Those are my air-defense units against mockingbirds! 
It takes 3 scrub jays to negate 1!
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he’s prepping a spot for his 
tent! get ready for ‘our’ tree! 
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He’s already joked about moving into my backyard in a tent! lol
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So far, the hummingbirds just keep going for the real flowers. Haven’t touched the feeder. We’ll see what happens when no more flowers they like are blooming. They seem to really like the glads which are basically gone and the nasturtiums. There are however plenty of nasturtium flowers to keep them happy. It may be a fall and winter feeder when all my flowers have died off.
btw @GMan I only have basically one picture window which is near the front porch. Unfortunately, that’s where the cat mostly hangs out. Hummingbirds wouldn’t dare with the cat guarding the porch. Had to hang it out back.
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As usual, your yard is getting really cool. I like those phlox. Hey, I got my sweet pea vines on a small trellis. I need to make a permanent one. It’s a massive bunch that is just dying to grow.
They’re pink with a little purple. I noticed today, after being taken off the ground and trained vertical, they looked happy. Lots of flowers. I see now that the stems on the flowers are about 7 inches long. Cool Most plants love to be picked. More will grow.
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I pick mine every other day or so. If you see any “pea pods” cut them off right away. As soon as you let them start they will all start to die. Mine have grown taller than the trellis… Darn it… I told Dad it needed to be higher, but he didn’t believe me. I have like 3 fresh vases of flowers about every 2 days now. Pick, pick, pick!! They smell divine! Once the heat kicks up to like 80 they’ll start dying off anyway. I’m kicking myself now for planting mine a month late. They would have flowered earlier and lasted longer. I’ll get a month less of flowers this year. We had a mini heat wave this week and none of my tender annuals liked it at all.
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@cannabissequoia I planted both of the open packs of Nasturtiums which were supposedly cream colored flowers that you brought. All of them came up the same. Solid red. Guess they weren’t what the package said. I cracked up.
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Had a neighbor had an outside ringer for his phone. A mockingbird was imitating the sound after a few months. I’ve had seen them dive bomb a squirrel and knock them off their branch. Mockingbirds are probably descended from raptors 
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Seriously. They would be the pit-bulls of the birdy-verse if they weren’t small. 
The most tenacious bird I’ve ever seen & one of the smartest, they can identify & associate people & their objects(e.g. vehicles & phaser-weapons).
Plainly, I hate them. 
Because of noise & my health problems. So in my quest to repel them I’ve noticed they also interrupt Hollywood/movie/tv recordings world-wide. It’s the one thing the sound crew just can’t fix unless they use a shotgun. 
Their song is in the background of a lot of movies.
The city bird is MUCH noisier than the country bird, having to compete with humans’ noise, and 24-hour lighting enables them to rear young faster. 2 can become 16 in a year, and 16 of those things going off in an amphitheater-like yard is a cacophony like no other in my humble, parochial travels…
And so I’ve become an expert on the ‘enemy’, noisy blue-jays have become assets, and yeah… it’s weird & anti-me to the core. Just gimme a few decades, Planet 
Earth.
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Those Mockingbirds aways gave me fits when I lived back home in the southeast. Blue Jays, too. I have one, and I guess a pair of them ut they only occasionally come out and will sing for a while.
I figured out all of the squawking is them trying to distract you from the nest where mom is hatching/raising babies. And, they always nest in shrubs. So, if a cat walks close, the male will go crazy and try and get the cat’s attention away from the nest.
So, it makes sense why they are so annoying in the cities/suburbs. If it’s just a male singing, I actually really like it. It’s so pleasing when they are relaxed. I guess we have so much space, and only the one bird Ive seen so far, so I barely hear them. I was glad to see one actually. I’m glad I don’t have them at my house.
Anybody ever have the woodpeckers hammer your stove pipe or chimney cap in the morning? Damn, that will drive you crazy. They do it to establish territory … around dawn! 
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Actually makes sense… Small Bird Disease! 
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Found out by trying that deadheading Nasturtiums does not extend their bloom time or their lives. Like sunflowers, when they are done, their done. After this I’ll just let them go to seed for volunteers next year. My sweet peas are already dying off. Planted a month late, so blooms were a month late. Too hot for them now. I anticipate the rest of my violas and pansies will die back as well. What’s left of them anyway. Summer plants are starting now though, Dahlias, papavers, salvia, petunias, angelonia, lilies, forget me nots and celosias. BTW… some of the new white caladium bulbs I planted in the shade are coming up. They look like spikes, just waiting for the leaves to unroll now. Really curious to see them. On another note, had a huge branch ready to break off my avocado tree, so I had to saw it off. It changed the light dynamic back there and the new japanese painted fern doesn’t like it. I’m kind of afraid to dig it up and move it. Any suggestions on the best way to do it without damaging it?
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transplant into a happier place! better than leaving it in a sunny hot spot.
You can buy small “shade sails” for patios or back yards. They’re sort of a triangle like a sail and really do a great job. They sort of look cool as well.
Here’s a google search… Shade sails
I think I may get one myself.
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Took these while I was out and about. I’m obsessed with Crepe Myrtle. Think they are the most beautiful trees
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Some latest pics for your viewing pleasure
Delphinium
Various celosia from seed
Bombay
Bells of Ireland
Black eyed susan vine
Pumpkin on a stick plant. Flowers starting! Stick pumpkins should start soon
Sibella Carmine I started a million years ago. Bitchen flowers on it
Forget me nots. Bees love them
New raspberry bush that I had planted in compost. It’s so healthy
The caladium bulbs coming up in the shade garden
Donkeys tail
Summers jewel salvia from seed
Dahlia flower buds forming
Shasta Daisy. Great for cutting! Look good with the bells of Ireland
Yarrow from seed starting first flowers
What they said was blue dianthus… yeah my ass
Marigold bushes lol
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The Crepe Myrtle is big in the southeast. It flowers all summer. Lots of towns plant them in the median separating highways. I really like them too. I miss all of the plants and flowers from back home. I need a visit back there one day but not now. peace
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It must be the climate in the south. They use them a lot here. I’m sure it’s obvious why I love them. Those flowers!!! I’m eventually gonna break down and buy a dwarf version for the backyard. Flowering in pink of course!
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