The Garden Thread that two people wanted

[notthatamanda]

I hope people will post pics of pretty things but all things garden are welcome.

We had three yards of mulch delivered Saturday and I just finished spreading it. Wow, that was the fastest that ever happened. I edged all the beds too. 

In the front - the circle with tulips, peonies and silver sage.
The row with the goji berry bush, One Hermione rose and three miniature tea roses, red, yellow and coral.
Other side of the front door, five crown princess margareta roses, two boomerang lilacs and the hydrangea.
Round the corner - hosta, wild ginger, lily of the valley and one bleeding heart that is still hanging in there after 9 years.
Out in the back - another row of peonies, two woodland ones, then the irises. Lots of irises. Silver sage will fill in there as well.

What's in your garden?

[LilyBLily]

Here's what's blooming: Lots of wood hyacinths, mostly medium blue but some shorter white and pink. Tritelias, deep blue. Columbine in blue, purple, and pinkish white. White anemones that are incredibly invasive. A few daffodil stragglers from late plantings. A few tiny white alliums. A very few iris; something is up with them in all the beds, and none are producing as usual. Lily of the valley. A few money plants are still in purple flowers but others already have their "money," which months from now will turn translucent white. Some pinks that have survived for years are happily blooming, too. May apples I dug up from by a road somewhere are in fine fettle. Unfortunately, so are numerous invasive non-native bush honeysuckles, and I think I'm unlikely to have the strength to remove many more this season. They look charming, though. The wild phlox is blooming but hasn't tried to replicate although it is slowly getting larger. A white azalea is blooming, too.

The mountain laurel that the deer keep savaging has one bloom coming; I really want to fence it off but for now have used garlic spray. Yellow baptisia is beginning to open; the blue is not far behind. Lots of flowers are getting ready to pop, including the peonies.

I have no roses. Not enough sun.

As for the layout, we have no front yard as such; the front is light woods filled with daffodils struggling with the acid soil. I spent some time today weed whacking the hundreds of oak seedlings in hopes the deer will repeatedly eat whatever tender new leaves they put out. I find this is an effective and ecofriendly way of killing an oak seedling.

I put dirt against the house when we moved here, so the main garden is the house surround. Then I keep opening up new patches visible from the house. Mixed success with all, as the trees keep getting bigger and the sunlight keeps disappearing. Basically, we bought a house surrounded by woods and I am fighting reality. Most gardening is on some level. 

[notthatamanda]

Oh it sounds wonderful.

I use bars of Irish Spring Soap to keep the deer off the hosta, hydrangea and tulips. However, something keeps playing with them and strewing them all over the yard this year. I've never seen that happen before.

I'm further North so we are just getting the buds on the roses and peonies, but there is going to be lots!

[LilyBLily]

Oh it sounds wonderful.

I use bars of Irish Spring Soap to keep the deer off the hosta, hydrangea and tulips. However, something keeps playing with them and strewing them all over the yard this year. I've never seen that happen before.

I'm further North so we are just getting the buds on the roses and peonies, but there is going to be lots!

I know the answer to that one, because I, too, used Irish Spring (in large pieces) against the deer. Then I saw a crow come and make off with the soap, piece by piece. If you have squirrels, they might be messing with the soap, too.

I make up an egg/garlic powder/water spray. It's effective for a few weeks if the rains aren't heavy, it's completely safe, and it's cheap. I probably should grind the powder finer because it tends to clog sprayers. I think it also works against rabbits.

[Jeff Tanyard]

Pygmy Gardenias are currently in full bloom.  Regular Gardenias will bloom some time next month.  Holly flowers came and went quickly, alas, but I enjoyed them while they lasted.

I prefer plain-looking flowers that smell nice over those that look pretty but don't have an aroma.

[notthatamanda]

That's why I love my David Austin Roses.  Wide range of looks and smells.

Yesterday when doing my inventory I forgot my Munstead Wood and Ebb Tide. Munstead Wood is a deep red color and it smells um, woodsy.  Woodsy florally.  Ebb tide is supposed to be a true purple rose but it is more fuchsia. They told me it should purple up with age, maybe this will be the year.

[notthatamanda]

Oh it sounds wonderful.

I use bars of Irish Spring Soap to keep the deer off the hosta, hydrangea and tulips. However, something keeps playing with them and strewing them all over the yard this year. I've never seen that happen before.

I'm further North so we are just getting the buds on the roses and peonies, but there is going to be lots!

I know the answer to that one, because I, too, used Irish Spring (in large pieces) against the deer. Then I saw a crow come and make off with the soap, piece by piece. If you have squirrels, they might be messing with the soap, too.

I make up an egg/garlic powder/water spray. It's effective for a few weeks if the rains aren't heavy, it's completely safe, and it's cheap. I probably should grind the powder finer because it tends to clog sprayers. I think it also works against rabbits.

Well we have always had crows and squirrels so it's still weird to me that this is the first year this has happened. They aren't breaking the soap up but they are chewing it, whatever is doing it that is. But I might try the garlic spray on the veggies this year. Little time consuming but I got a lot of time. Plus doing that would probably guarantee we get rain every night. Thanks for the tip.

I'm going to buy more veggie flats today, hopefully. Watching the weather forecast carefully to see if I can set them out before Memorial Day.

[LilyBLily]

And I forgot Mediterranean bells and star of Bethlehem, the latter a wildflower the deer like to eat but if I spray they pass it by. Mediterranean bells are very subtle, almost colorless flowers.

I have dozen or more tomato plants in my kitchen, potted, waiting to go outside and stay there, but we're having very cold nights (again!). And a lantana I'll plant back outside once we actually have summer. It's blooming nicely in a window for now but is a very soft plant and can't handle cold.

[notthatamanda]

Oh I never even heard of lantana. Just looked it up, very pretty and I loved the bold red/yellow/orange color.

I'm trying to grow some marigolds in tire planters out by the fire pit. Threw some black eyed susan seed balls in there too. Nothing has sprouted yet which doesn't surprise me. I have them covered with clear plastic to try to hot house them a little, but I don't expect them to grow until well into June.

[VanessaC]

Just wanted to say I'm so jealous of all your gardens - they sound lovely.

I'm not a natural gardener, and my "flower bed" is currently a mix of varioius grasses, grown from seeds dropped by the birds, and a truly impressive dock plant (which is going to be an absolute pest to get rid of) plus some hardy shrubs which made it through the winter.

[LilyBLily]

I simply don't have enough sunshine for marigolds anymore. I used to buy many flats of annuals but they don't do well here and I've given up.

I have native black-eyed susans that I dug up in Ashland, MA, on the access road to UPS. Transplanted them to Maryland and now here and they go like gangbusters. The cultivated rudbeckia variety I bought at a plant nursery is almost as invasive and its leaves are much larger so it's quite annoying. Too early for them, of course. 

The truth is a successful perennial will become a space hog. My phlox want to take over the world.

[LilyBLily]

Just wanted to say I'm so jealous of all your gardens - they sound lovely.

I'm not a natural gardener, and my "flower bed" is currently a mix of various grasses, grown from seeds dropped by the birds, and a truly impressive dock plant (which is going to be an absolute pest to get rid of) plus some hardy shrubs which made it through the winter.

Actually, lots of people are so used to formal plantings that they aren't comfortable with any other kind. Acres of pansies, ripped up and replaced with acres of tulips, all the same color, all exactly the same space apart, then replaced with acres of begonias, etc. I do what's called a cottage garden, and back when I had more sun and better dirt, I used to make an effort to vary the leaf colors and plant shapes and bloom colors and harmonize everything. Now I'm just desperate to have them grow at all.

[VanessaC]

Just wanted to say I'm so jealous of all your gardens - they sound lovely.

I'm not a natural gardener, and my "flower bed" is currently a mix of various grasses, grown from seeds dropped by the birds, and a truly impressive dock plant (which is going to be an absolute pest to get rid of) plus some hardy shrubs which made it through the winter.

Actually, lots of people are so used to formal plantings that they aren't comfortable with any other kind. Acres of pansies, ripped up and replaced with acres of tulips, all the same color, all exactly the same space apart, then replaced with acres of begonias, etc. I do what's called a cottage garden, and back when I had more sun and better dirt, I used to make an effort to vary the leaf colors and plant shapes and bloom colors and harmonize everything. Now I'm just desperate to have them grow at all.

I'm very influenced by my mother, whose gardens have always been chock-full to over-flowing, so more a cottage garden style, which I really like - much less formal. Eventually, I'll get there - I've been in this house 4 years, and the garden is a long term project.

[Gerri Attrick]

When we first moved to this house thirty years ago, I had the garden redesigned. It's 40'x40' out the back and a lot less in front, which is laid to lawn.

I planted hardy geraniums, penstemon, hollyhocks, dicentra (bleeding heart), climbing and floribunda roses, and grew beautiful lillies in pots.

Now, though, COPD has got the better of me, and it's all fallen into rack and ruin. For the last ten years, I had a variety of "gardeners" offering their services. In fact they are nothing more than lunatics with power tools. Armed with a power saw they felled the brambles that had invaded from next door, together with the standard hibiscus that was just coming into leaf and that I said I wanted to keep. 
For the last two years, I've had no help at all. The lawns both front and back are knee high in grass - I need a flock of sheep to get them down.

Earlier this year, high winds brought down a branch of the buddleia - which fell on my prized oriental poppy (sob) and it's such a dreadful mess that I no longer go out there. I can't even bring myself to look at it.

[LilyBLily]

I'm so sorry your garden is in disarray. Not every gardener is just a landscape hacker. If you have the strength, consider contacting your local master gardener program for some potential workers who actually can recognize a flower when they see one.

I keep thinking that when I eventually retire and have to move from here, we'll get a cottage with lots of sunshine, a level lot, and space for a small garden. That's probably less likely than any other future dream I could have.

[idontknowyet]

Our current garden!

We have six raised beds which are 6x6 split into 2 3x3 sections.

This season we mainly planted squash zucchini and for an experiment 4 tomatoes and 2 eggplants.

Pickle worms and a weird weather season decimated my crop. Normally I get well over a hundred pounds. This year I will be happy if I get 10 to 20lbs.

We have one unidentified fruit/veggie growing. It looks like a watermelon.

On the porch by the pool, we currently have 20 tomato plants that are growing slower than the ones outside in the beds, but they look lovely. They will last longer because my tomatoes don't handle the direct sunlight during summer here, and I don't have to worry about tomato horn worms. I also put a few eggplants on the patio as well to compare production results.

Have I mentioned I hate worms.

I am hoping we are finally past the pickle worm blight of 2020 and have gotten a few squash, zucchini out of the garden recently. Waiting for butternut squash to ripen takes foreveeeeeeer.

I've started sweet potato slips for the summer crop. This will be my first time trying to grow them. They are finally starting to root and I can see the little nubs for slips starting to pop out of the seed potatoes very exciting.

 

[Simon Haynes]

Best thing about my 'new' house (new to me at least), is the relatively big back garden. Plenty of room to grow veg.

At the end of summer I planted out peas, broad beans, broccoli, rocket (arugula), carrots, more peas, turnips, zuccini and so on, along with the usual herbs.

The lemon tree is fruiting so I often have pancakes with lemon juice and a sprinkle of sugar.

It's been a struggle because we're heading into winter but there's been very little rain.

Picked these today. I do love my stews!

[Simon Haynes]

Forgot to mention I also planted out 2 kinds of potatoes, a couple of weeks apart. The first lot are going crazy and the second lot are just coming up now.

I've also planted out mulberry bushes and a fig tree, and an orange tree to match the lemon.  I still have a load of mulberry and fig trees in pots which I grew from cuttings while I was waiting to sell the old house. As they're grown from cuttings they fruit right away, which is nice.

[LilyBLily]

I am so envious. Even on my deck, the horn worms find my tomatoes. And I simply do not have any place on my property where I can grow vegetables. Not that I did a particularly good job of it when I had a backyard with full sun, but I could at least try. Here the lack of sunlight is compounded by the main crop of West Virginia: rocks.

[idontknowyet]

Forgot to mention I also planted out 2 kinds of potatoes, a couple of weeks apart. The first lot are going crazy and the second lot are just coming up now.

I've also planted out mulberry bushes and a fig tree, and an orange tree to match the lemon.  I still have a load of mulberry and fig trees in pots which I grew from cuttings while I was waiting to sell the old house. As they're grown from cuttings they fruit right away, which is nice.

We are on the opposite seasons so our lemon trees are loaded up and strangely still flowering. December we only got like 5-6 fruits because they are new trees. This coming December I don't know what we are going to do with all the lemons. They are cooooovered.

On that reminds me blueberry season is almost over.    Our bushes did well above normal but no where near the 200lbs we should be getting off them. I don't think I am fertilizing them often enough. And yes we could soo find a way to eat all those berries. 

[idontknowyet]

I am so envious. Even on my deck, the horn worms find my tomatoes. And I simply do not have any place on my property where I can grow vegetables. Not that I did a particularly good job of it when I had a backyard with full sun, but I could at least try. Here the lack of sunlight is compounded by the main crop of West Virginia: rocks.

The pool is completely screened in down in florida so no way those sneaky buggers can get in. I highly recommend raised beds. They are simple and easy to build or buy and you get a ton of bang for your buck as far as production goes.

I really want to put in 6 more beds this summer for my fall and winter crops. I need to get a ton of spinach, kale and brussel sprouts up. I think I am going to put my broc and cauli on the porch this winter since each plant takes up a large amount of space in my beds. I have bug netting now (thanks pickle worms) to protect the leaves from cutter bugs.

[Simon Haynes]

Re the lemons, back when I had three citrus trees I used to slice the fruit and freeze the wedges. Use the slices instead of ice cubes in cool drinks. I also squeezed the juice and froze trays of lemon juice icecubes. Great for cooking - just chuck in a cube.

[Simon Haynes]

Highly recommend the Self Sufficient Me vids. Mark's an aussie so some of the tips are region specific, but he's great to watch anyway.

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

Cactus in bloom, but still full of many buds. Part of the retirement village where I live.

[JRTomlin]

Pretty!

[idontknowyet]

Highly recommend the Self Sufficient Me vids. Mark's an aussie so some of the tips are region specific, but he's great to watch anyway.

Love his videos

this guy has some great info too..

[notthatamanda]

Just wanted to say I'm so jealous of all your gardens - they sound lovely.

I'm not a natural gardener, and my "flower bed" is currently a mix of various grasses, grown from seeds dropped by the birds, and a truly impressive dock plant (which is going to be an absolute pest to get rid of) plus some hardy shrubs which made it through the winter.

Actually, lots of people are so used to formal plantings that they aren't comfortable with any other kind. Acres of pansies, ripped up and replaced with acres of tulips, all the same color, all exactly the same space apart, then replaced with acres of begonias, etc. I do what's called a cottage garden, and back when I had more sun and better dirt, I used to make an effort to vary the leaf colors and plant shapes and bloom colors and harmonize everything. Now I'm just desperate to have them grow at all.

I'm very influenced by my mother, whose gardens have always been chock-full to over-flowing, so more a cottage garden style, which I really like - much less formal. Eventually, I'll get there - I've been in this house 4 years, and the garden is a long term project.

The best plants for your area are the ones that grow well in your area. Like Lily said, perennials multiply. I just gave some daylilies, silver sage and mint to a new gardener in my neighborhood. Other stuff is better divided in the fall. If you have any opportunity to get to know gardeners in your area, hard now I know, they may be able to donate to your cause eventually.

[notthatamanda]

When we first moved to this house thirty years ago, I had the garden redesigned. It's 40'x40' out the back and a lot less in front, which is laid to lawn.

I planted hardy geraniums, penstemon, hollyhocks, dicentra (bleeding heart), climbing and floribunda roses, and grew beautiful lillies in pots.

Now, though, COPD has got the better of me, and it's all fallen into rack and ruin. For the last ten years, I had a variety of "gardeners" offering their services. In fact they are nothing more than lunatics with power tools. Armed with a power saw they felled the brambles that had invaded from next door, together with the standard hibiscus that was just coming into leaf and that I said I wanted to keep. 
For the last two years, I've had no help at all. The lawns both front and back are knee high in grass - I need a flock of sheep to get them down.

Earlier this year, high winds brought down a branch of the buddleia - which fell on my prized oriental poppy (sob) and it's such a dreadful mess that I no longer go out there. I can't even bring myself to look at it.

I'm sorry it's so hard for you.

[notthatamanda]

Lily I just made the garlic spray and I put the granulated garlic in the spice mill first. Sprayed everything with no clogs yet, conahura, knock wood. Thanks for the tip!

[Vijaya]

Let's see if I can post a picture or two, otherwise, please stop by my blog for some pretty pictures of our flowers and bees.

[Vijaya]

I did it!

[notthatamanda]

Oh your own honey. That's awesome. My oldest is terrified of bees or I would definitely try that. Love flower pics too.

So I planted a little more than half of the veggies I bought. We prepped this bed two years ago and removed tons of rocks. Last weekend we pulled out a rock that had to be 70 lbs and I just uncovered one even bigger so I got sulky and quit for the day. Honestly what happens, why do they keep rising to the surface. Like Lily, rocks are my most successful crop.

Thank you for posting the videos Simon. It gave me the idea to use the corrugated sheet metal I have to fence my second garden area in better.

Like idontknowyet I started sweet potato slips, yesterday. I don't know what will happen but I did make sure to buy an organic potato.

I went back through my email and can't find any evidence I actually ordered more blackberries and raspberries. Maybe I dreamed it. I did make blackberry clippings of the one vine I have and will plant those, maybe this afternoon even.

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

WEEDS

One of my neigbours recently suggested using vinegar to kill weeds. I had some growing between the flags in a pathway (can never get to the roots  ). Vinegar worked wonders. No more weeds growing in the path  . Thought I'd pass this on in case you hadn't heard about it. 

[JRTomlin]

My lavenders are blooming. One of my peonies blooming. (The other is only one year old so may not bloom this year). Tomato plants in. My white rose of Scotland (two of them) are looking good but not blooming yet. I'm not doing much this year since I can't go to a garden center.

ETA: And thanks for all the lovely flower photos!

[Gerri Attrick]

Thanks for the flower pictures, Vijaya.

Here's a tub full of lilies from happier times.

[Vijaya]

I can practically smell your lily, Gerriatrick! So pretty too. I love all the good smelling flowers. Right now there's jasmine and lavender. We planted peonies this spring--so watching and waiting to see if they'll bloom. They're up, though.

Thank you for your compliments. My husband is the one with the green thumb--I've even managed to kill a cactus. He's the beekeeper too. I don't go anywhere near when he's checking on them. I do like to watching them though.

And Amanda, in the very first house we bought back in WA, I swear we grew rocks! The kids and I spent hours picking rocks before preparing the land for our garden.

Oh, we watched a wonderful movie on natural gardening: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0845RJ6GR/ref=nav_timeline_asin?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

[notthatamanda]

I've always wanted to grow jasmine (inside) but I've never been able to find a plant. The only thing I manage to grow from seeds is sunflowers (not working this year yet) and peas, sometimes.

I killed a zebra aloe my husband got me for Valentine's Day this year. Regular aloe I'm drowning in but the zebra was a disaster.

[LilyBLily]

I have flower photos to share but no clue about how to make their file size small enough to post here. They all come off my camera or phone as huge files.

I discovered a box turtle today, the first of the season. It was hiding in the oak leaves blown around some daffodils I had intended to fertilize. A better discovery than the tiny snakes I found while doing this a month ago (we have thousands of daffodils so it takes a long while, plus we had to wait for another shipment).

[idontknowyet]

WEEDS

One of my neigbours recently suggested using vinegar to kill weeds. I had some growing between the flags in a pathway (can never get to the roots  ). Vinegar worked wonders. No more weeds growing in the path  . Thought I'd pass this on in case you hadn't heard about it. 

Oh I didn't!!!! Thank you!
I'm currently experimenting with making pineapple vinegar and white vinegar. I'm about 2.5 weeks out from finishing the first batch.

[notthatamanda]

I'm going to try the vinegar too. Thanks Jan.

[LilyBLily]

I'll try it, too. Thanks. 

[notthatamanda]

I decided to mix up my routine today so I went out and planted the rest of the veggies before it got too hot. I also bought 4 dahlias so I planted those next to the street. They have to be dug up in the fall regardless so no worries about the plow destroying them. I hope people who are out for a walk enjoy them. I probably will get some more, I am still hopeful to find some cucumbers and broccoli next week undecided where to try for that.

I found that my winter hardy hibiscus like thing is sprouting! 

I had just about given up on it. It is near the mailbox so the plow doesn't come in there, conahura knock wood.

[Simon Haynes]

I have flower photos to share but no clue about how to make their file size small enough to post here. They all come off my camera or phone as huge files.

Download Irfanview (free) if you're on Windows.  Open a file, click Ctrl+R, make sure 'aspect ratio' is ticked and changed the width in pixels to about 600-800. Then hit Ctrl+S BUT -- important bit -- change the filename.  I usually add '_sml' to the end of the original file, or _800 to indicate the new width.

I'm sure there are similar apps on the mac, but I don't really use that OS.

By the way, Irfanview has an incredibly powerful batch mode where you can resize ALL the images in a folder (plus subfolders) and save them to a new location and/or with a new filename.

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

WEEDS

One of my neigbours recently suggested using vinegar to kill weeds. I had some growing between the flags in a pathway (can never get to the roots  ). Vinegar worked wonders. No more weeds growing in the path  . Thought I'd pass this on in case you hadn't heard about it. 

Oh I didn't!!!! Thank you!
I'm currently experimenting with making pineapple vinegar and white vinegar. I'm about 2.5 weeks out from finishing the first batch.

Never heard of pineapple vinegar. I use cheap white vinegar for the weeds (eco-friendly and cheap) and cider vinegar in the kitchen and for medicinal purposes. Let us know if the pineapple vinegar works - and how to make it 

[Jeff Tanyard]

For weeds in sidewalk cracks, I just use salt water.  Very effective.  Better than Roundup, frankly.

[notthatamanda]

For weeds in sidewalk cracks, I just use salt water.  Very effective.  Better than Roundup, frankly.

I'll try that first, thanks.

So, it got up to 95 today, the spinach I planted this morning got scorched. We'll see if it makes it.

[LilyBLily]

I have flower photos to share but no clue about how to make their file size small enough to post here. They all come off my camera or phone as huge files.

Download Irfanview (free) if you're on Windows.  Open a file, click Ctrl+R, make sure 'aspect ratio' is ticked and changed the width in pixels to about 600-800. Then hit Ctrl+S BUT -- important bit -- change the filename.  I usually add '_sml' to the end of the original file, or _800 to indicate the new width.

I'm sure there are similar apps on the mac, but I don't really use that OS.

By the way, Irfanview has an incredibly powerful batch mode where you can resize ALL the images in a folder (plus subfolders) and save them to a new location and/or with a new filename.

Okay, trying it.

[idontknowyet]

For weeds in sidewalk cracks, I just use salt water.  Very effective.  Better than Roundup, frankly.

I'll try that first, thanks.

So, it got up to 95 today, the spinach I planted this morning got scorched. We'll see if it makes it.

if it stays that hot it will probably bolt. wow I think it was hotter up there than down here.

[idontknowyet]

WEEDS

One of my neigbours recently suggested using vinegar to kill weeds. I had some growing between the flags in a pathway (can never get to the roots  ). Vinegar worked wonders. No more weeds growing in the path  . Thought I'd pass this on in case you hadn't heard about it. 

Oh I didn't!!!! Thank you!
I'm currently experimenting with making pineapple vinegar and white vinegar. I'm about 2.5 weeks out from finishing the first batch.

Never heard of pineapple vinegar. I use cheap white vinegar for the weeds (eco-friendly and cheap) and cider vinegar in the kitchen and for medicinal purposes. Let us know if the pineapple vinegar works - and how to make it 

It's a super simple recipe. There are tons of variations on the internet, but basically all you need is fruit, sugar, water and vinegar with mother.

I used 6 pineapple cores and skins. Chopped them into cubes so they broke down easier. Place in a plastic or glass container. Fill with water until the fruit is covered. Dump sugar and vinegar in. Stir. Cover with cheese cloth or a kitchen towel. We used towel kept the fruit flies away completely. Place in a warm dark spot. Wait 3 weeks. Take out the fruit. Place the towel back on it and return to the dark spot. This time stir everyday. Tasting after week 2 for acidity. 
You will need to take the goopy stuff off the top at the end, but it can be reused if you plan on making more. Filtering is optional but most people keep atleast some of the mother in since that has masses of nutrition in it.

[notthatamanda]

I had some wild flower seeds so I turned and raked up a part of the garden that's down to just 3 or 4 perennials. My downfall with seeds is always watering but I'm hoping to keep up with this, since we are home all the time now. It is supposed to be butterfly and hummingbird friendly. We have seen hummingbirds here, but I am afraid of a hummingbird feeder because of the bears.

I'm going to try to load some pics now.

Nope - I got confused with the software Simon recommended.