Good morning, and the doors are ready to open. Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.
Denver's weather has been bouncing around this week. We've had highs in the 90s; but on Tuesday, after a late Monday night thunder-dumping of more than an inch of rain (including major hail in some areas) the high didn't even hit 80°. By Friday we were back up to 93°, but for today, the forecast calls for a very pleasant mid 80s.
Just perfect for a Garden Party! The bees have arrived on the penstemon; earlier this week I saw a hummingbird sampling the agastache and salvia.
Now all we need is you.
I just loved that right after I took the picture of the bees in adjoining blossoms, one of the bees tried to move in on the other bee's find. There was some furious buzzing as they sorted that out.
I have lots of penstemon blooming right now; below is a photo of one of my favorites, Pikes Peak Purple. It has big, long-lasting bells of brilliant purple. Nearby I've planted Red Rocks, another penstemon.
And I can't tell you how pleased I was to finally see the hummingbird this year. It may be that he's been around for a while, and I just wasn't in the right place to see him. Younger Son and I were on our way to Sam's Club (yes, I know; tell Costco to build a store in the urban core, rather than placing them all in the 'burbs) to get party supplies, when we saw the little beauty sampling the "Acapulco Salmon & Pink" agastache, and the "Wild Thing" salvia — both purchased from High Country Gardens precisely because they are hummingbird attractants.
I also have gladiolus starting to bloom — including "Atom", bright red bordered in white, and purchased from Old House Gardens to entice the hummers. Last year the first time I saw the hummingbird was when he was investigating one of the gladiolas I'd planted in memory of the Dadster. Funny how those things work out, huh? I likely would never have planted glads had it not been for Dad; but I'd been pining for hummingbirds at my house ever since we bought it back in 1992.
A lot of the neighbors have asked about the hummingbird feeder in my yard, and I'm working at spreading the word that yes, we can get hummers here. Perhaps if enough people put out feeders, and plan some of their plantings to entice hummingbirds, we can have them as a regular summer feature, rather than infrequent visitors. Guess I need to write something up for the neighborhood newsletter encouraging hummer-friendly plantings.
Of course, a large portion of the week has been spent getting ready for today's party. I've experimented with a couple of batches of homemade ice cream — a decadently rich lemon custard (I may need to make another batch, as we've been "sampling" it outrageously), and just yesterday I combined ideas from 3 different on-line recipes to produce a very credible raspberry cheesecake ice cream. The shopping is done, the lawn chairs are scrubbed, the Turkish grill is ready to go. Just need to do a bit of last-minute picking up and we'll be ready. And Caligula is very anxious for company to charm.
That's what's happening here. What's going on in your gardens?