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:

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: