Greetings from Birds & Blooms magazine! We hope you enjoy this month's newsletter, which includes tips to attract more birds to your feeders, unusual outdoor decor, some humorous on-line advice and more. Read on and you'll discover...

> It's Inventory Time
> From Patio to Pond
> Smoke and Mirrors
> Markers Are Pretty, Practical
> Birdhouse Was Buzzing
> On-line Advice Grew on Her
> Cardinal Feeder Is Fun

It's Inventory Time

WANT to attract many different feathered friends to your backyard? Then it's time to take inventory of your feeders. By offering a variety of different style feeders, you're sure to invite even more birds to dine.

There are basically five types of bird feeders--tube feeders, hopper styles, platform feeders, suet types and sugar-water feeders. Tube feeders that hold thistle (or niger) seed will attract finches, while ones for larger seeds like sunflowers are irresistible to perch-loving chickadees, nuthatches and titmice. Hopper-style feeders will draw larger seed-eating birds such as cardinals and grosbeaks. And low platform or tray-type feeders will attract ground-feeding sparrows, juncos and mourning doves.

For an even greater variety of birds, you may want to try suet and sugar-water feeders. Woodpeckers, Carolina wrens and other birds find suet hard to resist, and hummingbirds, orioles and tanagers are just a few that will frequent sugar-water feeders.

Get to know the birds common to your area and place feeders in your yard that best mimic their natural feeding habits. It may take some experimenting, but more variety at the dinner table will surely bring more guests to your yard.

WHO SAYS you can't take it with you? After Frank and Angeline S. of Altoona, Pennsylvania sold their home to the state to make way for a new road, they moved more than memories when they left. The couple dug up the stones from their old patio and hauled them to their new home. Now the stones form a waterfall and pond in the new backyard.

To make the pond, they bought a 100-gallon pre-formed liner and put some of the patio stones around the edge. Frank used other stones to build the waterfall. He placed them over heavy-duty plastic and used an old garden hose and pond pump to recirculate the water.

Angeline landscaped the surrounding slope, covering it with mulch and dotting it with pink impatiens, Jacob's ladder, bog rosemary and astilbe. Water lily and water iris bloom on the pond's surface while goldfish live in the water.

If you'd enjoy a refreshing spot in your backyard, a project like this may be well worth pondering...but you don't need to tear up your patio first!
 

A BLUEBIRD nesting in her yard spent a lot of time looking at its reflection in her car's side mirror, relates Lynda D. of Abita Springs, Louisiana. "From what I understand, the bird thought its reflection was another bird, so it was trying to chase the trespasser from its territory. I had to find a way to discourage the bird because it was constantly soiling my car door."

First Lynda tried covering the mirrors with plastic grocery bags. "This worked okay...but I soon grew weary of taking them off whenever I had to drive somewhere and putting them on again afterward. Finally I came up with a simpler solution."

Lynda bought a parakeet mirror at a pet store and tacked it above the bluebird box. Sure enough--after it spotted the new "intruder", the bluebird ignored Lynda's car mirror. "After a few hours investigating the parakeet mirror and fluttering wildly around it, the bird seemed to realize it was seeing its own reflection," Lynda adds. "It became content to primp in that mirror, right from the comfort of its own home."

Markers Are Pretty, Practical

AFTER planting flowers and vegetables, Peggy Sue S. from Lawton, Oklahoma has no problem remembering what she's planted and where.

"To identify my rows of colorful veggies and flowers, I glue cardboard and a wooden skewer inside the empty seed packets, then coat them with clear craft preservative," Peggy explains. "I insert these homemade markers in the ground next to their respective rows. The seed packets weather well, and the glossy pictures are nice and colorful alongside the sprouting greenery. It's a quick, easy and effective way to remember what I've planted."

Birdhouse Was Buzzing

"MY SISTER hung a birdhouse for wrens in her backyard last summer," reports Bonnie W. from De Witt, Michigan. "About that same time, some hornets were building a small paper nest on a nearby shed. But when they saw the new wren house, those hornets apparently decided it would be a nicer place to live...with a little updating."

Before long, the entire wren house was covered in hornet paper! Needless to say, no wrens took up residence inside. "During the winter, after the hornets were gone, my sister took the remodeled birdhouse inside her cabin home. It's now a great conversation piece."

Guess this gives whole new meaning to "re-papering the house"!
 

On-line Advice Grew on Her

THERE ARE hundreds of gardening web sites packed with interesting information. One Birds & Blooms field editor recalls an amusing experience she had when she "surfed the Net" with a fellow gardener.

"My friend Jean stopped by for a visit," writes Rose K. of Milford, Utah. "We both love working in our yards, so we thought it would be fun to sit down at the computer and explore some gardening sites."

One site featured an interactive planner to suggest appropriate plants for certain locations based on information from the user. "Jean had a problem area in her yard and decided to search for a plant that might work there. The computer first asked for her zip code so it could recommend plants that do well in her area. Then it asked the following questions: How much sun does this particular spot receive? Is there good drainage? Did she want a vegetable, herb, shrub, flower or vine? How tall did she want the plant to be? Did she want the plant to bloom in spring or summer?

"Jean indicated that she wanted a spring-blooming herb that would grow 6 to 12 inches tall in well-drained soil in a partly sunny area. Needless to say, the 'solution' to her problem surprised us. Of the two plants suggested, one was Taraxacum officinale--better known as dandelion!"

Cardinal Feeder Is Fun

MANY feeders attract cardinals...but this one actually looks like one! Made of hand-painted, highly detailed poly resin, this feeder holds seed in its generous "tail". Mounting bracket lets you attach it to your house, deck or a tree. It's sure to attract lots of feathered friends...and fun comments from neighbors!

To order the Cardinal Bird Feeder from Country Store On-line, click here.

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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. 

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