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! 🐾
Fire works! Not a favorite noise here. They’ll start tonight, Friday and go thru the weekend. Poor wild life critters and indoor pets. Love the green house tour! And the hummer. We only have the Ruby Throat in our part of the US. And they get fed sugar water here as we love to see them and feed them. Wilson, use ear plugs this weekend if they make puppy ones.
Love the flowers! It’s so hot here, Chester has missed his long walks, but mom can’t make it that far so we’re keeping them short!
Gorgeous flowers, and love the glasses. Gracie now wants a pair too!
You’re so handsome, Wilson. All ready for the 4th.
Love the idea about buying pet food instead of fireworks. Our babies hate fireworks.
Have a fabulous day and weekend. Love and hugs to you and lots of scritches to handsome Wilson. ♥
While the cats aren’t as reactive to fireworks, I hate them too. They rattle the deer, birds, ground rodents and what not. I’ve seen spectacular drone shows with no noise. They were done to music. Wonderful!
Good reminder. We don’t go out for fireworks, but Casey can still hear them in the distance. I will take care of my pup.
Buddy, I love those glasses! I told my mom she has to get me a pair for next year! The girls here are terrified of the boomers so it will be a very long weekend but we have to power through. Mom hates them too because the idiots shoot them off all day and half the night. We like to sleep at night. It is sad that we can’t look forward to celebrating our country’s day because of the legalization of fireworks. Anyway, the flowers today are gorgeous. We all love bright colored flowers. Try to enjoy your weekend!
Thanks, I think I found those glasses at the Dollar Store several years ago. I get very worked up about people shooting off fireworks having been in a professional town display that blew up from a spark, sending people in a panic and watching dogs suffer when they go off. I don’t understand why they can’t make them without the noise. Colorado is literally on fire so firework bans makes so much sense. I just hope people don’t set them off in yards. Everything is so unbelievably dried out, a single spark could cause a fire
Glad you enjoyed the flowers. That center is small but had such lovely blooms. Have a safe and happy holiday weekend.