Spring Has Become Summer

The cattle seem peaceful and happy. Both Rocket and Lucky are growing like wildfire. Rocket is sold and I have a deposit on him, but he hasn't yet been picked up:

The apple trees produced hardly any flowers this spring, but they are alive. Alas, the Bush Cherry which had done so well the last few years is completely dead. I now need to remove the frame around it and cut the dead bush down:

I was out in the south field, searching for the horses' muzzles one afternoon, when I saw this patch of Ragged Robin growing around a fence post. I thought it was a photo-worthy scene:

The cherry tree has produced some baby cherries:

And baby plums on the usually productive tree. I saw none on the second plum tree which bloomed for the first time this year:

Baby pears. The pear tree seems to be doing well:


One Sunday morning I collected some yellow and purple Iris, mixed them with Spirea branches and put them in a vase. I took them to church, then back home to sit on my kitchen counter:

Remy had shucked his muzzle and was running away from me when I took this photo. He had no intention of holding still while I put it back on. It was otherwise a pleasant scene:

The south field, filled with Buttercups and Ragged Robin:

And as I searched the fence line for the muzzles the horses had jettisoned, I snapped a picture of these Fleabane and Ragged Robin flowers:

The fence line runs behind an old stone wall, which presented me with a miniature woodland scene:

And Cow Vetch seems to be growing everywhere right now. June is a pleasant month except that there is so much work to do:

A Beautiful Time Of Year

It's such a lovely time of the year that it's easy to forget the rigors of winter. The pigeons have been cooing and making nests, but so far there have been no babies. This I take to be a blessing because if all those eggs hatched, I'd be inundated with pigeons. I don't think there is a big market for pigeons:

The Spirea bloomed gloriously but briefly. This was the last photo of it because a rain storm the next day caused the petals to begin turning brown and falling off:

The view from my back porch with the cows in the north field:

A Grackle atop the barn roof. In my college days, when I was a State Park Naturalist in Ohio, I had a baby Grackle named Smitty. He was so tame that he rode on my shoulder in the car and accompanied me on hikes. As you might imagine, the children loved him. One day, when it was almost autumn, a flock of Grackles landed in the hay field next to where my little camping trailer was parked. I never saw Smitty again, but think of him every time I see a Grackle:

The Rugosa Roses began to bloom in June:

And I kept hearing an odd birdsong which I couldn't identify. Then one morning I heard it coming from a wire, high above me. I recognized the bird as a Bobolink and used my zoom lens to take the best photos I could. They are a magnificent bird and now that I know they're here, I am seeing them all over:

Daisy Fleabane bloomed everywhere:

The homestead:

The old fashioned rose I rescued has continued to thrive:

Two other old fashioned roses didn't make it, but this one has been a winner:

I have only one Day Lily, and it is hiding in a clump of Peonies. I don't even notice that it's there except when it sends out yellow flowers (and buds which look like miniature bananas):

Ragged Robin and Buttercups are everywhere. The cows won't eat Buttercups, so they grow boldly and with impunity:

A Wildflower Afternoon At Beebe Hill

I had a day off in the middle of the week and it was very hot. I decided that I really needed to get out somewhere into the woods and take a hike - as long as it was a short hike. I chose my old favorite, Beebe Hill, just south of Albany in Columbia County. The dogs and I began hiking up an old service road with deep forests on each side but lots of sun and wildflowers along the road. I first stopped to photograph the abundant Butter-And-Eggs, Linaria vulgaris. It's an alien wildflower, but a common and lovely one:

We passed by Bartlett Pond and began ascending the hill:

The dogs were, of course, happy and excited. They ran and played and sniffed and had a grand time:

And then I encountered a patch of creamy pink trumpet flowers, a new species for me. I took several photos so that I could identify it when I got home:

I checked my Peterson's Field Guide, turning the pages slowly until I arrived at a picture of Spreading Dogbane, Apocynum androsaemifolium. It was a beautiful flower, striped on its interior with a deep rose color:

And there were, of course, lots of more common wildflowers such as this Daisy Fleabane, Erigeron annuus:

Another common and abundant wildflower was Common St. Johnswort, Hypericum perforatum:

And what hike would be complete without the beautiful and useful Jewelweed, also known as Spotted Touch-Me-Not, Impatiens capensis. There is plenty of interesting lore about this wondrous plant. Maybe I'll do a whole post on the subject some day:

And then I encountered another wildflower new to me. It looked much like the Whorled Loosestrife which I'd only discovered this year, but not quite. I figured it must be related and have since concluded that it must have been Fringed Loosestrife, Lysimachia ciliata:

And another old friend, Sundrops, Onagraceae fruticosa. This plant is pretty much like Common Evening Primrose except that it blooms by day instead of by night. Well, I hadn't planned for this to be a wildflower hike, but it sure was turning out that way:

And another old friend, Bladder Campion, Silene cucubalus. I'll post more tomorrow: