Been busy building a chicken coop with hubby, well, he's actually doing the building, I hold up this and that to help but will start the frame painting soon. And I have been busy reading up on chick breeds and everything I can about raising chickens. Have two special breeds on order so far, need to find the other 3 on my want list.

Weather has been coolish, somewhat overcast so took a few photos.

The lovely Lady Emma Hamilton


Caramella


Cafe rose with an iris

Sue, what breeds are on your want list? I used to raise chickens and miss them. I've had a plan on the back burner to get back into it some day. We had several breeds.

Caramella is looking particularly delicious! Fat buds on mine, and we just had some nice rain and should see blooms soon.

The two chicks reserved:
a Blue Orpington


and a Speckled Sussex.
Then I plan on getting a Blue Laced Red Wyandotte, and most likely an Ameraucana or Easter Egger and a Barred Plymouth Rock.

Blue Laced Red Wyandotte

Has anyone heard from Melva? Hope she is alright with the Texas storms.

What beautiful roses, Sue. I love peach/apricot colored roses.

Raising chickens is becoming popular. What an interesting adventure! Are you raising them for eggs or soup? I would raise ones that lay pretty eggs. Or the cute ones that look like Phillis Diller! I got a kick out of the chickens at last year's county fair!

Still battling rocks and weeds, but making headway!

The plants liked the winter snow cover. Most also had peat moss or mulch cover as well. I am grateful that my neighbor plowed my driveway. I have really nice neighbors here. I baked the neighbor brownies and treats as a thank you.

My other neighbor, Joe, loves his new rose - the Kordes Milano Kolorscape. It is blooming away! The dark red blooms really stand out. I should have gotten myself one too! I have to finish planting my new purchases before thinking of adding any others. I am laying out a circle for the red divas. It is difficult to describe, I need to get my pictures together to show you. . I have a plan for the plantings. It is fun to see it coming together.

The irises started blooming. A couple roses - Radner's Carefree Celebration and one Austin - are setting buds. The only roses blooming are the new purchases. We had a long winter and early summer. I had to turn the air conditioner on already. I feel like I missed spring this year. At least the snow is gone. I was so tired of snow. My dog, Winston the pug, tried to hibernate. He doesn't like getting his feet wet/cold. Some snowy mornings, he peed off the end of the front step and turned around to come back inside. Our walks were limited to plowed and sanded paths. He is enjoying wandering around the lake again.

Sue, love the chickies! We're in the planning stages on that project, and your pinterest picks have helped me with our coop designs.
It has rained here almost daily for the last week, but I missed out on it because I was in Oregon, enjoying their version of "rain", which we call "mist". My daughter moved to Vancouver, Washington just in time for the National Iris convention in Portland. After five days on bus tours and another few in seminars, I'm dreaming iris and roses. That vacation was really a top-of-the-bucket-list, dream come true trip. My daughter and I toured the gardens, smelled the flowers, talked to the hybridizers, and met gardeners from all over the world. I talked to BARRY BLYTH!!!
Funny, I didn't bring home any iris or roses, but I did fill a suitcase with conifers and japanese maples.
We went to the Portland Rose Garden over Memorial weekend, but I wish we had found time to go on a weekday. The crowds were too intense for me, and so many families were using the garden for their family portraits, blocking whole areas of the garden. (I did photobomb a few after I got frustrated with waiting!) I didn't go into the test garden because a big formal wedding was taking place. It's Rose Week, and most tourists were there to see the roses, but we couldn't! The Japanese garden, ironically enough, had a sign prohibiting portraiture or posed photos.
The roses and iris in Oregon grow much larger than they do in the midwest. The colors were even slightly different. The photos I did take look great because the whole 10 days I was there, the skies were overcast.
I will try to find time to load photos, but I'll bet all are already in our database. Surprisingly, i saw nothing that we haven't talked about on this forum.
In other news, Wayside had a clearance sale, and I ordered a few Austins, and wow! They sent roses that were as good as or better than what I received from Austin or Edmunds. Nobody compares to Palatine, of course, but these bare root roses look great! Our forecast is for rain rain rain for the next week, so I took a chance and planted them. At $10-$13 apiece, they were a steal.
The weeds sure took off while I was gone, and the roses and clematis all burst into bloom. I love touring other gardens, because when I come home, I have so many ideas for improvements. I'll have to get caught up on weeding first!

Beautiful roses as usual but I really love that Caramella. Such a fabulous color!

I bet the chickens coop and raising is exciting. They all look nice to me, hard to make up ones mind as to what to choose.

Sue, I love those breeds! We had some buff and blue Orpingtons, and some Wyandotte of another color I can't recall. I always loved the plump-fluffy looking breeds. Seemed the most reliable layers were Rhode Island reds, but they just weren't as cute. I would always pick up the fat fluffy ones and pet on them, some actually got pretty used to it, LOL.

Cindi, looking forward to your photos! Sounds like a fantastic trip!

Yep Neal, a pretty flock to go with a colorful garden was a must It's really hard to limit my choices, I wanted a Mille Fleur d'Uccle Bantam, a Silkie, a Polish or a Brahma too for their fun looks but by our HOA rules, 3 is the limit. We are sneaking in 2 extra. We are on 1/2 acre surrounded by large shrubs, who's gonna know?!

Cindi, that does sound like a dream trip!! I toured Schreiners and another nursery up there a few years ago, it was also overcast that day so the colors were so intense, the photography lighting beautiful! Did you get inspired by Mid-America gardens for those conifers and Japanese maples? I have only seen photos but wow, makes me want to start over. I have been tearing out a few things, roses too, and adding more shrubs and dwarf conifers for more garden bones.

Sue, you need to go back to Mid-America. Tom has several unusual chickens and 3 white peacocks.

What a handsome roo and gorgeous peacock!

So many places to see Cindi!! Maybe someday.

I don't think I have ever seen a white peacock in real life. Amazing. Enjoy your chick picks!! Best friend has Silkies........so cute.

Anyone recognize this one?
Probably a florabunda.
About 30" tall with maybe 20 petals.
Des anybody grow Impatient? That's my only guess.

Someone please enlighten me here: If you "order" baby chicks, do they actually ship them to you via UPS or whatever ?
I can't imagine a baby chick(s) being sent through the mail in a box and arriving alive.

Kidfishing, that rose looks like Easy Does It. It's my best and most favorite rose. It blooms like that all summer long.
Mike, the chicks are mailed through the post office, next day delivery, and our post office has a place to keep them so you can come pick them up there. You should hear that room in the spring!!!! Chicks that are just a few days old ship very well.
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.c...

Mike, yes, they ship them by USPS all the time, express. Usually with a minimum size order. They ship them at a day old. Right before chicks hatch, they have just absorbed the last of the yolk. This sustains them during their journey, for up to three days, so that's why they need to ship at that time, when the yolk will sustain them. It does not need food or water because of that.
I just prefer getting them from local hatcheries, especially since I can only get such a small number.

Those roses I was so worried about this spring look marvelous and are just starting to bloom here and there. Here is the rose island in the front yard.


And the Southside Rose garden.


Siberian Iris have been blooming here and look so pretty.

They look amazing Rita!

Some pretty blooms this morning.

Cindi,
I have Easy Does It and it is different than the unknown one.
Easy Does It Does great here!
Lots of blooms with no diseases.

It's been at least 20 years since I last saw Impatient, Kidfishing, and I remember it as a larger rose bush, but the blooms look right.

Could it be Rose (Rosa 'Marmalade Skies')

Maybe not, doesn't have that lighter reverse.