Something about dead plants

Title vague enough?

Today's pointless photo, by the way, is of dog prints. And a red boot. Not sure how that got in there.

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I have a balcony full of dead plants at the moment.




Ok, maybe not exactly full of dead plants, but there are plenty of dead plants on my balcony just now. They're the leftovers from last year's (very late) planters.

Last year wasn't a good year for me 'n the balcony planters. I was busy at work so I didn't get them potted up until over a month later than I usually do (I have a south-facing balcony, so I can generally plant things quite early), I pretty much ignored things when I did get them potted up (I watered, but that was about it), and when freeze-up came I didn't get around to cleaning out the mess.

I still haven't, obviously, or I wouldn't be blathering about it. Now, though, I have an excuse.

It's the chickadees, you see.

I have a small bird feeder hanging on my balcony railing (to feed the small birds, of course), and I have a regular set of chickadees, nuthatches, and woodpeckers that come to visit it. The nuthatches and woodpeckers are fairly matter of fact about the whole thing -- they eat and leave -- but the chickadees tend to hang around a bit.

And they like the dead plants.

No, they really do.

They bop around amongst the crackly leaves and dried out stems like the whole thing's their own private jungle gym. Sometimes I'll throw a handful or two of sunflower seeds in the pots, and then it becomes a chickadee game of hide and seek. They talk and swear at each other the whole time, too. It's all very sociable.

And very entertaining.

And a reason to have a balcony full of dead plants, no?

Oh, I'll get around to cleaning them up before next spring, but in the meantime I'm sort of enjoying the accidental habitat I've created. Sometimes it's the accidents that are the most fun, don't you think?

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