MK keeps me updated on life at CR Farm (a haven for all creatures great and small) by e with notes and pics. Here is a spring scene from last month.

And one of Jo's pics in West TX from tonights acanthus subject reminded me of another of MKs lovely story pics.
Both of their pics have snouts lurking in the edges.
Here's the tip of Jo's nosey friend

and not as easy to figure out,, MK's

It is the first fawn of the year - born wild in her own backyard! It might have something to do with the fact that its family literally eats out of her hand - every evening.

And a full view of the first fawn

The fawn was probably not born in what we concider our backyard, but in the farmland very close to our backyard. I now have 2 young dogs running in our fenced backyard, so the deer might actually let my flowers bloom. There for a couple of years the deer were making a dinner buffet out of my summer blooms.

Kisses one of our friendliest pets, was at the barn last night eating out of the bucket while I stroked her forehead. Her yearling (fawn from last year) ate out of the bucket for the very first time and touched my hand with her nose.

We recently aquired a DSL connection, so I hope to be back on the forums!

Nice to hear your flowerbeds will prosper again this year, that Kisses and family are still at close range, and so glad to have you back with us again MK - esp at dsl speed. Hooray!

My friend Nancy and I attended a Lavender Festival here in West Virginia. The gardens were not as structured as I would have liked for the visit, but we still had lots of fun identifying plants on our own, and discussions of what we like, what we want to grow, and what to stay away from

There were cooking demonstrations going on, which we missed while attending the yoga session. But the aroma led us to the finished product:


There was also this amazing bench and table:

I can't tell which I'm drooling the most over - either the dish or the yummy furniture!
Those arm pieces are magnificent. I'm imagining the artist's joy in finding them, then the satisfaction in finding their best reincarnation.

Sounds like a perfect garderners outting MK, thanks for sharing it with us.

The arm pieces are what drew my attention to the bench. And to find matching arms What a find. I think I would use some planks for the seat rather than the plywood, especially after all the work of the seat back.

Our latest visitor



We sighted our first oriole last year, and immediately rushed out and bought an oriole feeder. But the shy fellow never came back. This year after 3 sightings, he's becoming a regular - although still very shy. Ray only held the door open a crack to get this picture for me.

He usually flies up into the apple trees (orchard next to our yard)when he sees us or the dogs come outside. I read that they like fruit and catepillars, including those awful tent catepillars which we sometimes get in the orchard. So I'm hoping he'll like his diet here, and stick around. Maybe even bring a friend

Shy? Not for long - You'll soon have him and his future offspring eating out of your hand MK.

He's so beautiful. Doesn't it look like he's saying 'Hey, Ray, whatya doing with thing pointed at me'

Here's a link to MK's June pics.
Her garden is protected from flower grazing deer by romping dogs. Now that's a committed gardener!

My orange dayliles are beginning to bloom under the orange oriole feeder. A good combination. Are the orioles attracted to orange like the hummers to red, or is the orange feeder just a marketing gimick? - orange bird, orange feeder.

Now that would be a beaut pic MK,, the orange bird at the orange flowers. Have Ray hold sentry duty at the window with camera for that one!

Enjoyed Mamakane's oriole and orange daylilies word picture...and wanted to share my daylily story. I sing the praises of the hardy, old fashioned perennial orange daylilies every chance I get. They grew in my New Jersey garden and now,
here in Fort Worth they live in an eliptical bed under my breakfast room window near the concrete driveway in the hot afternoon sun. I now know they grow across the U.S., in Europe and China in gardens as well as beside roadways.

At the beginning of June, anticipating my trip to France, I was sorry to leave my lilies full of buds, knowing they would be finished when I returned. Arriving in the Loire Valley and in Normandy, I saw many lilies. But it was Monet's Garden filled with the old fashioned orange beauties blooming, along with roses, poppies, clemantis and so many others that took my breath away. This is the third time I've been to Giverny at different seasons, also this time saw the nearby Museum of American Art's eight evergreen garden rooms, each planted with different colors. But this is the first time the daylilies seemed to be blooming for me.
Tres jolie.
I hope more gardeners will find a space for beautiful, old fashioned orange daylilies.

I’m sure looking forward to seeing photos of your latest sojourn, LJ – especially those of Giverny in June. To see the single Tawny daylily in full glory, in as celebrated a garden as Monet’s would be satisfying indeed. If we have to miss a season in our gardens, I can’t think of a better alternative! What a personal gift of nature it must have seemed.

I’m so glad you convinced me to keep that strip of the oranges under the Lady Banks arches. Since they lived here for 18 years in total neglect under the previous owner’s lack of care, they deserve to remain. Every morning in June, their color jumps 70 feet across the yard into my kitchen window to joyfully start the day.

I also have a bursting pot of the double orange given to me by your dear daughter Pam, which blooms a few weeks later. And a treasured pot of the yellow species that MamaKane sent me from W Virginia. I consider all three, as jewels in the summer garden.

Thank you for sharing that lovely story with us.