Dear $$firstname$$,

Happy holidays from Birds & Blooms magazine! We hope you enjoy this month's newsletter, which includes ideas for bird-friendly seasonal decorating, an unusual garden tool, a big-eyed Christmas tree ornament and more. Read on and you'll discover...

> Decorating Is for the Birds
> Gardener Forks It Over
> Savor Season's Sights, Sounds
> Christmas Tree Wannabe
> Owl Be Seeing You
> Hubby Had a Square Meal
> Melt Ice Like the Pros

Decorating Is for the Birds

JOLLY READERS are happy to share ideas on how to decorate for feathered friends during the holidays and beyond. Several of their suggestions include edible garlands, so start by getting heavy string, a large needle and all the fixin's to make them.

Good food choices are orange and apple wedges, cranberries, peanuts in the shell and popcorn. Pinecones also make attractive natural ornaments, and when packed with peanut butter and rolled in birdseed, they'll help make your backyard a popular stop during the holiday season.

Where can your garland go? Start with an outdoor Christmas Tree! "We tie the tree to an old clothes pole near our windows so we can see the activity," says Flo S. of Akron, Pennsylvania. "Besides edible garland, we add ornaments made from orange and apple slices, cutout Christmas cookies and doughnuts. A star-shaped cookie tops off the tree. Scattered apples and popcorn around the bottom also fed deer and rabbits."

After Christmas, look no further than your front door for inspiration. That's what Robyn D. of Portland, Oregon does. "When I remove my door wreath after Christmas, I wrap it with a treat-filled garland and hang it from a nearby tree. Then I watch as birds perch on it for their post-holiday dinner."

In Rice Lake, Wisconsin, Darlene D. drags her neighbor's discarded Christmas trees to her own yard. "I stick the trunks into snow banks near my feeders and decorate the branches with suet treats and peanut-butter-coated pinecones," she says. "I also scatter seed on the ground for the rabbits and squirrels."

Pam S. of Westmont, Illinois suggests securing garland and treats to tree branches with thin-gauge wire, being careful to make sure the ends are tucked in so they won't endanger any of the visitors. "My hands get cold, but the effort is worth it!"

Gardener Forks It Over

COME SPRINGTIME, Martha D. of Squaw Valley, California really "digs into" her weeding chores.

"I used to have a problem with grass coming up in my gardens," she explains. "No matter how carefully I worked with spade, hoe or trowel, the young plants I meant to save came out with the grass. It was obvious that my tools were too large.

"I tried to think of what I could use as a smaller, more delicate tool...and I recalled the old dinner fork that didn't match the rest of my silverware. I fetched it and attacked the grass.

"Persistence with the dinner fork soon produced a grass-free garden. It also produced a handful of blisters. So I took the odd dinner fork to my shop and fashioned a wooden handle for it--shaped like a fat 'thumb', which I painted green.

"I've made several of these tools since, and my gardens remain grass-free!"
 

Savor Season's Sights, Sounds

WINTER might seem like a drab time with little backyard activity, but Paul L. of Alden, Kansas finds just the opposite is true.

"Nothing brings feathered visitors to my feeders like a change in weather or the approach of a snowstorm," Paul says.

"While we miss the summer birds that have flown to warmer climates, their replacements are always welcome. There are large handsome Harris' sparrows, dark-eyed juncos, pine siskins and red-breasted nuthatches.

"On occasion, we'll catch sight of white-crowned, song or American tree sparrows...or we may see an eastern towhee noisily turning fallen leaves in hedgerows on mild days.

"We also look forward to a few unusual species that stop at our feeding stations, such as Townsend's solitaires, red crossbills, mountain bluebirds, Steller's jays and western tanagers.

"Of course, we're always entertained by year-round residents like American goldfinches, white-breasted nuthatches and mourning doves. But the northern cardinals and black-capped chickadees offer the most encouraging songs in the winter. Listening to them, I ask myself, 'Can spring be far off?'"

Christmas Tree Wannabe

DURING the holiday season, displaced Northerners long for the sight of evergreen trees, which are not too common in south Florida.

Margery L. of Miami remembers driving along and being amazed to see what she thought was a large yew tree on a front lawn. "I went up to the house and rang the doorbell. A most delightful lady with a soft Southern accent answered, and I asked how her yew survived in Miami's heat."

The tree, it turned out, was not a yew but a podocarpus, an old Florida standby that had been carefully trimmed to resemble a yew.

"Needless to say, I went right out and bought a podocarpus. It's been growing in our yard for years, and each year we shape it and decorate it with Christmas lights.

"The tree has warmed our hearts and delighted our neighbors. It's even sheltered a pair of nesting mockingbirds, which raised their family on our front lawn, protected by the tree's thick branches."

Owl Be Seeing You

"ONE WINTER, I heard quite a commotion in our kitchen and went to see what it was," writes Barbara T. of Boxford, Massachusetts. "To my surprise, a northern saw-whet owl was perched atop our ceiling fan! (I think our cat had something to do with it being in our house.)

"My husband, Pete, is a brave soul...but the owl's talons were quite large, so he decided to come up with a plan to show it out the door.

"In the meantime, the little owl decided to tour our house. It settled on the Christmas tree, where we snapped its picture.

"Eventually, the owl left through an open door. Pete and I agree we've never had a prettier--or more unusual--Christmas tree ornament!"
 

Hubby Had a Square Meal

AFTER READING about a suet recipe that promised to attract a lot of different birds to her yard, Lu Gene L. of Abilene, Texas decided to try it.

"The recipe called for lard, chunky peanut butter, cornmeal, flour, oatmeal and a small amount of sugar. I stirred it up, chilled it and then cut it into squares.

"I removed one square from the pan and hung it outdoors on my way to run a quick errand. Later, when I returned, I planned to remove the remaining squares from the pan to store in the freezer...but there was a second square missing.

"I asked my husband, Roy about it. He looked surprised and said, 'I thought you ate one, so I ate one, too!'"

Lu adds that Roy thought the recipe was a flop, but the birds loved her suet squares. Now Roy no longer samples her recipes without asking first.

Melt Ice Like the Pros

A SPECIAL blend of sodium, potassium and magnesium chloride (not available in any store) is much less corrosive to concrete, plants, pets and skin than ordinary rock salt. And it quickly melts ice in temperatures as low as -12F. Blue granules are easy to see when applying, and won't leave greasy residue on floors and carpeting.

To order a 9-lb. jug of Professional Ice Melter from Country Store On-line, click here.

This email was sent to: $$email$$

If this newsletter was forwarded to you, you can sign up for yourself. Click here.

TO CANCEL your newsletter at any time, click here.

TO UPDATE your e-mail address and other information, click here.  You'll need your current e-mail address and password to log in. If you've forgotten your password or never selected one, there is a link to have it e-mailed to you.

HAVING PROBLEMS linking to our Web site? If clicking a link in this newsletter doesn't work, you can simply highlight and copy the link, then paste it into your browser's target address field.

Birds & Blooms magazine brings beautiful backyards from across America into your living room--through vivid, full-color photos. It's like a friendly "chat" over the back fence with your bird-and flower-loving neighbors. 

To subscribe on-line, visit http://www.birdsandblooms.com/rd.asp?id=260

**********

Copyright 2003 Reiman Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Birds & Blooms, P.O. Box 991, Greendale WI 53129-0991
1-800/344-6913