If your young child came home from school last week and said he had a held a chicken, maybe they were on a school field trip to the The Raincatcher’s Garden. During the last 2 weeks on 2 consecutive Tuesdays about 175 children came to our garden to learn about chickens. Judy, a Dallas County Master Gardener and henkeeper brought her brood: Blossom, Giggi, Dr. Pepper, and Velvet and Monarch.
Judy holding Gigi
Judy said the children had lots of good questions and learned some parts of the chickens…comb, wattles, beak, wings, etc. They learned chickens eat bugs, seeds, leaves, and other things. Chickens do not have teeth; they have a gizzard to grind up their food and their eyelids close from the bottom up.
Preston Hollow Students Learning How to Hold a Chicken
Different breeds lay eggs of different colors and sizes. The children liked seeing the pretty colored eggs and knowing that eggs come from chickens not grocery store cartons.
Thank you da Vinci School, Dallas Cooperative Preschool, and Preston Hollow Presbyterian School. The Master Gardeners hope you come back and so do the chickens.
Ann
Pictures by Starla
Sign up for free field trips here.
Interested in becoming a henkeeper? Take a self guided tour of chicken coops provided by A Peep at the Coops. It starts at Moss Haven Farm.
Date: Sunday, May 1
Time: 11am-5pm
Place: 9202 Moss Farm Lane, Dallas, Texas
‘Cragford,’ a pre-1930 Heirloom with white petals and reddish orange cups falls in the tazetta classification. The first to bloom in our garden, it grows to 14” -16.”
‘Falconet’ is another dazzling tazetta with three to five flowers per stem. The petals are a bright gold with a rich orange cup. Like ‘Cragford,’ it has a nice musky sweet perfume. Other tazettas you might try are ‘Avalanche’ and ‘Geranium.’ We also planted ‘Hillstar,’ a jonquil variety which is not yet in bloom.
‘Carlton’ has a larger bloom, but only one per stem, placing it in the Division II category. The two-toned yellow daffodil dates from 1927 and is the second most popular daffodil in the world, according to Brent and Becky’s Bulbs. You might want to plant ‘Gigantic Star,’ ‘Ice Follies,’ or ‘Saint Keverne’ in the Division II category.
Tiny Tete-a-Tete daffodils are showing their buttercup yellow petals and slightly darker yellow cup. This popular miniature daffodil usually has two flowers per stem and reaches 4-6 inches.
DALLAS GARDEN BUZZ 