September Roses

There's a song about November Rain...there should be one about September Roses, too! There is nothing nicer than bringing in a bouquet of roses in September. I think I appreciate them more than almost any roses. They are so big and beautiful, and abundant. Maybe it's because it's sort of a last hurrah, before fall and before cold non-rose weather. Whatever the reason, they are sure pretty and welcome! I always cut September roses!



Another welcome sight in September, are the hummingbirds. They hang around all summer at our feeders, but they are driven to feed, to build up their store of energy for the long trip south in mid-October. We have to up the sugar:water ratio in the feed we make to give them a little heftier boost of energy. It seems to make them more aggressive than they already are! We watch hummingbird wars here in the fall. One little hummer will stake a claim on a certain feeder and won't let any others anywhere near it! There's the little female that's claimed one of our feeders. She will run off bees, wasps, other hummers...I even saw her run off a goldfinch that was trying to feed at a seed sock we had next to the hummer feeders. I was sick that I didn't have my camera to take a photo of that. I did however get a pic of the little female...she's bold as brass. I love hummingbirds!



Recipe for hummingbird feed for the Midwest:

Summer recipe (April until Sept):
1 part sugar to 4 parts water. Mix well and be sure all the sugar gets dissolved. Put into a squeaky clean hummer feeder. No red dye is necessary, just be sure there's some red coloring on your feeders...red attracts the hummers. Change the feed every few days to keep it fresh.

Fall recipe (mid-Sept thru mid-October) :
1 part sugar to 3 parts water. This makes a richer feed to prepare the birds to migrate south.

Thought for the day...

"Some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice.

The Shawshank Redeption