Woo-hoo, we made it to the end of the week! It’s Flower Friday again, hosted by our fur-iends over at LLB in our Backyard. Not much is left blooming these days but we did manage to see a spectacular specimen when we visited West Pines earlier this week. Pyracantha is a large, broadleaf evergreen shrub sometimes known as Firethorn because of its many thorns found on the branches and at the end of the leaf clusters. With narrow, deep green leaves in summer, they become tinged with burgundy in the winter.
Clusters of single, white flowers appear in late spring on the previous year’s wood but it is the pea-sized berries that make this plant exceptionally striking during this time of year. The berries last well into winter for beautiful garden interest. It thrives best in full sun but can tolerate some shade. Pyracantha is a waterwise plant that does well in Colorado’s dry climate. You won’t want to plant this baby any where near where baseball could be played as they tend to swallow up balls with absolutely no mercy, due to its extremely dense, thorny nature (note those thorns in the bottom right corner-um, no thank you to any playing near that hedge!).
Pyracantha makes for a nice backdrop though for a certain knucklehead posing while waiting to visit West Pines patients and staff. Never mind that frou frou collar. We were trying to be festive for patients but everyone thought he was sweet like candy-corn. #costumefail Hopefully we’ll find a better costume for Saturday’s Pet Parade for the therapy dogs. Sam’s not much for dressing up as you may have surmised from his pose, which seems to be channeling, “Seriously mom, don’t take a photo with THIS stupid collar on-the other dogs will make fun of me” look.
Wishing you a wagnificent weekend.
Live, love, bark! 🐾