On the Art of Bird Bath Maintenance

One of the first things to do in any garden is to get a bird bath; a bird bath will bring you a lot of happiness, it will even bring you joy, a bird bath ensures that there will always be interesting visitors to your garden. But the thing to know about gardens is that you have to make it a desirable place to visit or your garden will remain a square of grass surrounded by a few flower beds; you need to bring some life to your garden, place a bird bath in the middle of the square of grass. Go to one of the big box stores and you will find bird baths in the garden centre department, they're all made in China and most will last a year or two before disintegrating, they're made of plaster with some kind of coating that disintegrates with time. I had about four bird baths before finding my current bird bath, it seems to be well made and I've had it for about four years.

One of the things about having a bird bath is that you will have different bird visitors depending on the time of year. I have many crows visit in the spring, not as many bird visitors during the summer, and in the fall I have many visitors, robins, sparrows, gold finches, blue jays, and others. In the fall there is a frenetic energy in the air, nesting has ended and some birds are about to fly south for the winter. Great excitement! I know that sparrows are here all winter but in late September they go a bit wild flying around together, having dust baths, and having a great time in the bird bath. I watch them from our dining room window, or sitting in our car in the MacDonald’s parking lot, or I might see gold finches eating seeds left on the cone flowers. This is one reason you shouldn't cut back your garden in fall, birds enjoy the remaining seeds on the flowers and it is one less thing to do before winter. Don't rake, bag, and discard the fallen leaves, it’s less work for you, just rake the leaves onto the flower beds and they will mulch your perennials and protect them from our harsh Canadian winter. These leaves will disintegrate in the spring and your plants will emerge from a bed of leaves stronger and healthier than you ever expected. If you really dislike the look of dead leaves in your garden, wait until after the last cold spell in the spring and then uncover some of your plants, but it's not necessary to do this. Last winter was one of the longest and coldest winters I have experienced, we all dread another winter like it. But none of my plants died during the winter, they were under a bed of leaves and a few bushes were wrapped with burlap, they also survived. And then the crows returned in April or May, like the welcome friends they are.