We somehow managed to make it to Friday which means we’re joining our hosts, Rosy and her brothers in checking out what Mother Nature is sharing around Blogville. Don’t forget to click on the highlighted link to see other posts.

To say this has been a helluva week is an understatement. I feel like I’ve been pulled through a knot whole yet rather than highlighting the ugly, let’s focus on the beauty that we’ve seen. So sit back and prepare yourself for a long visual string of some of my favorite flowers around the Ranch garden as well as from around my neighborhood.

After 15 nanoseconds of spring, the Mile High City fast forwarded directly to blistering summer heat despite the calendar saying there’s [technically] three more weeks of spring. Lupines, irises and peonies are front and center. You’ve probably guessed by now that I have a love affair with poppies that are also front and center all over city landscapes. My favorite shade of poppies are the salmon pink colored ones. Just look at these gorgeous blooms from a nearby neighbor’s garden. Every year I say I’m going to plant one of these and every year I can never seem to find one. Sadly this year, diverse and interesting plants are in even shorter supply at big box stores and many of the small greenhouses I’ve shopped at in the past aren’t open or their supplies are severely limited.

Bearded irises are also have been making their appearance known. I dug this guy up from my previous yard. It’s nearly 20 years ago and is always a showy beaut. It starts out ‘black’ and fades to this dark purple as the bloom opens. It’s my absolute favorite of the iris collection around the Ranch.

After what looked liked a less than stellar year for the lupines, they’ve been giving Mother Nature the middle pedal. “You won’t squelch us,” they seem to shout.

A wide drift of Cerastium tomentosum, more commonly known as snow-in-summer, makes me and bees very happy when it blooms. Starting out small, it grows each year and fills in the space it’s given and then some. It’s beginning to cover the flagstone walkway as it blooms and will need corraling after blooming.

Peonies are the showy guys in my garden. Magnificently scented, they are in their blooming glory. It’s probably my favorite garden flower and I only wish they lasted longer. A couple of peony bushes were hard hit by last month’s freeze and it seems like blooms will be less this year but no less lovely. You can almost smell their heavenly scent.

A tour around my garden is never complete without a look at a simple but always reliable annual shot of color. I abandoned planting annuals years ago but Snapdragons continue to volunteer freely with a bit of encouragement from me (i.e. water) and it’s always interesting to see how the colors change and morph each year with some help from pollinators no doubt. Originally these guys were a solid shade of light pink without the yellow spots on their ‘throats.’ Talk about hybridizing.

Along our regular daily walks is a professionally xeriscaped front yard that changes with the seasons to always look beautiful. Normally cactus doesn’t pique my interest but look at these amazing colors. This garden always has color and texture guaranteeing a long stop to check everything out.

Along with these cactus and other xeriscape plants, were are a few bright rose bushes proving once again that xeriscape doesn’t necessarily only mean cactus and rocks to look beautiful.

We hope your weekend is safe and you’re able to take in the beauty that’s out there. Stay safe, stay sane and keep smiling.

Live, love, bark! 🐾

Spring has finally been coaxed out of hiding though some elements have been slow to appear. That dang frost at the beginning of May really did a number on things effectively eliminating most fruit tree crops with all tree buds getting zapped. Recovery will take some time though sadly the fruit trees won’t. Three of the trees at the Ranch are just now beginning to emerge and expect them to fully recover with a spot of Summer arriving next week. I checked on a Canadian shrub rose and couldn’t decide if it had died or was just extra slow leafing out this year. Yesterday’s inspection showed there’s life, but a whole lot of pruning will be in its future. Again with the whiplash conditions Mother Nature, seriously?! Course it could be worse, last year this week we received snow so I guess I should count my blessings.

It’s Friday so that means we’re joining our friends, Rosy and her brothers in checking out what Mother Nature has been up to around Blogville. Be sure to check out their link, things are super pretty in the Pacific Northwest.

Our daily walks have provided such glorious sightings even if some of the flower displays are not their usual splendor. Still I think we managed to pick some lovely exhibits for why it’s important to get out there and check things out.

First off, we found some brilliant blue Prairie Flax on the side of a sidewalk. This charming re-seeder always brightens my day with its glorious color.

Isn’t it pretty?

Seems like some flowers are competing against one another for the prettiest award. One of my neighbors recently planted a beautiful Columbine. Quite the stunner, eh?

Because my garden is shaded much of the day due to large trees I’m a big fan of shady plants. While walking around yesterday, I came across a large bed of Lamium, also known as deed-nettle. I had to take it all in by lingering for several minutes. Look how it lites up even dark spots in a garden with its silvery-variegated foliage.

Poppies are beginning to emerge from their winter sleep, and I’ll confess, I’m a sucker for these Oriental beauties. Those crepe papery flowers just intrigue me and the large blooms make for a stunning appearance. The bees were in heaven checking them out.

Whenever Bleeding Heart appears, I realize what a beauty this spring entry is. For years, I didn’t have any success growing these perennials but since moving to this house, they seem to be making up for earlier failures. This year was a bonus appearance with a phantom Allium coming up in the middle of the Bleeding Heart. A two-fer!! Be still my beating heart. Still wondering where that Allium came from, since I didn’t plant it.

Looks like we’re in for a beautiful weekend. Next week there’ll be a few days in the 90’s so the mutts and I hope to enjoy the more moderate temps while we can. Having one black dog, one with a double-coated fur coat and my own constitution that wilts in heat, we plan to enjoy it while we can. I hope you get out there and see what’s nature has been up to lately. And while you’re at it, enjoy the weekend!

Live, love, bark! 🐾

Happy May Day and welcome to the first Friday of May. We hope this finds you healthy and following whatever rules are in place in your local area to keep yourself and your loved ones safe in the pandemic. As usual, we join our furry friends, Rosy and her brothers from LLB in Our Backyard for this week’s edition to the Nature Friday blog hop.

What a difference a week makes! Last week we experienced a bit of spring, then some winter, then a quick return to looking at spring again. This week has been more summer-like with a couple of days well in to the 80’s F (27-30C). But we’re ok, in spite of the whiplash. Jeez, Mother Nature…what’s up with you?

Remember one of those snowstorms in April? Well the hard frosts that accompanied the snow pretty much did a number on most of the flowering trees, including peach, apple, cherry and the ever popular non-fruiting but spectacularly flowering ornamental pear trees. Of the flowering trees around the neighborhood, very few have or will bloom which is quite sad. Bulbs (namely grape hyacinths) survived and are making their annual appearance unfazed. In my garden, they have naturalized everywhere. It’s always entertaining to see who wins out the landscape war-grape hyacinths, lupines or dandelions. The yellow flower is shining brightly all over this part of town. Some people have already abandoned any hope of trying to reduce their presence (for the record, not my garden-I gave up on grass years ago 😈).

Some of the early bloomers who had their moment in the spotlight, still provide beauty with their seed heads, like this Pasque Flower. I love this plant maybe even more after it blooms. Can you say…t-e-x-t-u-r-e?

Two days ago on one of our walks, a few field poppies made their arrival.

Usually at this point in the season, early perennials begin to arrive like this Golden Alyssum. Everyplace I saw this beauty looked somewhat peaked, suggesting the up-down, yoyo weather has taken its toll. Not one plant was particularly full and vibrant.

Even candytuft, while blooming, was just a bit…meh. Not nearly as robust as usual. This was the best version I found along our walk. Sigh.

While many of the spring bloomers may be somewhat lacking, we still hope for some nourishing rain to improve the early summer garden blooming season. The forecast calls for a ‘chance’ so we’ll see. I remain skeptical since rain is rare around here. However, the lupine and peonies have their petals crossed.

As your area begins to loosening up some pandemic restrictions, do you have any plans to change the way you’ve been living or will you get out there and so something just to get away from house arrest? Whatever you chose to do, please do it safely while enjoying the beginning of a new month and fresh weekend.

Live, love, bark!  🐾