W is for…
Again more choices. It could be wren box, which I’ve not taken a picture of, but I have many bird boxes. Most of them built by my dad after retirement as something to occupy his time. Interestingly enough he commented that bird boxes were one of the first things he built when he was a ‘kid’. Everything old is new again? My father is dead, but I think of him each time I look at my bird boxes, which I added my touch to by painting. I don’t really expect these to get used as they are not in an ideal location for the birds, but rather where I can enjoy them. I do have wren boxes which I hope will get used. They are in a more private, difficult for a cat to get to place at the back of the yard.
None of these is the wren house.
W could be Wisteria, which I dug out of our yard years ago as it was ‘thuggish’ and I never saw evidence of flowering. Don’t have time for plants that need excessive pampering and don’t show their gratitude by flowering. My neighbor on the other hand does have a wisteria in a good location with sun and he obviously knows how to properly prune it. The pictures are faded in color as the blooms are a deeper lilac color than shown. I did have a fantastic wisteria in Japan at the first house I lived in, but I didn’t have to prune it and the person who did, knew how to do it. It was lovely.
And the last “W” could be waterpot, as in a mini water garden. I’ve been enamored of growing water lilies since the time I lived in Maryland and was able to drive to Lilypons where I got a water lily to set up my first ‘water garden’ in a half barrel. Somewhere there is a picture of my toddler lifting up a lily pad to look for the fish in the barrel. I think the picture is in a scrapbook I gave him a few years back. In Japan I was able to buy some large ceramic pots which when lined with black plastic (you have to use pond grade material) have been my water pots. I’ve only got one right now and recently bought a new water lily for the pot. But as I ‘dropped’ it into the water it seemed to me that last year’s plant may have survived the winter. Since the pot is exposed above ground, if we get a long period of freezes, there is no protection for the water lily and I just figure I have to get a new one. So I may have two water lilies this year…we’ll see. The pot also has a corkscrew rush from last year and a water plant to aerate the water for fish which I’ll add later. I get ‘feeder’ goldfish, the cheap ones that are 2-3 inches big. They are for a little color, but more importantly to eat the mosquito larvae.
These pictures are from last summer. Current pot does not have the papyrus.
And I’ve included a picture of what I ‘treated’ myself to as a retirement gift, my fountain with horsetail rushes.
No shortage of “W’s”.
