Not All Bird Houses Look Like People Houses
Migrant songbirds began arriving last month and are busy looking for homes to raise families. Not all birds build nests; some ferret out holes in trees, or crevices in buildings, or bird houses.
Bird houses don’t need to look like people houses; any protected place will suit many birds. The practice of attracting birds to yards dates to colonial times. Birds control insect populations. To attract martins and other insect-eaters, 18th-century tavernkeepers installed jars or bottles - often ceramic - near windows and doors.
Reproduction bird bottles are gaining a following.
One source for traditional ceramic bottles is Colonial Williamsburg. Bird bottles are available for $20.45 (including postage) from: Colonial Williamsburg, PO Box 3532, Williamsburg, VA 23187-3532; or call (800) 446-9240.
Updates: In March, we noted the meetings of the new Gardeners of Cheney Club. The club has already outgrown its meeting place; the group now meets the second Tuesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. at the Cheney Fire Department, 611 Fourth.
The Gardeners of Spokane Club called to remind us they meet the third Thursday of every month.
The focus of the meeting next Thursday will be roses. Meetings are at 7:30 p.m. at the Northeast Neighborhood Center, 4001 N. Cook.
Young gardeners: Last fall, more than 30 third-graders at Sagle Elementary School in Sagle, Idaho, planted a bulf garden. Now, they’re enjoying the results.
Their teachers - Betty Collins and Steve Guthrie - were awarded a grant last fall: 252 Dutch bulbs from the Mailorder Association of Nurseries.
The kids planted tulips, crocus, daffodils and hyacinths in a garden outside their classrooms. As of this week, the kids report the crocus and one daffodil are blooming.
The association gave 160 grants this year and more than 27,000 school children participated in the program. This year 200 grants will be awarded.
For entry information, contact “Kids Growing With Dutch Bulbs” Grant Program, Mailorder Association of Nurseries, PO Box 2129, Columbia, MD 21045; or call (410) 730-9713.
This just in: Women are more methodical about household cleaning than men, according to a survey by Black & Decker.
Almost half the women surveyed clean room-to-room, meaning they clean one entire room before moving to the next room. Another 23 percent combine room-to-room cleaning with task-to-task cleaning - they clean entire rooms but when mopping the kitchen, for example, they also mop the bathroom. Less than a quarter of the females clean randomly.
About a third of the men clean with no sequence or method, putting them in a catagory Black & Decker calls stream-of-consciousness cleaners.