Welcome to this week’s edition of Nature Friday where we join our pals, Rosy, Sunny, Arty and Jakey from LLB in Our Backyard. Remember to click on the link to see what others have shared.
Summer continues to march ahead toward autumn and some days we find ourselves at the corner of ‘yay’ and ‘nay.’ Yay because there’s so much beauty out there and nay because it’s exhausting keeping up with closed highways, air quality warnings from smoke, while keeping up with the war against weeds, hot temperatures and bugs. Doggone grasshoppers are constantly startling all of us.
For the past hundred years or more, most people lived in densely-populated cities with roads usually laid out in logical, organized grids often named after trees, landscapes or a combination thereof (in Denver they are often alphabetized making it easier to navigate). As folks began to move to outlying suburbs, it became common for those bedroom communities to name streets after trees, plants, or landmarks. As often happens with urban development, developers are typically responsible for naming streets in the neighborhoods they build. Street names are based on certain desirable traits developers want associated with the neighborhood. Their suggestion is submitted to the city for review with different municipal departments (police, fire, etc.) reviewing the name. Street names are supposed to be easily identifiable and unique in the case of an emergency. Did you know there is even a word for the name given to a street: odonym. Odonyms aren’t only functional; they are interesting markers that identify the culture or geography of an area reflecting local landmarks, communities, and regional traditions.
Highlands Ranch (a southern Denver suburb) is well known for streets having the same base name, with the addition of “Street, Avenue, Place, Circle, Drive,” etc. tacked on at the end confuse people to differentiate it. It’s maddening if you’re not familiar with the area and are trying to say…deliver pizza. Hmm, was it 100 Ashwood Street, Lane or Place? More than one GPS app has driven people to the brink before getting them eventually to their destination.
I’d never seen that same phenomena in Denver…that is until recently when I was out walking along a different street in the former Elitch Gardens neighborhood to see if there were any notable flowers along a different route. While I know the area fairly well, I was completely blown away when I reached the corner of 36th and hell in Northwest Denver. Notice the sign names. Gah!! Say it ain’t so.
Do you think spiders ever get confused trying to get back home after a long day working in the web?
Sigh. Well enough of the soapbox rant on street naming conventions. Let’s check out what we saw along that street.
Nothing says summer like a border of Echinacea. They soothe the soul with their happy presence and provide pollinators with a nice smorgasbord of nourishment.
Speaking of nourishment, back at my garden I’m counting down the seconds until these babies are fully ripened. I’ve never planted Roma tomatoes before as I watch them set flowers ever so slowly, then begin the long morph toward juicy ripeness. That delicious scent of fresh, garden tomatoes automatically tantilizes the taste buds into blissful salivation.
We hope your own garden is providing interesting sights and smells while inspiring you to get out to check out the landscape in your area. Just make sure you know street, avenue, or place you’re on. Have a great weekend enjoying Nature.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Around our parts, they have changed many street names that had ‘real’ names into numbered or lettered streets. Sheesh. So the official name is in large print and the old one is underneath it in tiny letters. My brain starts to spin when II have to give out my street address cause I have no recollection if its 6th street or whatever. Can’t we just keep the regular names that everyone knows?! Phooey.
What is the GPS on a newer base has only the new names and you want to program it to get yourself somewhere when you only know the old regular name. Argghhhh!
I have patio pots growing my tomatoes…too many walnut trees here to grow them in the ground. We sometimes have way too many for the two of us, then we have none and then another load all ripen at the same time, LOL! They are so much better when they are home grown and vine ripened. My only issue with tomato plants is the yearly vigil and fight against those horrible tomato hornworms. UGH.
There’s nothing worse than living some place for a long time and suddenly the powers to be decide to change the street name. Argh!!!
Luckily I haven’t had problems with any tomato worms yet (knock on wood). I think next year I’ll just stick with the cherry tomatoes, they’re reliable and easy. I’ve had to nurse the Romas and while they’re tasty, not nearly as tasty as those sweet cherry tomatoes. Who’d have thought? 🙂
Even in our small rural town…street names, and which way the one-ways go can get frustrating!!
Luckily, you found some beautiful things to get our minds off of the frustration! I bet those tomatoes are going to be delicious!!
Awk…don’t even get me started on one-way streets-they’re enough to make you quite batty!
Mee-yow wee have same sorta Street an avenue thing goin on here Miss Monika!!!
So there are cornerss like 3rd Avenue East crossed with 3rd Street East…guud luck if you not raised here…An wee have West an East to contend with too…so you GOTTA know which side of THE Sydenham River you wanna bee on! It iss all furry cnfuzzlin butt LadyMew sayss it givess THE town ‘charm’…..
Mee thinkss it givess alot of headachess!
THE flowerss are beeuteefull…..
***purrss*** BellaDharma an <3 LadyMew
Pee S: ~~head rubss~~to Sweet Norman an **purrss** to Elsa two
Yikes! You’re right…confusion galore!
Your tomatoes look like eggplants,
But taste so much better 😉
My tomatoes are finally starting to turn red too! I also love the Roma but have never planted them. Maybe next year!
It’s one of the best parts of gardening-when you can see the ripening process developing in front of our eyes.
Lulu: “Dada says that we get a lot of deliveries here for a house on the next street over, because the two streets are close together and pretty much parallel and people make the wrong turn and the GPS thinks they’re on the correct street when they are not, and apparently the humans aren’t able to read street signs to know they’re in the wrong place. Then Dada has to either call the shipping company to come redeliver or he just takes the package where it’s supposed to be himself. Dada, don’t do the shipping company’s work for free, that’s what THEY get paid for!”
Ugh, that’s just not right! Your Dada is great for finding their proper homes.
I feel someone dropped the ball with that street naming.
Sadly it’s a phenomena throughout suburbia. Seeing those street signs in Denver proper was a big surprise (though that’s an infill neighborhood in an older part of town where the old amusement park was turned into a new housing community).
I grew up on N. Oakland Avenue, which ended in Oakwood Cemetery, where rests most of my family. The next street up was Elm Street. Don’t get why ours was avenue and that one was street??
My son gave me a flat of tiny tomato plants that have now taken over a corner in front of the house and are giving us tiny tomaoes! Hope you enjoy your romas.
It’s always so odd this naming convention. In Denver, as a general rule, numbered streets run east/west, named streets north/south.
A whole flat? Wow…that’s so cool. Those tiny tomatoes are as sweet as honey and taste so good on a hot summer day. Have a great weekend!
Fabulous photos – love the romas – I’ve never grown them either but they are tasty. That street signage thing is hilarious but it has to be a nightmare for someone who’s been told “follow 36th” for a mile or two. DUH. Interesting!
Hugs, Pam
No kidding. And to make things more complications, directions are always in tenths of a mile. Yet odometers increasingly don’t register tenths. You pretty much HAVE to use a map app. 😬
Oh! You reminded my awful experiences with that GPS girl.
And I think, giving names on the basis of tress and landscape is much better than politicians. Yeah! this happens here often.
Yes, your garden seems beautiful. Loved it.
Thanks so much for your comment. Yes, trees and landscape are far superior to politicians but we have those too unfortunately. My GPS girl is part devil I think. She seems to enjoy taking me for a ride. Grrr. Have a lovely weekend. 😊
Means we are singing the same song 😅
Anyway, Thankyou for your kind words. Have a wonderful weekend.
Singing in two part harmony! 😁 Enjoy your weekend as well.
Haha! Yes 😄
We have the whole dilemma of street, place, terrace, avenue – all with the same word name or numbered street name – very confusing to us pups when we are trying to find the right peemail box:) Those tomatoes look like they are going to be very tasty. Mom has gotten a few delicious Celebrity tomatoes from her one plant. There are a few more almost ripe enough for picking and then a fair number of green ones. We are hoping the green ones ripen enough to be edible.
Have a nice weekend.
Woos – Lightning, Misty, and Timber
Street suffixes drive me into orbit. Sometimes it’s hard to see that important detail when you’re driving let alone at night.
Ooh, a celebrity tomato…I’ve heard those are quite tasty. Enjoy! 🍅
Your tomatoes look great. The street names are weird, but then again, I too have no imagination when it comes to naming things either. Have a good weekend!
Thank you! Yes, street suffixes are terribly confusing. If only there were well known rules as to street names running in one direction, avenues in an opposite direction, and so on. Then maybe GPS apps wouldn’t flummox me so much. 🙂
That is gonna make a delicious salad, Monika. And those street names? Nope . . .
It’s one of those silly things that bugs me big time. Maybe if my sense of direction were better, but naming streets like that doesn’t help. Happy weekend, Marc and have a fantastic week on hiatus.
I appreciate it Monika. Have a great week as well.
Always lovely flowers to share!
Oh gosh., I get confused enough with directions, those streets would definitely mess me all up. That is crazy!
Crazy and ever so aggravating. It’s almost a necessity to use a GPS app when driving to any place I’m unfamiliar with these days. Have a great weekend!
GPS was a great invention! 🙂
An absolute god-send in my city where it continues to grow like crazy!
This is what happens when the population explodes and housing expands. Still you’d think developers could be a little more creative with street naming so as not to drive us all crazy! Have a great weekend.
One would think!! Thanks and I hope you have a great weekend too!
Your tale reminded me of the famous No Name Lane, which leads to No Name Creek in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. We chuckle each time we pass. Right up there with the off ramp from I-15 between our house and Vegas – “Zzyzx Road.” Our ‘mater crop continues to go crazy and the AJF has no more freezer space for marinara inventory!
With the recent mudslides and I-70 closures, I’m guessing more than a few drivers have a name for No Name. It’s actually not far from my brother’s new home.
As for your abundant ‘maters…feel free to send any overage to me-I’ll find a place for them (as in ‘get in my belly!!’) 🤣
I raised a bunch of Romas and then sun dried them. They were the best. Thaks for the tour. Have a great weekend, Monika.
Oh my gosh, that makes my mouth water just thinking about sun dried Romas! Well done, John.
😊
Our tomatoes are done for the season. I planted in a pot and it just wasn’t big enough. I got a good crop (cherry tomatoes) so I can’t complain but you can’t beat planting tomatoes in the ground. Your tomatoes look delicious! Romas don’t go “bad” fast either. My new neighborhood does not have square blocks. It’s all windy. Makes it pretty but I only know one way to get in. I really have to study a map.
In all the years my son and his family lived in their windy suburb, I never figured out where anything was shopping-wise. I couldn’t find Home Depot if my life had depended on it.
I planted 3 tomato plants in pots, the cherry tomato has been doing decently well, the Early Girl set a jillion blossoms but only 1 tomato and the romas maybe 6-10. It’s been a weird year weather wise in the veggie garden. Usually it’s the squirrels that vex me.
This was a problem in Arvada too. We lived on a Ct., but there were other streets with similar names. I remember a few mail/package delivery mix-ups for sure. Your Roma tomatoes look great. They are so great for super-quick and fresh pasta sauces.
Romas are my favorites for flavor though I’ve been really enjoying the bounty of cherry tomatoes. So sweet, like popping a piece of candy every time!
Suburbs are the worst for street with lots of suffixes to the same name. My sense of direction is non existent in them. Without a GPS app, I’d constantly be lost.
Yes it’s true about the burbs. I remember a lot of the streets there stopping at like a dead end or park or something, and then picking up with the same name in a whole other area!
Argh!
I know what you mean about street names being confusing. Here in Lakewood, every street has an associated avenue, court, circle and drive. I never know where I am.
Your Roma’s look much better than ours, which are about half that size. Out of 6 poblano pepper plants, I am going get 4 poblanos, and absolutely no bell peppers even though we planted 4. Crazy year for gardens.
The weird weather has made for tough gardening this year.
You’d think developers would be more creative but then again if they’re building cookie cutter homes, I guess not. 😢
Never know where you are, where you’re going or where you’ve been…I hear that! And don’t get me started on fighting with the GPS girl. She seems to take great delight in vexing me with directions that seem very illogical.
You’re so right, veggie gardening has been quite the challenge this year weather wise. Usually it’s the squirrels that make it a living nightmare.
As I was reading your post, I found myself back in Calgary. I thought they were the only numbnuts who did that! Elmood crescent, drive, way, circle, avenue, street and don’t forget the north-west, south-east because heaven forbid they direct everything in a straight north, east, south, west fashion. Or do like Montreal where the streets are marked east or west but are in reality north-east and south-west – but who wants that? LOL..
Beautiful pics, as per.
And I planted San Marzanos and had such a hard time in the beginning. The bottoms turned black before they ripened… Add some eggshells and VOILA! They are delicious.
Oooh so jealous at the thought of San Marzanos! I’m totally drooling at the thought. I’ve heard black bottoms are a result of the plant’s inability to absorb calcium either by too much or too little watering. Glad the addition of egg shells has fixed that for you.
Yeah, that whole east/west/north/south designation adds another complex layer to the navigational journey. I can’t imagine how we managed to expand across the continent without maps and apps to assist us.
Don’t try directions in Costa Rica. There are, in theory, streets and avenues in the big towns but as no signs exist to tell which one you are on you are down to asking for directions. Our house in San Jose in theoretically on Transversal 19C, but in effect it is in front of the park of the Republic of Chile School!…..As long as you know where that is…
Costa Rica sound a lot like when I lived on the Western Slope back in the 70’s when we used landmarks. “Take the first left turn past the billboard and head 6 miles toward Grand Mesa…then turn right at the lone pine tree…” If it was night though, I’d be totally lost. Thank goodness for Google maps or Waze to guide me-otherwise I’d never arrive.
My neighborhood has a few straight streets, but all the rest are courts, circles, or streets that curve every 2-3 blocks. Every year a say I will plant tomatoes where every bush is 2-3 weeks apart. This year I actually did. The first bush is almost done, the 2nd is winding down, and the 3rd is starting. Not as many tomatoes as usual, as it has been too hot for flowers to set, but still more than I can eat.
That’s a great idea. Normally I just opt for quick harvest times in case of an early freeze. The cherry tomatoes have been quite bountiful. And very tasty. 😋
we noticed this right away when thinking of moving here and househunting. It’s also not enough to say name-type of street/place/alley/etc but in our case you must also say, SOUTH street name type of street or mail goes elsewhere, (which is does anyway)
Yeah, that’s another wrinkle sometimes. But when you look at the grid (see the link on Denver streets) it makes great more sense on location.
It took me quite a while to adjust to “points of compass” directions here. For me to “go north” I need to know where south is and, in the absence of signage, I amused quite a few people by asking “Which way am I facing?”
In Colorado (especially along the front range) the mountains often direct us directionally. I’d be proverbially lost if I lived on flat ground. 🤣
Mother nature is a most wonderful mother. Sometimes she’s angry, but mostly she gives us such beauty.
Have a fabulous day and weekend. Scritches all around, a smooch to Norman and a hug to you. ♥
She definitely knows how to do it! Here’s hoping your weekend is full of beauty and fun. Hugs and tail wiggles from all of us.
your garden is fabulous, the tomatoes look super tasty!!! ….and the street names would be a challenge for our dad who always does the opposite than the gps girls says… seems we would need a camper , we would be always on the road LOL
LOL, sometimes I’m geographically challenged. Who knew “always turn right” would not get you home?