C-c-c-Crazy for Columbines

* My favorite blooming time in the garden. :)

The Bee Team

We've heard a lot of talk about bees disappearing so I'm happy to report I have the answer to this worrisome mystery.

They're hangin' out at my place!

I've seen more bees in the garden this year than ever before. From big, hairy Bumbles to smaller wild bees, they're all earning their busy reputation among my flowers.

I'm scared of bees. 

Scared of sharks, too! 

Mostly because I'm a sucker for those chiller, thriller movies.

This year, the bees are so plentiful I've had to take a deep breath and put up with them buzzing around me in order to weed the garden.

Turns out, we have a lot in common. We both have a soft spot for flat-faced, daisy-type flowers. (They like to sit on 'em while I prefer to put them in a vase.)

They think blue, purple and yellow are about the only colors worth planting in a garden. (Me, too!)

And, we both think it's down right silly to be so manic about the Dandelions. They taste great.

The Buzz:
There are honey bees and lots of wild bees, including those hairy, scary 747s, the Bumblebees. They're all very mild-mannered, thinking that flowers taste much better than you do.

All bees are after the same stuff:
* Sweet nectar: works like a Red Bull on a road trip.
* Pollen: their version of a burger (protein) and fries (fat! yum!)

I haven't a clue why bees are disappearing and while I suppose they are pretty upset about their cell phone bills (who isn't?)
I highly doubt that cellphone signals are scaring them off.

Perhaps they're not getting enough of what they came looking for...? Most hybridized flower varieties sold in the US cannot provide a decent diet of nectar or protein. Native plants, on the other hand, are like a 5 star restaurant to bees.

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Wordless Wednesday: Hummers and Honeysuckles

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Water... wiser?

It's flowering tree time! A favorite time in the gardens..

 I hear them out there, talking amongst themselves, and I’m hoping what they’re discussing is how to have this mess of a good idea, all finished up... today.

Because this whole limbo thing? Well, it's making me batty.

I'm doing this for you, trees! I'm putting in a sprinkler system.

 Gardening is a passionate hobby, but it goes further than that. I work from home, in advertising, which requires a lot of creativity. I was never very good at this when they had me cooped up in a cubicle, in a great, big ad agency. Playing in the mud? Well, that seems to stimulate the cranial appendage like nobody's business!

Honeysuckles are celebrating.

 When I get stuck, can't come up with a good idea, I sit in those gardens, pull weeds in those gardens, zone out with the simplicity of happy blooming things... and, bam! The creative idea I've been searching for magically pops into my brain.

Not being able to play with my flowers, for 7 long days, has been killing me. I can't bear to go out there until this project is done.

Cutie Pie English Daisies

This summer, I made the [painful] decision to install an automatic in-ground sprinkler system. In the dryest half of the yard.

I've always been very proud of the fact that I have beautiful gardens, without wasting a drop of water, but my second passionate hobby, horses, is eating up all the free time I used to spend schlepping sprinklers to and fro.

So, I bit that proverbial bullet. Hired a sprinkler installation crew who showed up a week ago, dug massive (heartless) trenches through my garden beds and then..... disappeared.

I twiddled my thumbs for 48 hours. Tried hard to remain calm. Gave up on that idea and began leaving angry telephone messages.

(This is soooo common in Park City, Utah. Landscapers double book themselves to make as much money as they possibly can during our too-short summers. And, clearly, I fell victim to this dilemma.)

That was so yesterday dead Daffodils, orange Geum and purple Pincushion Flowers

Delphinium

 Yesterday I drove over to their building and scared the office manager half out of her wits.

Got the address of the 'prioritized sprinkler project' and paid my guys a visit. Talked to them, through clenched teeth, and, Hey! Whaddyaknow! They showed up, bright and early this morning, with renewed interest in finishing the job.

Oh, yeah. The bitch is back. In all honesty? She never left...

* What do you think about sprinkler systems? Are they worth it? Here, in Utah, we receive nearly all of our annual moisture in the form of snow during winter. But, we didn't get any snow this year. I'm still on the fence as to the bennies of a sprinkler system, though it is set up so I can still be a water miser. I will say I'm pretty excited about having more free time to ride horses.

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Uppa Downa Season

It froze last night. 27 degrees per the outdoor thermometer I installed so I could torture myself with hard, cold facts.

Killed a whole bunch o' my bitsy baby seedlings. Including the Tiny Tim Heirloom Tomatoes, who were shivering under a blanket. And, making short work of my latest endeavor, the Surprise! It's a Big Ass Pumpkin!

Pumpkins, plural, actually. These 300 pound bruisers were destined for great things as summer biking season rolled on.

Thanks to heaps of new home construction, my country cottage now sits on a busy thoroughfare. Cars, cyclists, dogs with and without owners, plus dedicated speed walkers in all shapes and sizes.

To be clear, I have hated this change in venue. I can't ever have a moment to myself in those street gardens. But, I came up with this grand idea to plant a curiosity out there... giant pumpkins. Who, over the course of our summer, would grow to magnificent proportions. When people strolled by, they'd see the progression, from tiny to huge. All summer long, growing bigger and bigger. So big that come Halloween we'd be carving them where they rested ~ because nobody, save for the Incredible Hulk, could hoist them into a wheelbarrow.

Wouldn't that have been the coolest thing?

Ah well, onward and upward. I've no one to blame but myself. We do not appear to be having any type of predictable seasons. Just the uppa downa routine of extreme weather patterns. Two days ago, I was tugging at my weeds and melting from the heat. Now the furnace is blasting away.

I think the hardest part of this new normal is how dramatically the times of our growing season (if you can call it that) have changed. Toasty warm in November. Flowers blooming. Blasts of winter in June. RIP Pumpkins.

Is it just me? Or, is this summer totally messed up? 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

* Feel like planting a show stopper? Pick up some Dill's Atlantic Giant Pumpkin seeds. In order to grow them in the mountains, start them indoors 60 days prior to planting. These big dudes need a long growing season, in order to strut their stuff.

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Monday's Walk in the Garden

Bearded Iris

Bellflowers

Dainty Bleeding Hearts

First Geum Blossoms

Mom's Wild Roses

Fragrant Lilacs

Sweet Honeysuckles

Plus one very happy little hummingbird. )

I'm too worn out from weeding to have much to say. But, the joint is looking so pretty I just had to show it off! Happy Monday.

The Tiresome Trifecta with a Totally Tasty Plan B

Thunder, lightening, drenching rain.

This trifecta can only mean one thing ~ it must be Memorial Weekend!

Like clockwork, every year, the teasing warmth of an early summer disappears at the precise moment I start dusting off the camping gear.

I've been prowling the nurseries. Drooling over the new flowers they have to offer.

But, I leave my purse in the car so as not to be too tempted too early.

And, I keep my big mouth shut when strolling past the happy lines of optimistic shoppers, scooping up cheery flowering baskets, tender annuals ~ giddy over the great weather we've been having.

I do not utter a word about how they're jumping the gun and Mother Nature has one more trick up her sleeve.

Because, nobody likes it when you rain on their parade. Including me.

So, I'm working on a Totally Tasty Plan B ~ Dry Rub Ribs for this Ultra Iffy Memorial Day BBQ. These cook better in the oven than they do on the grill.

* First, baste the ribs with 3 tbs fresh roasted garlic (those jars you buy in the supermarket) and 2 tbs spicy brown mustard. Then sprinkle the dry ingredients onto the ribs. Bake @ 300 for 2-3 hours. This recipe is good for 3 pounds of ribs.

Dry Rub Ribs

• 2 tbs roasted, ground cumin
• 2 tbs dark brown sugar
• 2 tbs smoked paprika
• 2 tbs onion powder
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tbs salt and 2 tbs pepper (or let your guests handle this when you're done cooking)

Have you ever wondered why BBQ joints 

feature dancing piggies in their logos?

If I were the piggy, I'd be making a quick exit from this party.

Weeding Frenzy

I'm a sucker for heirloom Bearded Iris

"Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity." ~ N. Lellande

 I'm good for 30 gallons.

What does that make you think of? Gas? Beer? Iced Tea? Iced Cream? Well, I could go for at least a gallon of that to-die-for Chocolate Hazelnut variety but, alas, it's not about any of these things.

Windflowers

It's about weeds.

One weed, in particular. The dreaded Bermuda Grass that has taken hold of the Big Rock Garden. The 30 gallons is the size of the barrel that sits in the garden and that's the daily tally of Bermuda Grass I've been pulling up by the long, long roots and tossing into the barrel. For the last 3 days. All the while griping, moaning, complaining + trying hard to find someone to finger for this disaster.

Other than myself.

Linaria

Last summer, my traitors tenants had the audacity to politely request that we remove some of the flowers on their side of this duplex and replace said flowers with [say it isn't so...] a new lawn.

Apparently the kids need something to play on. Now, these kids haven't played on anything other than an X-Box for as long as I've known them but... that's the wonderful thing about parents. Optimists to their dying day.

Flowering Almonds are not supposed to grow here but they don't seem too unhappy.

So, I bitched royally pondered the subject and decided to evict them cave in. Because, after all, they're nice people even if they don't appreciate my flowers.

I know nothing about grass. Other than how to kill it.

When I purchased this home it had a 12,000 square foot Kentucky Blue Grass lawn. (In a desert environment. Go figure.) It's down to 2,000 square feet, now, which is still plenty of room for Bad Dog to enjoy an afternoon nap. And, I'm quite proud of that water-saving, back-breaking effort.

Now, I tried to do right by this grass idea. We cleaned the area of weeds and leveled the land because I paid an arm and a leg for certified, weed-free, screened top soil. Only this certified weed-free super fantabulous top soil wasn't weed free at all.

And, they brought me twice as much as I needed so ~ in my infinite wisdom ~ I decided to use the rest of it to amend the hard as can be clay soil in the Big Rock Garden.

Which brings me to another favorite quote of mine:
Right when you think things are going your way... something is falling apart and you don't even know about it. Yet.

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Wordless Wednesday ~ The Wildflower Ride

*It's not this summery in Utah. Not yet, anyway. :) These pics taken at Acacia Riding Adventures, in San Acacia, New Mexico.

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Search and Rescue

I don't do windows. Obviously! But, looking at this picture has prompted me to find someone who does.

Enough about my lousy housekeeping ~ meet my $5 bargain. Do you recognize what's taking over my sunny window? It's a Clematis. I've got 8 of them growing in my living room and may I just say? It's a jungle in here!

I was picking up supplies, over at Walmart a couple months ago, when I spotted a rack of little green bags. Nearly dead Clematis roots inside. One enterprising little plant had wiggled her way through a hole in the green bag and was sprouting. So, naturally, I had to rescue her. And, then I went back and rescued all of her friends.

I would not have guessed that dead, dry Clematis roots could make such a fab comeback but if you look.... real.... close... you'll see that she's budding!

* Safe planting date, at my elevation, is Memorial Day so it won't be long until I can set them free.