Members James Hart Posted August 15, 2008 Members Share Posted August 15, 2008 The wife and I feed birds in out back yard (sparrows, finches, jays and cardinals mostly)... a few years ago I let a couple Sunflowers grow that were coming up from the feed. To this day, I haven't planted a single flower. Here is this years patch (shot these @ 3pm today with my Canon Powershot A80) The fence is about 15 foot behind the patch and 6 foot tall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bholder Posted August 15, 2008 Members Share Posted August 15, 2008 Wow. I need to plant a row of sunflowers all around my yard! Too bad they're not year-round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BottomHeavyKate Posted August 15, 2008 Members Share Posted August 15, 2008 Beautiful! that was one of my favorite crops on the farm. 40 acres of sunflowers is a beautiful thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members James Hart Posted August 15, 2008 Author Members Share Posted August 15, 2008 I'd love to see 40 acres of them!!! We are pretty amazed at the size and quantity we get every year. If I didn't mow 3/4 of them down, they'd have taken over my whole yard the last 2 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members James Hart Posted August 16, 2008 Author Members Share Posted August 16, 2008 I was just out watching a family of Gold Finches feed on the blooms... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Optimus Prime Posted August 16, 2008 Members Share Posted August 16, 2008 Now you can grow weed and not have to worry about the police seeing the plants from choppers. I mean, at least that's what I've heard people will do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members James Hart Posted August 16, 2008 Author Members Share Posted August 16, 2008 Now you can grow weed and not have to worry about the police seeing the plants from choppers. I mean, at least that's what I've heard people will do. screw that, I've got the whole attic lined with reflective mylar and set up with mist and light sources..... oh wait, did I just type that out loud j/k I gave up on all illegal (in my town and country) substances over a decade ago... my drugs of choice are Coffee and Winston Lights Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members i_wanna_les_paul Posted August 16, 2008 Members Share Posted August 16, 2008 Nice weeds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members James Hart Posted August 16, 2008 Author Members Share Posted August 16, 2008 Nice weeds. weeds are just a plant growing where it ain't wanted.... the ones I mowed down are the weeds and yes, I live close enough to the ocean to smell the salt air... my 'yard' is sand and I refuse to be a slave to a lawn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bholder Posted August 16, 2008 Members Share Posted August 16, 2008 weeds are just a plant growing where it ain't wanted.... the ones I mowed down are the weeds and yes, I live close enough to the ocean to smell the salt air... my 'yard' is sand and I refuse to be a slave to a lawn. I was just forced by the town to cut down a bunch of plants I consider wildflowers, but that the neighbors consider weeds. I think it's downright insane that there are laws to force people to mow their lawns, it's a complete waste of gasoline, it's bad for the environment in multiple ways, its sole purpose is cosmetic, to satisfy some vain and false sense of "beauty". If anything, there should be laws encouraging people to let their property "go natural". I actually think I'm going to write my state political representatives over this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sunburstbasser Posted August 16, 2008 Members Share Posted August 16, 2008 I was just forced by the town to cut down a bunch of plants I consider wildflowers, but that the neighbors consider weeds. I think it's downright insane that there are laws to force people to mow their lawns, it's a complete waste of gasoline, it's bad for the environment in multiple ways, its sole purpose is cosmetic, to satisfy some vain and false sense of "beauty". If anything, there should be laws encouraging people to let their property "go natural".I actually think I'm going to write my state political representatives over this. Tell them you want your yard "au naturale." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bholder Posted August 16, 2008 Members Share Posted August 16, 2008 Tell them you want your yard "au naturale." The sad thing is this area is zoned "rural agricultural", so there are plenty of fields up and down the road where that's allowed. The rule apparently is that if the parcel has a house on it, you have to cut the lawn, with no clear definition of what constitutes "lawn". I asked how much, and he said "withing 25' of the house". Ok, on my property, that's about like a postage stamp on a standard sheet of notebook paper. I'm going to cut a little more than that on the front side, but sides and back are going to be just past the legal minimum, the rest I'm letting grow - just let the neighbors complain about that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members James Hart Posted August 16, 2008 Author Members Share Posted August 16, 2008 I was just forced by the town to cut down a bunch of plants I consider wildflowers, but that the neighbors consider weeds. I think it's downright insane that there are laws to force people to mow their lawns, it's a complete waste of gasoline, it's bad for the environment in multiple ways, its sole purpose is cosmetic, to satisfy some vain and false sense of "beauty". If anything, there should be laws encouraging people to let their property "go natural". I actually think I'm going to write my state political representatives over this. I've paid over $300 in court costs and fines due to my local 'Code Enforcer' trying to make me live within his definition of weeds. This is the side of my house: it's a habitat for at least 4 types of birds as well as a feeding area for butterflies and hummingbirds.... and praying mantis (in the winter you can see many egg pouches). This retired Newark cop that now rides the neighborhood looking for code violations has tried to get me to pull it all down. I went in to court armed with proof of the use of Trumpet Vine as a decorative plant. It can stay as long as no actual neighbors complain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bholder Posted August 16, 2008 Members Share Posted August 16, 2008 I've paid over $300 in court costs and fines due to my local 'Code Enforcer' trying to make me live within his definition of weeds. This is the side of my house: it's a habitat for at least 4 types of birds as well as a feeding area for butterflies and hummingbirds.... and praying mantis (in the winter you can see many egg pouches). This retired Newark cop that now rides the neighborhood looking for code violations has tried to get me to pull it all down. I went in to court armed with proof of the use of Trumpet Vine as a decorative plant. It can stay as long as no actual neighbors complain I've got a totally riotous out of control mass of rhododendron on the east side of my house that's almost that extreme. It's probably 15' high at the peak, 30' long, and maybe 15' deep. All sorts of stuff lives in there, I'm sure. A lot of gardening types really envy them, but I've never done anything special, they just seem to thrive on benign neglect. I'd actually like to take some cuttings and get them going in other parts of the yard - I've never seen / heard of rhododendron getting this big. And the neighbors can't really complain, as they're officially an "ornamental" plant. The power company did for years, though, because they can't get to the meter easily. They finally did something to measure remotely and don't hassle me about it any more. I wasn't going to chop away at the bushes just so they could get the meter easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mudbass Posted August 16, 2008 Members Share Posted August 16, 2008 Around here we call those things weeds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bassgirl9 Posted August 16, 2008 Members Share Posted August 16, 2008 Crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members James Hart Posted August 21, 2008 Author Members Share Posted August 21, 2008 So I was just mowing in and around the Sunflower patch... Look what popped out at me after my heart started beating again, I ran in the house to grab my camera Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Transmaniacon Posted August 21, 2008 Members Share Posted August 21, 2008 Great photo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Giddry Posted August 21, 2008 Members Share Posted August 21, 2008 Sunflowers are my favorite. Those and Gerber Daisies. Very nice pictures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members James Hart Posted August 22, 2008 Author Members Share Posted August 22, 2008 Sunflowers are my favorite. Those and Gerber Daisies. Very nice pictures! I dig daisies too... Sunflowers, Daisies, Daylilies and Hyacinths are my favorites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SB900LE Posted August 22, 2008 Members Share Posted August 22, 2008 I was just out watching a family of Gold Finches feed on the blooms... A male goldfinch visited my backyard last week to feast on seeds of Black Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia) blooms. First time I've ever seen one, that I know of. I had to google some bird images to figure out what I had seen. Very enjoyable experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Emprov Posted August 22, 2008 Members Share Posted August 22, 2008 We've had a 30 or 40 crows move in to our neighborhood over the past few years, chasing all of the other birds away. Put a bunch of hummingbird feeders (and man, those things are nasty if you try to invade their territory!) in our backyard and the crows haven't been seen in a while. Just filled the feeders up about an hour ago and it's darn near like a bee hive out there. Nice sunflowers, makes me wish I had more land! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author Craig Vecchione Posted August 22, 2008 CMS Author Share Posted August 22, 2008 Sorry to read about your weed problem. This can control it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bassman1956 Posted August 22, 2008 Members Share Posted August 22, 2008 Cool! When I was in France in 2000, and we took the train south from Paris, it surprised me to see all of these huge fields of sunflowers, all facing east. So, looking out of the right side of the cars, we saw fields of glaring bright yellow with lots of black dots. Out the left, nothing but grey green, or, nothing but the backs of all the brightly colored sunflowers. And they were bloody huge, too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members James Hart Posted August 22, 2008 Author Members Share Posted August 22, 2008 Sorry to read about your weed problem. actually, I just acquired a Craftsman 22" mower with a 5.50 Briggs & Stratton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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