The mimosa tree

The mimosa tree has finally blossomed after eight years!  This tree came from my former residence here in Manchester where it was accidentally dug up during construction of a stone walkway.  I saved the remains of it in a container and brought it with me, transplanted it, and it has now grown to about 20 feet tall. It has small fern-like leaves and delicate pink flowers. A robin built a nest in it two summers ago, you can see a photo of that in my first post.

Summertime is finally here!

After a very wet June, we are enjoying a very hot, humid July so far.

The hydrangeas need a lot of water to stay hydrated.

Mid-July, blueberries are out!  These blueberry bushes are about six or seven years old and, despite not using a net to cover them this year, it's the best crop I've had so far.

The rabbits are out around dawn and dusk, feeding on clover and other greens.  The chicken wire keeps them out of my one row of green beans, however. In the heat of the day they rest beneath the shade of the hostas and the evergreen by the bird bath.

May in the backyard

The hawk keeps an ever-watchful eye over the backyard.

Mid-May the catbirds returned from their winter home, someplace far south of here. They  have an amazing variety of songs, calls and sounds that they make, and they love to play in the bird bath!

Yellow flowers

It's finally beginning to look and feel like spring around here!  Lots of yellow flowers everywhere.

March and April in the backyard

We had two snowstorms in early March with high winds, which resulted in many downed limbs and a tree blown over.  It was time to call in the tree care professionals, and they did a great job of trimming, cutting, chipping and shredding. Now, in early April it's still cold and windy, but we have the first flowers of spring!

Early spring birds

These are some of my favorite backyard visitors from March, which was generally cold and snowy this year.

Double click on an image to enlarge it.

female cardinal

blue jay

woodpecker

chickadee on a cold, windy day

The Hawk

I've seen this bird in the backyard many times and I finally got a good photo of it yesterday.  I think it's a juvenile red-tailed hawk, judging from the picture in The Sibley Guide to Birds.  I noticed a bunch of small gray feathers right near this fence post, perhaps evidence of its latest meal.  This hawk is probably looking for mice and voles, too, along with the great-horned owls which I heard hooting to each other last night.