Pink Ladies and More

 While the boys--Head Gardener and Grandsons--headed to the hills for an archery target 

shooting event, I stayed home where I assumed chore duty, which really isn't saying much because the HG has things pretty well set up when it's my turn. I actually enjoy feeding the critters because they appreciate it.

The young hens, now about half grown will soon join the flock on the other side of the henhouse. They are shy and not tame, but these two girls are beautiful, the gray Lavender Orpington and the Domnique. 

As the June heat ramps up toward 90 and above, the peonies seem to be blooming out quickly, and soon they will done. I photographed Raspberry Parfait each day as she began to open. What a beauty she started out as, but as she matured quickly, she has lost some of glamor. Still she smells wonderfully.

                                                               Raspberry Parfait and some of her sisters.

While the pink ladies thrive in the summer heat the hostas prefer shade, lots of cool shade. The top of the mosaic shows the two that still need to be transplanted from the front garden when we lost a shade tree to the back Barn Circle garden where the pines and aspen will shade them. I call this mosaic Happy Hostas, but really there are a couple that aren't. You can barely pick them out in the over growth of bindweed, giant alums that take over the space, and some vinca that inches it way all over the place. 

While the prairie ranches need moisture, our hay field looks pretty healthy, thanks to well water irrigation. No, not city or treated water, but the farm wells that were here when these acreages were a farm. We are fortunate to have that water source.

We've had better stands of grass, taller grass, but this will get the granddaughters' horses through the winter.

The HG mowed a path for the neighbor to come in to cut, but it will be a day or so before he cuts the hay.

Although I have photographed these Columbine hundreds of times, I just cannot get enough of their beauty. I'm using a Nikon DLS D3500 with a 75-300mm telephoto to get my close up shots. This camera gives such crisp, clear photos that I just can't stop clicking the shutter. I use Auto, which is the lazy way out, but I like the results. A long time ago when I used my Pentax Spotmatic with film that did not have Auto, I knew all the technology to set the camera, but those days are long gone--for me at least.

I especially like how it stops action. Sometimes I use the athletic mode that allows the shutter to keep taking photos as long as the button is pressed. I use that for the girls when they ride and often when I'm stalking wildlife, like this honey bee. Actually, this is one of those surprise shots that if we planned it, we couldn't get it right.

June is also Tiger Swallowtail Time. Newly hatched butterflies have voracious appetites and Miss Kim lilac is the hot spot to dine. Again I've taken hundreds swallowtail shots, always captivated by their beauty and grace,  wanting to get the perfect photo.

There are actually two butterflies feasting here.

#1

#2

Sometime it feels like all work and no play, here at the Garden Spot, we do take some time to enjoy a drive. With Nathan here for two weeks, it was an opportune time take a drive out on Pawnee Grass Lands to see--or not--the early summer blooms and wildlife, but there weren't any blooms because the spring was so dry, but we did see some wildlife and some not so wild.

My telephoto just isn't strong enough to get good bird photos. The is best I could get of this lark.

The prairie dog was little easier to get decent  shots of.

He knew something wasn't right, so he poked his head out of this den to see what the rumble was shook the ground floor of his home.

He sent out his shrill whistle and wiggled his tail to let the rest of the colony know that something large was lurking about--a Ford F-350 pickup truck! Certain danger for sure.

He tested the wind. Got his bearings. Came up with a plan.

And was on the move to a safer den.

Cute and entertaining as they are, prairie dogs are not ranchers' friends. Their destructive hole digging tears up useful grasslands and poses certain dangers for broken legs on cattle and horses. Still, it's always fun to watch the little critters.

We do love cows.

A mamma cow takes rest with her calf nearby

Right now Northern Colorado cattle ranchers are worried about the future of their herds as they face sending them to market because of the drought. We've heard this story over and over again as each part of Rural America goes suffers through a drought that affect them the most. With the lack of moisture on grasslands and ranch pastures, the grass doesn't grow; thus, there is no feed. And then the cattle are gone.

The Orchid Saga

Sadly it looks like the bud on the stem in water has withered. I was hopeful for a while, but the mother orchid has her second stem beginning to bloom. It is a bit thrilling to watch beauty happen.

Have a wonderful week, and thanks for visiting. I always love your comments.

I headed over to Angie's @Letting go of the Bay Leaf to link up with Monday Mosaic. See you there.

June Blooms and More

 After the spring bulbs, June blooms put on quite a show, too. This year our spring flowers failed due to the lack of moisture, but the irrigation system is on now, so the June flowers are glorious. It's hard to pick a favorite. 

Most know this beauty as  Aquilegia, but here in Colorado we know our state flower as Columbine. In our garden they self seed and we never know what colors will show up, but our favorite is the periwinkle. They bloom, profusely and grow in large clumps, looking breezy and spectacular.

Ours range in colors from this vibrant purple to a very pale yellow.

Iris are another favorite, too. We dug up our big clumps in the front garden and moved them to the vegetable garden where they live for a while. We have a horrible Canadian thistle problem in the front garden so we're moving all the desirable plant material ignorer treat the aggressive noxious weed. This one lives in the flower bed on the north side of the patio.  It has such a rich color.

The bleeding heart is waning now. She always struggles in the spring with its lingering freezes, but this year she didn't freeze clear back to the ground. She was large and glorious this year. The bumble bee forages for a meal, begging me to takes its photo.

While pink is always my first choice and I have a really hard time passing up pink flowers, orange in the garden adds such drama. Today's Monday Mosaic brightens up the post with the newly blooming poppy, another favorite little spot of orange, a geum, and finally a delicate, shade a loving potted begonia that hangs in a basket on the patio. 

I'm waiting for the peonies to pop open, the roses to blush, and the tiger lilies the strut their stuff. Next week--we think. 

There is plant drama inside, too. I've always kept African violets and have a new collection going on my kitchen table. They like filtered light with a northern exposure, but we don't have any windows on the north or south sides of the house, so these get the best light in the kitchen with its west window until the summer sun get's too strong. 

I have to admit that I love orchids almost as much as I like violets, but they seem to be quite an extravagant guilty pleasure because once they have bloomed out, they are not a very attractive plant and usually end up in the compost pile for lack of dramatic blooms. I have been told that, "If you can grow violets, you can grow orchids. Sure.

The Head Gardener loves orchids, too, so one year for Father's Day I purchased him a moth orchid or Phalaenopsis. She lived in the bathroom for a long time with a bit of southern light, but she bloomed out and then just sat there. My daughter has her orchids in a western window in a bathroom where they bloom profusely, so I decided that instead of composting this old girl, I'd move her to the office west window.

Months later my husband called me into the office to show me his discovery. The orchid had a new bloom stem growing at the back of the plant next to the window. With original bloom stem still in place, she forced a new one. In this photo, you can see the tiny bloom buds that were just forming. We were so excited. I wish I had found the stem earlier so that I could have trained to grow straight and tall. 

Soon the first blooms appeared at the bottom end of the bloom stem.

And more blooms. We were so excited.

By now the stem was nearly bloomed out, making it so heavy the the long, heavy stem reseted on the peace lily. Then one day in an effort to take photos I broke off the bloom stem. Oh my, I was so disappointed and upset with myself. Darn it.

I put the bloom stem in water and placed it on the table with the violets where the blooms lasted for weeks. Even if they were still attached to the mother plant, the blooms eventually would have faded, so I enjoyed seeing it everyday in the kitchen.

I loved to take its picture with the late afternoon sunlight filtered through the transparent petals.

And then they are gone, too.

But wait. Not all of the buds had bloomed at the very end, so I just kept the stem in the water to see what would happen and guess what?  There are buds on the very end that will bloom on a stem that is just in water.

But wait there's one more surprise. While it's not a a very good photo, the Mother plant is doing to bloom again, too. The broken bloom stem has sent out a second bloom stem that is loaded. I've done reading on the moth orchid and have not seen this behavior. In fact, the literature says that the plants bloom once a year in just the right conditions--maybe.

Hmmm. Is neglect one of those conditions. I water once a week. that's all I do. 

So. If you bring home one of these beautiful flowering plants, place it in a western exposure--well in the northern hemisphere, anyway. 

Yes, it's a weird photo. It's just water as it drips out of the bottom of one the hanging baskets. I just like to photograph water to see if I can. Sometimes I can get a good image.

I like to take pictures of POP the pony, too. 

And I close with a dog picture--Brody. Just because we 💕💕 dogs. 

Thanks for visiting.

Have a wonderful week.

I'll be joining Angie for Mosaic Monday. See you there.

Hamliton's Back

 It's good be back--good to catch up with old friends and make some new ones. 

We are still waiting for the weather to turn warm here in Northern Colorado. Right now the wind has kicked up and I can hear the dull roar of distant thunder. Often we get the windy fury of the storm, but it rolls on by. We can see the storm clouds gather above the mountains to the west and watch them chase themselves east then just before they get here, they split and miss the Garden Spot. So I'm wondering what this storm will do.

The garden is mostly all planted. The usual: 15 tomatoes--some the Head Gardener started; others we purchased. Red and regular cabbages; potatoes; peppers--Anaheim and jalapeños, but no bell peppers. Onions. Carrots and lettuce. Cucumbers and squash. It's plenty to take care of.

Our hens are laying again. We have about 8 of the old ones, 5 are laying eggs so we get 3-5 eggs every other day. They didn't give one egg all winter then in early spring the girls got busy. So we debated about getting more chicks then we began hearing those murmurings of meat shortages and eggs and chicken and yadayadayada, so we bought 6 babies and brooded them here in the house. Last week they went out the hen pen. 

I had a couple of stipulations: pretty hens and green eggs--or a variety of colors. They won't begin laying until fall. Still separated for the old girl, the little  girls are just learning how to peck and roost and be free to make their own choices and do their chicken thing. Right now they share their corner of the coop with the pigeons while the other hens are on the other side of the chicken house.

And who doesn't love a good a mouse story--as long as it as someone else's house!Hamilton has returned. Do you remember the story about Hamilton? Here's my first encounter with mouse in the hen house who later became known as Hamilton due to some sort of texting auto correct. Check out A Flight Plan to meet the original Hamilton. 

This little guy has made his home unearth the fence beam. He'll be well fed and have plenty of water and as long as he stays in the coop, safe. There are plenty of cats on patrol, a hawk or two, and Brody, so he best stay behind the fence that keeps the hens safe from predators, including a chainlink top.

I should always take my camera to the garden with me--the good one-- because I always have a opportunity to  get great photos, like this bumble bee searching for food. I used my iPhone to chase him down and chronicle what might be his first quest for food. He was quite determined to find the nectar in that tightly closed iris bloom.

Coming in for a landing. These little guys are such awkward fliers.

And they are determined.

He squeezes in.

Nothing like a good butt shot.

And he's in!

The humming bird moth zoomed past me the other afternoon as I sat on the patio. He was a bit harder to photograph even the DSLR camera, but I managed on good shot while he zoomed around the azalea looking for a meal. They never sit still.

It's raining now. I can tell. The air is fresh and sweet with the fragrance of spring rain.

It must be nap time. 

 

Thanks so much for visiting. I'll be returning to Mosaic Monday. 

Take time to remember our fallen heroes: the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for American Freedom. 

If you served or currently serve, we greatly appreciate you and your family's sacrifice

and service.

God Bless America