Under a Red Roof

Monday’s Blossoms

August 8, 2018 in Gardening + Nature by Colleen | Permalink

red hot poker

volunteer sunflower

foxglove

horehound, with bumble bee

crocosmia

milkweed

echinacea

rudbeckia

evening primrose

<< >>

We’ve entered the sun in the morning followed by afternoon rain pattern of my dreams. Well, except when it hails. I used to think a wicked wind was my least favorite of the elements, but now, as I coax this garden along, it is most definitely hail. We’ve been spared as of late, thankfully. Yesterday, as deluge number five began dropping wretched ice bombs, I darted to the sliding door and shouted, “NO damaging hail! You hear me, storm? NO damaging hail!” And you know what? It stopped that instant. At least at our house. The Zoo was annihilated with softball sized hail, making cars undriveable and killing three animals. Good grief.

But I do, as you well know, love the rain, and it’s been marvelous to have our daily bit, and especially to walk the garden afterward, when every leaf and flower is gorgeously saturated, air sweet. The best.

We are on the home stretch with this year’s garden projects. Most mornings, we get up around six, feed and walk Juni B., then get cracking while there is blessed shade. The hubster goes in after an hour or two to earn our daily bread (thanks be to remote work!!) while I soldier on, until either the shade or task runs out. Tuesday, it was a rock border out front, each stone brought from the back, one by one, to and fro, to and fro, digging out dirt as needed, blowing displaced ants from my limbs, muddying myself as I wipe the sweat from my brow. Honest work. Meditative, too.

And while I garden, Fleetwood Mac “Sara” has been playing in my brain, and in between chatting with the land lubbers and flying things, resident and visitor, I sing along. And sometimes cry. It’s that kind of song.

Tags: Gardening + Nature

Work in Progress

July 23, 2018 in Gardening + Nature, Learning by Colleen | Permalink

Happy Monday, dear reader, and welcome to our June 2016 garden! Though, it would be far more accurate to say our 2016 weed patch. A very small portion of the plants here were anything but the insidious and horrible little boogers. This was after pulling the mega weeds that were as tall as the hubster and filled one third of an equally mega dumpster with their remains. It is before we replaced the cool looking but falling down and totally lacking in privacy fence or jack hammered the hideous and quite unsafe patio. And people wondered why we weren’t inviting them to tea. Our house was a shit hole, that’s why.

Here we are a couple of weeks ago, with all the latest plants in the ground, and the majority of last year’s (seen here – scroll down a bit) doubled in size.

Fifteen TONS of rock delivered!

We got super serious and rented a Bobcat! As you can see from the photo above, it was a rather spritely one, the actual smallest of the lot, at 36″ wide, but perfect for maneuvering around plants and in and out of our back gate. In a hindsight is 20/20 world, we would have done this first, but honestly, the thought never occurred to us before our backs were sore and tired of digging. Hopefully I am now saving you much, much time, and aches and pains, of the bodily and pain-in-the-ass to shovel variety.

The dumpster was 4.5 feet tall, 8 feet wide, and 18 feet long. We filled it about one-half of the way, mostly with rock from the unsafe patio. It was a LOT of trips down the alley. A LOT.

This morning, under the shade of our neighbor’s massive cottonwood. The paths are made from the rock we had delivered. It’s called Sunset Breeze, and we are both super pleased with it!

In front are my hail-mauled peonies, looking rather sad. The two patches of crocosmia are going like gangbusters and making our resident hummingbirds (Rufous and Calliope, mostly the latter) very, very happy! Also pictured, but not easy to discern: milkweed, horehound, foxglove, yarrow, iceplant, mallow, feverfew, honeysuckle, red birds in a tree.

I really couldn’t be more in love with the way it’s coming along and delight in thinking about every plant growing bigger and even more beautiful. Our red hot pokers, for instance, only made five flowers last year. They’re on their way to more than fifteen this time around! It is worth every bit of effort to walk along the freshly laid paths and admire the flowers teeming with bees and butterflies and to watch the scores of birds, squirrels and rabbits flitting happily about. As our friend Travis says, “It’s like a Disney movie!”

There is still much to be done, like moving the rock that delineated the paths before the addition of sunset breeze, putting weed barrier and rock down in the fenced garden, planting more plants, moving a couple shrubs, finishing the woodwork on the patio, building a shed for our bicycles (currently stored in the basement), and possibly getting a wee patch of grass for Juniper Beulah to roll in. Soon, I hope!

Before and After

June 11, 2018 in Gardening + Nature by Colleen | Permalink

Our house, as it was when we first laid eyes on it, nice, but definitely needing our stamp. It was exactly what we wanted, a brick ranch of the ilk I grew up in and that my grandparents owned. Solid. Humble. No frills. A giant garden!

During the dig, dig, digging – the hubster waving hello!

And now. Mostly new windows and coverings and a beloved front door. The color is Black Magic. We still need to replace the glass in the garage door and get a new driveway and sidewalk, but now there is no grass to mow! Though it hardly looks it from the picture, there are dozens of plants, mostly natives and not-too-thirsty. Some are so itty-bitty as to require a hey, don’t step on me! fairy circle of rocks around them, but there, rooting down and sending their spritely sprouts skyward. Pink, purple, white, blue – with more bees than we can count, hummingbirds, and butterflies, too. Grow, grow, grow!

Bachelor Buttons

June 4, 2018 in Friendship, Gardening + Nature by Colleen | Permalink

Bachelor buttons and much moving and shaking happening in our neck of the woods! The buttons are considered invasive much of the place, but so quaint and sweetly scented that I forgive them their trespasses. Over the past couple of weeks, we put more plants in the ground and purchased a passel more – I stopped counting at 100. We also rid ourselves of the lawn out front and covered it with most of the 14 yards (!) of bark mulch purchased as of late. The word is transformative, though about 1.5 yards remains in a lump curbside. I’m too pooped to move it today, but sssssoooon! Our nephew Tyler helped us with some of the work, schlepping multiple loads from the landscaping place in his Ford F-150 and around the yard via shovel and wheelbarrow. The truck is nearly the same model we shared with our dear Portland neighbors Pat and Kelly, and made us ever so happy to reminisce about. Good times, brown skin, and sore bodies, my dear peeps! How much closer we are to the finish line now. WOOT!

We’ve also been busy socializing with family and friends, to-ing and fro-ing around town and up yonder to Littleton, walking Juniper less than we ought due to yard work fatigue, and eating poorly out of the same fatigue. That bit of nonsense stops now because I cannot stand a tender tummy one more day! Just as soon as I finish this bit of word-smithing I am heading to the grocery for a mess-o-greens and vegetables.

I had another two peonies bloom and one is on the ready, which makes my heart too happy for words. So, an embarrassment of riches, I suppose, as it usually is around here. I’ll get some before and after photos of the yard up sometime soon.

Here’s hoping you are well and enjoying this soon to be summer time…

Gold

May 31, 2018 in Gardening + Nature, Quoting by Colleen | Permalink

I am the pool of gold when sunset burns and dies – you are my deepening skies; give me your stars to hold.

Sara Teasdale

* * *

After a little hand wringing from two ugly hail storms, I was worried it wouldn’t happen, but alas, my first peony in our Colorado garden has bloomed – huzzah!