November's Blossoms

For a few fleeting moments, sunlight and frost bring Queen Anne's lace back into bloom.     

Linked to Skywatch Friday.   

Little Goats and Frosted Flowers

The first thing I do when I get home from work each day is to let my two little goats out of the barnyard pen to browse. And do they ever rush out and start gobbling up grass, dried leaves, and whatever fresh leaves they can find. They haven't figured out yet that they can, you know, actually eat hay. Instead they ignore the books of hay I give them and stand all day staring mournfully at the green grass outside their  pen. 

I do hope they eventually figure out that hay is edible--because as you can see, winter is coming and the grass won't be green forever. 

The frost on the flowers and buttercrunch lettuce this morning was pretty, but it is also a stark reminder that snow and deep cold is coming. 

At least my little goats finally realized that beet pellets are perfectly edible, and the past two days have devoured the scoopful I put out for them. 

Linked to Farm Girl Blog Fest and Macro Monday. 

Last Red Rose of Autumn

A Touch of Fall...

blackberrry leaf

Hickory leaf

Calendula--blooms until the snow flies 

First Frost

A rose from my garden the morning of our first frost. 

Linked to Macro Monday. 

Desert in Black and White

Photos from the dessert garden at Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids Michigan. 

Five Meerkats--sculpture by Tom Hillis

Barrel Catus

Carrion Flower--pretty flower--but stinks to high heaven!

Wolf sculpture 

For some color photos of the same plants and sculptures, click here. 

Pitcher Plant

(photo taken at Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids last weekend)

Linked to Macro Monday. 

I envy the poppy

I envy the poppy

who in her short life, 

wears her changing petals

with grace. 

Even in the end

as she playfully flings

her petals off

I long for her confidence. 

(And that is about as much of a fashion statement you are going to get out of me today--as I am one of the most fashion illiterate people you will ever meet.  Linked to Real Toads, where poets are writing about nature and fashion today.)

Sea Lavender

Sea lavender-
the delicate white blossoms
touched with purple
evoked images in my mind
of foam tipped waves
tinged with color
from the setting sun.

I grew it far from the sea
in soil made of clay and rock
on a New York hilltop
I gathered  the clouds of dainty blossoms
hung them to dry and twined
them into wreaths and garlands.

I planted it again far from the sea
it thrives in the sandy soil
of Michigan's farmland
I fill the vase on my dresser
with sprays of white blossoms
that dry lavender and pink
a reminder of summer's color.

Sea lavender-
this summer I found it
wild on a beach in Maine
its roots in the brink of the sea
and petals bathed with salty brine
I touched the blossoms in awe
a meeting of old friends
coming to a deeper understanding.

Sea lavender on the coast, near Damariscotta, Maine. 

(For Trina Holden, who also grew sea lavender in upstate NY-and understood when I told her about finding it growing wild on the coast of Maine.)







Linked to Real Toads. 

Beach Roses and Atlantic Skies

The Atlantic Ocean as seen after sunset from Ogunquit Beach in Ogunquit, Maine.

Wild beach roses line the beach...most were already past bloom when we were here on Sunday, but a few blooms and buds are still holding on. 

(Look for more photos from our recent Maine and Finger Lakes vacation coming to the blog...)

White Washed Sky

Rose of Sharon blossoms against the sky. 

Linked to Skywatch Friday. 

A Solitary Katydid's Home

One lone pink flower

with a golden throat

on the edge of

a barren strip mall

surrounded by dusty concrete 

and heat cracked  blacktop 

is a quiet home 

for a solitary  katydid. 

(I took this photo yesterday in front of a Burger King...the one lone daylily in the middle of heat strangled concrete caught my eye--then the little creature inside demanded a photo.)

Linked to Macro Monday and Mandarin Orange Monday. 

In the garden today...

Is this a grasshopper?



Discarded bluebird egg.



Yellow tiger lily.



In the Garden: The Good, the Bad, the Beautiful

The good--a swallowtail butterfly caterpillar munching on carrot leaves. Now this is the kind of bug I like to see in my garden.

The bad--hoards of Colorado Potato Beetle larva demolishing my potato crop. I've picked hundreds off my potato plants the past week and new ones appear each morning...

The beautiful--a thistle flower getting ready to open. Yes, I may be crazy, but I do encourage the thistles around my garden to feed  the butterflies and finches. 

And we might as well throw in the tasty--this summer I finally know what it like to have too many raspberries. I've picked over twenty quarts so far and have barely made a dent in the crop. It is a good problem to have, though quite time consuming!

What is happening in your garden right now?

Rosebud and Raindrop

Linked to Macro Monday. 

Butterfly and Daisy

This butterfly posed nicely for me on the daisies which are just starting to bloom. Not sure of the identification, so if anyone knows what it is, please let me know!

Linked to Macro Monday.

Crinkled Poppy

Blue Mist

I like my irises old fashion and delicate--the kind that have blossoms that resemble a butterfly about to take off in flight. I'm not a big fan of the new fangled large irises that look like poofy party dresses. This large light blue iris though will stay in my garden--even if it does look like a party dress. I don't know the name of it or even remember where I got it from. I do believe that "Blue Mist" would be the perfect name for it, though.

Morning Sunlight

Morning sunlight on giant allium flowers.

Linked to Macro Monday.

Solved! The Mystery of the Dying Flowers

Last week I finally figured out why nothing has grown well in this garden since we moved here. I would plant flowers and they would turn yellow and die. All I could do was wonder why.

Turns out the little flower garden has been getting a weekly dose of concentrated bleach water. Well, that explains a lot!  (The chlorinated water is a by product of our water system that has to be serviced weekly. Unbeknown to me, each week the bleach water was being tossed out the door on to the flower beds.)

So now that I know what the problem it (and have established strict rules for where the bleach water may be put in the future--hello, gravel driveway!), we are starting over with the flower garden:

I tore out a lot of dead and ailing plants and dug out a good deal of the soil and replaced it with fresh, uncontaminated soil. 



Fresh perennials went in as wells as some annuals.

 I filled some pots with violas to add color and height to the back of the garden--and so that I would have something to put on the two old milk cans we dug out of our woods the first summer we moved in.

I am hoping in a month or two that I will be able to post photos of a lush green garden filled with color (instead of the mostly dead or yellow plants I have had in the past couple of years!) And I am very happy that the mystery of the dying flowers has been solved.