We had three Stellars Jays. A pair made a nest in one of our evergreens and we had three chicks later in the summer. I hope they return. The birds like to drink from our pond and bathe in the slow running fall and stream. World's largest bird bath

Do the Stellars Jays leave for the winter, Mary?

re: Lithodora is Lithodora diffusa which does not grow very tall, actually slightly spreading plant. No fragrance, but I love the true blue color of it.

Thanks Caroline, that is a lovely plant, I love blue in the garden.

I think they must fly elsewhere as I never see them in the winter. Mostly just the magpies, ravens, camp robbers and the tiny little guys that I don't know their name.

I love seeing our ravens -- we've had a pair (well, I think it's the same pair; a little hard to tell...) that hangs around our yard for the past several years. Lots of other ravens in the vicinity, but this one particular pair always seems to be around, cleaning up under the bird feeders. Really fun when the young ones start coming out -- even when they're as big as the parents they're still squawking and begging to be fed.

Sandy, I do not enjoy the ravens or the crows in my yard, they can eat a suet cake in 1/2 an hour, and if you let one stay, next time you look out there could be a dozen or two, too many of them here.

LOL, Margaret -- the ones we have must be too dumb to get to the suet cakes, except for the bits that the other birds drop to the ground!

I've never seen crows in our yard, just the bigger ravens.

The crows are very smart here, they fly past the kitchen window to see if I am there, if I am of course they keep going because they know I will go out and chase them away, they try and hide in the spruce tree until my back is turned

Sounds like you need a ...

wait for it....


SCARECROW !

Love it. How about a cat... but then it would hurt all the nice birdies also. Scarecrow indeed!!

My hostas are all poking out, peonies, bee balm, speedwell and even my honeysuckle is already filling in and it is usually really late in starting. Everything is early tthis Spring. And all the new shoots and tender leaves have survived the cold snap we just went through. Forecast for next week might even his 30C Tues, Wednesday and Thursday. Yeah!!!

Everything you mentioned is growing here including my lonicera honeysuckle. I noticed it has a few leaves sprouting at the bottom. I ordered two clematis last summer that are supposed to be hardy here. One never 'took' but the other did well (for a first year - it didn't die ) but no sign of growth yet this year. And I even bought a lovely trellis for it. May have to plant sweet peas to cover it. Bleeding Heart, ferns, columbine, Polychrome euphorbia, ligularia, Leopard's Bane, Goat's Beard, squill, Siberian iris and Golden Globe are all growing some better than others. No sign of my bee balm yet. It is always very slow here. I was just going down the line of my gardens in my mind and remembering what I saw growing. And of course daffodils, crocus and tulips. Sounds like quite a lot but the yard still looks quite bare with no flowers. Oh, the bergenia has flowers starting along with the arabis and squill. Oh, my primula are about to burst open. The lavender ones with the yellow a little behind.

Mary, I tried to grow clematis here at least 3 times and they barely survived 2 winters, didn't grow very big at all, they are not cheap plants so I just gave up on them.

That's what I am afraid of . But I have seen them growing huge between two houses which were running east west so the plants got little sun. The houses were only maybe 30' apart. It could be that there was some warmth being snugged between two house footings. They were up over the root tops.

I should have protected them. I may drop a line to the vendor and ask what they think about how to grow them here. Oh. I saw one of my neighbors (a new person) planted a clematis (Nelly Moser) at the base of her mail box. It even has a large bloom on it. I hate to say it but if that durn thing grows and survives after all I have tried I will be seriously --- well, grumpy. Ok. Jealous.

It could be that they were in a micro climate, I don't have a space like that in my garden, and I agree with you, I'd be darn jealous too, I love those plants, I had a huge Jackmanii when we lived on Vancouver Island.

I have tried several including the Jackmanii, Nairobi, Nelly Moser. I have one now that lives and every once in a while blooms a pretty little blue flower with fluffy stuff around it. I think it must be a species sort.

I found this by googling Hardy Clematis:

An extremely hardy clematis
By Kathy Purdy May 8, 2003 – Posted in: Plant info, Recommended Links 1 comment

Pamela Mason of Canada recommends Clematis ‘Prairie Traveller’s Joy.’ “I have been growing this ironclad hardy huge (15′ tall ) white clematis in Edmonton, Alberta for years now. The late summer blooms are the size of a quarter, and have a lovely light almondy scent. …you can also easily take shoots from the bottom for new plants.” According to Rundle Wood Gardens, the plant is “a hybrid of our native C. lingusticifolia and the eastern native C. virginiana.” Pamela purchased her plant from Russian Roses for the North, which calls it Clematis ‘PTJ’ and lists it as hardy to Zone 1. Not certain if that is Canadian hardiness zones or USDA hardiness zones, but either way, that’s pretty hardy. Probably hardier than either species.

And fragrant, too. What a deal! I don’t know of too many other fragrant, hardy clematises. Judy Miller of Paradise Gardens Rare Plant Nursery sells Clematis serratifolia, a “strongly vining climber whose lemon-scented pale yellow flowers w/ purple stamens resemble C. alpina‘s nodding open stars; very floriferous. July-Sept. flowering followed by pretty silvery seed-heads.” It is also a 15-footer.

So you are farther south than Edmonton by 500 miles. Hmm according the the link below it isn't exactly exciting to look at but still - it is a vine.
http://www.perennials.com/plan...

Here is my flower. Hummingbird Farms has it though it is sold out right now. If you would like to give it a try, I am sure I can dig up some roots. I will find.
Stolwijk Gold
http://hummingbirdfarm.net/sto... oh well. here is the url. And it looks just like this with rather golden leaves.

Mary, what a wonderful variety of flowering plants! I hope your clematis is just waiting for the right moment to get going, I love them too (even though I don't have any at present...)

I spotted the first few tips of asparagus stalks starting to poke up today (I'm excited now, but in a couple of months I'll be complaining that I'm sick of eating asparagus... )