Sunday, June 25, 2006

Chicken update

It turns out to be surprisingly difficult to get a decent picture of the chickens. Here they are, doing what chickens do.

There is one who doesn't pay close attention when the group moves on. She's always running to catch up.



In other news, I did it! I've grown a rose. Well, I can hardly take the credit. I bought this plant in April and kept it alive for all of three months. Ask me about it next June. I generally don't try to grow things that require a lot of attention. The garden is just too big to focus much on individual plants. But a few years ago I took on the challenge of adding a cultivated rose. (We have plenty of beautiful, fragrant wild Rosa multiflora. You'd think that would be enough.) But I decided to try a Joseph's Coat climbing rose. It's growing in a wholly inadequate place in a perennial border. It manages, against all odds, to put out a flower or two each season. But this new rose, whose label I've lost and name I've forgotten, is in a better location and if I remember to protect it for the winter, I have high hopes for it.

On the way home from Agway with a truckload of mulch and feed, we visited The Plantsmen Nursery. Though they advertise "Under new ownership" I actually never knew there was a nursery there. And, wow, what a nursery. They have a fabulous collection of perennials and trees and shrubs that you won't find anywhere else. I couldn't resist a Magnolia tripetala, 'though I think it's on the edge of hardiness here. If it a survives, it will have 8"- 10" fragrant flowers. I also found the Witch Hazel I've been wanting. I meant to find one in the woods that I could transplant, but for $10 this well grown specimen was irresistible.

In the perennial section, Primula saxatilis and Salvia argentea are among the many species you won't find in most nurseries. And with my recent interest in Euphorbias, I decided to try Euphorbia dulcis 'Chameleon' with attractive purple foliage and early season yellow/orange flowers.

4 comments:

Darlene said...

Wow, congratulations on the rose! And good luck on it overwintering. I never try to grow those cultivated ones, just because they're so fragile. My wild, native ones are so much more reliable, but they definitely don't last as long as those that are cultivated. And the choice of colors is limited to pink, whereas the cultivated... How I love the colors of this one.

Hey, I always try to learn to identify anything and everything I can. I've got a memorized list of cows, horses, dogs, cats, birds, butterflies, (some planets) etc., but not chickens. What kind are yours in the pix? They're really handsome! Also, seem a bit more compact than most chickens. I'm assuming there aren't many with that coloring and those features, so that's what would be my identity guide in the future.

LauraHinNJ said...

Love the second pic of the one running to catch up!

Maggy said...

There could probably be a very funny caption for the chicken who lags behind... I'll think on this. They look great!

Mary Ann said...

They're Rhode Island Reds. Maybe not the record-holder for most eggs, but good, steady producers of big, brown eggs. And, in a pinch, they'll incubate a clutch of eggs - something many breeds have forgotten how to do. I don't have a rooster yet, but I'm looking.