Welcome to the latest edition of Nature Friday where we join the pups from the Adventures of the LLB Gang. Be sure to check out what others have shared. Wilson here and we’re getting ready for America’s Semi-quincentennial, aka the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Mum has strong feelings about fireworks any time of year but especially on July 4th. It’s the day where more dogs go missing from fireworks. She’s watched various dogs over the years totally freak out when loud boomers go off. This year with Colorado’s wildfires, it’s even more essential not to have fireworks spark another blaze. Because the Aspen Acres fire near Pueblo is now the largest fire in the country burning over 60,000 acres with zero containment. Yesterday, both Douglas and Jefferson counties here in the metro area have cancelled public firework shows and I suspect other municipalities have followed suit. Truth be told, we’re not sad about that. Pets, veterans and other folks struggle with loud fireworks.
Anyway, this week rather than specifically focusing on the 4th of July, we thought we’d instead, take a trip to a garden center for Nature Friday. Let’s get started, shall we?
The Mum: Thanks House Pony, I know I get worked up about fireworks going off so I appreciate your showcasing flowers from the garden center down the road from the house.
Wilson: Sure, Mum, No problem-o. It’s good to investigate some of the nearby centers close to our house and I know you were checking to see if they might have a replacement bowl for our birdbath. So far, we haven’t found anything that will work with the solar fountain but we did see some nice plants. This is a small, family garden center and you were impressed with some of their plants. Just look at these beautiful Echinacea plants. Who knew there were so many different collections separate from your standard plain variety. Those ruffly ones were pretty cool. Looks like the bees liked them.
The Mum: Yeah, I was rather impressed with the various colors. When I went into the greenhouse, I was followed by a hummingbird. He zipped in and around the flowers and while the photo that I managed to capture of him, it isn’t great since I only had my cell phone but it was entertaining watching him flit this way and that among the flowers.
Wilson: It’s not horrible..for a cell phone. Still, I see you had to highlight it because he was so quick and so tiny among the blooms.
The Mum: You know me, any critter comes within 20 feet of me and I’m all in.
Wilson: Right…you do tend to lose your mind love it whenever you see critters of any kind. You need to start being prepared better with cameras. You missed a great shot of a large doe in the wildlife habitat area on the trail. ‘Course she wasn’t willing to wait for you to pull your phone out of your pocket and focus on her. She took one look at me and was gone in a heartbeat.
The Mum: Yeah, I totally missed out on that one but remain hopeful that we’ll see her again on one of our walks.
Wilson: Like you always say, hope springs eternal. I noticed you spent a lot of time looking at the zinnias too.
The Mum: Guilty as charged. I just love them and the had a nice selection of some very colorful ones.
Wilson: These were especially colorful. You do like the unusual in plants, don’t you?
The Mum: I really do. Showy and out of the ordinary colored blooms are my jam. Like this Scabiosa (pin cushion plant). I just loved that deep color.
Wilson: And the bees seem to like it too.
The Mum: There were lots of bees all over the center. It was nice walking through the various plant rows. Here’s a gorgeous impatiens with bright color and striking foliage.
Wilson: Here’s another plant we found near our house. The bees were all over those pretty purple flowers. I could hear them buzzing!
The Mum: Yeah I think that’s a Blue Mist Spirea shrub. They’re pretty drought tolerant and have a long blooming season. Pollinators are drawn to those purple flowers. We found a twelve spot dragonfly this week. While they aren’t very good pollinators, they are a large insect predator. These guys can devour pests like mosquitoes, gnats, flies, and midges. They aren’t interested in pollen so they generally don’t visit flowers. When you see these guys it indicates a healthy local water quality and they tend to show their habitat has an active, balanced ecosystem. I was thrilled to see this guy on the sidewalk. I only hope he followed us home to nosh on the irritating midges near the front door.
Wilson: He wasn’t too keen on my sniffing him.
The Mum: Well I think he was startled by you since it looked like he was resting.
Wilson: Well that’s it from us. Happy 250th birthday to the U.S. We hope everyone has a safe holiday and hope people are considerate to those who aren’t fans of loud fireworks.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Greetings and salutations, everyone. Happy Friday. Wilson here…and as always, I’m joining those lovable pups from the 
Greetings mates. Wilson here and I’d like to welcome everyone to this week’s edition of Nature Friday where as always, we’re joining our friends at 
Happy Friday, folks. Wilson here. We have been busy this week. Mum is getting ready for our annual sheepdog picnic/fundraiser and sadly, I’m had to spend a lot of time entertaining myself after my walks. But apprently I’m not happy about being left to my own devices while Mum is working on getting the gift baskets ready for the picnic. I don’t know, it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. But I was contrite when Mum saw it. My head went down quicker than a bad day on the stock market. Mum knows I had no idea what I was doing, us dogs don’t feel guilt like our humans think we do. Still I know I disappointed her and for that, I’m sorry. Ok, maybe not all that so sorry, but here we are. Anyway, we’re joing our pals from the 
The Mum: Wish us lots of luck at the picnic! It’s always interesting herding all those Floofs.