thevioletfern

Fantastic! What inspiration. I always envy the milder climate. Applaud edibles in the landscape! Vegetables are beautiful and so is that chicken.

I love to make rustic structures for my garden and have made quite a few. Love your tuteur! It is a beautiful focal point in your beautiful garden. I hope to have our native Clematis Virginia climbing up my "leaf trellis" this summer. Can't wait! Wonder what clematis you will be growing ... hope to see a picture. Bloodroot is on my wish list of plants. I, too, admire your home - fantastic.

I see a lot of my favorites in your beautiful garden! I can't get over how lush and lavish your garden is in just under five years! Have visited your blog previous to this and enjoy it. Look forward to more visits.

Beautiful! I love your paths that look like rivers winding through the woods. I try to plant native also. Ottawa is a beautiful city (the Tulip Festival is a trip on my list), but your garden in the woods wins hands down.

This book is on my wish list. I would love a copy! I have slowly been transforming our lawn into different garden areas and am always searching for inspiration. I had planned to leave a little bit of lawn area, but who knows, after reading this book I might be inspired to be rid of it ALL!

Thank you, how fun and encouraging to read your comments. It just makes me want to garden more, more, more! The driftwood "sculpture" is intended to mimic a Blue Heron as there are many along the St. Lawrence River here. So glad you got it! 1000islandKathy - would love to share gardens! Let me know when you are settled back at the river and we'll figure out how to get together.

Happy Birthday Michelle! Hope it's great as chocolate cake.

Tim, wonderful garden transformation. Bloodroot has been on my (really long ever growing) wish list. It is just beautiful, and native!

Black oil sunflower seed and suet. Depending on where you live you may want to invest in a caged suet feeder to deter larger birds as well as squirrels - mainly aggressive Starlings. A shepards hook with baffle works great for me in keeping the squirrels out of my sunflower feeders. I like feeders with a screen mesh rather than plastic tube. They air the seed and prevent it from becoming water-logged if you live in an area with humidity, rain, snow. Project Feeder Watch offers great bird feeding advice on their website: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw.

Recently, in my area of the country, a COMMUNITY chili cook off was invaded by state health officials who would not allow any HOMEGROWN ingredients to be used in the contest/cook off. That means your backyard (mine, organically) grown cilantro, basil, spinach ... are now all considered a "threat to public safety." Better not think about using any of your home baked goods for the church bake sale or school cookie sale, either. Maybe your fresh cut garden flowers will be the next big threat. What is the REAL threat to our public safety (and well being)? The government IS in our backyards here and they're burying my rights to grow and choose. Guess what? No more chili cook offs. They've canceled. So have similar events such as community dinners. We'll be eating our garden veggies under the table with the lights off and the doors locked in no time.