Last Friday, my mom and I went down to the Denver Botanic Gardens Spring Plant Sale. We bought some great finds including Mojave Sage, Hopflower Oregano, & Ice Plant. But the real reason for going was to visit the gardens for free... usually the entrance fee is $10 per person. The tulips were in bloom among other things. The succulents (my favorite) were spectacular! It was great to spend the day together!
Everything at the ranch is starting to pop with color! I love this time of year! The scrub brush is blooming and my perennials are coming back in full force. Our favorite song birds have returned. As Ryan put it... "It sounds like an Amazon rain forest outside." 
Colorado blue skies.
My delphiniums... aka "my little darlings" ...grown with care from seeds.
Our cherry tomatoes ripening on the vine.
The waterlilies & lotus blossoms at Denver Botanic Gardens were in full bloom mid-July when Cindy, Nicole, Ollie, and I went down for the day. They were absolutely gorgeous and I thought that I would share a few pictures with you all. 
The prickly pear are in full bloom now and bees are having a pollen bathing frenzy! They literally swim in the flower... rolling, dipping, & diving into the pollen.
The ranch is in full bloom! We've had an amazingly cool spring... and the flowers are just now starting to pop! 
We went down to the North Fork a couple days ago and I snapped some photos of wildflowers. Pictured below are a wild rose & penstemmon. Sadly, there aren't as many flowers this year.
So.. last year (thanks to the rabbits) my garden was pretty much inexistant. Everything I planted was quickly devoured. So I am planning ahead this year. After much research, I purchased flower seeds that are "rabbit resistant" such as delphinium, liatris, oriental poppies, columbines... and the list goes on. I am also planting heirloom tomatoes, peppers, & herbs. Josh & Nicole gave me a grow light and "mini greenhouse" for Christmas... so as you can imagine I have already started my garden. My little seddlings are growing steadily.
On our last day in San Francisco we went to see the redwoods at Muir Woods. Amazingly enough, the stream running through Muir Woods is a salmon & stealhead trout spawning ground. We actually spotted several fingerlings swimming in the water.
We also went to the San Francisco Botanical Gardens. It was amazing... a succulent paradise.
Mojo came to town this week and we decided to tackle a huge project... the flower bed. Most of you know that Ryan & I love to garden. But we haven't had much luck with keeping things alive with the rabbits & our "ranch" soil. So we bought a truck load of good dirt and went to town! Cherie even came up for the day to help with the effort. We had a blast! And the finished project looks amazing!
