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| Wouldn't you know, a Facebook friend (Rich Guggenheim) captured the Delphinium geyeri at Denver Botanic Gardens last Saturday far better than my several dozen attempts on two or three different days. |
This planting in our terrific recreation of the Great Plains ("Laura Porter Smith Plains Garden) was my favorite of several hundred floral spectacles that graced DBG in the past week or so: never have we had such a spendiferous and florally awesome spring and early summer before (and perhaps never again) thanks to unprecedented precipitation the first half of the year).
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| The combination of our local dryland delphinium (that's blazing by the tens of thousands on the Dakota hogback just west of town) with Sphaeracea coccinea and orange prickly pear is vintage Dan Johnson curator of native plants and Associate Director of Horticulture and our resident magician. |
The species is basically a Wyoming endemic--common along the east base of the Front Range of Colorado with a few outliers in Montana, Utah (and possibly New Mexico and even Nebraska!). The finest displays I've ever seen are near Denver, Fort Collins and at a wonderful spot called "Split Rock" smack dab in the very center of Wyoming--a place I have visited perennially for more decades than I care to admit to!
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Early on Sunday morning I took several dozen pictures trying to capture the beauty of this delightful plant--I should have taken a hundred more!
Split rock is an intriguing place...you must visit one day if you haven't!
The gnarly limber pines are intriguing even in skeletonized form!
Fun to find Oregon woodsia in a shady crack (
Woodsia oregana)
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| Heuchera parvifolia |
Cryptantha flava--which is so abundant in the Colorado Plateau, makes one of its most northeasterly appearances at Split Rock--just going past bloom, unfortunately.
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| Another fern growing on a shady bank, and going dormant since there hasn't been rain in a while (Cystopteris fragilis) |
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| The ubiquitous Achillea lanata (our version of millefolium) |
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| Only one bitterroot still almost blooming: most were almost in seed. |
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| None of the Calochortus gunnisonii were open--too early in the morning! |
But Lygodesmia grandiflora was in full glory--one of the least appreciated and showiest composites of the west.
If you've made it this far I have a treat for you! Surely one of our loveliest modern folk songs, Bill Staines' Wyoming lullaby tugs on my heart strings whenever I hear it: I hope it will for you too as well: it's sure good to be back home!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rdvibWJeZg
It's sure good to be back home!
This planting in our terrific recreation of the Great Plains ("Laura Porter Smith Plains Garden) was my favorite of several hundred floral spectacles that graced DBG in the past week or so: never have we had such a spendiferous and florally awesome spring and early summer before (and perhaps never again) thanks to unprecedented precipitation the first half of the year).
Really enjoyed this post Panayoti. Thank you for all you do.
ReplyDeleteA number of Colorado plants remind me of rare plants in the Southeastern United States. Species like clematis and delpinium are in both areas of the country.
ReplyDeleteWeird weather patterns that some plants are really responding well too. The Great Plains garden is stunning. Hopefully will be able to visit some day soon.
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