A Story - "The Butterflies" - Bird Drama , Plants for Windy Spots (Coreopsis, Bachelor Buttons, Agastache, Dwarf Balloon Flower)

 A Story

"The Butterflies

Inheriting a house should be a good thing, but Shawna just felt sad and lonely as she looked at her parents' old home. She noticed, as she hadn't when her mother was still alive, that the house looked shabby.  The roof shingles were starting to peel and the siding was dull. The living room furniture was stained, the result of her mother spilling her tea and food. The kitchen counter had a round burn mark where a hot pot had been left to sit.

The garden had been neglected but some hardy perennials still showed their faces. Shawna pulled out a few weeds around the purple coneflower.  A monarch butterfly floated in, landed on the flower head and began sipping nectar out of the tiny florets. Keeping very still, Shawna gazed at the striking pattern on the butterfly's wings and smiled at its polka-dotted face. After a moment, the monarch took flight and bounced through the air to its next destination. So delicate and yet it seemed purposeful in its travels.

A Giant swallowtail flapped in and fluttered on the coneflower, its large black wings marked with creamy white outlines. She could see its flexible proboscis probe into the little flowers. The amount of nectar was so small and yet the large butterfly persisted, one tiny sip at a time. 

Shawna thought about the butterflies and their delicate, complicated lives. The monarchs migrated all the way to Mexico which seemed like an impossible journey, and yet they did it. The swallowtail found sustenance bit by bit.

 The loss of her parents had left her feeling uprooted and floundering, but maybe like the butterflies she needed to find some sources of nourishing sweetness, rise on gentle updrafts, and, then hopefully, ultimately, she would rest in a firmer, happier place."

Click on the bird photos to get full pictures.

The stare down.

"I won. My turn in the bath."

"Can I have a  bath?"

"No, I'm not finished!  Go away!"

"Finally, it's my turn. It's a hot day. It sure feels good to get wet."

I like having some taller flowers in the garden but I really don't like plants that flop if they get a lot of wind.  We have some very windy days here and I have been really pleased with the coreopsis that just keeps standing up straight and tall.  It has smooth, wiry stems with most of the leaves at the base so the wind can easily blow through the planting.

Bachelor Buttons also have strong wiry stems that just sway and bend in the wind and spring right back. They are a very easy to grow annual that blooms quickly from a sowing after the last frost. They do best with just a little fertilizer and not too much water. The blooms keep coming until the fall frost.

This pink agastache, although it is leafier than the other two plants, is doing just fine after wind and rain storms.  Again the stems are tough and wiry.  I have grown taller purple agastache (hyssop) in the past and it also stayed nice and straight.

This is a dwarf balloon flower that I bought this spring. It is only about 8" tall (12" across) so it isn't bothered by inclement weather. Balloon flowers are hardy perennials even down to zone 4. Usually the taller varieties are the ones available. They can grow to 2-3' tall and will get pushed around by wind and start to lean, but this little gem is snug near the ground.

It was blooming when I bought it in May. When the blooms started to peter out at the end of June, I thought it was done for the season but it never stopped blooming. Even now in August, it is just covered in buds . I am very pleased with its performance. Balloon flowers hardly ever get any insect damage or suffer disease. Once established, they can handle dry weather but the first year they should get regular watering. Slow release fertilizer applications a couple of times throughout the season will keep the plant growing well.

A Story - "Water Play" - Sunset Coloured Flowers -( Marigolds, Rudbeckia, Coreopsis, Miniature Rose), and Dianthus -(Perennial, Carnation), and Ostrich Farm

 A Story

Water Play

"One of those perfect summer days. The sun's penetrating blaze mellowed by a cool breeze off the water. It had been a long time since she had been to a beach. She felt like a stranger as she walked along the pebbly shore.

Nearby a family arrived. Two children, maybe eight and ten years old, ran towards the water.  The young girl shrieked as the cold water hit her stomach. The young boy gave a whoop as he plunged in.  They splashed each other and laughed, loud and shrill.

She watched the children and her body remembered the feel of the cold water, the urge to dive into the refreshing coolness,  the smoothness of the water as her arms and legs swept through it.

She hadn't brought a bathing suit but the water was beguiling. Best to lock her purse and phone in the car. She pushed her keys under the car beside the inside of the front wheel and hoped they would be there when she got back.

Back at the water's edge, she stepped out of her sandals and slowly walked into the water. How familiar it felt. Once her shorts were wet, she bent down and pushed forward gliding through the silky lake.  Stroke, stroke, kick, kick. Her body knew how. She flipped over on to her back and savoured the gentle rocking of the waves. She closed her eyes and was once again a child, playing in the water."

I like this rudbeckia nestled between the marigolds in sunset colours. The marigolds I direct sowed in May and the rudbeckia I bought from a neighbour this spring.  The marigold seeds were ones that I had harvested from my plants last summer.

I planted this Early Sunrise coreopsis inside in March and transplanted it into the garden in May.  It is a perennial, that in ideal conditions can be hardy to zone 3, but it needs soil that drains well. A cold, damp fall can ruin it. It's a lovely golden yellow and blooms for weeks.

A miniature rose, in another sunset colour, that was bought in the winter in a little pot with 3 other roses. They transplant well to an outdoor garden and are hardy with no mulching to zone 4.  They like to be well fertilized and need at least an inch of water a week.

This little sweetie is a perennial dianthus.  They like well-drained alkaline soil and are hardy to zone 4 . This is the first year so I will see if they make it through the damp months of fall and early spring. They may get eaten by rabbits.

This year I wanted to grow real carnations.  These red ones are Chabaud carnations.  I started them in late February.  They are slow to get going.  They are only starting to bloom now. The colour is very vibrant and the scent is rich cinnamon.  Worth the wait in my estimation.  They make good cut flowers but I think I will just leave them in the half-barrel planter outside.  When I am out to water or weed, I stop by and give them a good sniff. Full sun and even moisture is good for them as well as regular fertilizing. I use a slow release granular fertilizer.

A couple of kilometers from our house is an ostrich farm.  They are the funniest birds with necks that are like large bendy  toys.  The farm sells pellets that you can feed to them but you have to use a pole with a sieve fastened to the end because they could give you a nasty bite if you tried to hand feed them.

This one was sitting down as were some others. So strange. The birds were a bit shabby looking because they are molting.

Two young ones watching some adults in the next enclosure.

They clack their beaks together even when they aren't eating. 

Their feet have serious claws. I have no idea how the farm owners handle the birds.  They look like they could be dangerous.  They remind me of dinosaurs. Fascinating but not cuddly.

The farm sells ostrich meat which looks a lot like beef and apparently tastes a lot like beef. Very healthy.

Ostrich leather is very nice. Supple and soft .  They had some bags made out of it in their shop and they were very attractive.