Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Bird Feeder, Squirrels & Soy Butter-DoubleDelight Rose with Husker Penstemon

I have a clever bird feeder. When a little bird lands on the perch he can easily reach in and grab a seed. If a squirrel tries to get on the perch, his heavy weight shuts the little opening. But, eventually the squirrels have resorted to taking the top off the feeder and biting down the plastic in an attempt to reach the seeds. The squirrels scuttle up the pole to the feeder. I suggested to my husband that I might grease the pole with Vaseline. But, he quickly pointed out that their licking off the Vaseline from their little paws would probably not be nice. I then remembered some soy butter that I bought thinking it would work as an alternative to my beloved peanut butter. I do not find soy butter yummy, but the squirrels love it.


squirrel licking soybutter


I feed the birds sunflower seeds. The bowl was made with some left over cement and a plastic bowl. I greased the bowl, shaped the cement and put a pipe in it to make a drain hole. I use the bowl to catch the seeds the birds drop. Since I soy-buttered the bowl the squirrels have been staying on the ground, eating what falls from the feeder.


One licking one walking Squirrel


Spring is just beginning in my garden. Last week I posted about WOW. Today I applied the corn gluten in the front yard. The daffodils are almost opening.  Next Saturday is the local Home Show. We will be having some presentations by Master Gardeners and others. I will be doing a Powerpoint on Natural Tips on Growing Roses. And I also will have a Powerpoint on Natural Deer Resistance.


double delight and corn husker red penstemon


I just had to put a colorful picture in this post. The above 2 pictures still have the grayness of winter. The Husker Penstemon has reddish leaves. The Double Delight Rose is beautiful and fragrant.

15 comments:

  1. Gloria, feeding the birds and outwitting the squirrels is an ongoing problem ! Looks like you may have solved it, for a while anyhow. I love the second photo, of the one squirrel licking the pole while the other squirrel stands watch.

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  2. Beautiful!!

    Thank you for the lovely images and inspiration.
    I love your garden!

    Green regards!
    Renata

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  3. I wish that I could come to your presentation on roses. Double Delight is one of my absolute favorite varieties. Quite ingenious idea to capture the fallen seeds for the squirrels.

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  4. Noelle -I too wish you could come to the presentation. I will feature in future posts some of the pictures.

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  5. awww! my grandmother used to sit on her porch every afternoon and feed the squirrels. their favorite? nutter butter cookies. she said they would show up everyday like clockwork wanting their cookie. one day one of the squirrels didn't show up, but the next day they found it crawling up to the porch. it had been hit by a car, but it still showed up on the porch for it's last peanut butter cookie!

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  6. [...] Bird Feeder, Squirrels & Soy Butter-DoubleDelight Rose with Husker … [...]

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  7. Gloria I too would love to be in the audience for your powerpoint presentations. I am having big problems with a squirrel just now so this soya butter might be needed in my garden too.

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  8. Crafty, isn't he? Squirrels are why we stopped feeding the birds. Bummer!

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  9. The soy butter seems to be a great way to solve the problem. The picture of the squirrel licking it off is really cute.
    I hope your presentation goes really well.

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  10. The squirrels are happy, the birds are happy, everyone is happy.
    I have not seen any squirrels this year, I think this is because a nice little cat has taken to hanging out in our yard. Yay!!

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  11. The soy butter is a great idea, and I like the cement bowl to catch the fallen seeds. Already your garden is looking beautiful. Spring is glorious. Happy Easter!

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  12. Your Husker's Red penstemon looks fantastic. Mine get puny after the second year and usually fade away. Just gave a PowerPoint yesterday to the garden club here and there were only two technical glitches: yah! That is better than last week's presentation where the computer just up and died two minutes before the presentation was to start. Hope yours goes smoothly.

    Christine in Alaska

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  13. I think it's just wonderful that you feed the squirrels, too. I try not to get mad at mine (altho they broke my last feeder that fitted on the window pane, making me sad) because they deserve to live, too. How clever that you have *made* a bowl to catch the seed husks! I may just have to copy that clever idea.

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  14. Your blog is really nice. I can see that you (garden wise ) are way out of my league. I am a rather haphazard gardener but I love flowers. Perhaps I will be inspired by your blog to branch out!!

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  15. Soy butter! Good Solution for everyone.

    That nutter butter story is heartbreaking.

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