Category Archives: Primrose

Catching Up

Bees, Birds, garden, Lavender, Marshmallow, Nature, Pollinators, Prayer Garrden, Primrose, Reflections, Roses, The Farm, , , ,

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.

A Spring Walk at the Farm

Birds, Cherries, Cherry Tree, garden, garlic scapes,, Killdeer, Nature, potatoes, Prayer Garrden, Primrose, Reflections, Roses, Strawberries, The Farm, Wild Flowers, Windmill, , , ,

Hello and welcome! It’s a beautiful morning and I thought you might like to join me for a walk at the farm.

We are seeing new blossoms every day.

The white phlox that we added to the prayer garden last year are flowering.

The primrose are beginning to bloom.

and the roses are blooming.

Our peony has only a single flower this year, but it sure is a beautiful one.

We will be picking strawberries later.

But we won’t be cutting garlic scapes for about a week. The scape is the light colored, curved shoot in the middle. They are just beginning to form.

The wild roses are in full bloom. They are very fragrant – in fact you might have smelled their lovely scent before you saw the blossoms.

Daisies scattered here and there.

A flowering shrub that I have not identified. It does have a light pleasant fragrance.

A short stroll through the woods is shady and lush.

Beyond the woods the sun shines on the neighbor’s yard.

Mixed among the grasses you might notice wild plants such as selfheal (the purple flowers) and black medic (the yellow flowers). Both are edible and medicinal.

Fleabane is a common daisy-like wildflower in our area.

Our gardens are doing well so far. Some of the tomatoes have blossoms already.

Potatoes are also doing well.

Cabbage is coming along nicely. There are also green beans, eggplant and a few other things in this patch.

Our apple trees are loaded with apples this year. It’s looking like a we may have a bumper crop this fall.

Ripe cherries on one of our new trees. I harvest three wonderful, sweet cherries from this tree. Hoping for a bigger harvest next year.

The killdeer quadruplets are still running around. They are nearly as big as the parents so I expect they will be flying off soon.

But in about a week this killdeer and its mate, who decided to nest in the middle of our driveway (forcing us to detour around the area) should have four more babies running around.

And about a week after that these four killdeer eggs, that are being incubated in an unused area of the garden, should be hatching.

In the back field we see clover,

and these yellow flowers birdsfoot trefoil.

Butter cups under the spruce tree.

And look at those pinecones.

We have a large patch of milkweed in the back field. I have seen a couple of monarch butterflies in the area, so they likely have laid eggs as their caterpillars feed on milkweed leaves once they hatch.

Milkweed.

I believe this yellow flower is called common cat’s ear. It is scattered throughout the field.

More wild roses in the wood line. Enjoy their lovely fragrance.

When we arrive back by the prayer garden my husband points out the nest that some birds (sparrows I think) have built in the top of the windmill. That was not there two days ago. Fortunately, it does not interfere with the operations of the windmill.

Thanks for joining me for a spring walk at the farm. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

As a special treat for spending this time with me I am sharing this rare glimpse of the mourning dove who is nesting in the maple tree above our deck. It has been there about two weeks now and I have tried taking pictures many times but mostly I can’t see it through the leaves. I finally got a good photo. I have not seen its mate around, but I read that mourning doves take turns sitting on the nest with males usually there during the daytime and females on the nest at night.

June 2022 Garden Tour

garden, Gardening, Mulch, Primrose, Reflections, Roses, The Farm

These photos were taken about two weeks ago. I’m just now getting a chance to post them. The gardens have continued to flourish since. I hope you enjoy this garden tour. I will post another in July.

Potted Flowers

I’ll start out with a couple of flowers in pots that we started from seed.

Nasturtiums have begun to blossom. We have three window type boxes of these to adorn our deck.

Johnny Jump-ups (also known– as wild pansy) we have several pots of these in the garden beside our deck and alongside the front of our house.

Prayer Garden

Then we’ll move to the prayer garden where I spent a lot of time weeding in June.

The salvia blossoms are fading but it is not time to cut the spikes yet – the bees are still foraging these flowers.

Dianthus made a grand showing, but the blooms were mostly spent when I had my camera out. It’s time to get the clippers out and remove the dead blossoms.

I was late with getting picture of the chives as well. They too made a grand showing but were quickly going to seed. As I finished my weeding, I got out the clippers and cut the chives down before they could drop their seeds.

Chives are very prolific. It is my personal opinion that left to their own devises, chives could take over the world. I have learned that it is best to cut the flowers once the bees are finished foraging them but before they start dropping seeds. This way I keep them under control.

The creeping thyme is flowering, and the bees are enjoying it.

We have roses,

roses,

and more roses.

We also have primroses.

And these evening primrose that normally get eaten by deer (or perhaps rabbits) is flowering this year.

Shh! Don’t tell the critters. Maybe we’ll get to enjoy the flowers for a while.

Vegetable Gardens

Our vegetable gardens are doing really well thanks to my husband who has spent many hours planting, watering, weeding and mulching.

The raised beds gave us the ability to get some plants started early. Now that we have entered a dry spell they require a lot of watering.

We have small tomatoes on some of the plants.

and peppers and green beans are blossoming. It won’t be long now. 🙂

Our field crops are also doing well, except for the ones that the deer have eaten.

The straw mulch will help keep the weeds down and help the ground retain moisture,

We have very little rain in the forecast for the next week, so that mulch just may be a lifesaver.

Bonus Picture

You just never know what might pop up in the garden.

Thanks for visiting.

Are you enjoying summer so far?

Asparagus, Daffodils and More

Asaparagus, Cherries, Daffodils, Flowers, Forsythia, Primrose, Reflections, spring

It’s an early spring here in Michigan. This week my husband noticed asparagus shoots popping up. I didn’t get any photos of it but I wanted to give a heads up to anyone living in our area who grows asparagus or hunts wild asparagus to watch for it. As I looked back over previous posts I noticed that in the past few years our asparagus has started coming around the last week of April or the first week in May so it’s two to three weeks early this year. I didn’t want anyone to miss out.

I did, however, get lots of photos of daffodils and some others things that are blossoming.

There is so much to love about daffodils.

They are a reliable, low maintenance, perennial.

They will grow in full sun

or wooded, wet, shady areas.

An early bloomer, they come in a variety of shades that say “Welcome to Spring”.

They also vary in size.

They continue to multiply each year so eventually they may need to be thinned by digging some up. The best time to dig the bulbs is in the fall. They can then be transplanted or given to friends.

They grow in harmony with other plants so keeping the area weed free is not really necessary.

We didn’t wait until fall to transplant these. Instead we dug them with a good size root ball (keeping the soil surrounding the roots/bulbs intact). We then dug a hole large enough for the entire root ball, placed the plant in the soil and filled in around it. You can see they brought some of their companions (mayapples) along with them.

Last but not least they top the list of being deer and rabbit resistant.

It’s kind of hidden amongst other plants but my primrose has more blossoms this year than it has since I first planted it. I am so happy with it that yesterday I picked up two more of these plants (one with purple blossoms and one with yellow) to keep this one company. (I should not be trusted in a store that sells garden plants. LOL!)

The forsythia have been in full boom for over a week now. It seems they are much earlier than last year because when I looked back through my photos my album from April 20, 2020 has photos of them beginning to blossom.

They create an impressive array as the backdrop for the pond. From a distance neighbors and passers-by enjoy the blast of color amidst the greens and browns that monopolize the landscape this time of year.

But walking along the berm surrounded by these brilliant yellow blossoms is an experience to behold. It felt like a natural high with my husband using the term uplifting to describe it while I found it breathtaking.

The cherry tree next to our deck began blossoming the week and while it’s delightful to see it is way too early. With snow and freezing temperatures in the forecast for next week we can expect a less than optimal cherry crop this year. I’m not ready to write it off completely though. I will hold out hope for a least one homemade cherry pie or crisp. 🙂

Thanks for visiting. What’s blooming in your area?