Time is getting away from me. It is a busy time of year and while I have been documenting some of what is happing with pictures, I haven’t made time to post it. This post starts the week of June 15

Thursday Observations

Prior to last year we had pruned back our grape vines dramatically. As a result, they produced few grapes last year and the ones they did make were eaten by birds or chickens before they ripened.

This year they are making grapes so I’m hoping for a decent harvest.

In my last post I showed you the large wild rose bushes in bloom. The second variety of wild roses bloomed in June as well. They are a low growing bush with small pink blossoms and a lovely fragrance.

The same oak tree that supports the white, climbing rose (above) that I showed in my last post has that small pink rose bush growing at its base.

Thursday was windy. You can’t see the wind but you can see the effects.

Friday Chores

On Friday morning my to-do list including cutting the chives since their flowers had faded and they were threatening to drop their seeds. My chive patch is as big as I want it to be so cutting them back before they reseeded was necessary to prevent a total chive invasion.

That short green patch in the front is where the chives were.

I’m glad I didn’t encounter this guy while I was cutting the chives. I don’t mind snakes but don’t like coming across them where I am working.

Cutting garlic scapes was my other chore that morning. If you don’t know what scapes are click here to learn more.

Saturday Efforts

On Saturday my husband spent many hours weed whipping around the pond. Oh, how I appreciate his hard work!

Colors of Summer

Lavender beginning to blossom.

Wildflowers

Rare Photos

It is not unusual to see raptors flying around our area, but it is rare that I capture a photo of one.

It wasn’t close enough for me to identify what type of bird this was,

but when I did some online reading, I discovered this was likely a turkey vulture. The main reason I say that is because it wasn’t alone. As it soared and circled above our pond it was joined by a second and then a third. Eventually there were seven of them circling overhead. Vultures commonly hunt in groups unlike hawks and eagles who more often hunt solo.

Bees

My husband captured another swarm of bees bringing us up to four hives.

A few days later the hive swarmed again.

The swarm was too heavy for the branch they landed on. Then ended up relocating. We didn’t have another hive ready so we decided this swarm would add to the wild bee population. My husband did set up another hive so that we are ready in case there is another swarm.

After The Heatwave

We have had some deer visiting. They enjoyed some hosta salad.

The prayer garden is ever changing. These pictures are from last week – following a week of intense heat.

The white in the foreground are phlox, the yellow is tickseed, the purple is, of course, lavender and the peach color are Asiatic lilies.

The colors this year are very vibrant.

Roses

Tickseed

Lavender

Asiatic lilies

Creeping thyme in the foreground is a favorite of bees and other pollinators.

Some primroses were still blossoming last week as well.

Marshmallow plants

Marshmallow blossoms

The garden seemed to enjoy the heat wave more than we did.

My husband watered as needed.

And everything is growing in leaps and bounds.

Above is the patch of buckwheat we planted. It’s amazing to see how many pollinators forage this patch. My husband also discovered that the chickens like buckwheat, so he cuts a handful or two each day and gives it to the chickens.

Look What’s Growing in Our Apple Tree

There are some apples on the tree as well, but they weren’t as interesting as these three baby robins.

Thanks for visiting.