At Last...Nest Boxes!

I've been wanting to have nest boxes in my yard for the cavity nesting birds we have around all year, such as Chestnut backed chickadees and Pygmy nuthatches. I read on SFBirds that there were some nest boxes available, so I contacted this guy, Andrew, and he came out today and hung 2 boxes out back. He makes them out of reclaimed redwood and they are $25 each. He hung the first one in this sickly holly that we have at the very back of our yard. It's the highest tree we have left after our huge Monterey pines went buh-bye a couple of years ago. I had Andrew hang it so I can see it from my kitchen window. This photo was taken a lot closer up.

Here's a view from directly below.

There was not another suitable location in my yard, so I asked my neighbor if she would like one in her yard. We put the 2nd box up in a pittosporum in the yard next door. I think the birds are really going to like this location, as it is very hidden.

It's a Jungle Out There

I've been focused on making fabric flowers and prepping for the Art Fair, and it's been raining a lot. The net result is...whoa...the backyard is way overgrown. Here's one of my planted native plants, a pink flowering currant. And it's being true to its name and putting out pink flowers. Nice.

These ceanothus are doing very well. I saw that a neighbor around the corner had this variety doing quite well in his yard, so I shopped for these. It's also known as wild California lilac.

Speaking of wild, this is arugula gone bad. I planted this last spring, and it has taken over my raised bed. It's an arugula jungle. I found a few stray carrots growing in here and pulled them for my supper.

Borage always does well in our yard. I like to pluck the blue blossoms and use them to decorate potato salads.

And in this corner, we have rosemary running riot and bay standing its ground. I love the blue flowers on the rosemary, and so do the bees. Time to get out the pruning shears. Gotta love spring.

I cleaned and filled all the bird feeders, bird baths, etc. Calling all chickadees...we're ready for you!