Basket Case...

We have two hooks out front for hanging baskets. Last spring the flowers we put out end up lasting until we replaced them with Christmas baskets. And even then we put them in the backyard and though they didn't bloom at all over the winter they stayed pretty green. Granted it was an incredibly mild winter but still, that's a good amount of mileage for hanging baskets.

Often I replace the flowers in the planters and baskets three or even four times during the year. Each season has flowers that do well and flowers that don't. But those baskets last year were amazing.

So I found some like them for this year. The change is a bigger mix of colors instead of just one. Not that I was mad at purple flowers all year, but I do love a variety. My hope was that they would also last all spring, summer and fall.

Then we got hit with STORMS last week. Big wind, hail, bucketing rain. It came in overnight and was so loud it woke me up. I told Brent if I had realized it was going to be bad like that I would have brought all of my planters up under cover. But instead they all got beat to heck.

Yesterday while we were out doing the weekly gardening one of the things I wanted to do was take a look at the damage and see if I thought I could salvage them. Maybe some trimming and a little extra fertilizer to bring everything back. I moved one vine of flowers to look at the damage and saw that they had filled the basket with straw for some reason. As my brain was trying to process why, a bird flew out and dive bombed my head before moving to the railing to yell at me.

Oh. The basket hadn't come with straw, that came later. There is a nest in the basket. And Mom or Dad is now PISSED at me. Got it.

Last year some of you might remember they built a nest in the big box planter we used to have outfront. We thought it was a terrible place for a nest. Too close to the ground in a neighborhood with cats, racoons, foxes and coyotes. Sadly we were right. None of the babies made it to adulthood. This is a much better place for a nest.

Assuming I didn't scare them off yesterday.

It's off the ground. It's a little protected from the elements. It's not a bad choice.

But for my flowers? Terrible choice. I won't be watering or fertilizing as long as there is a nest there. Most likely that basket will be good and dead by the time the birds leave. But...if everything works out well there will be birds to leave the nest. So that's a good thing.

It might not have been our plan for the basket but we aren't mad about it.

There's definitely a lesson in there someplace for changing perspective when situations change. And I'm sure it's a good one.

But for now I'll just look out the window and hope the birds come back to the nest and we get babies that become adults this year.