"Gardening is a long road, with many detours and way stations, and here we all are at one point or another. It's not a question of superior or inferior taste, merely a question of which detour we are on at the moment. Getting there (as they say) is not important; the wandering about in the wilderness or in the olive groves or in the bayous is the whole point." - Henry Mitchell, Gardening Is a Long Road, 1998

We have had some nice rains and cooler temps lately.  Always happy to see that combination.  I'm inspired to transplant lots of things in this perfect weather.  Usually, I'm a timid transplanter because a hot dry spell makes it labor intensive with potting, watering and maybe artificial shading.

Below are some photos taken at the feeders.  These photos are among my worst partly because they were taken beyond the limits of my telephoto lens and mostly because I'm just not as  good with the camera as I once was.  

 I stopped by Birds Unlimited yesterday and noticed their feeders looked like objects of art.  They had Broom feeders like mine but theirs were shiny and new.  I left the store with only one peanut feeder for the bluejays.  This spring I have been happy with the numbers and variety of birds at my feeders.  Several migrants stopped by on their journey north.  White crowned sparrows and white throated sparrows are only seen here in the spring and early winter.  A rose breasted grossbeak came to eat, they go south for the winter but sometimes nest in northern Illinois in summer.   I also saw a Baltimore oriole at the suet feeder yesterday.  I hope he decides to nest nearby.  Would love to get a photo of him. 

                 This peony flowered tulip was planted last fall.  It is a late blooming variety that extends the tulip season.

                From the shade garden beneath the lilac hedge, the blue bells are blooming.  

"A garden should feel like a walk in the woods."

~  Dan Kiley, American landscape designer

This little bridge is just down the hill from my house.  There used to be a road from the north that passed my house and went on south to connect to the county highway.  This bridge was part of that road.  Sometime in the 60's a bypass around Rockford was built  and my little lane was cut off from the north.  Now the bridge is used only by farm equipment to reach the fields and by me.  

 This photo taken from the bridge, clouds reflected in the creek on a perfect spring day.

One liquid ribbon of nature sandwiched between two farm fields.

Foxy, one of my rambling partners.  Always eager to walk with me and always willing to let me choose the path.  

"We do not go to the green woods and crystal waters to rough it, we go to smooth it. We get it rough enough at home, in towns and cities." - G. W. Sears

We had a nice rain this  afternoon and more expected tomorrow.  I hope this is a sign of a wet or at least average rainfall this summer.

These dianthus are new.  Love the clovey scent and the blue foliage.  In the past, dianthus haven't done too well in my heavy, clay soil, but I keep trying different locations hoping to find a site they can tolerate.

The crabapples are amazing this spring.  The red one is just outside my kitchen window.  The white is in front of the milkhouse.  

It's been an outstanding year for tulips.  The cold weather has kept them fresh and beautiful for weeks.  I have one or two late blooming varieties yet to show.

Spent the morning rambling through the fields around my farm.  This time of year, there are always interesting things along the hedgerows.  Above is a wild grape leafing out.  I thought the colors and textures were nice.

Soon to brighten the creek side with beautiful blooms.

Probably a robin's nest but the redwing Blackbirds were hovering in the tree above it.

Definite beaver activity.  I would like to find the dam but am completely unwilling to brave the tick infested woods to search it out.  

A little downey watching the dogs and myself pass.

MacDuff racing across the pasture.

"People are different on a path.  On a town sidewalk strangers may make eye contact, but that's all.  On a path like this they smile, say hello, and pet one another's dogs. 

~ Anne Lusk 

Jessica Fowler

Mar 22, 2012

Hedgerow

There are crackles and scratches woven here;
bridges and highways where little things run.

Over tangles of brambles and berries
a bud’s coming out; a hand lying open in grass.

There is bracken crisping; brown and dry;
shaded by waxy leaves where water balls roll.

There are bees in the air, flitting around.
Air which is thick with nectar and pollen.

It’s dense in here; cramped thorns twist,
ears are twitching, claws scratch on bark.

When the light goes away eyes start to shine,
the scurrying gets furious, noises in darkness.

An owl glides down and a mouse hurries up
but quicker than light, he’s swept from the ground.

Spiralling up from his hawthorn nest
He’s stolen away; into the night.

Sparrows whistle, a feather snags on a branch
and the moon bows down to the lilac dawn.

I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden. ~Ruth Stout

Just bought this red Achillea

This has been a good year for daffodils and tulips.  The days have been cool, in the forties and fifties and we have below freezing temps every night.    In cold weather the tulips continue to look good for a long time. 

These were planted last fall.  They are a pretty shade of purple.  I've forgotten the name.

I believe this is Miranda and I've had this lovely double red tulip for over ten years.  I can hardly believe it has survived so long because tulips have a life expectancy of three declining years here.  I planted it in the vegetable garden and would love to move it to a more prominent place but I'm afraid to touch it.  

These  dwarf bearded iris almost go unnoticed among the larger, brighter spring flowers.  They are increasing quickly and I'll have a nice colony in a few years.

Parrot tulip Madonna.  This is the fourth year for this tulip and there is only one of the dozen originally planted still coming up.  The poor thing has lost almost all of the feathering on the petals.  It's still pretty.  Hoping to find more this fall. 

  

Parrot tulip Rococo beginning to open.  This is it's first year, it was planted last fall.  It looks very strange before it opens completely.   The crimped edges look like teeth in a big red mouth.  See how my imagination runs to the sinister;)

Here's a mess.  This is my pot ghetto of recently purchased plants now waiting for overnight frosts to cease before they can be planted.  Every night the plants are carried into the garage and every morning I carry them outside to get some light.  I do this every spring because plants in retail stores aren't well cared for.  Plants are healthier if they only have a brief stop over in retail.

This is Foxfire.  Today she brought her bunnie outside for a stroll in the pasture.  Fox is so careful with her stuffed bunny, she never tears it or pulls the stuffing.  In the photo, she is guarding a little stash of toys, Jolly Ball, bunny and a tennis ball. 

We walked along the edge of the creek and watched our neighbor to the southwest disk his field.

The dogs are taking a break in the shade while they watch the tractor. 

"The sun was warm but the wind was chill. You know how it is with an April day. When the sun is out and the wind is still, You're one month on in the middle of May. But if you so much as dare to speak, a cloud come over the sunlit arch, And wind comes off a frozen peak, And you're two months back in the middle of March." - Robert Frost

A couple weeks ago we had some lovely spring weather but like the poem says, a cold wind blew in chilly days and freezing nights. Visiting the garden centers, I found lots of frost kill to the  annuals and even perennials and shrubs have freeze damage.

Now Staring

False Rue Anemone brightens up shady places.

Goldfinch colors get brighter and brighter.

Pretty species tulips with lily shaped blooms.  

Lovely shade of pink.

 Very double yellow tulip almost like a yellow peony.

Coming Soon

Blue Bells

Lots of furry Allegro poppies self seeded where they will.

Brand New

Over the years I've bought dozens of bleeding hearts only to loose them to extremely dry summers or maybe they didn't like the location I chose.  This year one plant emerged so I added two more.  I love the graceful arching stems and the pretty pink hearts.

Woodland phlox keeping the bleeding hearts company.  These were my Dad's favorite flowers so I always want to keep them in the garden.

April is a rainbow month, Of sudden springtime showers. Bright with golden daffodils and lots of pretty flowers.

The goldfinches are changing from olive drab to sun kissed gold.  Another welcome sign of spring

I was sure I'd lost my tiny bloodroot, it usually blooms much earlier.  I was so glad to see the pretty leaves and pristine flowers suddenly appear in mid-April.  

The greigii tulips usually bloom much earlier too.  So much to love about these little tulips.  Pretty blooms, bold, striped leaves, dependable rebloom with some increase.  

The first soaking rain of the season followed by the first daffodils of 2015. What a welcome site after a long, long winter.  

Warming in the morning sunshine of the black barn roof.  

"It takes a real storm in the average person's life to make him realize how much worrying he has done over the squalls.” ― Bruce Barton

My sister and her family watched this F-4, 200 mph tornado cross the field directly behind their home. Thankfully her home was not damaged.



Fairdale, Illinois, the entire town leveled.  Two women killed.



I give credit to the weather forecasters in my area.  At times they were almost frantic following the paths of the tornadoes.  The obvious distress could be heard in their voices and no doubt inspired the residents to pay heed and  seek shelter.




The new radar equipment pinpoints rotation which allows minute by minute warnings.  Thank you weather forecasters and thank you first responders.

After her close brush with the tornado, my sister wasn't able to sleep so she collected anything she thought victims and first responders might need and drove to Rochelle were the tornado touched down first.  

There 's no song where others sing, More glorious than the rest. ~ Dora Shorter

 

     Friends keeping me company while I do some spring garden cleanup.  
Gold finches are year round residents but migrating red polls are seen very briefly in my area.

Most of you gardeners and wildlife lovers know all this but I always get excited and want to write about it each spring.

The season is changing and migration  has begun.  We all love nature and want to be closer to it and a part of it.  This is an exciting time for bird lovers and bird watchers but a stressful time for the birds. Birds have a long journey of sometimes  more than a thousand miles to make  through parts of the country they are unfamiliar with.  They face severe hardships including lack of food, physical exhaustion, and extremes in weather,  They must navigate man made obstructions like communication towers and windmills which kill millions of birds.  And they do all this using methods that we don't completely understand.  Scientists think birds navigate using the same routes every year by means of the stars and the earth's magnetic fields.  (A lot of research shows that animals can feel the earth's magnetic pulls and understand the relationship of stars to their location.  To me this is nothing short of a miracle which nature has in abundance and people will probably never feel but we keep desperately trying to understand.)

If you are a bird lover, a bird watcher, or a bird feeder like me, you have your feeders filled to the brim and maybe some thistle socks added to your usual millet and sunflower feeders. Every year birds on their way to Canada stop at my feeders to get their fill of food and renew their energy resources.  This is an opportunity for me to see birds I only see briefly once a year.  Indigo buntings, red polls, grosbeaks, pine siskins, sap suckers and others don't spend the summer here but they pass through my area.

I hang at least one thistle sock on branches near my windows hoping to get some great bird views and great photos through the glass.  Don't worry about the thistle seed sprouting in your flower gardens.  Nijer seed is sterilized to prevent sprouting and maintain the high prices charged by growers.  Keep your eyes peeled and your camera ready.  Migrating birds usually hang out at feeders for several days regaining their strength before continuing their journey.

Above is the most recent 'migrater' to arrive back in my area.  For the last several years vultures have nested in the loft of a ramshackle old barn on a corner of my property.  I'm happy to see them back this year.    It's exciting to see them hovering overhead, never moving a wing, just hanging motionless in the air.  The first year they lived here it was a little disconcerting to see them sitting on the barn roof watching me work in the garden.  Since, I've gotten used to having them around.  I especially enjoy watching them teaching their young to swoop and soar around the barns.  

For those who love poems as much as I do:

Under the Vulture-Tree

BY DAVID BOTTOMS

We have all seen them circling pastures,

have looked up from the mouth of a barn, a pine clearing,   

the fences of our own backyards, and have stood   

amazed by the one slow wing beat, the endless dihedral drift.

But I had never seen so many so close, hundreds,   

every limb of the dead oak feathered black,

and I cut the engine, let the river grab the jon boat   

and pull it toward the tree.

The black leaves shined, the pink fruit blossomed   

red, ugly as a human heart.

Then, as I passed under their dream, I saw for the first time   

its soft countenance, the raw fleshy jowls

wrinkled and generous, like the faces of the very old   

who have grown to empathize with everything.

And I drifted away from them, slow, on the pull of the river,   

reluctant, looking back at their roost,   

calling them what I'd never called them, what they are,

those dwarfed transfiguring angels,

who flock to the side of the poisoned fox, the mud turtle

crushed on the shoulder of the road,

who pray over the leaf-graves of the anonymous lost,

with mercy enough to consume us all and give us wings.