Cherry tomatoes are ripening so the ducks will have fresh treats soon. The people tomatoes are just starting to flower so it will be awhile before we're harvesting any. We'll have Cherokee Purples again this year. They were the most delicious eating tomato. And I planted some Amish heirlooms for cooking.
We'll be eating artichokes from this year old plant soon. The new plants are growing like gangbusters with the ducks fenced out and we might get a few chokes from them, too. Sequim used to be known for growing artichokes. Who knew?
Here are the duck girls. Sassy as ever. Still getting four eggs a day. Would love to give them a bigger pool.
Hattie keeps the ducks under control. With warmer weather they don't want to spend the night in their house but for their safety that's where they have to go. Without Hattie's help I'd be hard pressed to get them in. It's our evening chore and she knows just what to do.
Flowers! Here is Bonica, a pretty shrub rose. All these roses were little twigs last year at this time.
I don't recall this one's name. Have to look it up. It's a climber.
The white is Darlow's Enigma, a rambling rose. Ceanothus Victoria in the foreground.
More of the Tag and Hooper irises.
This is New Dawn climbing rose with a crazy-blooming clematis and delphiniums.
I love my shady areas. This nook is finally filling in with ferns, epimediums, hostas, oxalis and helleborus.
A beautiful yellow rose that came with the house and pretty pink something-or-others. Dianthus, I think.
I'll close with another picture of my girl Hattie. Our nosework classes will be getting into scent training soon. So far it's been searching for hidden food, but now she'll learn to locate a scented object and tell me she's found it. I think we start with birch scent. If Hattie's hearing has deteriorated I can't tell yet. She's still high functioning. Her DNA is being collected for research in several projects, one related to hearing loss in border collies, the other to determine the genetic keys to particular traits in all dogs. Tux is still hanging in there. I'll try to get a photo of her for next blog entry.
