Garden Bloggers Bloom Day June 15, 2010

Gaillardias and Yarrow, south of the house, planted last summer.

Things are a bit late this year due to the unusually cool, wet spring. To further complicate our gardening, it jumped from freezing to 100 degrees with dry winds in a very short time which stressed transplants that hadn't had time to grow deep roots. I still have lots of planting and transplanting to do because of this. Some friends tell me that they haven't managed to get any gardening done due to the weird weather conditions.

Serious gardeners in Colorado learn to go with the flow and succeed in having attractive gardens when they learn to grow plants that stand the conditions without coddling or using too much water, which is getting scarcer as more people move here and try to grow giant size blue grass lawns. I love my native Blue Gramma Grass that takes much less water and doesn't have to cut often and grows well in our sandy river bottom soil. I've become a missionary to spread the word about xeriscape gardening, and I don't mean only hot rocks and gravel.

Ozark Yellow Evening Primroses that grow beside the Lilliaputian Prairie Pond.

Volunteer Coropsis that moved from prairie border to the herb garden, probably with the help of one of the birds that flock in the Locust Tree, next to the bird feeders, behind the herb garden.

Closeup of Yellow Yarrow planted south of the house last summer.

Gaillardias planted with Yarrow last year. Notice that I don't even try to grow plants like beautiful Delphiniums that don't do well in our hot, dry climate gardens.

Feverfew in the dooryard patio garden with the California Poppies and Lavender.

Violas and California Poppies in the dooryard patio garden.

Honeysuckle Vine behind the herb garden.

ChoCho checking out the newly planted Catnip, which has to be protected by a metal basket to keep the cats from rolling in it and eating it down to the roots. Our historic patch didn't make it thru this tough winter, but there are volunteers coming up in all kinds of places they shouldn't be.

Pretty yellow blooms on unknown herb which I planted last year and can't find the label this spring. Any suggestions on what it is are welcomed.

This Caroway Thyme smells exactly like Caroway. It's been here since planted in 2004 when it began as a tiny plant.

This Cilantro is working on becoming Coriander seeds. Everything tastes better with Cilantro, well... Mexican dishes do.

Yellow Prickley Pear peeking out from the edge of the Cholla that is trying to take over the mini prairie garden. These PPs are blooming all over the prairie right now also. I hope to add a Claret Cup PP to the prairie garden. There are some of them growing on certain prairie hills around here, but they bloom a bit later. I am trying to figure out how to armor myself to prune down this overgrown Cholla, which has wickedly painful loooong spines that hurt, and they reach out and grab you if you come too near. I'm thinking I need a long handled lopper and very heavy leather gloves and a long handled grabber of some kind. Joe tells me I need to use the flame thrower on it, but I'm afraid of that thing. Note the bindweed that I am reluctant to try to pull out of those small spaces between predatory spines.

Pink Chintz Creeping Thyme by the front gate. I had a brilliant idea several years ago to plant a Creeping Thyme lawn on this side of the small front yard. The weedy grasses, dandelions and bindweed that had had free rein here for decades pretty much crowded the thymes out. I should have sterilized the soil before planting the thymes here, like I did before planting the prairie and veggie gardens in the side yard. The first summer we lived here I spread heavy black plastic sheeting all over that area and weighted it down with concrete pavers and the huge potted plants I had moved here from my previous roof top garden. The heat sterilizes most weed seeds.

Some of my beloved volunteer Bachelor Buttons along the front fence. These have been favorites of mine since I was a small child. They look good next to the Blaze Climbing Roses.

This is the Blaze Climbing Rose I plated on the front fence last year. I may decide to put them all along the fence.

Check out what is blooming all over the world, on May Dreams Gardens, each month on the 15th day.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day March 2010

Welcome to Toad Haven Gardens on March 15. Some of yesterdays snow still covers the flower bed next to the front porch, on the north. Later there will be Daffodils, Creeping Phlox, and gorgeous Violets in this area.

Here are new green shoots from the Yarrow planted on the south side of the house last summer. Only dried flower heads are blossoming here.

This is in the same corner of the dooryard patio garden that I showed, looking so dead, in February, with the first Viola to bloom this spring. I love the Johnnie-Jump-Ups that seed themselves all over the garden. Some winters they manage to bloom through the season, but definitely not this year.

In between the March snows we are getting lovely, sunny days with up to low 60s temps so I will soon feel that it is safe to remove the dead stalks and dry leaves that I leave over the winter to protect the plants and for seed heads to feed the winter birds. My fingers are just itching to get out there and do the spring cleaning.

Indoors, the Orchid, that I recently posted photos of, is still in full bloom.

See what's blooming all over the world, today, at May Dreams Gardens.

The Other Side of Autumn

The Toad Haven Garden after our first freeze last week. Just when the flowers were looking so glorious. At least I do have mature mini pumpkins for the kids' Halloween. Our killing freeze came early this year, so it will be a looonnnngggg winter. Maybe I'll have time to make quilts again.

I guess I will harvest the stalks and make a corn shock to go with the pumpkins for an Autumn decoration.

Home Grown Tomatoes

Here is my latest harvest, in spite of the hail. Note the hail damage to some of the tomatoes, and the yellow crookneck squash. The zucchini, patty pan squash, and pumpkins are growing new small leaves at their centers and the corn seems to be standing straighter. If frost waits long enough I might have more garden goodies. The will to live and procreate is amazing at times.

Hail, Hail, It All Fell Here!

This afternoon, as I was preparing to go out to pull bindweed and cut down elm seedlings the clouds got dark gray and threatening, wind began to blow, rain to fall, and hail began to clatter on the roof. I started watching it from the front door and then hurried to get my camera. It kept me running from frontdoor to backdoor, taking photos and videos, as the rain and hail got heavier and heavier. The noise was deafening. ChoCho sat up from his nap on my bed and looked with alarm toward the window. Oh no! My poor garden!





Please check these photos against those I just posted earlier today.

Scene from the sliding glass door of the sunporch.

My corn and pumpkin patch, taken 4 hours later; the hail still hasn't all melted.

Joe came in and told me that the raccoons wouldn't eat the corn this year.

These were going to grow baby pumpkins for the kids for Halloween.
The Black Eyed Susans survived the falling limb but not the hail.

This is almost more than a poor old Granny's heart can take; what's left of Evan's beautiful sunflower.

But, as I told Joe, it's not as if we had to make our living from these plants, like the farmers do. [As a kid I saw what hail did to farmers and that is why I refused to date the farm boys and end up watching each storm with fear that there would be no harvest that year. I didn't realize that you can take the girl off the farm, but you can't keep her from loving to dig in the dirt.] We can clean up the mess and enjoy what remains. Our cars and house survived because these were not the golf ball or baseball sized hail stones that have fallen recently in other parts of Colorado. This is part of the gamble that every tiller of the soil makes each year. Some years you win and some you lose, but the rewards to being a tiller of soil are worth the risk.

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.

June is Busting Out All Over!

I always sing that old song in my mind on June 1. All my life I've been a singer and sang as I did my daily tasks. Unfortunately, since being on oxygen for a few years, I am no longer able to sing, just croak. It is very disappointing, but I do keep my surround sound radio on all day, tuned to listener funded classical station KCME from Colorado Springs, and can sing along in my heart. Sometimes I just have to croak out loud from the joy of the music.

It appears that we are moving away from years of drought to a more normal climate (I hope, I hope, I hope!) for this area. I did hear that La Nina has disappeared and that could be the reason. We had about a week of upslope moisture, that we normally would have had in March; and now we are having sunny, warm mornings, and then clouds and afternoon thunderstorms. That was the weather pattern when we moved here 22 years ago, then around 2001 we started into the extreme drought pattern that has left us with hot, dry, windy weather and caused water shortages and wildfires. I am celebrating the return to the rainier weather, even though that only gives us between 12 to 14 inches of moisture in a year. It sure beats 5 to 7.

Today, between the late afternoon sprinkles and black clouds and the late night rain, I managed to transplant various types of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and marigolds into a couple of the raised vegetable garden beds. I was finishing up at 9 o'clock when it was almost completely dark. When the rain started late tonight I was so happy that I got them in when I did. I noticed that there was some new snow up on the bald top of Greenhorn Mountain, but there really doesn't seem to be any danger of freezing nights any longer. It was too dark to take any photos, but some will be forthcoming.

The second Peony plant, with lots of buds, has bloomed out in a darker rose color than the pink plant with only one flower. I am so happy that after all these years of pampering they finally bloomed. As I drove to and from Canon City today, I noticed huge, old clumps of Peonies blooming in so many yards; mostly pink and white doubles, but there were a few single blossom plants as well. The reds bloomed about 2 weeks ago and have already shattered.

Spring Bliss

At the first of the week we had three 90+ degree days with hot, dry sun and wind. Yesterday it cooled a bit to the 80s which was still a bit hot for this time of the year. However, the lady from Sun City, Arizona, who was ahead of me in the Subway line, thought it was cool compared to what she was used to. A pleasant cold front came in during the night with up slope moisture and it was only up to 60 degrees with quite a bit of rain this morning and later in the afternoon. After running like the dickens keeping the hoses running on the drying greenery in my yard, it was a relief to see the plants drinking up the natural showers. Thank goodness, the weatherman expects seasonal temperatures for the weekend and next week.


Here is what the Toad Haven Herb Garden looked like after the morning rain. Not much blooming yet, but look at all those lovely shades of green. And it smells heavenly!




When we moved here six years ago, the landscaping had not been watered or weeded for several years. I found a couple of stunted Peony plants near the back door growing in dirt the texture of concrete. I transplanted them to the front sides of the garden shed and have babied them with water and fertilizer. The plants grew bigger but never a bloom appeared. I had no idea what color they would be if or when they did bloom. This year one plant had one bud and the other had multiple buds so I've been holding my breath and crossing my fingers. This morning I was rewarded with a pink blossom from the single bud. It was worth the wait and I look forward to seeing the other buds blossoming soon.


I love Peonies, and every May Joe delivers a large bouquet of red peonies to me from an older gentleman in Canon City who grows them to sell for Memorial Day. He has a huge field of them wrapped around his Victorian bungalow, and Joe works on his flower cooler when he starts it up each spring. My Dad had wonderful red Peony plants at the house in Fowler and this August I am going to dig one up to transplant into my garden.


My quilt muse has been pretty much absent since my health challenges last Summer. It has taken me so long to regain enough strength and energy to do just the absolutely necessary housekeeping tasks and shopping, as well as looking after Mom's affairs. I am able to do a bit more gardening now and am getting it in shape with the assistance of yardman Carl. I don't know if I can manage to garden and make quilts at the same time, but I have finally been gifted with a concept for what I want to do quiltwise, and am beginning to dream and sketch some ideas that I can work on next winter, when the garden is hibernating. I am so excited about the history of this area where we live, and want to do a series of quilts about Fremont County, beginning with the Dinosaurs and working up to the present. I don't know what size they will be, yet, but they will be small enough to make it possible for me to manage them with my sewing machine, and yet, large enough to present the subject matter well. I don't enjoy working large.



I plan to encorporate my photographs of the County into the quilts. This concept has been working in my mind for several months and is finally beginning to develop. It's strange that the history series idea just took shape suddenly yesterday, and I immediately thought, "Aha, that is exactly what I can get my teeth into," and the creative energy began to flow. It is good to feel excited about a quilt idea again. Now to take my new camera off the shelf and start learning how to use it.

The Merry Month of May, Hooray!

Here are consecutive views I caught at the north end of our street, on the way out of town the other day; snow covered Pikes Peak behind my favorite apple orchard and the Arkansas River bluffs. I love this orchard, and have photographed it, and one old gnarled tree in particular, many times over all seasons. As I turned the corner and drove past the edge of the orchard, I saw an old man and woman setting out the irrigation pipes for the summer, so I stopped and told them how lovely I thought their orchard was and that I appreciated their hard work at keeping it looking so good. [Click on the photos to get the scope of the scenes.]

Wow after a couple of 80s degrees days, Joe had to turn the water into our swamp cooler, aka evaporative cooler, which we use in place of a refrigerated A/C in this dry climate. Today while shopping in Canon City I saw 91 degrees F on a bank sign! Sorry, that is just too hot for this early in the year, but we have a couple of cool fronts coming in for the weekend with the possibility of more rain. While working in the garden this evening I heard and felt my first mosquitos of the year. I love the moisture we've gotten, but I'm not crazy about the mosquitos. Especially after what my sweet DIL, Robyn, has gone through due to West Nile Virus with Encephalitis (sp?).

I knew I was feeling tireder, weaker, and slower since the 2 mini strokes last summer, but today when I went to buy compost for the vegetable garden I wasn't able to lift the heavy bags of compost onto the cart and had to get a staff member to help me. Last spring, I lifted my own bags, but that was before.... I'm just so glad that I am still able to do some gardening, even thought I have to have a little help from my friends (yard men Dave and Carl).

It was rather nice, when I was ready to plant the new Blaze climbing rose at the front fence, I didn't have to dig my own hole, I just showed Carl where I wanted it, and he dug through the broken and burned chunks of concrete and brick that are down about a foot beneath the surface of the yard. This is the debris of the old oil refinery that blew up here in 1926.

The Florence area had the first oil wells and refineries west of Pennsylvania, before Texas and Oklahoma. We only have a few oil wells and no need for a refinery here now. While the price of gas was up so high there was some more exploration in the area, but I haven't heard any more about it since the price dropped.

Today I picked up quite a few flowers and plants to transplant into pots and the garden. It's supposed to be a bit cooler tomorrow so I hope I won't have to wait until evening to do my gardening tomorrow. I'm going to have to sweet talk Joe into unloading the compost bags from my car trunk to the veggie garden tomorrow so I can dig it in and get some seeds planted. I haven't had the nerve to put out frost sensitive tomato, pepper, or squash plants yet. There is still snow on Greenhorn Peak (named for Cerno Verde, a Comanche chief who caused grief for the Spanish military in the pioneer days) to our south and the old timers around here say that is how you know when it's warm enough to safely put out those plants. Lots of others are already setting them out, so maybe it is safe. I'll at least wait until the weekend cold spell is over.