Pictures from the middle of August

Looking across the south pasture.  The yellow flowers are Birdsfoot Trefoil

Birdsfoot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) comes in two basic types.  One strain is called "Empire-like" and is short.  Empire-like is very tolerant of grazing.  The other strain is called Norcen-like or hay-type.  It is taller than Empire types.  Both self-seed and are self sustaining in the pasture given a little bit of attention.

I still have some white clover blooming.  The giant form of white clover is called "Ladino" clover.  Standard white clover and Ladino clover both combine well with short forage grasses like Kentucky Blue Grass and Perennial Ryegrass.  White clover is extremely persistent as long as you graze the sward down on a regular basis.

This is Red Clover and it seems to combine well with Tall Fescue.  There are some improved cultivars including some that don't have dusty leaves.  Later this year I plan on frost seeding some Medium Red into the parts of the pasture that are mostly Tall Fescue.

Gray Dogwood (Cornus racemosa).

The birds quickly eat the berries.

It is time to start the "Mast Reports".  This is a branch of English Oak (Quercus robur)

Three month old Maximilian Sunflowers.  Maximilian Sunflower is a perennial with good drought tolerance and has been investigated as a perennial "grain" species.  Supposedly, it can produce up to 250 pounds of seeds (tiny sunflower seeds) per acre.  I was impressed that these plants flowered in their first growing season considering how my weed control failed.