NOTE--To see an on-line version of this newsletter, copy this link and paste it into your web browser: http://www.birdsandblooms.com/rd.asp?id=525&firstname=$$firstname$$&emailaddress=$$email$$&refurl=$$refurl-link$$ Please do not reply to this email. If you have questions or wish to unsubscribe, see the instructions at the bottom of this email. Dear $$firstname$$, Greetings from Birds & Blooms magazine! Even in late autumn, there’s a lot of pleasure to be found in backyards across the country, as evidenced by the stories below. Don’t be surprised if you pick up a handy birding or gardening tip while enjoying them! Read on to discover… --> Birds Chase Away Autumn Blues --> Late-Bloomer Helps Spread Joy --> Tiny Visitor Made Her Thankful --> Thorny Story Had A Rosy Ending --> Eggs In November? You’re Nuts! --> Mole Problems? Dig Deeper. --> Bird Puzzles Mean Hours of Fun! --------------------------------------- Birds Chase Away Autumn Blues YOU may have heard that bluebirds won’t come into the center of a town. But Vince K., who lives only a block from downtown Latimer, Iowa, has had bluebirds through November. “It started last fall,” Vince writes, “when we went to cut some wild asparagus along the country roads. The asparagus had gone to seed and was covered with red berries. We set the stalks in our garden and propped them up with wooden stakes, intent on providing food for cedar waxwings. “To our surprise, we saw four bluebirds eating the berries one morning. We were further surprised when the two adults and their two juveniles stayed until the end of November, enduring all kinds of weather. They made good use of a heated birdbath and ate chopped peanuts in our feeder.” In Milan, Georgia, Mrs. Dallas W. enjoys watching the eastern bluebirds that frequently visit her birdbath and often perch atop her seed feeder. “One autumn morning I saw a bluebird go inside the feeder, pick up something and fly away,” she relates. “A few minutes later, it came back and did the same thing. I know bluebirds don’t normally eat seeds, so I reached for my binoculars to see if I could figure out what was going on. “It turns out the bluebird was after the dried cherries in a new feed mix I had just purchased. Now I always add a handful of dried cherries or raisins to my seed, and the bluebirds keep coming.” --------------------------------------- Late-Bloomer Helps Spread Joy IF EVER a plant was aptly named, it’s Autumn Joy sedum. This popular succulent is the perfect plant to bring color and sparkle to a late-season garden. Besides being attractive and easy to grow, this perennial blooms until the first frost—and puts on an ever-changing color show the whole time! When Autumn Joy’s broccoli-shaped flower heads first make their appearance in midsummer, they’re a pale greenish-white that contrasts nicely with any garden’s summer bloomers. Then, as summer wanes, the tiny star-shaped flowers change to a warm light pink. By September, the color usually deepens to salmon pink…then progresses to copper red, deep red and mahogany as temperatures drop through November. This colorful behavior makes Autumn Joy a real hit with gardeners like Kelli K. of Eddington, Maine. “It’s one of my favorite plants,” she confesses. Kelli adds that the bees love her Autumn Joy because it’s among the last colorful plants standing in her garden. This flashy sedum usually attracts lots of butterflies, too. Autumn Joy is virtually pest and disease resistant and is quite easy to care for. It will grow in just about any kind of soil, although it prefers soil that drains well. Plants do best in full sun and need at least 4 or 5 hours of sun per day. Spring is the best time to plant Autumn Joy. Divisions should be replanted about 15 inches apart—even small rootless pieces will usually take root quickly. During summer, cuttings from the top 4 to 6 inches of the shoots should root in a week to 10 days. Of course, Autumn Joy is best planted where it can complement other late-bloomers or provide color for areas of the garden where early bloomers have long finished their displays. Regardless of how you “spread the joy,” it’s a good bet that Autumn Joy sedum will soon become one of your fall favorites, too. --------------------------------------- Join fellow Birds & Blooms readers on a beautiful Holland in Bloom tour this Springtime! World Wide Country Tours is once again offering their very popular HOLLAND IN BLOOM tour! They’ve created a new and fun-filled route this year, designed especially for our Birds & Blooms friends, with exciting new surprises. You’ll stay in Utrecht, your “hometown” for the entire trip – you only need to unpack once! You’ll go to the world’s largest flower auction in Aalsmeer, Holland’s “flower capital”, and afterwards, travel through fields of gorgeous spring blooms. - Take a colorful nature walk at Keukenhof Gardens along winding paths, beside clear ponds and singing streams, and be surrounded by beautiful flowers, of course! - Explore priceless works of art by Gauguin, Rodin, Van Gogh, and other Impressionists at the Kroller-Muller Museum. - Visit the “garden city” of The Hague, home of the Dutch Royal Family. - Watch artisans hand paint their famous Delft pottery at the Royal Blue Company. - Go on a guided tour of a Frisian Cheese Dairy, and don’t forget to taste samples on the way out! - Visit the home of Anne Frank if you choose this optional excursion. For a complete tour itinerary, Visit: http://www.countrytours.com/RD.asp?ID=1425&pmcode=$$refurl-link$$ You have TWO departure dates to choose from: April 20 -28, or May 4 -12 PLUS!! As an added bonus for being a Birds & Blooms newsletter subscriber, you’ll receive $50 worth of FREE TULIP BULBS from Holland when you book your tour by December 31st! All it takes is a small $250 deposit to make your reservation. Just mention Promotion Code BL18. World Wide Country Tours Exclusive Tour Operator of Reiman Publications 1-800/344-6918 For all your vacation choices, itineraries, pricing and available departures, Visit: http://www.countrytours.com/RD.asp?ID=1426&pmcode=$$refurl-link$$ --------------------------------------- Tiny Visitor Made Her Thankful LAST Thanksgiving, while visiting family in Henderson, North Carolina, Shannon M. of Asheville noticed something lying on the front porch. She quickly realized it was a small bird—one she’d never seen before. “I opened the door and tiptoed toward it, trying not to scare it away,” she says. “But the bird did not move at all—it must have been temporarily stunned from flying into a window. I gently picked up the bird and held it until it regained its strength. After a few minutes, it flew away. “Luckily, my husband had time to snap a few photos. Later, I looked in my field guide and learned the bird was a golden-crowned kinglet. I never dreamed I’d have a chance to hold such a beautiful creature in my hand!” View a photo: http://www.birdsandblooms.com/RD.asp?ID=519&pmcode=$$refurl-link$$ --------------------------------------- Thorny Story Had A Rosy Ending A STORY in the August issue about plants that have been in families for a long time reminded Mary K. of York, Pennsylvania of her own saga with a white rose that’s over 100 years old. “When I first saw the bush in my mother-in-law’s yard 50 years ago, I fell in love with it,” Mary says. “I planted a slip she gave me, but it withered and died. After I had my own garden, I cut another slip. A friend told me to stick the end in half of a potato, plant it and cover it with a jar like a tiny greenhouse. Eventually, I saw some new foliage…but it was only a healthy potato plant next to a dead rose slip! “Another ‘expert’ told me to bury the middle of one of the plant’s longer stems, leaving the tip above ground. But my father-in-law accidentally cut the stem off with a lawn mower! That was the last straw. I gave up my quest—until my father-in-law died and his house was being sold. Knowing how much I loved that rose, my sister-in-law generously told me to transplant it to my yard. “I was so happy! But the rose struggled for 10 years, barely surviving. Then my daughter married a botanist. What a difference it made when he started taking care of the rose—recently I counted at least 50 large blooms. I guess my persistence finally paid off at last!” --------------------------------------- Eggs In November? You’re Nuts! WHILE cleaning out bluebird houses last fall, Yvonne A. of Cherokee Village, Arkansas opened the side door on one and was quite surprised to see what looked like small eggs imbedded in a mossy nest. “When I took a closer look, I could see that what I thought were eggs were really hickory nuts! A closer inspection revealed even more nuts concealed in the nest,” she says. “I figured they must have been stashed by a chipmunk—what other animal could squeeze through the little opening? Plus, there are lots of chipmunks around here. No matter what animal put the hickory nuts there, it sure was fun to find ‘eggs’ in our bluebird house in November!” View a photo: http://www.birdsandblooms.com/RD.asp?ID=520&pmcode=$$refurl-link$$ --------------------------------------- Mole Problems? Dig Deeper. AS northerners winterize their lawns this fall, many dread the mole damage they expect find next year after the snow melts. But moles probably aren’t the culprits. Those insect-eaters feed in summer and hibernate in winter, so their tunnels cause lawn damage only in summer. Voles, which are smaller mouse-like animals, are the more likely suspects. They feed on seeds and plants year-round and wear “runways” in the ground under the snow, damaging lawns. Such damage is usually discovered in spring. Moles can be controlled by constantly disturbing their tunnels. Tamp them down and refill the entrances as you discover them. This will often drive moles from your yard. Vole populations are usually large and harder to control. You can try trapping voles in fall using rat traps baited with peanut butter and oats. Place traps in a pipe or under some other type of cover to protect songbirds, pets and children. Many gardeners decide it’s easier to live with voles and just protect the trunks of trees and shrubs with small fences made of hardware cloth. In spring, damaged lawns can be repaired with seed or strips of sod. --------------------------------------- Bird Puzzles Mean Hours of Fun! PIECE together vibrant, colorful images of three of your feathered favorites. Choose from the Broad-Tailed Hummingbird, Northern Cardinal and Black-Capped Chickadee. With over 500 pieces, each puzzle provides hours of enjoyment. Because they’re made of recycled materials, they’re environmentally friendly, too! Hummingbird and cardinal puzzles measure 21-1/4 in. by 15 in. Chickadee puzzle measures 18 in. by 18 in. To order the Hummingbird puzzle from Country Store On-line, Visit: http://www.countrystorecatalog.com/rd.asp?id=1804&pmcode=$$refurl-link$$ To order the Cardinal puzzle from Country Store On-line, Visit: http://www.countrystorecatalog.com/rd.asp?id=1806&pmcode=$$refurl-link$$ To order the Chickadee puzzle from Country Store On-line, Visit: http://www.countrystorecatalog.com/rd.asp?id=1805&pmcode=$$refurl-link$$ --------------------------------------- Our Featured Item from Country Store: Cardinals Winter Throw-and-Pillow Set http://www.countrystorecatalog.com/rd.asp?id=1807&pmcode=$$refurl-link$$ --------------------------------------- THIS NEWSLETTER is from the editors of some of your favorite magazines, including. 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