This has been an amazing year for fruit production! Everywhere I look I see tree boughs bent with the weight of beautiful plums, apples, pears and peaches.
Bedding Plants
The idea of using annuals to fill an entire planting bed is alive and well in the Denver parks system. As you drive along city boulevards or stroll through almost any city park you’ll see massive displays of color in beautiful (and free!) public gardens. The city has its own greenhouses and plans and grows thousands of flowers, grasses and beautiful foliage plants (coleus, kale, abutilon, etc) each spring. Most often they do a great job of combining plants that will have an impact on a massive scale. I enjoy visiting Washington Park, in particular, to check out the gardens. A lot of attention obviously goes into selecting “the best” plant combinations, but they don’t always work; I learn a lot from critiquing both.
Wherever you live, I hope you can take advantage of these last few weeks of summer and visit your local public gardens.
Here are some views of Washington Park from September 1, 2007.
Here are some views of Washington Park from September 1, 2007.
Welcome Tim!
Our lovely daughter, Erin, was recently married! Our new son-in-law, Tim, was Erin’s traveling companion on her trip to Chengdu, China, earlier this year. They survived an assortment of (NOW funny) challenges and adventures during their journey to the other side of the world. It seemed a good omen, so now they’ve embarked on a life-long journey of another sort. Tim’s love of creative writing, traditional Chinese medicine, and RPGs will bring “hybrid vigor” (as we plant people say) to our gardening, visual arts, college football loving clan. Yea!
Kendrick Lake Park
If you need some late summer inspiration for your landscape and gardens, I suggest a visit to Kendrick Lake Park in Lakewood, CO. Located on West Jewell Avenue between Garrison and Kipling, the park features a walking path around Kendrick Reservoir, a children’s play area, and a FANTASTIC xeriscape demonstration garden.
The garden was installed (yes, despite the scorn of many, those of us in the landscape profession happily use the word “installed” for plants and all of the many other materials that go into creating an outdoor environment!) several years ago and is finally reaching it’s potential. The garden focuses on native and adapted low water using perennials, grasses, and shrubs.
Right now the grasses are at their prime,
As are the hummingbird mints (Agastache)
And the Mexican hat (Ratibida)
I hope you have an opportunity to take a stroll through this garden---be sure to take your camera!
