The Fullness Of Springtime

The north country may seem as if it's all snow and cold, but springtime and summer are glorious. My PJM Rhododendron began to drop its flowers but the old fashioned Iris right behind it were getting ready to bloom:

I found these wonderful wildflowers, called Bird's-Eye Speedwell, in my lawn:

They are showy and hard to miss:

Growing all around it was its miniature relative, Thyme-Leaved Speedwell:

My red Flowering Crab, which is intertwined with a wild Golden Delicious apple, put forth buds:


So I clipped some off, put them in a vase and took them to church:

The Lilacs not only began to open, but also to perfume the yard. Some of them also went to church:

The little chickens are happy and healthy:

And very friendly:

The first apple in the grove to bloom was the tree in the corner, next to the power pole:

Apple blossoms are surely one of the greatest joys of life on the farm:

And then the whole grove began to bloom. I took this photo from inside the horses' corral. The farm house is on the other side of the grove:

The State Of The Perennials

I took a walk around the yard to see how the perennials I'd planted were doing. The Blue Moon hardy Wisteria was awake and putting out leaves. It's planted at the base of a power pole, which I hope it will grow up on:

 The only plant I lost over the winter was a Mandarin Honeysuckle, so I ordered another one. It's still brand new, but already looking better than the one I planted last year:

Last year I planted a red Hydrangea and had some doubts if it would live through the winter. It did, however, and leaves began emerging this spring. Will I see flowers this season? It would be nice:

 My little rock garden is filled with lilies, iris, tulips and a few oddball perennials I planted last year. They all seem to be growing wildly, but especially the Asiatic Lilies. In fact, they seem to be reproducing and may soon take over the whole area:

 A favorite wildflower which grows in the lawn is Birds-Eye Speedwell, a colorful little plant with flowers about the size of small violets:

They are  adaptable plants, growing taller if not mowed but OK with growing shorter if mowed:

And a related wild species, the much smaller Thyme-Leaved Speedwell, growing all over my lawn:

 Thyme-Leaved Speedwell is so tiny that it's easily overlooked. Both species of Speedwell are members of the Snapdragon family:

 One of the two Ninebark bushes I planted last year is doing extraordinarily well, and showing the brilliant leaf colors it is noted for. The other Ninebark, which got a fungus last year, is up and colorful, but still struggling (that's it in the little fence behind the bigger one):

The old fashioned yellow and purple iris are beginning to bud, so I'll soon have them to look at. They were here when I moved in but seem to be doing better because of the compost I've added to the soil:

 You may recall that I ordered 14 fancy Day Lilies from an online nursery which were on sale because the varieties were discontinued. They sent extra, presumably because they were on sale and they wanted to get rid of them. All of them are growing. I'm keeping them more or less weeded for now, but when they grow up, they'll have to hold their own against that tall grass behind them:

Summer Shifts Into High Gear

The little hens seem happy enough in their room inside the barn. They'd like to go outdoors, but only because they don't realize the danger from foxes:

 The fantail pigeons are doing well but their room developed a mouse problem. I set bait trays underneath little baskets. The mice can get in, but the pigeons can't:

 The Bush Cherries are developing underneath the bird mesh. So far, it seems to be keeping the birds out:

 We had a beautiful, orange full moon but it was setting by the time I got my camera out. I took four photos in rapid succession and the rapidly setting moon was lower in each successive picture:

 Birds-Eye Speedwell is blooming all along the fence line in the south field:

 I had to drive the tractor along the fence line, searching for shorts in the electric fence. The big payoff was the stunning beauty in the far southern field, such as this tableau of Buttercups and Ragged Robin in bloom:

 And this miniature wildflower. It baffled me, but I finally decided that it was probably just a small version of Northern Bedstraw:

 And while I was in the far southern field, I stopped at the stone wall which separates the fields and looked back toward the house and barn:

 Closer to the barn, I found these Blue-Eyed Grass flowers. Most years they are quite common so I suspect I'll soon be seeing lots of them. This was the first wildflower my mother taught us to find in our childhood field guide and I still remember it well:

 The Rugosa Roses began blooming in June:

 Alas, a yearly chore is spraying weed killer along the fence lines to prevent the weeds and grasses from growing up and shorting out the fence. I have a 40 gallon sprayer, powered by the tractor, to perform this job. I also have to bush hog along the outside perimeter of the fence every year, but I haven't done that yet:

 One big problem is the proliferation of Thistle plants. They grow - well, like weeds - and are inedible and nightmarish to get rid of. A dose of weed killer, however, turned them into this within 24 hours:

Springtime In The Country - Part 1

It wasn't long ago that I was having trouble finding things to post on this blog. Then springtime arrived and now I can barely keep up with it. The giant old Lilac bush in front of the house bloomed less than usual, but enough to perfume the whole yard:

And the fellow up the road once again began bringing his grass clippings for my cows to eat:

Jasmine and Remy were the first to arrive at the grass clippings. We pulled the wagon away and then the other cows arrived, pushing Remy away from his easy grass dinner (not that there wasn't plenty of grass growing everywhere):

I rolled the bale feeder to the front of the barn, hoping the local welder would do some repairs on it. I called him but haven't yet heard back:

All the other Daffodils were gone when these pure white ones burst into bloom. I don't remember them from previous years, but surely they must have been blooming every year:

And my "lawn" is largely Dandelions and Wild Strawberries in some places:

This is why I love Dandelions. They are beautiful, hardy and edible:

There are three large, old Lilac bushes around the house with a few more wild seedlings started:

They are the old fashioned, super hardy, wonderfully scented kind, just like your grandmother used to love:

I came across these tiny flowers while mowing the lawn. I remembered them from last year but couldn't remember what they were called:

So I took a closeup of one and used my field guide to identify it. It's Birds-Eye Speedwell, a member of the Snapdragon family. They are sure tiny, but exquisite:

More Photos From Around The Farm

Spring finally arrived, and the pear tree was the first to blossom. But spring was short lived and lurched suddenly into summertime. Most of the flowers quickly dropped their petals to the ground. I'll have to wait and see what that portends for fruit production:

The cherry tree only produces fruit every couple of years but it produced blossoms this year. That's a hopeful sign:

And the bigger of the two new plum trees bloomed for several weeks. Not only was it beautiful, but I expect to have lots of plums this year. I also have a smaller plum tree and apricot which flowered sparsely for the first time this year. I can't tell which of those two is which, but I'll figure it out when they produce fruit this autumn:

I was inside the barn one morning when an Eastern Meadowlark landed on a nearby fence post and began singing. Not wanting to frighten it away, I stayed where I was and used my zoom lens to get a photo. I snapped many pictures, but this was the only one (just barely) good enough to keep:

The Daffodils were much delayed and modest in their blooming this year, but I noticed a new variety. These buttery yellow, double flowers put in an appearance. They may have bloomed previous springs, but this year was the first time I really noticed them:

Birds built a large nest in the cedar tree just outside my door and were pooping all over everything. It was only a matter of time before they pooped on me. The dogs were tracking through it. Worse, a baby had fallen out of the nest a couple of days earlier and I found it dead on my porch. Judging by the size of the dead baby bird, I figured the fledglings were out of the nest soon thereafter. I used a long board to push the nest out of the tree while two adult Grackles screamed at me. But I knew there were no eggs or babies in it:

Then I set out to mow the lawn, using the riding mower. When I got to the lawn on the other side of the apple trees, I saw a baby Grackle in the grass with its parents flying around overhead. I think I spotted its sibling, already flying. I switched to mowing on the other side of the house and then ate lunch. Later, when I went back, both the babies and their parents were nowhere to be seen:


The Bush Cherry bloomed copiously this year. It also is a new planting and this will be my first taste of a Bush Cherry. I hope they're good. At least they'll be easier to pick:

The apple trees began budding on a few trees:

And then began opening into flowers. Alas, our late spring and early summer weather meant a short blooming season:

One tree on the far end of the property, however, was in full bloom. This tree was probably a wild seedling but it produces lots of early apples. Oddly, its buds and flowers have very little pink in them. They're almost pure white:

While mowing the lawn, I kept seeing these tiny blue flowers in the grass. I snapped a picture and then looked them up in my field guide later in the day. They were Birds-Eye Speedwell, a member of the snapdragon family: