Wednesday 8 June 2011

Whimsy Wednesday - Scents and sights of the Season

Introducing Whimsy Wednesdays, a regular weekly update on things in the PS Whimsy world. This post features fragrant flowers, hummingbird videos and an update on the critters in a local park.

Finally some better weather and opportunity to spend more time outside in the garden and out enjoying the natural beauty of the season.

The early summer flowers are blooming and the air is filled with their beautiful scents. Here a peony with its delicate blooms and sweet fragrance.




Wisteria is not only a beautiful vine, the smell of the blossoms is sweet and delicate.


A closeup of one of the blooms on my wisteria, which mysteriously seemed to have died a couple of years ago but has since grown back from the root, probably from below the graft, and this year is blooming again finally and providing lovely shade for those warm summer afternoons (please).


Horse chestnut blossoms with their delicate scent and the first of the wild roses.  The wild roses are a native plant and have a rich scent.



Honeysuckle is almost ready to burst into bloom, here is my painting of honeysuckle:


Done in watercolour and inspired by pictures I took while vacationing in the Dordogne area of France. This is available in cards or prints (4" x 6" or 8" x 10"). There is a link to the website on the sidebar, for more information on format and prices on this and other images.

Flowers add a beautiful fragrance to the air and also provide nectar for the hummingbirds. At this time of year the Rufus hummingbirds make an appearance to share the flowers and the feeders with the Anna's hummingbirds.

Hummingbirds are fascinating creatures. The Anna's hummingbirds stay all winter, I have two at least that I feed throughout the winter. I bought a cover for one of my feeders this winter because the snow buildup on the feeder was preventing them from getting at the food.

Hummingbirds drink nectar from flowers or sugar water from feeder using their tongue, if you watch the following videos carefully you will see the tongues protruding from their beaks during pauses in feeding. They seem to lap it up. Hummingbirds also need protein, and they get that from eating small insects and spiders.

Rufus hummingbird drinking from my feeder:


Anna's hummingbird at my feeder:



Here is an update on the local critters. I got a couple of pictures of the turtles recently:



Here is an eagle parent feeding one of the two youngsters in its nest near Aberthau House. You may have to click to enlarge this to see the little guy.


The goslings are growing fast, all fluff and down now, but feathers starting to develop on wings.



Here are some of the baby bunnies sharing a carrot, the grey one especially is still quite small.



That's all for today. Thank you, hope you enjoyed this post. You are welcome to leave your comments on the blog.