Teasers for Summer

[AlanLichty]

One of my favorite flowers in our yard isn't actually the most spectacular but it offers a hint of what's to come by early July. We have 10 of these bushes and all are decked out with flowers just like the one featured here that will turn into our crop of blueberries

The purple flowers in the background are Persian Violets. My wife saw them blooming in a pot at one of our local nurseries a long time ago and thought it looked pretty. She had no idea how well that plant would do in our yard until it was too late and now it's everywhere. Good thing they have pretty flowers.

C&C always welcome.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Making me long for the blueberries. We had a windy Saturday here and a lot of the flowers and early buds got blown off. The violets in the background provide a nice contrast to this image.

 

[AlanLichty]

Making me long for the blueberries. We had a windy Saturday here and a lot of the flowers and early buds got blown off. The violets in the background provide a nice contrast to this image.

Thanks Jameel - last year we got about 2 pints/day for most of July. Sound like you had more wind than we have had as most of our blooms are still hanging around. The tulips are done for at this point but lost of blooming things are still gong strong - especially the dogwoods. Thankfully the violets are quite beautiful so the invasion isn't all that unwelcome since we favor the wild approach instead of well trimmed formal gardens

 

[Kurt Harrigan]

Nice. You must have a botanical garden in your backyard!

 

[AlanLichty]

Nice. You must have a botanical garden in your backyard!

Thanks Kurt - it is entirely devoted to plants with no concrete or grass anywhere. We used to have a whole bunch of bird feeders all over the place but squirrels moved in and started causing quite a bit of damage to the house and the watering systems so we yanked them all out.

 

[JimFox]

Now you guys have me hungry for Blackberries!

One of my favorite weeds in Oregon was the Blackberry bush. They hated them, but I loved driving down there and picking berries fresh off the vine.

 

[JimFox]

Good one Alan!

 

[KevinA]

Great shot Alan, looks like a great garden. Shame you have the same problem with squirrels that I have. I now have a feed that's squirrel proof that's improved matters, but they still appear under the feeders to clear up the dropped food. My previous solution was an electric discharge, very similar to a cattle fence. As my feeders are plastic tubes with metal ports and a metal top it was easy to connect it up so the squirrel got a quick shock when stretching down to feed or holding the metal support pole. It worked really well except the batteries only lasted a day, and sometimes I forgot to switch it off when filling the feeders. It's not considered cruel for large animals so didn't see it as a problem for vermin.

 

[AlanLichty]

Now you guys have me hungry for Blackberries!

One of my favorite weeds in Oregon was the Blackberry bush. They hated them, but I loved driving down there and picking berries fresh off the vine.

Good one Alan!

Thanks Jim - these are blueberries - blackberry is one plant you won't find in our yard unless you see the sprout before my wife does. Wonderful to eat but they redefine what it means to be an invasive species up here. On the other hand in late July and August you can stop and pick them just about everywhere.

Left unchecked they will create bramble patches that are almost impenetrable. My first Mavic 3 drone is in a bramble patch in the forest up in the Gorge that is over your head. Short of head to toe armor and a very sharp machete there is no way to get through that stuff without becoming a bloody mess and destroying your clothing. Don't ask me how I know this....

 

[AlanLichty]

Great shot Alan, looks like a great garden. Shame you have the same problem with squirrels that I have. I now have a feed that's squirrel proof that's improved matters, but they still appear under the feeders to clear up the dropped food. My previous solution was an electric discharge, very similar to a cattle fence. As my feeders are plastic tubes with metal ports and a metal top it was easy to connect it up so the squirrel got a quick shock when stretching down to feed or holding the metal support pole. It worked really well except the batteries only lasted a day, and sometimes I forgot to switch it off when filling the feeders. It's not considered cruel for large animals so didn't see it as a problem for vermin.

Interesting solution for your feeders. Our problem was that the squirrels decided our house was fair game and they were chewing on the roof eaves, decking rails and every place where they could find wood which is pretty much the whole house. For some reason they love chewing on the plastic hoses of our drip watering system and completely ruined it a couple of years ago which is when we finally pulled the plug on any feeders in our yard. I had to find/fix/replace several dozen of the tubes that comprise the irrigation system in our back yard with chew marks around every hole I found.