In The Late Summer Garden

One night last summer our hummingbird feeder disappeared.

Prior to that we had found it on the ground in the morning and had surmised that it was deer who had knocked it off the shepherd's hook from which it hung.

On that particular morning of it's disappearance, it was nowhere to be found and has still never shown up.

Twas a real mystery as we were quite sure that deer couldn't walk off with it.

Thinking it pointless to buy another, we have just planted flowers that we knew the hummers are drawn to.

I see them regularly on the lantana pictured above.

In March our garden club project was to assemble seed bombs.

Are you familiar with them?

If not, they are a mixture of wildflower seeds, kitty litter and soil mixed with water and rolled into balls.  Here you see them drying.

Once dried it was time to say "bombs away" and toss them into the garden.  We were told that we would not need to water them.  Nature would take care of them.  Knowing how diligent one must be with watering when planting seeds, I wondered how this was going to work.

Coreopsis

As summer unfolded, it was so fun to see many different flowers sprouting from those "bombs".

Candytuft

Zinnias

Another favorite with the hummingbirds.

Queen Anne's Lace

These are just a few of what has sprouted since I dropped a bomb on my garden... baby, you dropped a bomb on me. 🎶. Sorry, couldn't help myself.

All of the plants surrounding that Queen Anne's Lace have yet to flower so there will be many more surprises before the frost comes.

What fun this has been.

A garden themed puzzle for when the weather was just too hot or rainy to be in the garden.

Now that we are moving into late summer, the hummingbirds are frequent visitors to the garden.

As I had a gift card to Wild Birds Unlimited burning a hole in my pocket, I decided to give the hummingbird feeder another try.

This time I will try to remember to bring it onto the screened in patio at night.  First thing this morning I made some nectar, filled the feeder and enjoyed my morning coffee while watching them discover the new feeder.  Didn't take them long at all.

The man at Wild Birds Unlimited helped me solve the mystery of the hummingbird feeder bandit.

Yes, a true bandit in the form of a raccoon.

He said they are able to grab feeders with their little hands and will drag them back to their den (wherever the heck that might be).

Have you had any surprise in your garden?