The End Of Summer

The Red Poll cattle are looking happy and healthy:

 Little Ruby has not yet had her ear tattoos but she seems to know I'm a suspicious character so she hides behind her mother, Scarlett:

 And Scarlett usually hustles her away when I get too close:

 Blue and Remy are doing fine, but their Box Elder tree will drop its poisonous seeds any day now, and I will have to lock the horses in the barn until I get the seeds all cleaned up:

I walked into the barn one morning and found the two boys together in the hay, head to head and looking cute. It's apparent how attached they are to each other in spite of their quibbling and mischief:

 The sunflowers are almost finished. I've cut the tops out of many of them and others are going to seed already:

 Another photo of a Monarch butterfly in the Frans Hals Daylilies. It's ironic that the only place I can get a photo of a Monarch is on flowers of the same color:

 The littlest sunflowers, barely 6" tall:

I put the fantail pigeons on Craigslist, offering to sell 20 out of 43 of them. Alas, I've had no response, even after cutting the price in half:

 I took three vases of flowers to church, possibly the last of the season. This vase contained three colors of fragrant roses (orange, dark red and magenta), smallish sunflowers and red Mountain Maple leaves from the side of the road:

Blue and white wild Asters plus Birch leaves, all from the side of the road:

 Various colors of sunflowers plus red Mountain Maple leaves and Cattails from the side of the road:

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:

A Local Greenhouse - Part 2

I was touring the greenhouses in tiny Winthrop, New York (See also Part 1, posted yesterday). I thought these were Begonias until I got home and noticed the sign in the photo. Then I learned that these were Double Impatiens:

These were Celosia and Geraniums:

Petunias galore:

I think these were Cosmos, but I never looked:

These, I remember, were Asters - but of a variety I've never seen before:

Snap Dragons:

And more Petunias:

Flowers of all kinds, in all kinds of colors:

I walked outside and then turned left at this display of rural kitsch:

And into the fourth and last greenhouse, where I was greeted by Joseph and Mary:

And more flowers of every color imaginable:

And of course the aroma of flowers was strong. They hadn't had the kind of perennials I was looking for, but I couldn't resist buying a couple of Double Begonias, just for fun. I paid for my new plants and brought them home to live with the seed trays and baby roses until I figured it was safe to plant them outdoors:

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: