Landscaping and Plantings for a Free Range Flock

[lazy gardener]

Oh yes. Chickens LOVE lilacs. And they belong in every yard! I planted 3 purple ones at road side last summer. Have 2 dwarfs under bedroom windows. Not too late to get some started this fall. They root super easy, and fall is the perfect time for plants to set roots.

I don't know if these plants have been mentioned: Aromatics for repelling insects in nest, coop and run: Lemon balm, lavender, mint, Russian Sage, regular sage, citronella (best potted in cold zones).

Edible beauties Day lilies. There are some incredible cultivars now. Fragrant, re-blooming, ruffled blossoms, single and double blooms, vivid contrasting eyes, and blossoms with a pearly sheen to them. Roses. Get double bang for your buck as they act as a trap crop for Japanese Beetles. Grapes. Also a trap crop.

Other edibles Siberian Pea, comfrey, any berry bearing shrub/tree.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

@lazy gardener a few of those got mentioned on my herbal post. But you have some I didnt mention as well.

Edible flowers: I will add Nasturtium to that list. I've planted it so many time in the past....but did not get it in this spring. I wonder why?! I think I forget or go in streaks with things. Or wanna try something new.

Oh ugh...the leaves are about completely off the trees. And we have a long winter ahead before I'm planting or enjoying those gardens again. Sort of melancholy about the whole thing.

I do have my grasses waving in the fall breeze out there. Still giving me interest...so will try to put together some photos for an ornamental grass post. My new love in the garden.

 

[lvie]

I think Chickens would like Lilacs too. I don't have any! Which is a horrible state of affairs in my opinion. I want them bad. Before they hardly stood a chance around here as deer love them. But the yellow labrador is territorial and the common White Tail has no business or time a-wasting in my yard, any more. I have not had one browsed off hydrangea, hosta, you name it in 1 1/2 years...roughly the age of Sadie Mae. LOL. Time to give Lilacs their chance in my yard, I guess!

BC - I have LOTS of lilacs you can dig up.

 

[duluthralphie]

BC - I have LOTS of lilacs you can dig up.

I need more too!


I also need some weeping willow and those hydrangeas and snowball thingies.

 

[lvie]

Quote:
Well I dunno if you want the tall ones along the shed or the short ones in the front where you got your last ones but it may still be okay to dig them up. I have no weeping willows and I do not have enough hydrangeas to share yet.

 

[duluthralphie]

Well I dunno if you want the tall ones along the shed or the short ones in the front where you got your last ones but it may still be okay to dig them up. I have no weeping willows and I do not have enough hydrangeas to share yet.

Bigger the better, I just don't want to take too many of yours. I feel like a thief when I take them.

 

[lvie]

Quote:
OMGOSH! PLEASE take them. They are spreading like crazy. I can give you some American Cranberry bush also. Those are going crazy. They get to be ten feet tall if you don't trim them and are read in the fall. I would intertwine them with the lilacs.

 

[duluthralphie]

OMGOSH! PLEASE take them. They are spreading like crazy. I can give you some American Cranberry bush also. Those are going crazy. They get to be ten feet tall if you don't trim them and are read in the fall. I would intertwine them with the lilacs.

American cranberry?? I need to look them up.

 

[memphis]

Hey ya'll. Just got back from North Dakota on business. It was 90 when i left Memphis. Brrr! I'm still mowing the lawn down here. Lilacs don't grow in the south. Too hot & humid here. But I've planted some at my house in Missouri. Everyone should have Lilacs! Dont forget pansy is edible too. We plant them in the fall & they grow throughout the winter. A little bright spot when nothing else is blooming.

 

[duluthralphie]

Hey ya'll. Just got back from North Dakota on business. It was 90 when i left Memphis. Brrr! I'm still mowing the lawn down here. Lilacs don't grow in the south. Too hot & humid here. But I've planted some at my house in Missouri. Everyone should have Lilacs! Dont forget pansy is edible too. We plant them in the fall & they grow throughout the winter. A little bright spot when nothing else is blooming.

You can never be happy in our area, can you? This summer, the mosquitoes were too thick, so we get rid of the mosquitoes for you and we here it's too cold. Can you ever be pleased?

What more can we do?