Buzzer bird is back

Last year a hummingbird built a nest in the Double Delight rose tree and hatched two babies. It was great fun to watch and we are pretty sure both babies survived and flew off. I managed to capture a photo of one of them after its first flight as far as a vine on the block wall and then disappear later.

This week we began to notice a humming bird or birds in the garden again. Today as I weeded I spotted a female building a nest in the tall Bella Roma rose bush. We left last year's nest untouched in hopes she would return but if this is the same bird she chose a different rose bush. I hope this leaf stem will be sturdy enough in the wind. I moved the trash cans as far from her nest as I could and will not deadhead her bush until the babies have hatched and left the nest. This bush is further from the patio and walkway so we will not disturb her as much as we did last year.

I missed the garden

I was away for over a week and truly missed digging in the garden. Mr. W did a fine job of seeing that everything survived but I missed the peak of the first bloom of the roses. And the largest lavender seems to have grown even more while I was away. The transplanted lantana are doing well and will soon fill in the southeast corner. For the first time in in the garden's history the dwarf Meyer lemon looks healthy although there are no more blossoms (center photo).

I spent some time weeding yesterday and there is more to be done. I'll do some today and more through the week. Some nasty clover-looking thing has caught hold this spring and is terrible to get out. I have used weed killer on some but dislike doing that unless it is too much to dig out. I much prefer the therapy of digging it out while listening to the fountain run.

The bottom photo shows an unknown plant that popped up and I just let it go even though it is on the edge of the patio. The end of each stem has a purple flower which the hummingbirds seem to like.