Goings-on in the Garden

tanjabrittonwriter 49 Comments

What a difference water makes!

It is too early to tell if the 20-plus year megadrought in the American Southwest will finally come to an end, but if one atmospheric river in California after the other as well as the recent 4 to 5 inches of rain in the greater Colorado Springs area are any indication, one could be cautiously optimistic. According to the most recent Colorado Drought Monitor, “only” 34.6 % of eastern Colorado are abnormally dry, and a total 10.8% are in various stages of drought, which is a vast improvement to conditions a year ago.* And all this despite the 37th-driest April on record since monitoring commenced in 1895.

The rapidity with which the vegetation gone from winter-brown to emerald-green has been astounding and I keep repeating an expression my friend Andrea, who blogs on Between Urban and Wild, uttered a few years ago, when the drought was temporarily relieved by copious moisture: “Everything looks so dazzlingly green.” As it does now.

Humans crave green as it represents the lushness and luxuriance of life. A blend of blue and yellow, two of the three primary colors (the third being red), the various hues of green occupy wavelengths between about 495 and 570 nanometers on the visible-for-humans light spectrum. This is about the middle of our 400 (violet) to 700 (red) visible range, which seems to be the reason why shades of green are easiest on the eyes, so to speak.

Recently, the dazzling tones of green have been enlivened by flowers, both afield and agarden. Our prolonged winter pushed back spring’s awakening by a number of weeks, but awakened it has, much to everybody’s delight (I think that’s a fair statement). I for one have been welcoming each new blossom in our garden with a smile, be they the opulent-as-never-before lupines in the featured photo above, the different variants of iris and Colorado Columbine (Colorado’s state flower), or the recently planted creeping phlox which, I hope, will creep away in all directions. Our patch is home to plants both cultivated and native, both old and new. Some of them, several rose and peony bushes among them, were favorites of my husband’s grandmother and mother and have been thriving here for decades; others were added as recently as one week ago.

To enlarge a photo, click on it. To read its caption, hover cursor over it.

Colorado Columbine color variant
Colorado Columbine color variant
Colorado Columbine in the original color combination
Iris
Creeping Phlox

Regardless of age and color, we are grateful for the generous gifts resulting from our recent rains, and hopeful that the predicted wet summer will indeed come true. We also look forward to future garden surprises.

Not a flower, but a relatively recent arrival to our garden and the result of the goings-on between some of our resident bunnies

* Since the publication of this post on 5/24/2023,  the drought monitor from 5/25/2023 shows even more improvements, thanks to additional rain in eastern Colorado: 20.2% of the state are abnormally dry, 7.8% continue in various stages of drought.

49 thoughts on “Goings-on in the Garden”

    • Thank you, Steve. The moisture and verdure have been very refreshing.

      I’m not exactly sure about the species of lupine, since they started from a bag of wildflower seeds, but looking at my native plant guide, I suspect it is a Silver Lupine (Lupinus argentus), though it might be a hybrid, which reportedly are common.

      It’s nice to get etymological confirmation on what seems like an intuitive relationship between the words you listed.

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      • Please let me know if you have different thoughts about the lupines. According to the guide, they are supposed to bloom in July and August, but they live right next to our house and have a warm wall and morning sun to help them thrive, so they might be blooming earlier than they would in the wild.

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    • Please let me know if you have different thoughts about the lupines. According to the guide, they are supposed to bloom in July and August, but they live right next to our house and have a warm wall and morning sun to help them thrive, so they might be blooming earlier than they would in the wild.

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      • When we drove up the Maine coast in 2018 we saw many lupines that looked like the ones in your photograph. I still don’t know what species they were. I’m afraid the only lupines I have any knowledge of are the ones in Texas, which people here call bluebonnets.

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      • I read somewhere that there are over 200 species of lupines and many more hybrids, so it might be near-impossible to determine the exact species of a plant in question.

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  9. My oh my! Those lupines are a mouth-watering purple. So glad that rain has come to your area. May the drought be over and may your garden bloom. I especially liked this line from your post: “Humans crave green as it represents the lushness and luxuriance of life.” Lots of green where I live on the edge of the woods. 😉

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  10. Tanja, I’m very glad your part of the state has been getting rain. Fantastic how the desert blooms with a tiny bit of moisture. Cute bunny, BTW.

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  11. Yes, water does make a difference: I’m happy for you. Here, we’ve had some rain lately, but only just enough to make the grass growing green. We definitely need a lot more.
    Am keeping my fingers crossed for you, though.

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  12. Yay for water in the garden and everywhere else! Love your columbines; I recall seeing that lavender beauty on an early June trip to Colorado a number of years back. It’s your state flower, correct?

    Bunny is a cutey; will it eat things you don’t want it to eat?

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    • Thank you, Tina. It’s amazing to see the transformation brought on by water.

      You are right about the Colorado Columbine being the state flower. I have mentioned this in previous posts, but failed to do so in this one. I will remedy this oversight right away (thank you for the reminder).

      Remarkably, the bunnies seem to eat mostly grass (I wish they would eat more dandelions 😊) and we don’t notice much damage on plants, if any. But if we were growing vegetables, we likely would have a different experience.

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      • I’d seen photos of your columbine, but when I saw it in the real world, I was was smitten. The color is just divine! We have a yellow and a yellow/brick red here in Texas and they’re beautiful, but I think Colorado’s is even more so.

        In the past year and for the first time in our neighborhood, bunnies have arrived. I know other folks in different areas of Austin have bunnies, but we’re bunny newbies. I’m enjoying seeing them in the ‘hood, but so far, haven’t seen any in my garden. No doubt at least one has hopped through!

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      • I also love that original Colorado Columbine color, Tina. It’s interesting to observe that over the course of time, the blossoms will bloom yellow.
        I hope your new neighborhood bunnies won’t do too much damage nibbling on your precious plants.

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  13. What excellent news! I understand what you mean about humans craving green. After a long dark Kazak winter before anything was green again I had a week in Greece which was already spring lush and green. I found myself want to bend down and eat the fresh grass like a cow!

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  14. Tanja – Your photos (as always) were wonderful. I loved the picture of the bunny. So sweet. I miss having bunnies in the yard. Where I am living now has lots of birds and squirrels but no bunnies in my neighborhood. So nice to see a variety of plants and animals. Take care my dear friend! -Jill

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    • Thank you, Jill. I’m so glad you enjoyed some impressions from our garden residents, both floral and mammalian. We have birds and squirrels in common. I don’t think the bunnies have always been here, but 10 or so years ago, they populated different neighborhoods, ours among them. They might eventually reach yours.
      All the best,
      Tanja

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  15. The lupines are a heavenly purple and I love the variations on the columbine – great how they can produce new colours to make us smile. The cute bunny is making me smile too. (I’m sure he’ll have new friends soon…)

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    • Thank you, Ann. All our garden residents make us happy, those with petals and those with fur. And I think you are right that we can expect more bunnies. It’s not without reason that their numbers have been responsible for coining a proverb. 😊🐰🐰🐰

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    • Danke, liebe Maren. Es freut mich, daß es bei Dir Sonne und gute Laune gibt, und ich hoffe, auch Du hattest ein schönes Pfingstfest. Hier ist Pfingsten für die meisten Leute kein Begriff, und gestern war Memorial Day, der kriegt sowieso die ganze Presse.
      Ich wünsche Dir eine gute Woche.
      Tanja

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  18. It looks like the flowers are trying to make up for lost time! Gorgeous!
    We take the green of Spring for granted until we don’t see it. Hopefully, the southwest is turning a corner and will return to a more “normal” cycle of wet and dry.

    Enjoy the new week filled with those flowers!

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    • Thank you, Wally. We are definitely not taking anything for granted here and I also hope that the meteorologists’ predictions about a “wet” (for Colorado standards, not for Florida’s 😊) will come true.
      Happy (almost) June to you!
      Tanja

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  19. The only columbines I’ve seen are the red and yellow ones which are native here. I had no idea other colors existed; they really are delightful. That’s an unusual phlox, too: at least, for me. It’s very attractive. It could creep into my yard any old time — although here at the coast phlox isn’t at all common. In fact, I don’t remember ever seeing it right at the coast, except in a few gardens. Ours may not like salty soil.

    Who doesn’t like a bunny? I’ll see one occasionally — perhaps three or four times a year — but friends with real yards (and gardens!) see them more often.

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    • Thank you, Linda. The bunnies and flowers bring us much joy. We were also surprised to discover the various color variants of columbine once they decided to take over and spread every which way. And this is the first time that we have tried to use phlox as a ground cover–let’s hope it will like its assigned space.
      Happy continued flower and bunny season to all of us.

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  20. We have also been delighted to have rain this Spring. Columbines are my favorite flower and enjoyed growing them in Scotland. The natural variations are a wonder. I also had wild lupins in just that color although sometimes a pink or white one would pop up. Love the bunny!

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