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climbing roses and free-flying budgies
Dead head roses after they have flowered. This means the plant spends its
energy on producing more flowers or a stronger bush rather than on seeds.
If you have a climbing or rambling rose, give it something to climb through. We
discovered this one by accident. Our climbing rose never did anything much,
though we tied it to wires on the fence and did all the things the books tell
you. So, we planted a hedge. The rose decided this was a great idea, grew
through the hedge supporting itself and has flowered fantastically ever since.
They flower best from horizontal branches. Every spring, find a couple of good
long shoots from last year, bend them horizontal and tie them to any handy part
of the hedge. Lots of smaller shoots, which will all bear flowers, will spring
from the horizontal branch.
Hedges also provide good cover for small birds.
Speaking of small birds, one of our budgies , Oliver is nearly ten
years old. That's a respectable age for a budgie. Many budgies are much of a
muchness, but Oliver is a character. He's a pretty tatty specimen. He's always
had a bad habit of plucking his chest feathers and it got worse after his
partner died a couple of years ago. He really missed her. Budgies can form
very strong relationships that last for a lifetime.
We've one male, Zathras (a son of Oliver), who is in love with a female with an
injured wing, Imzadi. Imzadi is in a cage on her own. We can't let her fly
free with the others as her wing lets her down and she keeps falling to the
floor and hurting herself. For the last six or seven years, Zathras has ignored
all other free-flying females and dedicated himself to visiting Imzadi. They
chat through the bars and sometimes he feeds her. We've tried putting him in
the cage with her, but mating in budgies tends to need wings to keep your
balance and not fall off the perch... Besides, she shows no interest in nest
boxes at all.
Last night, Oliver looked really ill. He was gasping oddly, losing his balance
and moving oddly. He even let Henry pick him up and lift him onto the perch.
We were sure we'd find him dead this morning. He is pretty old after all.
Far from it. I came in to find him sitting on the top of the curtain rail,
looking as right as rain and obviously perfectly happy flying.
There's life in the old bird yet.
BTW, free-flying budgies in a bedroom work better than you might expect. As
long is the floor is something that can be cleaned easily and the perches are
in sensible places, you can have far more fun than with birds in cages. They
form their own communities and choose their own partners and generally live out
a small soap opera around you.
energy on producing more flowers or a stronger bush rather than on seeds.
If you have a climbing or rambling rose, give it something to climb through. We
discovered this one by accident. Our climbing rose never did anything much,
though we tied it to wires on the fence and did all the things the books tell
you. So, we planted a hedge. The rose decided this was a great idea, grew
through the hedge supporting itself and has flowered fantastically ever since.
They flower best from horizontal branches. Every spring, find a couple of good
long shoots from last year, bend them horizontal and tie them to any handy part
of the hedge. Lots of smaller shoots, which will all bear flowers, will spring
from the horizontal branch.
Hedges also provide good cover for small birds.
Speaking of small birds, one of our budgies , Oliver is nearly ten
years old. That's a respectable age for a budgie. Many budgies are much of a
muchness, but Oliver is a character. He's a pretty tatty specimen. He's always
had a bad habit of plucking his chest feathers and it got worse after his
partner died a couple of years ago. He really missed her. Budgies can form
very strong relationships that last for a lifetime.
We've one male, Zathras (a son of Oliver), who is in love with a female with an
injured wing, Imzadi. Imzadi is in a cage on her own. We can't let her fly
free with the others as her wing lets her down and she keeps falling to the
floor and hurting herself. For the last six or seven years, Zathras has ignored
all other free-flying females and dedicated himself to visiting Imzadi. They
chat through the bars and sometimes he feeds her. We've tried putting him in
the cage with her, but mating in budgies tends to need wings to keep your
balance and not fall off the perch... Besides, she shows no interest in nest
boxes at all.
Last night, Oliver looked really ill. He was gasping oddly, losing his balance
and moving oddly. He even let Henry pick him up and lift him onto the perch.
We were sure we'd find him dead this morning. He is pretty old after all.
Far from it. I came in to find him sitting on the top of the curtain rail,
looking as right as rain and obviously perfectly happy flying.
There's life in the old bird yet.
BTW, free-flying budgies in a bedroom work better than you might expect. As
long is the floor is something that can be cleaned easily and the perches are
in sensible places, you can have far more fun than with birds in cages. They
form their own communities and choose their own partners and generally live out
a small soap opera around you.