A Peaceful Time Of Year

Our temperatures have been gradually getting cooler and we've had more rain. The Cliff Swallows and Redwing Blackbirds have disappeared, the Starlings are flocking and the Goldfinches suddenly seem to be everywhere. Blue and Remy continue to spend their days in the corral. I dare not let them out until almost all the green grass is gone lest they get laminitis (founder) again:

But they seem content, and all the extra handling they've gotten has them behaving beautifully:

The cattle are fat and contented, though the flies are a persistent problem:

Little Ruby is growing rapidly but Scarlett, her mom, is still swollen with more milk than the little one can drink. That won't last, though, as Ruby grows and wants more milk:

I planted Armenian Basket Flower seeds this spring but none came up. I waited a long time for them, then bought some half price Red Hot Poker roots to replace them. The four Red Hot Pokers came up, although I worried that they weren't hardy enough to endure our winters. Then one day I said, "Wait a minute - those aren't Red Hot Poker leaves." I looked online and discovered they were Armenian Basket Flower (AKA Giant Yellow Knapweed) leaves after all. Four of them were growing and one now seems to be sending up a flower stalk:

Some neighbors came to collect all my windfall apples (that 55 gallon drum was almost full, as were a number of pails and coolers). They will feed them to their pigs:

Flowers are almost done for the year, but I managed to put together three vases full to bring to church on Sunday. This one included mini-sunflowers, pink Rose Mallows and Tree Hydrangeas:

All sunflowers, but various colors. Someone from church had a death in the family the previous night, so these flowers went to him after the service:

Peony leaves (turning autumn red), various colors of Yarrow, blue Delphinium and Rugosa roses:

These baby fantail pigeons were not siblings, but they had found each other, established a friendship and slept together in a nest. I found it heart warming:

The flock is now so large that I will have to sell some as soon as the babies are all on their own:

Birds And Flowers

The two baby fantail pigeons, born in the nest on the crowded ledge, are doing fine and growing rapidly:

Another baby was born in a cake pan nest on a bottom shelf, but kept jumping out. Its parents keep feeding it anyway and I keep putting it back in the cake pan:

The little bantam hens continue to ignore their xylophone, but then I guess when I ordered baby chicks, I forgot to specify the musical variety :

Nevertheless, they seem both happy and healthy:

I've been bringing vases of flowers to church, but one Sunday all I seemed to have were yellow Asiatic Lilies. I put a bunch of them in a red vase and took them with me:

And I began buying leftover perennials on sale at local stores. Some of my purchases included these two Delphiniums and two Veronicas (often called Speedwells):

And these two Echinaceas. All of these plants are supposed to be hardy down to -40 F:

In the place where my Armenian Basket Flower seeds never came up, I put some half priced Red Hot Poker roots. Now I don't know for sure if these are them or weeds. I'm guessing they are the Red Hot Pokers, but they will probably not survive our cold winters. Maybe I can dig them up and replant them in the spring if that's what they turn out to be:

The sunflowers are growing so fast that this picture is already out of date. I can almost see the increase in height each day when I walk past this row:

A closeup of the Veronica flowers:

And a closeup of the two colors of Delphinium:

And then another one of the six baby roses began to bloom, and it was extraordinary. This is the Emily Carr variety, a continuous bloomer and Zone 3 hardy:

Gardening Gone Gonzo

All of my spring planting was finally finished, and the spot where I removed the big stump (well, most of it) has been a great spot to plant things:

 And what did I plant there? Oriental Poppies, Bachelor's Buttons, Yarrow, Chives, New York Asters, Globe Thistle and Gaillardia:

 The big stretch of garden I prepared along the dog fence has also been planted:

 I broke it up into sections to help me keep track of what's there. From left to right are last year's day lilies, this year's day lilies, Begonias/lilies/Peonies, Sunflowers (four varieties) and Armenian Basket Flowers:

The two new Bleeding Heart plants are blooming extravagantly:

 And because they did so well, I also planted Morning Glories there also:

 I had no trellis to use for the Morning Glories, so I put tomato cages there. If they grow more than that - well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it:

 And while planting the Morning Glories, I found a mutant Bedstraw plant with variegated leaves. I find such sports to be fun and interesting:

The two Flowering Crab trees and Golden Delicious apple trees put on a spectacular display, then faded away:

I put branches from the pink Prairie Rose flowering crab and Lilac blossoms in a vase to bring to church. In another vase, I put the common weed, Yellow Rocket. It is also called Winter Cress and is a species of wild Mustard:

 The Lilacs were great this year, but now I'll have to wait another year to see and smell them again:

Dreams Of Springtime - Part 1

I think I've gone seriously overboard this year in anticipation of spring planting. I have enough seed cups for 144 new plants:

And these are some of the seeds I have on hand to plant. First, Armenian Basket Flower, also known as Yellow Knapweed:

 Asters, New York Mix. I know just where to plant these because the wild blue New York Asters grow like crazy here:

 Chives. I used to grow these at a former farm and loved them, both for flavoring and for their flowers:

 Gaillardia or Blanket Flowers, Arizona Apricot:

 Gaillardia or Blanket Flowers, Arizona Sunset:

 Gaillardia or Blanket Flowers , Red Shades:

 Globe Thistle, Blue Glow. Alas, I've already tried three times to grow Globe Thistles - but I saw the seeds for sale and decided to try once more:

 These are Rose Mallow seed pods from my own plants. I intend to try getting the seeds to grow:

 Morning Glory, Carnivale Di Venezi:

 Oriental Poppy, mixed colors. My mother used to have a few of these and I would like to have a few also, with which to remember her:

And I've ordered four varieties of Sunflower, all of them quick growing and good for cut flowers:

Pastiche:

Red Wave:

Cherry Rose: