Garden Decor, Bird Feeders and Bulbs

What's in the garden decor and birds section

This section covers the part of a yard you look at from the porch. It's grouped the way you'd shop: the birds first, then the things that make noise and catch the light, then the bulbs and tools and hoses that keep it going. Each group below links to its pages, and the cards above show every type page that's open now.

Every page in Garden & Birds follows the same rule. A spec in a table comes from the maker or the listing. If neither says it, the cell shows a dash. Nobody here claims to have hung, filled or planted the products listed. The opinions are about kinds of things, like where to put a feeder pole, and each one comes with a reason you can check.

Birds and feeders

Feeding birds is a habit, not a purchase. The feeder is the cheap part. The seed, the cleaning and the spot you choose are where the years go.

• Bird feeders: tube, hopper, platform and window styles, sorted by what the listing says each one holds
• Bird seed: the seed decides who comes to dinner more than the feeder does
• Suet feeders: cages for suet cakes, a fat-based bird food
• "Squirrel-proof" bird feeders: feeders whose listing makes that claim, with weight-activated perches, cages or baffles
• Hummingbird feeders: sugar-water feeders sorted by port count and capacity from the listing
• Heated bird baths and the list of best heated bird baths: open water in a freeze
• Bird feeder cameras and the best bird feeder cameras: feeders with a camera built in or mounted on

Here's the one opinion on this page. "Squirrel-proof" is a listing claim, not a law of nature. A baffle and where you put the pole do more than the word on the box. Baffle makers print the spacing they want from roofs, fences, branches and the ground. Follow it, and almost any feeder does better. Ignore it, and even a caged feeder becomes a puzzle box with a prize inside.

The Admiral and the pole that moved

I'll tell you how I learned that. A gray squirrel I call the Admiral has beaten two pole baffles at the feeder by our porch steps. He didn't climb past them. He didn't have to. He jumped from the porch roof and skipped the pole altogether.

So I read the baffle maker's spacing instructions, all of them, and moved the pole out into the lawn, away from the roof edge. Then I logged the first squirrel-free week in my feeder notebook, with the date underlined twice.

The Admiral now forages on the grass under the feeder for whatever the other birds drop. I respect him. I don't feed him on purpose. And I've stopped believing any feeder's name before I've checked its placement.

Ken's take, when he saw the new spot: "A feeder pole is a fence post with a job. Set it plumb, set it deep, and keep it away from anything a squirrel can launch from." He's a finish carpenter. Everything is a fence post to him eventually.

Clean feeders and baths on a schedule

Dirty feeders and old water can spread disease among birds. Clemson's Home & Garden Information Center says to clean seed feeders at least every two weeks, more often after rain or heavy use, and to refresh hummingbird sugar water about twice a week, more in hot weather. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources adds a weekly scrub and fresh water for bird baths. Both say to dry feeders fully before you refill them, and to sweep up spilled seed underneath.

Wear gloves when you clean, and wash your hands after. If you see sick birds at your feeder, take it down and tell your state wildlife agency.

Wind chimes and garden decor

Garden decor is the big, loose category: wind chimes, statues, gazing balls, wind spinners, weathervanes and metal or terracotta yard art. It's also the part of the section that sells to people who don't garden at all. That's fine. A porch can be a garden of one.

• Wind chimes: sorted by tube count and length where the listing gives them, because size decides how loud and how low a chime sounds
• Memorial wind chimes: chimes made for remembrance, on a quiet page of their own

Before you buy a long chime, it's fair to ask whose window it will face. On a small lot, a deep chime gets heard next door too.

Chimes are also one of the most common garden gifts, especially around Mother's Day. A chime makes a fair gift for someone with a porch and patient neighbors. For a wider spread, see gifts for gardeners and outdoor gifts.

Patio decor and backyard decor sit in this group too: solar pieces, terracotta pots and sculptures, metal yard art. Pick decor for the view you actually have. A gazing ball where nobody walks is a very shiny secret.

Flower bulbs

Fall is bulb time, and this group is the busiest part of the section from September to December.

• Tulip bulbs: bloom season and height only as the seller lists them
• Spring bulbs: tulips, daffodils, crocus, hyacinths and alliums, planted in fall
• Amaryllis bulbs and waxed amaryllis bulbs: indoor winter bloomers, often sold as gifts
• Paperwhite bulbs: forced indoors in a pot or a bowl of pebbles

Fall bulb planting starts when the soil cools, not when the store rack fills up. NC State Extension's rule is to plant spring-flowering bulbs once the soil drops below 60°F. Iowa State University Extension says they can go in as late as December if the ground isn't frozen. The guides to when to plant tulip bulbs, how to plant tulip bulbs and how to care for amaryllis cover the details.

Garden tools, hoses and watering

The working end of the section. These pages open through the year, so some are still in the queue.

• Hand tools and pruners: trowels, hand cultivators, bulb planters, pruning shears, loppers, rakes and hoes. Blade type, cutting capacity and handle length come from the maker.
• Hoses and reels: garden hoses by length and material, hose nozzles, hose reels and timers. Length and diameter are the specs that decide whether a hose reaches the far bed and how much water it carries.
• Watering: watering cans, sprinklers, soaker hoses and drip kits.

If you're starting from nothing, you don't need the whole aisle. A trowel, a pair of bypass pruners, a hose long enough to reach the far bed and a watering can will carry most small yards through a first year. Add a hand cultivator when the weeds introduce themselves, and a bulb planter if fall is your planting season. Everything else can wait until you know what you actually do out there.

Field note: a hose that's 10 feet short of the far bed will spend its whole life being stretched. Measure from the spigot along the path you'll walk, not across the lawn as the bird flies.

Wheelbarrows, carts and rain barrels

Two groups that save your back and your water bill.

• Wheelbarrows and garden carts: one wheel or two, steel or plastic tub, air-filled or flat-free tires. A pneumatic tire is air-filled and rides softer. A flat-free tire is solid and never needs a pump. Pick by what you haul and how often.
• Rain barrels: barrels, stands and downspout diverters. A diverter is a downspout fitting that sends rainwater into the barrel and lets the rest run past when it's full. Capacity and whether a barrel has an overflow port come from the listing.

How to read a garden listing

A few things I check on every garden listing before it gets near a table.

1. The plain facts. Capacity, port count, tube length, bulb size, hose length. If a listing doesn't give them, our table shows a dash.
2. The claim words. "Squirrel-proof," "weatherproof," "deer resistant" and "rust-proof" appear on our pages only when the maker says it about that exact model. We don't add them.
3. The zone or season. For bulbs and plants, the seller's zone range and bloom season. Then check your own zone on the USDA map by ZIP code.
4. The cleaning. For anything that holds seed, nectar or water, how it comes apart. A feeder you can't take apart is a feeder you won't clean.

That last one matters more than any color or shape. Look it up, then hang it.