Flowers, Pigeons, Chickens

August this year brought abundant flowers, so many that one Sunday I brought four vases of them to church. This one contained four colors of Daylilies and Blue Sea Holly (looks a bit like thistles):

Yellow Heliopsis, red Echinacea, blue Delphinium and red/green leafy branches from a Ninebark bush:

All wildflowers from alongside the road: Pink Joe-Pye-Weed, yellow Goldenrod and Purple Loosestrife:

White Tree Hydrangeas, multicolored Sunflowers and pink and red Yarrow:

Meanwhile, the little hens were living comfortable lives in their coop inside the barn:

They all get along well together and I never see any fighting. They have no rooster, but I sometimes hear crowing coming from their coop. I looked it up and learned that sometimes, in the absence of a rooster, one hen will become more masculine and began crowing:

It was me, and I keep everybody on their toes!

Egg production is way down, which is fine with me. This day I had only two small eggs, one pink and one green. Soon, as we head toward winter, there will be none:

The white fantail pigeons in the adjoining room are multiplying at a fast clip:

This mother had a nest on the floor with a six day old baby:

A nest up on a shelf had two recently hatched babies. The parents are on them so much that I haven't been able to get another photo since this one:

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:

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:

Dreams Of Springtime - Part 2

Yesterday I presented my excessive plans for planting seeds this spring, but I've also got roots and plants to put in the ground when it finally warms up. I have six Asiatic Lilies, mixed colors:

Four Day Lilies, Always Afternoon variety:

Four Day Lilies, Daring Dilemma variety:

Four Day Lilies, Eleanor Apps variety:

Six Day Lilies, Frosted Vintage Ruffles variety:

Six Delphiniums, mixed colors:

Four Echinacea, Purpurea variety:

Two Peonies, Coral Sunset variety:

Hardy rose, Carefree Delight:

Super hardy rose, Morden Snowbeauty:

Hardy rose, Watercolors Home Run:

Six Yarrow, mixed colors: