Mulberries and whatnot

It turns out there are quite a few red mulberry trees in the yard, all of them female, and thus bearing fruit. What is equally certain is that the wildlife has known about this for much longer than me. Never having seen any mulberries on them, I had assumed they were male trees. Nope. They're just getting picked completely clean. I did a bit of research and it seems that they propagate pretty well by cutting, so I may give that a shot later in the summer.

The blackberry brambles are also blooming like crazy now. They should be spectacular by late June. Hopefully the birds will be too full of mulberries to care.

A Baltimore Oriole stopped by the feeder out front, just long enough for me to get a look before moving on. I stuck a sliced orange out there to see if he'd come back, but nothing so far. Here I thought the Indigo Bunting that hung around one day was going to be the high point, but no! The hummingbirds have also begun staking out the feeders in the front and the back. Begun, the nectar wars have.

Still nothing in the swarm traps, but it's early yet. The weather's been on the coolish/dampish side the last week or two and the clover is just starting to bloom hard, so maybe another few weeks to go.