As I do occasionally, I create posts for friends, who are special to me. This is one of those posts.

This one is for Gina V.

Because I just passed another year, the title of this blog has 2 meanings: I have found myself one more year forward and look forward to the one coming up.
The past year has had its ups and downs, as many do, but I like to base a year on the people I meet, more than anything. Events are one thing but meeting people who leave an impression are something entirely different. And while I have met quite a few people this year, meeting Gina has left quite an impression on me. I could list the reasons why but I won’t: she knows why, I think, and that is all that matters.

I consider the work included here some of my best work, either for personal reasons or because of feedback. The dates refer to the original date I took the photos.

So, Gina, these are for you….sort of a gift to you as I enjoy the entry of my next year on this planet. Enjoy!

Flame and glass (2004)

Fading Tree Peony (2008)

Chance Meeting (2008)

The Disappearance of the Deep Blue Sea (2008)

Rolling to the Sea (2006)

The Sun Defined (2009)

Lotus Raindrops (2004)

Her Comfortable Sandals Await Her Long Stride (2006)

Timothy Grass, Aspens, Evergreens, and Tipis (2009)

Who's the Stranger? (2008)

Cathexis (2008)

Chicago Creek Tao (2006)

Penstemons (2008)

Ready for Takeoff (White-lined Sphinx Hummingbird Moth) (2009)

Forest Floor in March - Shoshoko (2008)

Reaching Into Autumn (2008)

Resurgence - Departure (2008)

After the Fire (2008)

Leaning Into (2009)

On the Path With The Mushroom Hunter (2006)

Shoshoko Sunset 1 (2008)

The Last Photograph I Took of Galen(2008)

I expect I could go on looking through my files, finding this photo or that which I really think represents my photography….there really are many more.  (And I know you wanted more butterfly pictures but I don’t have many….they didn’t make such an important stamp in my life until last year, when I posted that blog in October.)

There will, of course, be more……………….many more.

Subscribe in a reader

I planted my Cholla in 2005 and it sends out to arms every year but this is the first year it has pushed out blooms! And it’s just getting started!
And the bees are already visiting! Lucky bees!

Another one planted in 2005, blooming for the first time. Lavender.

As I mentioned in the last post, my Daylilies had never bloomed and this year, they finally have:

I’m not sure where all of the Larkspur came from but it sure arrived in abundance!

And now details of some of the flowers from the last post:

Variegated Sage

Adam’s Needle Yucca (on the right), the yellow blossoms of some kind of sedum around it, with the blooming Cholla behind it.

Chicks Blossoms

(Sunflower) Ray with a Million Blooms

Paprika Yarrow

Johnson’s Blue Geranium and Stonecrop Sedum

Lamium ‘White Nancy’

Daphne ‘Carol Mackie’

And I still haven’t remembered what this is, so if anyone can help me, please do (the second photo surrounds my blue Alliums):

While I was out this morning, I came across a bunch of Leaf Cutter Bees patterns on my Tree Rose…and happened to find a friend to my gardens:
Roadmap with Traveler.

I’ll post more photos of the Cholla when it explodes with colors! Till then, have a wonderful week and enjoy the fruits of Summer!

Subscribe in a reader

Dwarf Tulips

This post is going to be virtually nothing but pictures, I’ve decided. To be precise, pictures of my yard, close-ups of some of the plants, blooms, etc in both the front and back yards as well as shots of groupings. Many readers either haven’t been here to the house or, if they have, have not been by this year, for one reason or another.
I’ll name as many as I can; I do know most and many I know only by their botanical name, not their common name, and vice versa. I’ll always label them from front to back.
If you want to write back and identify ones I haven’t named, feel free and I’ll add a note to the photos. And don’t be surprised if I add a few “shifts”.
In any case: ENJOY!

Fading Dianthus Bloom – Spiderweb Cactus Bloom
Variegated Sage – Spurge* – Cholla Cactus – Sedum** – (CenturyPlant) Yucca
*Spurge is on the “A” List of Invasive Plants of the West; however, kept under control, it is a beautiful plant with a very interesting structure and bloom, which is bright yellow in late May/early June. When I got the variegated sage in the summer of 2005, it was a reclamation project and was only about 3″ across; it now measures about 3′ across and has a heavenly scent! The cholla was also a reclamation project from a neighbor; they were originally about a foot tall and are now range between 3-5′.
**Sedum comes in literally a 1000 different variations; I have about 6 or 8 on my property.

Onoethera – Blue Allium – Gallardia – Kniphofia – Santolina – Bee Balm
The Santolina (Lanendar Cotton) was a reclamation project from 2005, as well, and was about a foot across when I planted it; it’s now about 4′ across. Onoethera (the yellow one in the foreground) is better known as Evening Primrose. [This photo is on the opposite side of the berm from next picture, hence, the Santolina.
Colorado Penstemon - Iris - Blue Allium - Santolina

[Quick note: You'll see lots of garden art in these photos. I'm BIG into garden art....things like old metal toys, lamp globes, formed and blown glass pieces, old iron stove parts, etc. Their structure add interest and curiosity to onlookers.]

Colorado Penstemon on the right with several unidentified shoots around it, Bachelor Buttons on the left, chives, (waning) Allium globes, Kniphofia, Larkspur (tall, center, pink, blue, and purple), Sedum germanii (low, yellow bllom)…and moving towards the back are an unidentified Mint, Cercocarpus, water plant off to the right, Nassela (Mexican Hair Grass), 2 old root Roses, dying peonies (far left), Apache Plume.

I’m sitting under my Peach Tree, Pineleaf Penstemon (yellow, front right) with unknown grass next to it, what I thought was Lychnis but isn’t (surrounding the Iris), Dwarf Alberta Spruce, Saskatoon Serviceberry (3-stem tree near center), several giant Sunflowers (volunteers), more sedums.

Bees like all the blues in the yard. This is a slightly out-of-focus Bachelor Button. (Man those guys move quickly from bloom to bloom!)

Blue Allium. The flower head on this is about 4″.

Delosperma and Gold-Tipped Juniper.

On either side of the grass, which I think is Stipa, are a pair of Autumn Joy Sedums, one of which is variagated, several Sempervivums (aka Hens and Chicks), the yellow-green sedum on the right center is one of my favorites called Angelina….it (and all sedums) keep their green all year, changing in the Fall to another color: Angelina turns burnt orange and stays that way until Spring, several Sunflowers are pushing upward around the 1850s Goat Cart that I procured a few years ago.

Larkspur and the meristem of a growing Ponderosa Pine, acquired from the curator of the Conifer Berm at DBG. The Ponderosa is probably about 7 years old or so and is about 4′ tall.

Johnson’s Blue Geranium with visitor.

Just about everything in this photo has been identified…I just happen to be looking in the opposite direction across the yard. The tree in the foreground is an Engelmann’s Spruce…at full height, this tree will generally grow to 30+’ but I will be dwarfing this and it’s cousin on the other side of the yard, the  yellow behind it is the Sedum germanii. Kinda looks a bit like a jungle, doesn’t it? Compare it to this one, taken in March:

Obviously, it was taken looking the opposite direction…but I came across this while looking for something else.  But it shows what a dramatic difference there is in the back yard between March and June.

(I’m adding these 2 the day after the original post. I figured I din’t have enough shots of the front yard in an overall perspective.) This what you see just outside the front door to the house:

The mass of green is Basket of Gold and is a profusion of gold when it all pops open in mid-May. The yucca behind it is Adam’s Needle, the large shrub at the back/middle is Russian Sage and next to it is…damn, I just forgot the name of it! and behind that is my favorite yarrow: Paprika…a deep red that turns red-orange.
As you can see the Basket of Gold spread pretty easily and goes wherever it wants (and this photo also shows you how little I have pulled my weeds and all of the Gold wannabes). This berm is probably my favorite because I never water it…it lives entirely on what Mother Nature feeds it. It is predominately cactus and succulents, grasses, iris, etc. The large green bush on the right is an Artemesia ‘Powis Castle’; it grows exponentially from year to year, even though I cut it back all of the way every Spring. It was about 10″ across when I planted it and is now well over 5′ wide.

Around the corner is a Rabbitbrush, a native to Colorado that is most seen on the sides of highways in its most wild form; I got it from a friend as a reject at maybe a foot tall and is now well over 4′ tall and 5′ wide and will most likely fill the area in the back corner eventually because it is a voracious spreader, too. The large bushy grass on the left (behind the one with flowerheads) will eventually get about 6-7′ tall by mid-Fall and will stay there until I cut it back next Spring. It is an awesome spectacle when it blooms and just as wonderful when it is snowed on in Winter.
There isn’t a whole lot of shade on the property but this corner on the north side is nicely populated with low-growing Lamium ‘White Nancy’ (the variagated leaves), some Lily of the Valley towards the back, a large section of Dragon’s Blood Sedum (with stems that turn burnt orange in the Fall, hence the name), and a nice Dahpne ‘Carole Mackie’ shrub.

Opening old root Rose with raindrop.
I have this thing f0r raindrops. I’ll be doing a post on them soon. But here are a couple of more.
Autumn Joy Sedum and raindrop.
Saskatoon Serviceberry with Raindrop.

Luck Be The Lady.

Radiant Energy
Offspring of The Squid Nebula
This Lily popped open today in the back yard. I have several lilies in both the front and back yards but although I planted them 3 or 4 years ago, this is the first time they have bloomed.
Homing Signal (Dwarf Tulip).
The Welcoming and Gaping Maw (Iris blossom)

I hope you’ve enjoyed a fairly thorough trip through my yard. I missed a few spots but they’ll show up later. Still, you got a pretty good taste of it!

I’ll close with a serene photo that I like a great deal.

The Fallen (rose petal with Nasella).

Subscribe in a reader

My friend, Catherine, asked “Wither is they?”
So, I respond, They is here:

Close-up of a Mentzilla (I don’t know a common name for it), taken down the street at my friend, Mark’s, house. I have mentioned Mark here a few times before; he is a curator at DBG. Recently, I submitted this photo for possible publication in a book of local photographers on Contemplative Photography (examples of which are here but aren’t local, just good examples that were used in a class I took at Working with Artists).

Galaxies, Waiting for Rebirth

This photo was in a previous post but since it is a galaxy photo, here it is again:

The Center of the New Galaxy

An iris in my back yard, taken last month:

When Galaxies Collide - Rebirth

Same yard, same week, different flower. This is a peony blossom, ready to unfold. (Sadly, my peonies never had a chance this year and even though they opened up, it has rained so much that they never had a chance to actually stand up.)

Within - Galaxies Ready to Burst

Taken last week in the back yard, this photo contains a Star of Persia Allium (Allium albopilosum ) on the right, Mexican Hair Grass (Nassella tenuissima) on the left, and Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) in the background:

As Galaxies Form in Tandem

And that is the extent of my “Galaxies”.
However, since we are out in the Universe for this post, I should also include the “Nebulas” I have, as well, shouldn’t I? I’m not going to fill in the background data, though, so just enjoy these and wonder what their origins may have been.

Nebula on the Edge

Giving Birth at the Egg Nebula

The Jelly-Starfish Nebula

The Athabasca Nebula

New Star Emerging From The Athabasca Nebula

Nebula 2

I have a good deal of “star” photos and far too many to put in the post. So, I’ll just  complete that part of the series another time. Although, I DO like this one a great deal:

Rebirth of a Star

Thanks for stopping by for a tour of my Universe.
And I hope I answered my friend’s question. 

Subscribe in a reader

Poof in the Morning Sun

This is a different kind of blog than any other I have ever posted. Please read the letter below and respond in whatever way you can. It is about the proud fellow above, who I recently posted a blog about and who is loved by many.

Poof

Please help us pay for Monroe’s emergency back operation, which is being performed Thursday, May 28th. Here are the details for this request:

Some of you may know that Monroe (aka Poof) has been having problems with his back again while others probably have no idea he did in the first place.

On Sunday, he took a turn for the worse though I am not sure how it became so aggravated overnight; “it just happens like that” I’ve been told. I took him to the vet yesterday and they kept him overnight for tests. Today, they reported that he has a large mass in his abdomen and that his spine is aggravated, perhaps by the enlarged mass. She referred me to the clinic where he had his surgery 2 years ago; Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital (here in the Denver area) is one of the better hospitals. Their testing brought back less than favorable results:

Their prognosis revealed that the mass is an enlarged liver due to the extended use of steroids, which he has been on for his skin allergies for a few years (Temaril-P delivers a low dose of prednisone as an anti-inflammatory) with an higher dose of strictly prednisone for the last 6 weeks to counteract the renewed weakness in his spine. The enlarged liver has, likely, pinched a nerve that sends signals to the brain, which tell him when to relieve himself…therefore, he lets loose no matter where he is. A good deal of his pain has been created by not knowing his bladder needs to do its thing, which makes the liver work overtime without relief. They also believe he has developed something like a steroidal condition that has exacerbated his kidney, as well.                     The trouble in his spine is a herniated disc, which has paralyzed his left leg, which, of course, doesn’t allow him to walk straight. His pain because of these things has been nearly constant for several days.

Their diagnosis is that he be operated on immediately to relieve the condition that the herniated disc has created in order to regain the use of his leg. They also feel that removing the use of steroids will return his liver and kidney to normal and that he can be put on a less invasive medication for his allergies. I asked if there was a more conservative approach to healing his back and liver; they said that a conservative approach would do little to relieve the pain and would, most likely, make things a lot worse.

They didn’t even have to give me an estimate (though they did, by law), since I knew what it would cost already. Weighing the choices was difficult but not very difficult: I am not ready to send my 7 year old pup off to “greener pastures” just yet. 7 years old is not “old” and I know he has a long life ahead of him still. I also know that his recovery will take a few months…months that will be well worth it in the long run. I know he can still scamper in the backyard to Woof at the squirrels, chase flies in the house when they pester him, and simply take walks in parks and Woof at the squirrels there, too.

So, here is the difficult part of this request.

I am asking for either a donation or a loan to help me cover the costs of the surgery. I was able to put a down-payment on the surgery; otherwise he’d be lying on his bed here with those beautiful pleading eyes of his. The hospital has allowed me to pay “on time” since I am a repeat customer though the payments are a bit out of my reach. The cost of the operation is [hold your breath then exhale]: $6000.

I fully realize that making a donation is pretty tough in the economic times we are all in right now…but if you DO choose to make a donation, Monroe (and Spence and I) would be forever grateful.

If you choose to offer a loan, I assure you that I will pay you back, not run off with the cash.

Whichever way you do choose, please donate what you can afford, large or small, and whatever you send will be used for a good cause: our happy-tail-wagging-squirrel-chasing Poof.

Asking you to make out your check to me sounds pretty shifty but I will then pay the bill at Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital with it. However, I have setup an alternative way to pay the bill  directly to the Hospital:  **see below**. Another way to donate/lend is through my Paypal account: my address there is wordmariner@comcast.net .

As I said before, there are some of you who know Monroe….and some who do not. Whatever the case, please consider helping him out with this much-needed surgery…surgery that will have taken place by the time you see this, most likely.

Your support will be greatly appreciated.

All of our very best to all of you-

Sam, Spence, and, of course, Monroe

Sitting Guard on the Yard

Super Monroe, the Caped Avenger!

**Contributing directly to the bill at Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital:  Call Mary at 303-996-1365 between 8:30am and 4pm (Mountain time). Please tell her (VERY IMPORTANT)  that your payment is for ACCOUNT #68165. If she isn’t there, please leave your name and number and she will call you back; she requests that you NOT leave your credit card number on a voicemail for obvious reasons.

And many thanks again!

Subscribe in a reader

Family of Four and then some

Sometimes I dedicate posts to friends so I just want you to know that this one is for Deb, who was visiting from Saskatchewan this past week.
[So, Deb.............enjoy this post.]

We spent a couple of days up in Estes Park and although we didn’t pay the $20 entry fee to go into Rocky Mt. National Park, we did get to see a fair amount of wildlife, anyway. The group above just happened to taking in some sun in a neighborhood when we happened by on a side road to our condo by Fall River.
While I didn’t take a whole lot of arty shots, I did manage to take a few. But one of the great shots I like from our weekend is this one. We were walking down the main drag when we came across this fellow, who was, as you can tell, pretty damn cute. Right after I took this picture, I leaned into him and he licked my nose…something a bit unexpected considering we had never met.

Buddy

I did manage a few arty shots, of course.

Making their Getaway

Scent

Chapel of the Hills

Back from the mountains for a few days, we went to the Botanic Gardens so she could get some ideas for her garden in SK. You know from reading my posts that I am pretty content when I am there and this trip was no different. And, of course, I steered her towards those parts of the Gardens that either I have worked in through the years or are, simply, favorites. The Conservatory, the domed building where all of the tropicals are housed, had these to provide:

Tropical Temptation

Datura Landing Party

And outside, Spring in full swing, provided these:

Tree Peony Blossom

In a Sea of Pansies

Poppy Mallow

Goose and Fountain 2

Ready for Takeoff

Koi Arriving and Departing

But now, I’ll leave you with these.

The Athabasca Nebula

Forested Radar Beacons

Passageway

And last but not least……

Nappin' Bud

Subscribe in a reader

A Deimos Way of Life 2

Experimenting with a new process. Any thoughts?

Subscribe in a reader

The Spiderweb and Its Heart

I’m not going to explain this because I’m going to let you figure it out. Get back to me if you have the answer.

Have an excellent day!

Subscribe in a reader

Undaunted Iris bucharica

It snowed about 10 days ago….a typical late April storm…it was supposed to be a real dumper here in the city but it fizzled out. Instead, it pounded the mountains, foothills, and the plains east of town.
A couple of days before the storm hit, my Iris bucharica (Corn Leaf Iris, though I had to look this up since I’ve never called it that) bloomed. The before-storm pictures really don’t do justice to what this one displayed. I have several around the yard in various places; it is really one of my favorite plants that appear in Spring.

But I also like the combinations that happen with my Grape Hyacinth, which also have several prominent spots around the yard. Grape Hyacinth are pretty prolific, once they get going and “naturalize”.

Muscari neglectum and Nassella tenuissima

Muscari neglectum, Grape Hyacinth, and Nassella tenuissima, Mexican Hair Grass,  mostly grow together on my cactus berm in the front yard. They are a terrific way to really show that Spring is in full swing in my yard.The Hyacinth do seem to pop up everywhere in my yard though, not just with the Mexican Hair Grass…but the two of them make a great show together.

Not surprisingly, a couple of days later when all of the snow was melted, the Red-Riding Hood Tulips started popping open. And my first “regular” Iris, though dwarf, appeared.

Red-Riding Hood Skips Through

Dwarf Yellow Iris

And the Dwarf Tulips have started blooming, too!

Dwarf Tulip

The abundance of Bearded Iris should start bursting forth in about the next week and last well into June. I have been amassing my Iris collection for about 4 years or so. I have collected them from garden jobs where they may have been “too many” in a yard or I have purchased propagated strains from a local hybridizer who sets up shop here in the Spring and Summer. When the big Iris start blooming, the yard becomes a rainbow of color!

And then there’s this:

First Tulip 2

Subscribe in a reader

Allium Beginning

I have several alliums in my yard. They range from about a foot tall with 3″ globes to 18″ tall with globes the size of a basketball to 3 or 4′ tall with 6” globes. As they bloom, I will be posting them so you can see what I am talking about. The most stunning allium, of course, is the one with the basketball-sized globe, Allium shubertii. I’ll explain it later when you actually see it.
For now,  just know that they have all started pushing up through their centers of gravity to make their presences known to me since their leaves have been showing for over a month.

Tentacles

Emergence and Birth

This is just one of them. I have about a dozen throughout the yard. The one above will be about 3′ tall with a 6” globe.

Melting Snow Shower

Enjoy!

Subscribe in a reader