We have a patch of raspberries and blackberries in Linda’s Serenity Garden. The bushes have been in place for 3 years now and have become very hearty and have been growing taller each year. This year I built a trellis to help contain the bushes and make it possible to walk beside them and pick the berries with out getting all scratched up.

I took some 1″ PCV pipe and cut it into 4′ long sections on my chop saw. I then used U joints to connect the sections together. One cross section with legs. I laid the PCV pipe on the garage floor to help keep everything lined up and straight. For the back trellis I built one with 4 sections. The last section was cut back to 24″, which give it a length of 14 feet. The front trellis was built with 2 sections, for a length of 8 feet.

I placed the PVC pipe in the ground using a hammer and a small piece of 2″x4″ lumber. I then stretched a plastic mesh material that I purchased at a local nursery. This mesh was made for plant support. The mesh was attached with wire ties to the pipe and then cut to size with a pair of scissors.  After all of this was done the while plastic pipe just stood out in the garden like a sore thumb. Something needed to be done to make it blend in better with its surroundings. I went to the hardware store and purchased a can of black paint that is made to put on plastic furniture. I sprayed the pipe black and it blended in better with its surroundings. The two trellis did their job this season and we were able to pick berries without getting all scratched up.

White berry trellis.

One berry trellis painted black. You can see how it is already starting to blend into the garden.

I love succulents so much they are at my front door!  They are so carefree!  They can go many days without water or sun (an important feature in the Pacific Northwest).  The right succulents are perennials.  Just check when you are buying them.

As you can see from these photos, I select a range of colors, textures and styles.  Mix in some rocks, figurines, an evergreen, almost anything that is appealing to you.  I really like the spiky grass as a contrast and its light and water needs match the succulents.

To provide unity, I used two ceramic pots of the same color even though they are different styles and shapes.

All gardeners have failures, you just have to turn them in to successes!  That tall slender evergreen in the pot?  It started out as one of several miniature evergreen trees in the same pot.  After a couple of years, the other trees either died or became too gangly.  This evergreen put down a tap root through the hole in the bottom of the pot.  I really did not want it to get larger so I cut off the tap root and put the pot on the black top.  That has stopped it’s growth, at least for this year!

Garden Accent Heaven is now carrying the Fiddlers Elbow line of bird decor ceramic 15 oz. mugs and mouse pads with designs by artist Susan Bourdet. The mugs are made in the U.S.A. They have wrap around images and are dishwasher and microwave safe. The mouse pads are fade resistant and permanently dye printed in the U.S.A.  They are made from 100% polyester face and 100% neoprene backing. Size is 9″ X 8″ and are 1/3″ high.

Click here to see Bird Mugs Click her to see Bird Mouse Pads

Click here to see Bird Mugs Click Here to See Bird Mouse Pads

Linda’s Serenity Garden has taken every inch of the front and backyards of our home. The only grass area’s left this Spring where the walkways.  When we needed to replace our lawn mower that tiny bit of grass did not justify purchasing a new mower.

We were planing to dig up the grass sod and then put down cedar wood chips as a walking surface. The arborist suggested that we use the chipped debris from the five trees he just removed from the south property line.  His suggestion would eliminate the labor of digging up the sod! Yeah!  The arborist recommended covering  the sod with the chipped debri at least four inches thick. We followed his advice and spread the chips over the  walkways.  Within two months, the chips had killed all of the grass and the chips had compressed down to less then 2 inches high.

However, the chips included the needles and branches from the evergreen trees and did not have the eye appeal we wanted.

I went to the local bark supply firm and brought home a load of cedar wood chips. I spread the cedar wood chips right over the first layer.  The appeal of the garden was transformed! The uniform color of the chips and the fullness of the covering of the walkways made the garden look complete. You can judge from the photos.

Walk way of grass between shrubbery.

REA Express wagon from above photo with new cedar wood chips layed down in the walkway. Compare the differance in looks.

Linda on a small grass walkway under the bird feeders, holding a friends puppy.

Prepairing the garden and walkways May 2010

Supplies and Materal need, woodchips, wheelbarrow & flat shovel. I found the short handle shovel was a lot easier to work with than the long handle shovel.

Here I am starting to cover the orginal wood chip base with the new cedar wood chips. The differance in the apperance between the two types of chips is quite striking.

Cedar chips on walkway to the green house

Walkway where Linda was on the grass holding the puppy with grass replaced by the new cedar wood chips.

One of our summer outings this year was to stay in an RV site right on the beach in Annacortes, WA.  We delighted in watching the gulls have breakfast on the beach just after the tide went out.

It brought home my lack of knowledge about why there are so many different markings.  Does each one have a different classification?  It was clearly time to do some research!

Western Gull photo by Jeff Poklen Copyright 2005

The most important basic keys to identifying gulls are size, shape, and color pattern.  The species you see will depend on where you are, of course, but sorting them by size and location first will leave only one or two common species.

Glaucous Winged Gull phoyo by Rtein Eynsue

In the Pacific Northwest, it’s probably a Western Gull, a Glaucous-winged Gull, or a Herring Gull.  Pictured are mature ones.  The Herring Gull can be found all across North America.

The Atlantic and Gulf coasts are blessed with the Laughing Gull considered a medium size.

GreatBlack-backedGull photo by Steven Wickstrom

The North Atlantic coast has the Great Black-backed Gull and it is the largest.  Also called the California Gull and is common in Utah, their state bird.  Now there is a story for a later blog!

Color pattern is very useful so pay attention to the body parts:

Back color: Pay close attention to the color of the mantle, or back.

Head pattern: Most gulls have white heads although Franklin and Bonaparte’s have a black hood.

Wing pattern: Most gulls have gray wings with dark tips but some have pale wings.

Leg color: Large gulls typically have pink legs and medium gulls usually have yellow legs.  Small gulls can have black or red legs.  The leg coloring can change with age, season and health of the gull.

GreatBlack-backedGull photo by Steven Wickstrom

“What about that smudgy brown and mottled one I saw on the beach?”  you ask.  Ah, yes, now we get to the difficult part of identifying gulls.  Gulls change their coloring seemingly unceasingly as they mature from chicks to adults, which can take up to FOUR YEARS!  Including the color of their legs!   Most color descriptions are based on the breeding season.  Some changes in coloring will occur during non-breeding.  For a novice like myself, male and female markings are about the same.

So, if you know the most common gull along your beach and you are with friends for a stroll, you can confidently exclaim:  “That one is a Glaucous-winged Gull (insert the one most common to your area) and that brownish one over there is an immature one.  And the one over there is a non-breeding one!”

Photo Credits

Western Gull photo by Jeff Poklen click here to see his Seabird Photo site.

Glaucous Winged Gull phoyo by Rtein Eynsue from the blog Birdwatching by Wrwin, click here to see this blog.

Laughing Gull photo from Focus On Nature Tours, click here to see their website.

“The Seagull Who Was Afraid to Fly” is a book by Steven P. Wickstrom. Click here to check out his site to order the book and see the Great Black-back Gull photo and other gull photos and information.