Monday, July 24, 2006

Buddleia patrons


Butterfly sex apparently.














Not sure what this is. They're face to face.













Big fat bee.













Hummingbird moth. There must have been 50 of these on that bush on Sunday.



























Okay, not butterflies, but very happy chickens. Out all day. Chickens have the cutest butts. The Buff on the left looks like she has little feathery pantaloons on. So cute. And man do they love tomatoes. Flash the yellow plastic collander (used to collect tomatoes) and those chickens would follow you to the ends of the earth.

11 Comments:

Blogger Juli said...

I have to admit, I look at chicken rears and think they're cute, too! So fuzzy on their bottoms! My two are so spoiled. If they even SEE me near the kitchen door, they come a-runnin'. They've grown fond of raisins, grapes, tomatoes and pine nuts. They eat better than I do.

3:10 PM  
Blogger meresy_g said...

I'll have to try raisins and grapes. I enjoy feeding them so much too. I sit down with them and they just cluck happily away as they line up for treats. Who knew chickens were this much fun?

3:14 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Neat photos, and you do have good looking chickens.

7:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Love those butterflies & sphinx moth! Your butterflies are far more interesting than mine. And your chickens look quite grand now. I'd step aside if I saw them coming my way. How are the dogs with the chickens?

9:04 PM  
Blogger meresy_g said...

I will tell the chickens that they are good looking. Although their heads are already big enough as it is. The dogs are fine with them. I guess they understand that they are pets now. They even bark if I'm outside but not watching the chickens, when they get a little too far away or close to the street.

9:47 PM  
Blogger Liz said...

I am having more of an appreciation for chicken beauty lately. But nothing beats the wiggling of a duck butt. Just saying. ;)

8:49 AM  
Blogger meresy_g said...

Ducks waggling across the grass is pretty cute too. I'll give you that. Do they have cute little feathery behinds like chickens? I think we need to see some duck's behind shots on Pocket Farm soon.

9:48 AM  
Blogger KitcheView said...

talk about cute chickens. ahhhh the old days in el salvador when i used to chase around the plumpest chicken of the bunch. it was so much fun to chase them, and of course a few hours later to eat them. but the in between part i never liked. specially the pouring hot water all over them to make the feathers come off the easiest. do you eat your chickens?

10:34 AM  
Blogger KitcheView said...

on another note. here are a slew of questions for you.
your buddleia look amazing. i have a few of them. the ones i got 3 years ago i can't remember what type they were, but 2 are dead and the last one has leaves that look sick. almost too white instead of green. so i moved it to the front of the house. it did a comeback, but the leaves are still looking too pale. could the soil be too acidic?

the latest two i got this year are doing so so, they are purple and pink and i planted them right in the middle of the garden (about 4 hours of sun a day between 11 and 3 pm) is that a good spot for them? will they do better there u think? in london they grew like crazy, but here in brooklyn they are proving to be a hard plant for me to grow.

Liguria "the tocket"
http://www.rhs.org.uk/WhatsOn/gardens/rosemoor/archive/rosemoorpomjul.asp

ok so this plant was not looking to hot when i saw it at the shop, but i was so in love with the yeloow spikes that i let the shop owner convince me that the plant just needed a big bath. so i took it home and put it in a pot with fresh soil and lots and lots of water. for a week it was swimming in water (the instruction says it likes rivers and bogs). the leaves perked up for a bit, but now pretty much they are droopey and the stems are all brown and i can't tell if itis going rotten or they flowers are just dying and it is all normal.
anyway, my question is how do i keep my liguria alive? do i let it swim in water, keep it moist, but not too wet? i am afraid this plant might not make it.

winter protection.
ok. my last question is winter protection. i think most of my plants are zone 6 or below, but will keeping them in pots make them more likely to die over winter? i know my pineapple sage is zone 7 and iam tired of buying baby plants each summer. watch them grow, but never quite make it to blooming and then die, so i was thinking of how to keep them alive. here are my ideas.
1. use bubble wrap and then pack them in a plastic bag so the snow won't make them colder by piling on top of them.
2. taking them to an unheated garage or putting them underneat the stairs in an unheated room (once again will they miss the light?)
3. put all the pots next to the house wall and then build a sort of tent to keep the wind and snow away from them?)

the plants on pots are; all the mints, ligularia "the rocket", ligularia "golden ray", acanthus (bear breaches), a few veronicas, and a few clematises.

10:50 AM  
Blogger meresy_g said...

Hmmmm...I think the butterfly bushes might not get enough sun. My butterfly bush is pretty mature and sits by itself in a full sun area (sun all day long). Maybe that is the problem. Ligularia likes moist soil in a shady location, but probably not swimming in water. Maybe cut it way back and see if it comes around. I think pushing the pots up against the house will work, or in an unheated dark place. They won't miss the light because they are dormant. If you cover them and put them against the house, you might want to try filling around them with leaves to give them a little extra insulation.

No I won't be eating the chickens. I've given them names and I can't eat something with a name, a name that I know of anyway.

1:08 PM  
Blogger KitcheView said...

the lucky guys. my sister and i used to name ours too, but then it was hard to eat them once we got too attached to them. thanks for all the info on the plants. my garden gets only about 3 or 4 hours of sun in any particular spot. the butterfly bushes might just have to go. i will do my best to bring ligularia back to life. it is sooo beautiful. i will def. put all the pots againdst the house and mulch them with leaves.

1:41 PM  

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