A Kansas Country Garden: Is This A Good Thing?

Martha, our lone guinea fowl has laid some eggs under the rose bush right next to our home and is now setting on them. Is this a good thing? 

It's a good thing because. . . .

• We know where she is and she is our yard and not a neighbor's. 
• She seems relatively safe. Although she stays on the nest through the night when predators could be prowling, surely most would not venture so close to our house. The rose bush really should provide pretty good protection from above. 

It's not such a good thing because. . . .

• This is an exercise in futility. Since there is no "Mr." Guinea, there can be no offspring forthcoming.
• She is not on patrol eating insects in the garden. Though she leaves the nest a few times each day to get a drink and eat a bit, she is not eating very many insects and it shows!
• This has got to be stressful for her--sitting on a nest all the time and barely eating. 

So, what do you think? Good thing? Or not such a good thing? 

Elsewhere in the garden....

The Sweet Autumn Clematis graces the arbor with lovely flowers and a sweet scent.

Morning glories welcome the day.

Pink globe amaranth, gomphrena globosa, are self-sown and charming.

This David Austin rose, Heritage, is beginning to bloom again.

Crape myrtle adds a brilliant bloom.

Garlic chives bloom around the rose bush. All flower heads must be removed after blooming or they will take over the garden.

A favorite color combination-white Rose of Sharon with the blue sky.

Russian Sage continues its long bloom with gomphrenia and galliardia.

We have enjoyed yellow crookneck squash this summer

Lots and lots of peppers fill our plants.

And in the vegetable garden:

Our tomato plants are huge, but the crop has been slow. We've had enough to eat, but not to can.

And the squash plants (shown here) are no more having fallen victim to the squash bugs. But they were great while they lasted and they lasted much longer than many other years.

Pattypan squash are kind of cute.

The heat has returned and so the okra has begun to produce.