stragglers every year--most of these are seen in November and December, so ornithologists believe most of them end up dying as winter gets more severe," I have been very concerned about her surviving the winter in New York City.

Therefore I was overjoyed to see that her survival skills re the snow, had been in the works before yesterday's heavy snowfall and cold temperatures. For yesterday's snow accumulation was much more than our second snowfall of the season (on December 14th 2013), when Emily went into the supposedly pigeon-preventive feeder to grab some seeds and drink from water provided by my mushy snow (picture three).

I do have a birdbath (to provide my friends with a place to drink or bathe) in my garden; however, I have no source of power (so it is not an electrical one) outdoors. This means that when the water in their bath freezes over (as seen behind Emily in picture three), I have to pick it away with an ice pick, boil water in my kettle to melt the ice, and then replenish the water in the birdbath.

In any event, you can see (image four) that Emily has found a solution re water sources. And I'll keep working on a solution to providing her as well as the other birds which visit me access to a heated birdbath. And in image five, you can see that a determined pigeon is trying to find a solution re gaining access to food intended for smaller songbirds.

The pigeon isn't the only one checking out feeders (intended for other birds during times of snow); yesterday, Emily alighted upon a whole peanut feeder which "normally" is only used by bluejays. She can be seen in image six contemplating either the feeder's contents or the snow (atop its tray) from which she ultimately sipped from (image seven).

I was really glad to see her confidence as well a willingness to experiment with nourishment sources in my garden; however, in terms of this feeder, she seemed to only sip from the watery snow which was fine by the jay, as it meant more peanuts for him/her, which was much appreciated as you might surmise from images eight through ten where he/she can be seen grabbing peanuts before taking them to a nearby tree, where he/she could open them without being disturbed as seen in images eleven through fourteen.

So much for my bird feeder's role re the survival of my visiting birds (including ones not featured in this entry) thus far in these pre-official-winter days, I still have a number of feathered friends who prefer to eat from the crumbs that fall to my garden's floor; including cardinals, dark-eyed juncoes, house finches, mourning doves and sparrows.

As for the survival of the perennial flora which I grow in my urban garden, my "wrap-winterizing method" (described in Monday's post here on HT) *** was mostly completed on December 13th of 2014 as seen in picture fifteen which is an image I have already shared (in response to a comment) to HT comrade, Emily G ( @ http://www.hometalk.com/emilygreen).

On that day Juan V was here for my garden winterizing; it had not snowed as of yet, and, in addition to not having completed winter-wrapping or bulb planting, I had not resolved what to do with my metal vintage bouncer**** re protecting it from the snow.

In the aerial image within photo placeholder (fifteen), the bouncer can be seen in the lower left hand corner of the image (with a bowl for planting bulbs atop it), but during the gardening season the bouncer has a prime spot in my garden as evidenced from the pictures in placeholders sixteen and seventeen which feature a few scenes from 2013's autumn in my garden.

In any event this was only the second season for the bouncer in my garden, and last year I had placed it in a small area in the hallway of my building which is to the right of my front door entrance as I have no place to store it in my apartment.

I had deliberated rather to leave the bouncer outside (and possibly wrap it with tarp) since an early December's light snow fall (photo eighteen) had already caused some rusting on the chair or to put it in the same place I had stored it last winter.

With December's second snowfall predicted for the day after Juan V and I had finished phase one of 2013-14 winterizing, I brought it inside, much to the delight of Stef, the woman who made my Advent wreath (@ http://www.thelastleafgardener.com/2013/12/a-lesson-from-reindeer.html).

She was delighted that I had done this, for she made a house call to my garden to help me with "installing" my Christmas trees as well as my garland, and upon walking up the seventy stairs that lead to my apartment, she was huffing and puffing

"I'm not twenty anymore," she groaned as she "landed" in the bouncer near my door. I assured her that I too was not twenty anymore, but I am accustomed to the stairs in my building and I brought up he trees and garland for her.

The results of the Stef's Christmas decor on that day are are as follows:
North end of terrace garden: main tree (photo nineteen), east-side: tabletop tree (photo twenty), also garland for the pole supporting my bird feeders (photo twenty-one) west-side: garland on trellis urban hedge ***** and a small tree (photo-twenty-two).
All of my visiting birds responded favorably to the array of Christmas evergreen that Stepf put in my garden.

And photographs twenty-three through twenty-seven are "examples" of how those visiting birds — Emily and a lone house finch — ultimately responded to the decor. In the case of the house finch, his brilliant red body against the green of the garland looks very Christmas-y.

Meanwhile, even after Stef and I did "installed" Christmas decorations in my garden, I still had another appointment scheduled with Juan V to plant bulbs, finish wrapping and add Christmas lights and balls to my contorted hazelnut as that "task" has become a standard. I'll cover the aspect of my contorted hazelnut when I conclude my Urban Garden Winterizing Update series.

BTW, the star atop my larger of the Christmas tree is from Steve Mohr's store, which is where most of the whimsical holiday characters (figurines) that I've discussed in previous HT entries can be found. As I've stated in the past, Steve can be reached at 212-580-8404.

References:

*Feeder Info:
Tower (Shine) Feeder @ http://www.hometalk.com/diy/outdoor/garden/rain-or-shine-bird-feeders-to-perch-or-not-may-be-the-question-1721634

Thistle Feeder @ http://www.hometalk.com/diy/outdoor/garden/part-6-small-peanut-feeder-back-story-of-tllg-s-rain-or-shine-feeder-1796499

Pigeon-Proofing Tower Feeder http://www.hometalk.com/diy/outdoor/garden/catching-crumbs-that-fall-to-the-floor-followup-3-to-8-22-s-post-2243447

**Announcement of Emily's arrival @ https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=576263065756404&set=pb.247917655257615.-2207520000.1387378597.&type=3&theater

***Wrap-Winterizing INFO @ https://www.facebook.com/TheLastLeafGardener/app_119255214825893 AS WELL AS @ http://www.hometalk.com/diy/outdoor/garden/urban-garden-winterizing-update-2716445

****Bouncer INFO @ http://www.thelastleafgardener.com/2013/01/another-year-over-and-new-one-just_8.html

***** Urban Hedge INFO @ http://www.hometalk.com/diy/grow/landscaping/urban-hedges-part-two-bamboo-trellis-1851014 AS WELL AS @ http://www.thelastleafgardener.com/2011/09/reprise-love-thy-neighbor-but-dont-pull.html

Quote re survival of Baltimore orioles is @ http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/oriole/News.html AS AS AS @ https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.578643195518391.1073741842.247917655257615&type=1
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  • Pamela Knott Pamela Knott on Apr 09, 2014
    I am in Iowa right by the Mississippi River. We get a lot of the orioles here during the summer. I cut oranges in half and put them on a nail for them. The higher off the ground the better. I also feed them grape jelly out of a little bowl, also up high. They love them both. However, the robins have started to develop a taste for both - and I thought they only ate worms!
  • Pamela Knott Pamela Knott on Apr 10, 2014
    I must add, your photography is wonderful. We had squirrels getting into our feeders and so the dog wanted out to chase them, then got cold and wanted in, then wanted out. Went on all day, drove me nutsier! I'm so jealous of your beautiful garden!
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