A rose called George Burns. This is one of the most unusual colored roses in my garden and I have about 150 roses. I will probably get Gracie Allen next year and plant her next to George.

Gracie Allen is kind of a nondescript rose though and I will be planting it more as a gesture because I liked George and Gracie's old shows. I like to buy old shows and old movies when I find them for sale at the dollar stores.

"Braille", practicing his part in the up and coming Halloween decorations! (:

I wish I had gotten a full shot of him but I snapped it before I could really get him centered in the viewer. Knowing my camera has that couple second delay, I had to shoot it before I was ready. But I thought it was still worth sharing.

This climbing rose looks like it could be made from ice crystals. I used my close up lens, bringing it right up to me. The rose had some morning dew on it and the way the light came through the outer petals gave it that icy effect.

The second hydrangea from my neighbors garden! (:

I love these asters, they put a lot of color to the garden in the fall and draw the bees from everywhere.

I would like to get some other colors next year. These were in a discount area at a local nursery and I didn't know what color they would be. I bought 6 and they all ended up the same color.

This kitten (Wally) is a neighbor's kitten. She has never taken care of kittens before and did not realize that you do not feed 5 week old kittens dry food. He got some caught in his throat and was without air for awhile, another neighbor moved the dry food down his throat using a massaging action on his throat. But afterwards he still could not walk or hold up his head, he was just limp. So she brought him to me. I have used an eye dropper for the past three days (every half hour on the half hour, except at night) forcing nourishment down his throat. I still did not think he would make it but he surprised me yesterday morning. He was still a little wobbly but alert and so hungry he was biting on his blanket and later on the eye dropper as I was feeding him. Today he is playing and has his sea legs, somewhat. Today he goes back home!

A series of four pictures that show what happens when Jays come together at a peanut feeder, ha, ha! They are always characters and I enjoy watching their antics, so I feed peanuts wherever I happen to be at that time in the garden. Peanuts are too expensive to just fill their feeder and walk away, so I only feed them when I can enjoy watching them either outside or from a window (a couple handfuls at a time).
I used to feed raw unsalted peanuts but one of my neighbors didn't like it when they buried them in his garden and a peanut tree would sprout, so I buy unsalted, roasted ones now.
Cosco, is the cheapest place I found to buy them 5 pounds at a time .... At $4.19 a bag.

Two

Last photo from the series of four.

Lady Banks, calling her a master piece in the garden is an understatement! Although she is not a repeat bloomer (blooming only in the spring) and she has no sweet perfume, she is still an eye catcher.

Make sure if you decide to give her a try, she needs a strong support to hold her and a steady hand to train her as you want her to go because she has a mind of her own. But she is well worth the little extra effort. This one in my front garden I have trained to an umbrella shape. But the one in the back I am training to an arbor.

I have to cut an opening every year in this one so the birds can get in this feeder.

One thing we avid gardeners learn is how mixing colors in the garden can make a dramatic impact on the viewer.

By themselves these Clematis would have been half as impressive.

When you use vines in the garden you can entwine vines with different colors that bloom at the same time or entwine vines that bloom at different times. So when the one stops blooming the other one takes over. Any way you do it vines are a vital part of any garden and I make use of them whenever I can.

I like to make things for the garden. When I made this ... It started out to be a bird feeder but ended up being for water instead. Our Oregon rainy weather put a stop to it being a feeder. But the birds like how it ended up and they use it to both bathe and to drink from.

I have it up close to the front door of the house so that they spend time on the porch railing and I can see them through the storm door.

I made it from an old, large, thick, heavy duty terra-cotta pot that I had already and the base is just a plastic base used under potted plants. You will want it a little larger than the pot you select for the project. Then I used an electric drill and a bit used for concrete to make the holes ... to hang the chains from ... that holds the base. The concrete bit just seems to go through the terra-Cotta better than other drill bits do. It did with this big, thick pot anyway. If you want to do a smaller less heavy version, I am sure any drill bit will do. I got the chains at Home Depot and they cut it to the lengths I wanted. For the top hanging device, I went to Fred Meyers and bought a large ceiling hook with a butterfly nut. Then I got 2 large washers to put between the pot opening at the top and the terra-cotta pot, that I would be putting the ceiling hook into(one washer for the outside top and one for the inside top). Making sure that the washers are large enough so that the ceiling hook is secure against the pot, but also making sure the center hole of the washer is large enough for the ceiling hook to go through but small enough to hold it in place. Then you can secure the ceiling hook with the butterfly nut. I picked up a heavy duty hanging plant holder. And I was in business. It was a fun project and the rewards are awesome. So many Birds and so much Bird song year round and I love (:

These are my Millet feeders and sometimes there are so many birds at these feeders that you can't even see the feeders. These hang right outside our bedroom window in the Sweet Gum tree. I love to wake up to the sound of them at the feeder early in the mornings. I also have a see through peanut feeder for the Jays, connected to the bedroom window with a sturdy suction cup. I have actually gotten some pretty good close up pictures of the Scrub Jays because they go right inside the feeder to get the peanuts. And anyone who knows anything about Jays knows they are not a bit shy.
Wood Peckers (the smaller ones and the Northern Flicker) use these feeders and the suet blocks regularly, too.
I also bored large holes in the larger tree branches that my neighbor, John, pruned from his apple tree this year. I then drilled a hole at the top of the branch and ran wire through it to hang it in the trees. I fill them with a peanut butter & cornmeal mixture that I found the recipe for in one of my Birds and Blooms magazines.
But be prepared, it is like feeding a donkey strawberries, the birds love it and you have to stay on top of filling them.

This Baby Starling came to this suet block feeder for the first time by himself this day. Usually his Mother and off spring came with him.

Many people do not like the Starling but I find them entertaining and there are so many feeders in the garden there is no arguing over food, and plenty for everyone.

Here is another picture from my friend Hasse's Paris trip. I said earlier I would slip one in once in a while because they are all so beautiful. And if you are like me and can not afford vacations to places like this, we miss out on sights like these!

I thought this Wave petunia wrapping itself around this rose makes a nice splash of color. They set each other off.

I never write much under my flower pictures because I feel most of them speak for themselves.

But, my favorite roses in the garden are this one with its apricot center and yellow outside petals and then it would be, National Velvet, Hot Cocoa and smoky. I have about 150 rose bushes in the garden right now.

The name of this rose is "Secret". I like how it goes from yellow to white to pink

MyKia, just before he got in trouble for bird watching. All three cats now sport very large bells.

Even Braille, he can't see but he was a better stalker and bird catcher than my two sighted cats. I don't know how he did it. But he hasn't caught any since I put the bell on his collar!

Braille always tries to help me make the bed every morning and that means over and under every sheet, blanket and quilt as I am arranging them and dragging his toys with him. It takes me three times as long to make up the bed.

I came up with this solution! Now when I make the bed, he plays in his Fred Meyer paper bag. He loves it and I get the bed made quick time.

Just a Sunflower seed dropped by one of the birds that we feed Sunflower seeds to. I have tried to grow the fancy Sunflowers myself from seed, without any luck. But every time a bird drops a seed in the garden ... It grows. Even Peanut seeds!

I will have to buy some of the fancier Sunflower seeds I have tried to grow and put them in the bird feeders, instead of the the ground, and see what grows, ha, ha!

Brian and Barry's Kittens. Remember the new borns I posted a while back. Here is their updated picture. They say they have homes (when they are old enough) for all but three of them.

This photo was taken in Hawaii
by my friend "Mary" when she took her vacation there this year.

I hope you like this picture Sis, It looks a lot like the pictures you have sent me from the Philippines.
I will add some of your photos later, too. I think I have a couple of your home and your vacation home to share, but you might want to send me some more!