at DBG

Posted on October 6, 2014 by paridevita

Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, Chess the purebred border collie, here to bring you the latest news from our garden, or, in this case, from Denver Botanic Gardens, where I didn’t get to go, because the guy I live with says the sign there says “No Dogs”, which I think is unenlightened, but what can you do? You may remember me from such DBG-type posts as “Guarding The Fort” and “Home Alone Once Again”, among just a few others.

Here I am in a characteristic at-home pose.14100623Yesterday, or maybe it was the day before, there was a little bit of bulb-planting; just a few daffodils, and the guy I live with soaked them in water for about fifteen minutes before planting them. He says this is a good idea, because here, it takes an awful lot of rain to get down to where the bulbs’ roots are, once they’ve been planted in a loamy type soil, so this gives the bulbs a little bit of a head start.14100622As you can tell by the title of today’s post, the guy I live with left me at home, all by my purebred self, to go to DBG and take some pictures. He took pictures of things he wanted to take pictures of, instead of pictures other people might think he should take pictures of. Like, there were a zillion people there, all to look at the glass. The guy I live with was only interested in plants.

looking up at the sequoias

looking up at the sequoias

crevice garden

crevice garden

part of another crevice garden

part of another crevice garden

Turkish form of cedar of Lebanon; Cedrus libani var. stenocoma

Turkish form of cedar of Lebanon; Cedrus libani var. stenocoma

Gomphocarpus physocarpa

Gomphocarpus physocarpa

14100606Now some views in and around the Laura Smith Porter Plains Garden. It reminds me of our “lawn”, sort of.14100607

 

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the white is winterfat, Krascheninnikovia lanata

the white is winterfat, Krascheninnikovia lanata

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Eriogonum jamesii

Eriogonum jamesii

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Some other things.

Mahonia haematocarpa in fruit

Mahonia haematocarpa in fruit

castor bean, Ricinus communis

castor bean, Ricinus communis

American persimmon, Diospyros virginiana, in fruit

American persimmon, Diospyros virginiana, in fruit

Now some berries on various crabapples that the guy I live with didn’t get the names of.14100617

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14100619Okay, well, those were the pictures he took.

Yesterday, or, again, maybe the day before, there was a terrific sunset, and he took pictures of it. I’ll leave you with the sunset pictures, wishing I had some “as we head off into the sunset” kind of music, but I don’t. 14100620

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Until next time, then.

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last of the pods

Posted on September 30, 2014 by paridevita

Greetings and salutations everyone; yes, once again it is I, Chess the purebred border collie, filling in for the guy I live with, and here to bring you the latest news from our garden. You may remember me from such posts as “A Day At The Opera” and “The Sand Man”, among so many, many others.

Here I am in a characteristically sophisticated pose.14093005It’s been rather damp around here lately, with rain, and, of course, thunder, but I was able to go on my walks, and I guess one advantage of the all the rain (a whole six tenths of an inch in two days) was that the guy I live with has declared that the rain brought down “the last of the pods”. The honey locust hasn’t had that many this year, compared to some years, but there are still a lot. 14093011Somehow I doubt that this is the last of them. The pods didn’t come down all in one place, in case you were wondering. He raked them into this pile.

The “squishies” have enjoyed the rain, too. The guy I live with took some pictures today, and here are a couple of the squishies. It’s just that they looked so contented, and he felt like taking their pictures.

Titanopsis calcarea

Titanopsis calcarea

Aloinopsis spathulata

Aloinopsis spathulata

The squishies get nibbled on by rodents sometimes. You can see some of the nibbling if you look closely.

Here are the newly-emerging leaves of Cyclamen hederifolium. Attractive, huh? (The label is for a snowdrop.)14093010Well, that would be all I had for today, but we were visited by some wildlife. The downy woodpecker likes to creep up the birch branches. It wasn’t standing still when the picture was taken, which is why the focus is a little off. Branches on the tree (really a shrub) occasionally die and the woodpeckers like to drill for bugs in the dead branches. 14093001As you may know, I and the guy I live with lead a pretty laid-back life, with just the occasional incident marring a succession of otherwise uneventful days, but just today an event occurred which was so shocking, and so disgraceful, that I had to get up and leave the room, which was the kitchen.

This happened after I came home from my morning walk, which was excellent, by the way. Both of us were just sitting here, each minding his own business, when all of a sudden….

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Earl

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14093004I couldn’t believe my eyes. Especially when the rodent looked into my fort.

After documenting the unwarranted intrusion, the guy I live with cleared his throat very loudly, and the invader turned and fled.

“Such”, said the guy I live with, “are the times we live in.”

Surely something must be done. Aside from keeping the door closed, I mean.

I guess that’s all for today. The guy I live with suggested I spend more time patrolling the patio, and less time asleep. We’ll see.14093006

 

Until next time, then.

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