Fortunately the owner, Laurie, was there watering the plants. She let me in. While she had plenty of plants, I wanted berry (for eating) bushes. Of these she had:
- serviceberry
- elderberry
- chokecherry
- currants (two or three varieties)
The serviceberry bushes look to be in very good condition and many have flowered. I should get a few berries later this year on the two I bought. As soon as I got home I transplanted and watered them. Now grow!
The nursery also sells snowberry bushes. Those bad plants I am trying to get rid of from the ranch! Laurie said they are a native plant and useful. Grouse and other birds like them; and they grow in forests protecting the soil. She did agree with me that they can spread and become a nuisance in other areas.
Laurie gave me a pamphlet on "Creating Native Landscapes in the Northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountains". It was created by the USDA and Montana Association of Conservation Districts. Looks to be a useful guide.
Laurie also gave me a pretty paper-mache lotus blossom that she had made. The tag attached to it read:
The paper lotus flower is a moral discipline reminder, because lotus flowers grow in the mud but keep themselves very clean and elegant.I asked, and Falun Dafa is related to Falun Gong, which the Chinese government is suppressing. Laurie practices this. We then had a discussion on how the Chinese government is suppressing these peaceful people, the person who spoke up about the persecution of the Falun Gong in China during the President's recent news conference with the Chinese president, and how communism is evil. Interesting. Apparently there are some Falun Dafa practitioners here in the Kalispell area.
In Chinese culture lotus flowers are symbols of highly virtuous individuals who maintain a high moral standard.
The world needs:Fallun Dafa www.falundafa.org
- Truthfulness
- Compassion
- Forbearance
After transplanting my new serviceberry bushes I planted the rest of the garden I have dug up so far. I planted my starter tomato, bell pepper, and jalapeno pepper plants. Then I planted the Yukon gold seed potatoes I had bought earlier at the CHS store. I dug 12 hills. This is less than the 21 hills last year, but then I am expecting better things from these seeds potatoes this year than the russet potatoes from last year. If not, lots of potatoes are grown locally so potatoes are sold cheaply.
Since I had area left, I planted cucumber and zucchini squash plants. Or I should say transplanted two cucumber plants and started the rest from seed. I thought I had started more cucumber and zucchini plants, but I must have gotten distracted by my efforts to start pepper plants, and with other things.
As I had a little room left I planted some of my starter cantaloupe and watermelon plants. Cross your fingers that I'll actually harvest some melons this year as growing them is an iffy proposition here in NW Montana.
Now to dig the remaining 30% of my garden to plant the remaining starter cantaloupe, watermelon, and pumpkin plants.
In the evening I checked my pocket gopher traps. The more I walk over the hayfield the more new mounds of fresh dirt I find. *sigh*
The river continues to rise. I see it is now (as of 12:30 am) at 773 CFS; an increase of 32 CFS over yesterday's 12:30 am flow of 741 CFS . The increase is a smaller amount than yesterday's increase of 51 CFS, so the rise is slowing. Still the increase in the river level each day is visually noticeable.
I found today the huge tree root/stump is gone. A few years ago it floated from upstream and lodged on a gravel bar in the middle of the river. Subsequent high water flows have moved it slightly along the gravel bar each year, but this year's flow is the highest in a number of years, and was enough to send the tree root/stump downstream somewhere.
When setting a pocket gopher trap near a tree I noticed a bird fly out low from a tree trunk. The tree is slowly dying and I found a large hole leading into a large hollowed out area inside the tree trunk. The hole is only a yard or so above the ground - low! Bob said it may be the nest of a bluebird (or did he say blue jay?)
The cattle are happy. Green grass, and I don't put them back in the corral at night so they can eat all they want when they want. No more waiting in the morning for me to toss them more bales of hay. And they have different sizes of trees they can scratch against. Some trees whip around when a heifer vigorously scratches against it.
This morning when I fed some loaves of bread to the cattle they were more interested in a neighbor's big black dog who came up behind me in the yard. The cattle lined up along the fence to watch the dog. They were fascinated by the dog and would follow along their side of the fence as the dog moved along his side of the fence. The dog was smart enough not to cross the fence to be on the same side of the cattle.
Tonight I noticed the cattle were lined up along the northern fence line when the neighbor brought her small dog out for a bathroom run. The cattle didn't appear to be fazed as the little dog "yipped" away.
Yesterday's rain knocked a number of the apple trees' blossoms to the ground. The ground is littered white with blossoms near the apple trees. Looks neat. I seen that even the small old apple tree has a few blossoms. Wouldn't that be something to get apples from that tree! Bees, do your business!
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