End of October in Colorado

 This is Blue grama grass, with the eyelash seed heads. It is one if the main grasses that comprises the short grass prairie. This is at about 6,600 ft.

 

 

 

 

 

Last of fall patio plants.

 Now begins the time of lugging the pots indoors or in the barn. Which ones to save, transplant, pitch? Hope I don't bring too many buggies inside with them!

Late vegetables, herbs and Cleomes

 Cleomes are a must for the vegetable garden. The vegetables just don't move enough, so if you stick in a few Cleomes, they will wave with the breezes and make the whole thing more dynamic.!

Bird places

  This is one of the places that may attract or just remind one of the birds that visit my garden. I have several stands of choke cherry that have designs on taking over the whole yard. That and hackberry, current, Gambels oak and Serviceberry all do their part to attract birds. The yard bird list stands at 33 species, although a few of them appeared one time and never had the least bit of interest in returning  (ie: The Evening grosbeaks and the Hermit Thrush.)

A Black Crowned Night Heron at the Platte

More Helenius autumnale, August 15th, 2012

August bloomers

Late summer and fall are my favorite seasons in the garden. It seems the flowers last longer and there are more breezes to move all the tall grasses and flowers. In the back I have Helenius autumnale, and Rudbeckia in the front.

 Things are coming along in the vegetable garden. You can always count on squash to be showy! These are acorn squash.

one more hummingbird.

 These were my interested hiking companions at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. A mom with 4 babies getting a lesson in water foraging.

 

 

Late July in the garden

American avocets

 A lovely pair of avocets in a shallow lake. I love the rusty colored neck as it blends into white.

The pathetic vegetable garden

This poor vegetable garden suffers from its gardener being out of town during the sowing season. Lots of arugula from last year is coming up everywhere but not much else. But the seeds have been rushed into the soil and we are still hopeful for a harvest in the fall.

Mid June and the July plants are out already

Mid- June

 

 This is La Reine Victoria, a Bourbon rose which lends a little history I think. It just keeps growing!
It is about 6 or 7 years old.

More Jacquelin du Pre!

 

one month later

 This is the garden in the middle of May!
 The tall pink is Penstemon Pseudospectabilis, and the white rose in the back is the Harkness rose, Jacqueline du Pre. If I ever move, I will have to dig this up and take it with me. If you have an acre there is no reason not to throw in a bunch of shrub roses as they are just good background and take no care really.

April garden

 Only the middle of April and the garden already looks crowded.  I put these plants in in 2009 and included a lot of native plants. I have  alot of non-natives also.

 The grasslands of eastern Colorado attract a lot of visitors.

Vesper Sparrow nest, safely hidden!

There are many Vesper Sparrow nests in this grassland/cow pasture.
There are also 20 Blue bird nest boxes put up to provide nesting sites for Mountain Bluebirds.

   The Buddha and the Fox:    Funny how the fox loves my garden. This one especially loves to lie on the pillow of Marrubium rotundifolium,or Horehound, a native plant of Turkey. M. rontundifolium takes no water, a definite plus. Its leaves are a lot prettier than its pesky need- to- be -deadheaded flowers.  My patch of it is about 7 years old and is about 5 ft X  5 ft.  The floxes sleep in our yard a lot more recently now that we are temporarily dog-less.