Z Brings Us the Zinnia

Z-day brings us the lovely zinnia.

I can't believe I made it from A to Z with this blog, but I'm ecstatic that it's finally Z-Day!  Since I have three other blogs to finish today plus some other writing deadlines (and starting another challenge on Monday, Z to A with my local blog), I'm cheating with just photos here again.

I don't have any in my garden currently, but I think the zinnia is a lovely flower, don't you?

Photo by lynnc

Photo by me_a

Photo by MissFran

Photo by berenika

Photo by runrunrun

Thanks for following along with me on the journey from A to Z with gardening and chicken farming.  It's been a fun month!  If you're up for another challenge, I've started one for May (but I'll be doing that with only one of my blogs rather than four).  You can find the link below my signature.

Click here to join in on the new Z to A in May Blogging Challenge.

Pretty Yellow Flowers

Isn't yellow the perfect color for the first spring flowers?  After a gloomy winter, such a bright color is a welcome sight and is a reminder of sunny days ahead (well, not right now in Ohio, that's for sure).

Forsythia blooming is usually one of the first signs of spring.

Photo by jlburgess

Followed by the lovely yellow daffodil, this from my own garden.

I wanted sunflowers, but since I forgot to plant them (again), 

this picture of the pretty yellow giants will have to do.

Photo by kay82

No yellow tulips for me, all of mine are red.  But aren't these pretty?

Photo by cendol

And I don't think these yellow fluffy-tops need explanation.

Photo by emoedgars

What yellow flowers do you like?

Click here to join in on the new Z to A in May Blogging Challenge.

Xeriscaping - No Need for It in Ohio!

Xeriscaping is the art of creating a landscape or garden that doesn't need much water to thrive.  Drier, more arid environments can benefit from xeriscaping, such as what you might experience in Arizona.

Although everyone can benefit from it if the positioning of their flower garden doesn't grant easy access to a water source, Ohio gardeners generally don't need to be too concerned with planning a xeriscape.  I'm not sure what the tally is for the amount of rainfall so far this month, but I wouldn't be surprised if we've set a record.

In south/central Ohio, we've not had one day in the last few weeks without some form of precipitation.  Some days it's been a light shower for just a few minutes, but the ground still hasn't dried up from previous heavy rainfall, so even a quick sprinkle causes problems.

There's no way to get a spring garden planted while experiencing so much rainfall (and more expected), so xeriscaping is the last thing on my mind ... other than this post for X-day on the A-Z Blogging Challenge.

Click here to join in on the new Z to A in May Blogging Challenge.

Nobody Likes Me, Everybody Hates Me ...

Can you guess what todays post will be for W-day?

Worms!

Worms are great in the garden as they provide a bit of aeration to the soil as they go about their business, and they leave bits of themselves behind which enriches the soil as well.  When it rains (and we've had lots of that lately), they rise to the surface and provide a tasty treat for my chickens too. #Winning!

Photo by pennylayn

You can even have a worm garden and harvest them to hasten composting or to sell to other eco-minded people in your area. The worm most widely used in vermiculture (worm farming) is the red worm, not your garden-variety earthworm.

There are numerous places online where you can buy red worms and the simple supplies needed to start your own worm composting farm should you want to give vermiculture a try.  When maintained properly (which takes little effort), there is no offensive odor.   I don't want to link to any specific site as I don't have a personal testimonial for any of them, but a quick search should return dozens of options from which to choose.

I've got enough to do with the rest of the critters and chicken farming, so I don't think I'll be adding worm farming to the mix any time soon, but I'm not ruling it out for the future.

Nobody likes me, everybody hates me ...

Click here to join in on the new Z to A in May Blogging Challenge.

V is for Violet

When I bought this place two years ago, I moved a bunch of flower beds around and tripped over these pretty little violet colored flowers in the back yard under the pine trees.  On a whim, I dug some up and moved them to another bed to see if they would 'take', not even knowing what they were.  I did a bit of searching and think they're Wood Violets, but I'm not 100% sure.

When I was weeding the front perennial bed a couple of weeks ago, I yanked out a bunch of stuff I probably shouldn't have, but there is still quite a bit of this pretty violet-purple hue hiding under some hosta and other plants, so I guess all is not lost.  They appear to spread fairly quickly so I'm just going to let them go and see what I end up with.

Wood Violets or not, they're still a pretty punch of purple among the greenery and that's enough for me.

Click here to join in on the new Z to A in May Blogging Challenge.

Unrelenting Rain

Definition of UNRELENTING

1:  not softening or yielding in determination : hard, stern (an unrelenting leader)
2:  not letting up or weakening in vigor or pace : constant (the unrelenting struggle)

That's definitely what we have going on in south/central Ohio of late.  Unrelenting rain.

Gloomy days are bad enough for overall mood, but rain every day for a week, with one day break then rain again for another week is beyond just gloomy.  There is nowhere else for water to go, the ground is well past saturated.  My back yard and chicken pen are one big mud pit and with the little ones out there now, I have to make the trek several times a day to check on them.  I am not having fun.

Worse still is that my house is lower than the yard so even a little rain makes a pool at the back steps and patio so I have to wade through standing water to even get to the mud, and the water seeps up under the house, creating goodness knows what kind of mold and mess under there.

We got a bit of a break today and the water has abated some, but we're expecting another storm tonight and more over the next 3-4 days.  Enough with the unrelenting rain already!

I'm taking the A-Z Blogging Challenge, where I will post something from each letter of the alphabet on the corresponding day in April, except for Sunday, on (hopefully) all four of my blogs. You can see my other blogs in the sidebar - More of Marie Anne.

T is for Tulips

Rather than laud the tulip with words, I'll let them tell their beautiful story.

Happy Easter ... He is Risen!

S is for Sisters Sharing

Yes, even chickens share.

Production Red Pullets Sharing a Dust Bath

Bertha & Bessie Sharing a Nest Box

There We Go, That's Better

Golden Comet Chicks Taking a Nap in Their Feed Dish

I'm taking the A-Z Blogging Challenge, where I will post something from each letter of the alphabet on the corresponding day in April, except for Sunday, on (hopefully) all four of my blogs. You can see my other blogs in the sidebar - More of Marie Anne.

Redbud Dilemma

I have a gorgeous Redbud tree outside my back door. My dilemma is that I have a gorgeous Redbud tree outside my back door.

The Eastern Redbud is an ornamental tree that produces tiny magenta buds in early spring, making it as welcome a sight as the daffodil and forsythia after a long Ohio winter.  A unique feature of the Redbud is that it will flower first, then bear attractive heart-shaped leaves after the flowers are gone, rather than the reverse.

I love my Redbud with its striking punch of color in an otherwise drab, chicken-filled backyard, but it's in a very awkward spot.  The branches have to be trimmed back so as not to end up in the gutter or brushing the side of the house and its position just outside the door impedes foot traffic to the chicken pen and coop.

My Redbud is too big to dig up and relocate elsewhere in the yard, but I really don't want to cut it down either, so I'm stumped as to what to do.  I do have another that was planted in the front yard as a sapling, so maybe I'll feel better about cutting the one in the back when that one matures enough to flower.

Eastern Redbud Outside My Back Door

A native tree as far west as Michigan, the Eastern Redbud makes a striking appearance when growing in the wild along roadways.  The pinkish-red buds really pop against the backdrop of Buckeye State greenery and make my mundane drive to town just a little brighter.

I'm taking the A-Z Blogging Challenge, where I will post something from each letter of the alphabet on the corresponding day in April, except for Sunday, on (hopefully) all four of my blogs. You can see my other blogs in the sidebar - More of Marie Anne.

Japanese Quince, Beautiful Flowering Shrub

I'd never heard of a quince, much less a Japanese Quince, but I was quickly educated after purchasing this property two years ago.

This is what was in the back yard when I moved in:

Naked Quince

Not a very impressive bunch of dried sticks but within a very short time, it morphed into this

Quince Starting to Bud

... so I didn't give up hope.


Once I saw this

Quince Blossoms

... I had to know what type of shrub those beautiful flowers came from.  My research tells me it is a Japanese Quince, a hardy shrub that tolerates most soil and sunlight conditions.  It's done well in my mostly clay soil, and survived both drought and flood conditions with no ill effects.





I first thought it might have been some sort of rose bush because it has thorns similar to a rose, but didn't find any relationship between the two.  The Japanese Quince is an early blooming shrub, one of the first things to pop in the spring, along with forsythia and daffodils.  It bears a small green fruit that is very bitter to taste, but apparently makes a wonderful jelly.  Two years ago I only saw one fruit, but last year there were quite a few. The fruit of the quince is smaller than an apple and quite hard. The chickens didn't even want to eat them.

My girls love to pull 'bug duty' around my quince, then rest in the dirt beneath it.  Catching bugs is hard work, you know.

Not quite in full bloom yet, this is what my Japanese Quince looks like this morning:

When fully flowered, it's a beautiful sight with a lovely punch of color.

I'm taking the A-Z Blogging Challenge, where I will post something from each letter of the alphabet on the corresponding day in April, except for Sunday, on (hopefully) all four of my blogs. You can see my other blogs in the sidebar - More of Marie Anne.

Plenty of Perennials

I'm still tidying up my front perennial garden but it's looking better every day.  While at Lowe's to pick up

this

Log edging to go around other flower bed

and this,

Ajuga Chocolate Chip to go with my Hosta

I spied an arrangement with several bulb perennials 

Daffodils, Tulips and Hyacinth

The two small bunches of daffodils are different than those I currently have, and there were two red tulips almost ready to flower with 2-3 more smaller shoots as well.  The few tulips in my perennial bed now are red, but not sure if these will be the same variety, but either way it's another nice punch of color.  I only had the one lone grape hyacinth (I guess it's called blue, but it's purple to me), and there were 3-4 in this pot so the whole thing was a great find.

What made it even better was the price.  With my military discount, I saved $7.00+ on my other purchases, so that paid for this pot of flowers.  Works for me!

I got them all planted but couldn't get a good shot of the whole thing this morning because of the rain, but here's one of the grape hyacinth that should be popping soon.

Rain today and more expected for the next several days, so not sure when I'll be able to finish the other flower bed, but the edging is in and it already looks so much better.  The Ajuga Chocolate Chip ground cover is going to look awesome with my Hosta.  It's a fast spreading perennial so I don't think I'll add anything else to that bed. Will make that decision after I get it all in the ground.

I'm taking the A-Z Blogging Challenge, where I will post something from each letter of the alphabet on the corresponding day in April, except for Sunday, on (hopefully) all four of my blogs. You can see my other blogs in the sidebar - More of Marie Anne.