Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there and specifically, MY DAD!

Here is a flower my dad will recognise. Back in Northern Wisconsin it was called an Indian Paintbrush locally, but I don't know anything else. It isn't anything like Castilleja linariaefolia the Indian Paintbrush that is the Wyoming State Flower. I will have to do a bit more digging to discover the real name of this wild flower. It grew in my Grandmother's lawn in Northern Wisconsin and it grows in mine here in SW Scotland. I never pull it out even when it shows up in the herb bed because it always reminds me of my grandmother.

Near the herb bed in the front of the house is that *%£! mole hill. You can see the scars from the early spring mole hills next to this fresh one that plagued the front lawn earlier in the year.

This is our walnut tree. It is about 13 years old now. Athough it is a hybrid walnut and we were told that we'd get walnuts in four years, we haven not had a single nut to date. Every year there are little green nut buds but they never mature.

You can see the little trio of walnut buds there in the centre of the picture. Each year I see loads of those and start thinking about what I might be able to do with them once the walnuts are ripe. Sadly the dreams of a nut bounty are never realized. The little buds drop off.

If anybody is a walnut tree expert, can you please tell me why this happens. Are we too far north for walnuts? The tree is obviously healthy enough.