Well I now officially plan a nap in the middle of catching up on the Washingtonian thread.
Welcome to the new people
Ogress,
Glad your hen seems to be OK. There are lots of different normal cackle spackles, some even look like diarrhea. In case anyone is interested, here are some pictures of chicken applesauce.
http://www.chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=17568.0
Rustler, et al.,
I have 3 butterfly bushes/trees. FYI- they come in 3 sizes:
Small about 3-4 feet tall,
Large- Well Ciscoe said he had one that was 40 feet tall, at one time,
Medium- the common size about 12 feet tall. Grows about 6 feet per year. Can be a little leggy.
They can be trained into a small tree, or if cut back to the ground every year will be a bush with arching branches. (sometimes called fountain bush) They bloom in the summer, look like lilac kind of, smell sweet, and attract butterflies, hummingbirds and
bees. They have lots of blooms all at once. Different colors can bloom at different times, for about 2-3 weeks. I have 3 different colors pink, white, purple and most years the bloom time extends to about 6+ weeks. If the fall is nice sometimes there are a few smaller blooms again later in the year. I prune mine back to 6 ft every year, just flattop.
Here's a not so good pic, the trees behind the pond.
They are considered a invasive nuisance here in Wa. I find them barely invasive. Three have popped up in my yard in 15 years, none in neighboring yards.
I have rooted cuttings in the past, but had poor results. About 6 starts out of 100 starts, but that was just sticking them in water on the deck. I just pruned mine a few weeks ago. About 2/3 of the trimmings have already gone out in the recycling. Still have some of the trimmings in the yard, mostly purple, maybe some white.
Rustler,
If you are interested I can try to start from them. Not any trouble to try. I'll bring them in, and I believe I have rooting hormone already. If you are interested, let me know. If it doesn't work we can always try with some of the wayward growth this summer.
Russ
