Installed the Birdhouse

I got a tall, sturdy shepherd's crook from Wild Birds Unlimited and on a still, quiet January afternoon I installed it in front of the fence and hung the decorative birdhouse.

It's not much to look at, but it's surprisingly better than the juniper I had there, trying to hide the long fence rather than simply bringing the eye forward with a focal point.

It's still an ugly brown vine and much too much of it in winter, but the birdhouse works to give me something to look at.

I have a plan to plant up the lower strip (and include the stump), and when the vine greens up and the plants come in this will be good.

It's too close to the fence and the vine will swallow it in summer. I need to move it out a bit.

Which will be easy enough to do. The pole went into the ground easily. I did have to install it between big irrigation main lines running there and thick hard vine roots. When I move it forward a bit I'll have the same concerns, but can find a spot to get it in.

I put two heavy rocks around it to stabilize it. 

The birdhouse is heavy and the pole is very tall, maybe 7 or 8 feet (and swivels on two tiny screws midway up) but it's straight enough and not too wobbly.

I like it.

I can see it from the living room, as part of a whole scene now that includes the lower patio with its brown urn, the birdbath, and then the birdhouse extending toward the garden. It's more cohesive.

The view of the fence from my bedroom is not impactful, it's just a little birdhouse and a fence. But it works in a quiet, unassuming way. 

It's something to see, and it breaks up the flat expanse of vine and fence well enough.

I removed the smaller shepherds crook with the plastic heart -- that was too much now with the new pole and decor. It wasn't expensive and in fact it came broken.

We'll see if the pole turns out to be sturdy enough in the wind. 

In any event, I do need to move it forward to be out away from the vine in full leaf, but may wait now til spring.