Garden Bloggers Bloom Day July 16, 2009

Sorry to be late; I was overbooked on the 15th. I took some photos last evening with the Canon Power Shot Pro but the lighting and my tremor didn't make them turn out well enough to use. Today I went back to my faithful little Canon Elph.

During June we had an inch of rain, which for us is good, but July has been hot, dry, and windy with dry lightning storms. I spend the days running out to change the hoses and sprinklers often, and sympathize with the plants for being dessicated. Last Friday we had wildfires both north and south of us. Luckily, the fact that there had been rains kept the fires from growing explosively, as they did during our recent drought years. The northern fire was on Fort Carson land, was contained quickly and threatened no structures. The other fire was just south of Florence at the base of the Wet Mountains and 200 homes had to be evacuated in several subdivisions. The fire was contained by the end of the weekend with no structures burned. How we appreciate our fire fighters in this area, most of whom are volunteers, with help from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which has a facility in Canon City because there is a lot of BLM land in Fremont County.

Given that introduction to our climate, here is what is blooming at Toad Haven today.

Wine Cups Mallow and Blue Vernonica in prairie border. These both do very well in our hot, dry climate.

Trumpet Vine in the north prairie border. I remember playing witches fingers with these as a child in Granny's garden.

Small Prairie Zinnias in the northwest corner of the prairie border next to the driveway where it has the gravel it prefers.

Echinacea and yellow Yarrow in the west prairie border. They put on a great show in the summer and I leave the seedheads over the winter for the birds. The grass behind this border is the Blue Gramma grass which is native to Colorado's prairies and makes a great lawn with far less water and cutting than the usual Blue Grass that our pioneers felt they had to have to remind them of home, which has been one of the causes of water shortages in the state. I consider myself Granny Gramma Grass Seed.

This patch of Sweet Rocket on the north side (front) of the house, was one of the few plants that had survived the previous occupants of our house, who didn't water, weed, or care for the yard in any way. When I go out front to change the sprinklers on the small patch of blue grass, the fragrance of these flowers brightens my day.

I'm particularly attracted to these Decorative Oregano flowers in the backdoor patio garden with the Lavenders and California Poppies.

Gaillaridas blooming in the corner of the dooryard patio garden. I've also just planted some Gaillarias, yellow Yarrows, and silver Artemesia in the narrow, hot bed along the south side of the house on the other side of this garden and patio. I'm trying to find something that will survive in that hellacious climate.

A volunteer Queen Anne's Lace blooms next to the Germander that borders the driveway edge of the Herb Garden.

I realize that these are not blooms, but they are the fruit of previous blooms. This is the first harvest from my tardy veggie garden. The large Eggplants are not even bloooming yet, but I am personally fond of these long Japanese fruits. Come on Zuchinni and Tomatoes!

Check out what's blooming all over the world at May Dreams Gardens

Leaving the Nest

This noon I saw a pair of Western Kingbirds on the phone line running along the street. We have seen them often this summer sitting, then flying off to catch a bug, and coming back to sit for a while. But, this morning the difference was they had a slightly smaller version of themselves on the line with them. The parents would take turns flying to catch an insect and then return to feed the fledgling, which awkwardly hopped to look one way and then hopped back to look the other way, between accepting the gifts of love from his proud parents.

Since I didn't get a photo of the birds in my yard, I borrowed this one from the internet. Thank you, Terry. I would love to take bird photos that were this good.

This seemed particularly apropos because this morning my granddaughter, Mandy, flew away from her home in Byers (by way of Denver International Airport) on her way to the Job Corps facility in Clearfield, Utah. When Kat called me, just before noon, to tell me that Mandy was gone, we both cried, reminded each other that it was a great opportunity for her, and then cried some more. When Joe came home for lunch I cried when I gave him the news.

Mandy with her brother, Evan.

Kat hadn't been able to go through the search process at DIA with Mandy because she is still in the wheelchair after her second knee surgery, so Greg went with her until she got to the final gate, and he said he cried also. And wouldn't you know it, Mandy's number was picked and she had to go into the bomb booth in addition to the usual search process.

Since she flew into the Salt Lake City airport, before being taken to Clearfield with several other Colorado kids, her Aunt Sharon met her by the baggage claim area to hug her and wish her well on her trip to adulthood. We're happy that she will be able to spend some weekends with her aunt and cousins. She will be able to spend 2 weeks at home for Christmas.

Fly away, little bird, may your wings grow strong, and may you enjoy the wonderful wide view from up there.

Happy Independence Day!

The 4th of July is my kind of holiday since I love history and fireworks!

In the Rotunda of the U. S. Capitol Building are a series of paintings of the history of the United States of America.

This one, by John Trumbull, is the representation of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1976. The 5 gentlemen standing in the middle, presenting the draft document to Congress, are John Adams (MA), Roger Sherman (CT), Robert Livingston (NY), Thomas Jefferson (VA), and Benjamin Franklin (PA).

Roger Sherman is important to my family because he is an ancestor of my children through their father's Buck family line. "He [Roger Sherman] was the only member of the Continental Congress who signed the Declaration of 1774, the Declaration of Independence (1776), the Articles of Confederation (1781), and the Federal Constitution(1788)." "[He] was also a prime mover behind the Connecticut, or Great Compromise, which broke the deadlock between the large and small states over representation. "This is why we have both a House of Representatives, which chooses the number of congressmen based on a states' population; and a Senate, which allows each state to have 2 senators.

I find that it helps me interest the youngsters of the family in history, when I tell them about their distinguished ancestor. It seems to help them to relate to what could look like a bunch of boring dates and actions. What a shame that something as exciting and vital as our own history often seems to be taught in such a boring way. It must take a lot of work to turn excitement into boredom. But then, I adore history and spend a lot of time reading and researching it. I hope some of it wears off on the kids.

Hope you enjoy the fireworks as much as I will. We don't set off our own any more, because of the fire danger in our dry climate, but we plan to watch the public display set off on top of Skyline Drive in Canon City.

Small Town Summer Concerts

Each Wednesday evening, in the summer, there is a concert in the Pioneer Park Pavilion in Florence. Local people of all ages show up with drinks, picnics, chairs, dogs, etc. to enjoy the music and visit. The Senior Citizen organization even barbeques and sells hot dogs, hamburgers and popcorn at very low prices.

Tonight a local old fashioned country gospel group, The Coffee Family, provided a rousing selection of bluegrass, and other styles of gospel music to a happy crowd, in spite of wind and spitting rain (the rain never got to the serious stage but we did get some wind blown spatters where we were sitting in our own camp chairs under the pavilion).

Jim and Star Coffee, their son, Mark, and daughter, Grace play many instruments, including guitars, bass, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, and tambourine, as well as singing. They even wrote some of the pieces that they belted out. They used a microphone and amplifier, but had powerfull voices that could probably be heard without assistance. They travel to concerts around the country and you can often see their motor home parked next to their home on Eight Mile Creek where it flows out of the Pikes Peak Massif, north of Florence, on it's way to the Arkansas River.

Joe and I so enjoyed their music, and it was also fun to see all of the expressive faces of our neighbors; a great place to people watch. While the adults sat and listened (and some did needlework), the little ones tended to run, crawl, climb and ride bikes all over the park.

I wish I could provide some of the Coffee's music for your enjoyment, but at least her are some photos I took. Excuse the fuzziness, my little Canon Elph doesn't seem to take very clear digital zoom photos any more, and my tremor is getting worse. I seem to do better with the Canon Power Shot Pro, but it is too big to carry in my pocket, and I am still figuring out how to use it.

These concerts are one of the benefits of living in this small town; we have lots of community events throughout the year, based on history/antiques, art, music and holidays. Little did we guess, when we moved here 21 years ago, how this community was going to develop into such a great place to live and/or visit.

Garden Mysteries

When a backyard birdwatcher sees this on the patio what does it tell her?

That the brilliant Bullock's Oriole has been drinking at the Hummingbird feeder again. Since his bill is so much bigger than the Hummingbirds bill, he pulls off the little yellow mesh pieces from the feeder and drops them on the ground. As of this evening only 2 remain on the feeder and I haven't been able to find the other 2. In past years he just dumped them beneath the feeder but this year I found one way out in the middle of the back driveway and the other on the sidewalk in front of the back sliding door. Maybe he has figured out that if he doesn't take them far away, I will just pick them up, clean them, and reinstall them in the feeder. Mrs. Oriole also eats at the feeder, but I haven't seen her as often this year. When the young birds fledge she brings them to the hummingbird feeder also.

So far, Mr. Oriole has refused to pose for me, I hear him and hurry to see him on the feeder, but all I get to see is the feeder swinging back and forth. When I do see him, he is too far for me to get a good photo, so I borrowed this one from the website for Birds of Washington State. Photo by Jerry Rome.

According to an article in the Pueblo paper earlier this week, we are having a much larger migration of Ladybugs in the area than usual, probably because the weather has allowed for more aphids (Ladybugs' favorite food) than usual. I knew I had seen quite a few in garden, but was really amazed when I sat down beneath the blooming Catalpa tree and looked up at the under side of the large leaves. There were red Ladybugs everywhere. I've never seen that many in one place before. The red really popped against the green leaves. So, of course, I had to run (walk really, I am not able to run any more) to the house for my camera.

Now my mystery is: In the past I have used a product, recommended by my nursery, that is watered into the ground under the trees and shrubs infested with aphids, it goes up into the sap and kills the aphids when they suck the sap. If I use this now will it also kill the Ladybugs when they eat the aphids? I know that insecticidal soap will kill the Ladybugs as well as the Aphids. I only want to get rid of the aphids, not the Ladybugs.

Years ago, before I realized that this tree was so attractive to aphids, they caused the leaves to shrivel up and turn yellow and fall off, which was a real mess, not to mention all the sticky stuff they exude dripping, and the ants crawling all over the tree (the ants "farm" the aphids so they can eat the sweet sticky stuff.)

If anyone knows how I can get rid of the aphids without killing the beneficial insects, I would love to hear from you.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day _ June 2009

On the 15th of each month a group of gardening bloggers post photos of what's blooming in their gardens. We manage to have blooms, even in winter, with some of us resorting to house plants when the ground outside is frozen and dead looking, but really only sleeping. Check out participating blogs at May Dreams Gardens.

Now that June is here, Toad Haven is looking quite lively and colorful; and with the long, light evenings, I am able to garden at that time when there isn't a thunderstorm. It is often too hot during the middle of the day.

The above photo is of Lavender, California Poppies, and Feverfew in the 2 years old Dooryard Garden. It was designed to be a Lavender garden with the golden poppies and white German Chamomile, but, the poppies came up and took over while the Chamomile never germinated, so last year I transplanted a couple of Feverfew plants to provide the white; I've never had the Feverfew grow so tall before. I'm now going to try seeding the Chamomile in other parts of the garden. I am quite fond of Chamomile tea, plus I love the look and fragrance of the plants.

These are Goblin Gaillardias blooming in the midst of the poppies. This is a great native plant for our hot, dry climate.

This is a prairie Globe Mallow that happily seeded itself between the Dooryard Patio paving stones and the landscape timber edging the Dooryard Garden. When we moved here there were a couple of these Sphaeralceas growing in the middle of the seldom used back alley. I loved them and wondered if I could transplant them and get them to grow in the garden. Then this surprise popped up when I was constructing the patio and garden and I couldn't force myself to pull it up, even though it was in an inconvenient place. It gets so top heavy that I have to tie it up so it doesn't sprawl all over the patio and garden and I trim it back after the first big bloom, it keeps putting up small branches during the rest of the summer.

This section of the Lilliaputian Prairie border has Stella d'Oro Daylilies, Ice Plant, Coreopsis, and Yarrow blooming. I wish the purple Veronica would bloom a little earlier here. Although I appreciate the self seeding surprises of native and some garden plants, that healthy dandelion is not appreciated and will be cut off down in the root.

The veggie garden in it's raised beds was planted late this year, due to my health challenges and the weather, but it is beginning to take shape with some transplanted plants and some seed. I am still in the process of making a new 8 foot square garden divided into 4 smaller squares ( I was greatly influence by the book "Square Foot Gardening" a number of years ago, but am not always planting as intensively as that book teaches. I hope that means I am not as compulsive as I used to be.) This new bed will be seeded with corn, pole beans and pumpkins (living succotash).

I wish this was a clearer photo of the Eggplant blossom, they are so gorgeous! I grow them as much for the blossoms as for the eggplants.

These blossoms are on one of the various tomato varieties I planted, while there is a label in the bed, I am not going to try to go out in the dark and check it. Especially since my right leg is still black, blue and purple from ankle to knee from 2 falls I've had in the garden in the last 3 weeks. Gardening while dragging around oxygen apparatus, a garden cart, and tools, gets frustrating at times, but I will not give up my gardening!

Here are bell pepper blossoms and even a small pepper.

I fell in love with Marigolds when I was a small child and still can't have a garden without them. I put them around the vegetable beds to discourage bugs; however, since they were one of the first things gobbled up by our grasshopper plague a few summers ago, I have been known to doubt that they are effective, but it's an old habit I can't give up. I love the smell of the Marigolds on my hands after I touch them, so I am a faithful deadheader.

I hope there are many lovely blossoms in your gardens of life.

Peony Fields Forever

Here is one of my favorite local sites at this time of the year. This gentleman grows the Peonies to sell to people to decorate graves on Memorial Day. It is one of the few flower fields left in the area. Before WWII there were many kinds of flowers, as well as vegetable, fruits and apple orchards in the area. It started in the 1860s with the pioneers growing food for the miners in the mountains. A dear departed friend of mine told me of working in the flower fields in the Lincoln Park area of Canon City. I was amazed when he told me that they were packed in crates and sent in refrigerated railroad cars to Chicago.

When I was growing up in the Rocky Ford area, further east along the Arkansas River, there were many fields of Zinnias being grown for a local seed company. Some fields were all one color and others were in a mix of colors. I'm not sure if the seed company is still in business and farmers still growing zinnias down there. Maybe I should do a research field trip later this summer to find out.

That area is losing a lot of farms due to the irrigation water rights being sold to big cities like Colorado Springs and Aurora. It doesn't look like the same place when I drive along the old, once familiar roads, and find the former fields going back to prairie grass and the farm houses that we and our family and friends lived in are no longer there. This is one of the reasons that I am a missionary for native, low water landscaping. I resent farms being dried up so that people can have their large, water slurping blue grass lawns, that have no business growing in a desert. I love my native Blue Gramma Grass lawn, my mini prairie. It takes one fourth of the water and only needs to be mowed a few times each summer. Why don't people understand that an attractive landscape that needs less work and less water is the way to go?!!