Welcome to this week’s edition of Nature Friday. Ranch hands Elsa and Norman are here to share some of the urban nature we encountered this week. First though, we begin with our usual “broken record” lament: it’s been hot, hot, hot. Again/still. The good news for anyone else totally over it only forty-five days until the official arrival of autumn. You can bet we’re keeping our eye on the calendar. But enough of our whining, let’s join our weekly hosts, Rosy, Sunny, Arty and Jakey from LLB in Our Backyard. Don’t forget to click on their link, to see what they and others around Blogville shared. So let’s get started, alrighty?

In addition to several bunny sightings, we’ve been seeing one especially pretty  plant on our morning walks; Evening Primrose (Oenothera fruticosa). This one looks beautiful mixed in with some orange penstemon. As the day warms up, the blooms close so it’s  best to check them out in the early mornings when the sun isn’t too intense. There must be something extra fascinating about this one because that barmy brother of mine sure likes to check it out. Mom won’t let him sniff too closely or for too long since there’s a rule of no peeing on flowers while on our walks.

Another favorite mom likes to walk past is this Angelonia angustifolia. Often called Narrowleaf Angelon or Summer Snapdragon, it’s a colorful plant she can see as soon as we turn down this street. Native to Mexico and the West Indies, it comes in colors of deep mauve to violet, white, blue, light pink or bicolored. It’s typically known as a perennial in Zones 9-11. Since the Ranch is in Zone 5, it must be similar to its cousin, the common snapdragon since it reseeds itself every year. It’s quite drought tolerant, a good thing for our area which hasn’t seen rain in oh, let’s see…forever. Mom thinks we’ll may see snow before we see any rain.

You may recall when Norman showed off the volunteer tomato plant in our garden a few weeks back (click here for that story). Mom noticed a red spot this morning and took a quick pic (she was trying to avoid getting sprayed by the sprinkler). It’s pretty exciting to see lots of little flowers and tiny tomatoes all over it but to see the first one turning red just blows mom’s mind. Hate to break it to her that it’s going to be the world’s tiniest salad since these are cherry tomatoes but she’s still pretty excited.

Every day we walk past a cute little cottage garden and notice this piece of garden art out front. Doesn’t it seem rather appropo with the way things are trending these days? Comedy and drama.

We hope you have a wonderful weekend and are able to experience some of the beauty nature provides. We’re enjoying the return of our favorite sport. While it’s weird to be watching hockey in August, we couldn’t be more thrilled with its arrival. The league and its players have been über diligent playing in their bubble with no positive cases of coronavirus (with much thanks to our Canadian hosts for providing two safe venues in Toronto and Edmonton). Let’s hope mom hasn’t jinxed her team now.

Live, love, bark! 🐾