May Myrtle

I actually got myself outside today and took some May photos. I would have liked to take more May flower photos, but Myrtle is all I found.

I promised Kristine to just do one job today and not get carried away with different tasks and make myself sick again. I was good and just cleaned up after the Buff house chicken. Somehow her pen, straw bedding, etc., was waiting for me to clean up and put away.

The weather has been so unpredictable, but we are supposed to have some sunny days this week in the 6o's. That's still kinda cool for my taste.

When I'm cold in the morning, I just put my clothes on over my pajamas. Kristine thinks I'm silly, but I don't care. I'm more interested in staying warm.

The Buff house chicken is all healed up, fine and happy and back in the chicken herd hanging out with her buddy, Pastey, the smaller white Brahma.

Hard to see in the photo but that is an apple tree on the left being propped up by a stake. Two tall cedars in the middle and lots of new green leaves and needles brightening up the forest.

Kristine still sounds like she has pneumonia, but she is back to work and classes. She says most of the problem now is from allergies. Too much pollen around. She got an allergy shot and pills to go along with the antibiotics.

I know I'm on the mend because I want to work on some projects I have planned. Before I really didn't care about anything. I haven't read any blogs yet. I am soooo behind. I still feel so tired.

[9 eggs today]

Peek at the Past

(May 1, 2009)

~:>

Smiles

Myrtle and Hypericum

[8 eggs]

The myrtle is blooming!

I transplanted cuttings from the

swath of myrtle that is growing

in the front of the property

to areas along the driveway.

Click on the photo to get a better look at the flowers. You can click here to get some more information about myrtle or periwinkle. I'm not sure of the name of this variety of myrtle. It seems to do best in areas that get the most shade.

It has taken a few years but the myrtle has finally taken hold and is spreading out over the adjacent areas all on its own without my help. I do water it when it gets very hot and dry.

I plan to take some more cuttings this year and start the myrtle in some new areas probably along the other side of the driveway and around the fruit trees.

For some reason the chickens are not interested in eating the myrtle. I remember a gardener at a nursery telling me once that deer don't care to eat plants with purple flowers. Although it has been my experience that deer will eat pretty much anything if they are hungry enough.

I have tried several times to start some beds of hypericum but each time the plants have died during the hot, dry summer triple degree spells. Admittedly I think it was my fault for not keeping the plants watered well enough, but I also wonder if the chickens and deer have been partly responsible for it disappearing. I plan to start the next group of plants in my garden where it will be protected by fencing.

I didn't plant the hypericum in my garden because it is just about impossible to get get of once it does become well rooted. The roots are invasive and are like coat hanger wire. In fact once the plants are established they do best if they are cut back to the roots every now and then. I cut the myrtle by the rocks back this year and it is already back and looks great.

Hypericum, here, is a drought resistant ground cover and will do very well here if I can only get it started. I do have a few hypericum plants growing but not in large areas. I keep hoping the plants will take off and spread out like they did on our property in the Santa Cruz mountains. The plants have lovely yellow flowers and shiny green leaves.

Smiles