July 30, 2009 [LINK / comment]
One of the side-effects of summer gardening, whether large scale or tiny backyard plots, is that many of the plants attract wild birds. Red flowers attract hummingbirds, and this morning, we saw one out back for the first time in over two weeks. Also, goldfinches are especially fond of the sunflower seeds that are produced in the tall flowered stalks. Fellow Staunton bird lover Stephen Pietrowski says his sunflower plants have reached nine feet high, thanks to the use of organic composting. For fertilizer, we use natural "guano" (bird droppings) produced by our canaries, Luciano and Princess!
Goldfinch at a sunflower plant out back.