Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
Ph.# 731-424-2206
YouTube pg. –
Monday Morning Moment of Zen | Carters Nursery, Pond & Patio | Jackson, Tennessee
December 3, 2018, 7:28 am
Filed under: Family time, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi Ponds, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Pondless Waterfalls, Videos, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: Birds, Birds and ponds, Driftwood, Earthworms, Enjoy The Day, Fall Day, Feeding Birds, Gentle Sounds, Heron Statue, Leaves, Moment of Zen, Monday Morning Moment of Zen, Mossy Boulders, Soothing Sounds, Streams, Water Garden, Waterfall Video, Wild Ferns
Filed under: Family time, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi Ponds, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Pondless Waterfalls, Videos, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: Birds, Birds and ponds, Driftwood, Earthworms, Enjoy The Day, Fall Day, Feeding Birds, Gentle Sounds, Heron Statue, Leaves, Moment of Zen, Monday Morning Moment of Zen, Mossy Boulders, Soothing Sounds, Streams, Water Garden, Waterfall Video, Wild Ferns
I got out in the gardens a little bit yesterday. It was such a beautiful day! Warm-ish and sunny, it strangely felt like a breezy Spring day… The soil is so soft from all the rain & warm temps & the robins and other birds were pulling worms 🐛 out of the ground and singing.
The birds were out in force feasting on seeds, berries & worms 🐛
I took this short video from above one of my Waterfalls looking down the stream as it flows away.
“I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December
A magical thing
And sweet to remember.”
“We are nearer to Spring
Than we were in September,
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.”
~ Oliver Herford.
Have a a great day!
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Beautiful, Early Snow ❄️ A Blessing For The Gardener | Carters Nursery, Pond & Patio | Jackson, Tennessee
November 15, 2018, 7:30 am
Filed under: Family time, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi, Koi Ponds, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Pondless Waterfalls, Videos, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: Benefits of Snow, Bird Feeders, Birds, Day Off, Early Snow, Garden Photography, Happy Thanksgiving, Nature Photo's, Snow Day, Snowy waterfall, Your Welcome
Filed under: Family time, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi, Koi Ponds, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Pondless Waterfalls, Videos, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: Benefits of Snow, Bird Feeders, Birds, Day Off, Early Snow, Garden Photography, Happy Thanksgiving, Nature Photo's, Snow Day, Snowy waterfall, Your Welcome
Our first snow ❄️ came a bit early this year! Pre-Thanksgiving snow is a rareity in the South for sure 😊 But don’t let it get you down! I try to enjoy the blessings and the opportunity’s as they come!
A snowy landscape is Beautiful! Get out and😊
Snow is very beneficial for our gardens too! Just a few things that snow does –
- Snow brings nutrients to the soil! (Free Fertilizer!) – Nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur & more are captured in the snowfall and are then slowly released into the soil as it melts.
- Snow ❄️ is a wonderful blanket that insulates and protects the soil and many plants from freezing damage.
- Snow helps to recharge our groundwater!
- Snow gives US a break from the garden too😇
Snowy weather brings the birds to your feeders! They come all day to eat, to get a drink and even bathe. I LOVE to photograph birds in our landscape and at our feeders. | Carters Nursery, Pond & Patio | Jackson, TN
Enjoy this beautiful day while it lasts! We got an early taste of winter and for many of us, a day off 😉
Happy Pondering!
Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
Ph.# 731-424-2206
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How-To attract a variety of birds to your Water Feature | Carters Nursery, Pond & Patio | Jackson, TN
January 25, 2018, 1:16 pm
Filed under: Articles, Landscaping & Gardening, Outdoor Lifestyles, water garden | Tags: Bird Feeders, Birds, Birds and ponds, Feeding Birds
Filed under: Articles, Landscaping & Gardening, Outdoor Lifestyles, water garden | Tags: Bird Feeders, Birds, Birds and ponds, Feeding Birds
I LOVE to watch the birds bathe and drink from my pond! The water is like a magnet to birds and other wildlife. But if you really want to draw in the birds – you need to feed them 🙂 It’s easy! To attract a variety of birds to your backyard, put a assortment of feeders at various height’s and placements in your Landscape and watch them show up in numbers.
Platform feeders are great! You can use a wild bird feed mix OR just use black oil sunflower seeds. They ALL love them!
Black oil Sunflower seeds are great! Most birds LOVE them and if you buy in bulk they are very inexpensive.
I also love to feed the Gold Finches! They flock to our feeders and sometimes come in flocks that number in the dozens.
Gold finches are one of my favorites! Black thistle seed is their preferred food. If you put it out, they will come!
Even in the Winter when most of the plants are dormant, the birds are still here. They still visit our Ponds and Water Features to get a drink or bathe and if you feed them, they will put on a show.
Birds come all day long to get a drink and even bathe. Try setting up some feeders in your viewing area and watch them flock to the WATER!
I hope you enjoy feeding our little feathered friends as much as I do!
Happy Pondering!
Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
Ph# 731-424-2206
Attracting Birds and Butterflies to your Garden
February 2, 2009, 2:58 pm
Filed under: Articles | Tags: Beneficial Insects, Bird Feeders, Birds, Bluebirds, Butterflies, Butterfly Garden, Flowers, Gardening, Hummingbirds, Native Shrubs, Native Trees, Water Feature
Filed under: Articles | Tags: Beneficial Insects, Bird Feeders, Birds, Bluebirds, Butterflies, Butterfly Garden, Flowers, Gardening, Hummingbirds, Native Shrubs, Native Trees, Water Feature
Ornamental Gardening and ‘Backyard Living’ are at an all time high in popularity. It seems that everyone wants to get ‘outside’ and enjoy the simpler pleasures. Nothing is better to me than sitting in my backyard by my water garden and watching the birds and butterflies at play. Many different types of birds visit my garden on any given day and in the summertime the butterflies abound! They eat, play, nest and bathe… and in the process my family and I get to enjoy the gifts of nature.
Zebra Swallowtail nectaring on Milkweed.
Living and Working with Mother Nature
Like ALL living things, these beneficial creatures need certain basic things to live and prosper. This basic list is simple – food, water, shelter & places to raise young.
If you provide these things, you will see your new friends moving in almost overnight.
I want to walk you through a few simple things that you can do right away to increase the number of birds and butterflies in your landscape.
– Plant some native Trees, Shrubs and Flowers. Using the right plants will provide places for shelter, nesting and food & will add beauty to your landscape! The great thing is, many of the plants that shelter and feed the birds and butterflies are native plants. Most of these natives are long lived, drought hardy and insect and disease resistant.
Here are a few Low Maintenance Plant ideas for your landscape that the Birds and Butterflies will LOVE :
Trees
Washington Hawthorn
Staghorn Sumac
E. Red Cedar
Flowering Dogwood
Crabapple
Oak
Redbud
Magnolia
Persimmon
Bald Cyprus
Staghorn Sumac
E. Red Cedar
Flowering Dogwood
Crabapple
Oak
Redbud
Magnolia
Persimmon
Bald Cyprus
Perennials and Shrubs
Jo Pye Weed
Butterfly Bush
Butterfly Bush
Butterfly Milkweed
Coneflower
Bee Balm
English Lavender
Lilac
Blueberry
Hollyhock
American Holly
Blackberry
Coneflower
Bee Balm
English Lavender
Lilac
Blueberry
Hollyhock
American Holly
Blackberry
– Put in a Water Feature. Water is the ‘Stuff of Life’! We must ALL have water to live. Your water feature can be as simple as a bird bath or as large as a custom Pondless Waterfall, Water Garden or Rainwater Harvesting Feature. The main thing to remember is birds like shallow water for bathing and drinking (2″ to 4″). Think about your overall Landscape Design and get some water in the mix!
Your kids will really engage with a Water Garden.
– Put up some Feeders. Putting up a few feeders will almost immediately draw in some new visitors. Platform feeder are great for black oil sunflower seeds, fruit, bread, nuts and more. Tube feeders and socks are great for Black Thistle ( A Finches Favorite). A large hopper type feeder is great for general feeding and can be filled every few days with an inexpensive song bird mix. Suet feeders are great and you can hang or mount them almost anywhere. AND don’t forget the Hummingbirds! In the Spring and Summer season I have 6 Hummingbird feeders going constantly. I have to fill them everyday ! There are even Butterfly feeders that you can put nectar and fresh fruit in to attract and feed butterflies.
Spread your feeders out a bit around your outdoor living/viewing area. It will give you multiple viewing opportunities and it will give the birds a bit of room to move around. I have over a dozen feeders up at any given time and I just LOVE them!
– Put up some Bird and Butterfly Houses. Some birds require housing to get their attention! Bluebirds and Martins are at the top of the list. Not only do these birds require housing, they are real particular on the placement, color and construction of these houses.
– Martins like to be on a high pole ( 10′ to 20′ high ) in an open area, with no high trees within 40′ to 60′ from the their house! They like their houses painted White too!
– Bluebirds like to be 4′ to 5′ above the ground with a 1 ½” hole for a door! They also like open areas within view of their perch for easy hunting and feeding.
If you get it right, you will be blessed with some AWESOME birds that will eat their weight in insects and will thrill you daily with their beauty and grace.
And don’t’ forget the Butterflies! A butterfly house makes for a great conversation piece and is a really unique addition to your garden.
– Think Green !
Want to help your environment and make your little critters healthier and happier? Think Organic! Pesticides and other garden chemicals are VERY harmful to Birds and Beneficial Insects! It’s not easy being green, BUT it’s not that hard either. Try to use some organic alternatives like Neem Oil, Insecticidal Soap, Dormant Oil and Non-Chemical fertilizers. You will notice a difference in the quality of your garden AND in the quality of your life! I guarantee it!
You Can Do It !
Enjoying the abundance of nature is Awesome and it’s not all that difficult! In fact, if you do some of these things you will see an immediate increase in the number of birds, Butterflies and beneficial insects in your landscape. These beneficial creatures will make your flowers more beautiful, your vegetables more productive and your Life more Abundant !
Here’s to the ‘Life Abundant’ !
Mark Carter
