An Abundance Of Summer Flowers

Two of the four Daylilies I planted last year: Chicago Arnie's Choice on the left and Pink Charm on the right:

And my multicolored Yarrow:

From what I've seen, I've come to believe that the various colors of cultivated Yarrow are grown together and they cross pollinate. That strategy seems to lead to a fascinating array of colors and patterns:

Remember the hardy baby climbing rose I planted beneath the frame which used to hold the farm sign? It is a variety called Darlow's Enigma and has begun to bloom, apparently happy in its new home:

When all the Asiatic Lilies stopped blooming for the year, these two mystery lilies appeared. I don't know what kind they are, but apparently not Asiatic Lilies. They were pretty but didn't last long:

Another of last year's Daylilies, this one called the Frans Hals:

The Rugosa roses have been blooming all summer long, pushing through the fence and filling the air by my back door with their perfume:

And the pale pink hardy rose I planted last year, called Morden Blush, is blooming heavily:

It's relative and neighbor, the Morden Sunrise, is almost as floriferous and twice as colorful:

The newly planted baby rose, called Sevillana, has so many flowers that I worry it won't have enough energy for roots and leaves. The pink and white rose just below it is called Watercolors Home Run:

The Sunflowers have outdone themselves, some of them now over eight feet tall and blooming rather heavily, though the flowers don't show much in this picture. It has certainly been a summer of flowers this year!

Everything's Coming Up Flowers!

The Iris finished blooming a long time ago, and then the yellow Asiatic Lilies began to bloom. When they were through, the orange Asiatic Lilies bloomed - and then the red lilies took over - along with the Blue Sea Holly:

 The red lilies are taller than the orange, which are taller than the yellow. Perhaps that's why they bloomed in the order they did:

 They made a spectacular display:

 And the Blue Sea Holly is putting on quite a show:

The pink Yarrow was the first to bloom, but then the red also began to bloom:

 And my new Heliopsis is also blooming (with purple Veronica on one side of it and Chives on the other side):

 The Lupine seedlings (on the left) are still babies, but the new Gloriosa Daisy is spectacular:

 And then the Cherry Rose Sunflowers began to bloom:

I planted six assorted Yarrow plants, but I seemed to be getting multiple colors out of each pot I planted. I think the nursery scattered seed in the pots and I actually got more than one plant, therefore more than one color, in each pot. At any rate, they look like they may become one of the best, most reliable, most hardy flowers on the property:

 Some more cut flowers I took to church - This one included red and orange Asiatic Lilies, Gloriosa Daisies and white (wild) Bouncing Bet:

 A second vase included old fashioned roses, pink and red Yarrow, and white (wild) Bouncing Bet:

Around The Farm

Summer is a busy time. Remy has mostly been a good boy, staying in his corral and not causing trouble except sometimes when he balks about returning to the barn in the evening. I don't think he objects to the barn, but sometimes freaks out when we walk through the opening in the electric fence. He doesn't mind going through in the other direction and he doesn't mind if I tie him to a fence post for a minute before leading him through the opening. I have no idea why that helps, but it does:

 Blue is more easily frightened but is also more compliant, so he's always (well, almost always) a good boy:

 They still get lots of hay in their corral and it's time for me to start worrying about the Box Elder tree in their yard, which is covered with (poisonous) seeds. When they start dropping, the horsey boys will have to stay in the barn until it is safe in their corral again:

The Red Poll herd makes frequent trips from the pasture in to the barn because that's where the stock tank is located:

 But mostly they eat grass and lounge around the pasture, always swatting at the pesky flies:

 Violet is timid and easily frightened, despite her large size:

Indoors, Sammy and Bugsy relaxed on one of the yoga mats:

 Clover, Fergus and Daphne napped on the big green floor pillow:

 Daisy hopped up on a chair and rolled over, begging me to pet her. I rubbed her cheeks, which she likes, because I know better than to rub her belly:

Flowers, both wild and cultivated, are blooming prolifically, and I try to bring a vase full of them to church each Sunday. Last week I brought three vases. This one included orange Asiatic Lilies, Blue Sea Holly, wild Cattails, a Ninebark branch with burgundy colored leaves, and white (wild) Bouncing Bet:

 This vase had two colors of Asiatic Lilies, purple Veronica, pink Yarrow and yellow (wild) St. Johnswort:

 This vase contained two kinds of roses, orange Echinacea and white (wild) Bouncing Bet:

Its All About The Flowers And Plants

It's summer flower season, and the extra rainy spring and extra hot summer have helped things bloom. My little rock garden passed beyond Iris season long ago and now, in midsummer, the yellow Asiatic Lilies boomed on the south side of the little garden:

Orange Asiatic Lilies and Blue Sea Holly bloomed on the south side of the garden:

I was mowing the lawn when I noticed seedlings springing up around the productive plum tree. I mowed right over some of them, then thought better of it:

I went into the barn and got some bright yellow tent stakes to mark the little seedlings. I may need to select a couple of seedlings and move them, but for now at least, there are six plum seedlings which are safe:

And the mama tree is producing plums as she does every year:

The sunflowers I planted, at least the tallest ones, began producing buds and will soon be blooming:

The six multicolored Yarrow I planted produced buds and the first flowers to open were pink. I don't yet know what other colors I'll get, but it looks like the next ones will be red:

 The baby Carefree Delight rose is blooming freely:

And so is the Emily Carr rose:

 The little Sevillana rose has almost as many flowers as leaves:

 The Morden Sunrise rose is continuing to bloom:

 The first Daylily to bloom and so far the only one, is the Chicago Arnie's Choice. All in all, there are a lot of flowers blooming around the farm house, and the little plum seedlings are a bonus:

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: