Appearance
With its ostentatious white flowers clamoring for your attention, Boulder Raspberry impresses like a hybridized cultivar, rather than a native shrub. Growing three to five feet tall and six feet wide, arching, sprawling stems carry bright green, lobed leaves that turn yellow in fall before dropping for the winter. Spring’s blooms develop into small reddish purple fruit resembling cultivated raspberries. While edible, the berries are generally considered unpalatable. However, they will attract birds and other wildlife to your garden. Unlike other raspberries, the stems are thornless.
Multitudes of Moths
As I unlocked my mailbox to retrieve my mail, a cloud of wings billowed out of the opening. My bedside lamp is surrounded by a throng of fluttering insects leaving dark smudges on the lampshade. Every windowsill is littered with gray bodies. The final straw came a few moments ago when I opened the lid on the toilet and discovered a moth convention assembled on the seat. Yup, it’s Miller time.
Actually, the term “miller moth” encompasses more than one species; it simply applies to any moth commonly found around the house. Here in the Pikes Peak area, our most common moth is the adult form of the army cutworm, Euxoa auxiliaris.
Landscaping with… Zucchini?
Roses, petunias, and … zucchini? Why not? While traditionally grown in a vegetable garden, summer squash’s striking appearance can provide a focal point for an ornamental border as well.
Zucchini and its relatives have large lobed leaves, blotched with white, supported by thick prickly stems. Big yellow flowers produce squash in an amazing variety of colors and shapes. Of course they’re edible—but they’re eye-catching as well. Just make sure you leave plenty of room. “Bush” squash plants grow four feet wide and two feet high.
Get your Goat
While taking a break and perusing an assortment of gardening websites, I stumbled across this story at “Dave Hobson’s Garden Humor: To boldly grow where no one has groan before.” Yes, you can tell from the tagline that this site is a lot of fun.
I have David’s permission to re-post his story, as long as I include the fact that he wrote it, he owns the copyright, you can see it on his website, and you can email him at dhobson@golden.net. (I was a bit concerned about posting his email address right out there in the open where all sorts of nasty software programs can find it and send him emails about missing fortunes, prescription drugs, and the fact that there are giant star-nosed moles in the storm drains under Boise—but he insisted.) After I went to all this trouble, the least you can do is read it and laugh. Oh, and the goat photo is all mine.
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Another Reason Birders Wear Hats
Plop, plop, plip plop… it sounded as if it was raining, but the sky was blue and the sun was shining. I was happily prowling a row of tall cottonwoods growing thickly along a creek, searching for flycatchers, migrating warblers, and anything else of interest. Now, something was falling out of the tree tops, but it couldn’t possibly be rain.
Blop. Something landed on my hat brim. Something else hit my shoulder, and another falling object landed on my arm. What in the world? I put down the binoculars and focused more closely.
Falling Off a Log
Have you ever watched a bird leave its perch? I mean, really looked? Lately I’ve been paying close attention to various species as they fall, tumble, leap, or launch themselves from the branch or fence post on which they’ve been standing. I’ve been amazed by the many different ways birds take to the air.
Loons require a long runway, and it has to be water. If they get stranded on land, they’re stuck, unable to fly. Other waterfowl seem to do a lot of flapping before becoming airborne, but then they’re starting from ground (or water) level. I’m actually pretty impressed that ducks manage to gain altitude at all. From my perspective, they just don’t look like they’re engineered for flight.
Outfoxing Fox Squirrels
If you feed them, they will come. Anyone who puts sunflower seeds into a birdfeeder sooner or later has to contend with squirrels. And if you grow a garden—well, squirrels like many of the same foods we do, plus flowers, tulip bulbs, and numerous other plants. The question isn’t whether or not you’ll have squirrels in your yard. You will. The question is, what are you going to do about them?
I used to really like squirrels. After all, they’re cute, with bright black eyes and fluffy tails. And they’re fun to watch as they chase one another up one tree and down the next. That was before I started feeding the birds. Within hours of hanging my first feeder, the squirrels had discovered it. (It took the birds two weeks.)
Weed—Identify Yourself!
Are those weed seedlings or flowers?
That’s a significant question early in the season. While mature weeds are obviously not zinnias or parsley, it’s much harder to distinguish garden plants from unwanted pests when they’re still seedlings. Yet, weed control is much, much easier when done at the seedling stage.
The first year we lived in Colorado, I made what turned out to be one of my worst gardening blunders ever. We moved into our house in November. I surveyed the empty beds around the patio and assumed nothing was planted there. Silly me. Like so many transplants here, I’d come from (northern) California, where the growing season lasted all year. I hadn’t yet learned that many plants spend the winter hiding underground.
Yarrow (Achillea)
Appearance
Common Yarrow might be common, but it’s still a worthy plant for Colorado gardens. Plants form spreading clumps of dark green, finely cut leaves about one foot tall. Flat-topped clusters of tiny flowers that rise above the greenery provide landing places for butterflies, which are attracted in large numbers. Blooms may be white, pale to golden yellow, or various pastel shades; ‘Paprika’ is a cultivar with red flowers the color of their namesake.
Birding Chico Basin Ranch
Chico Basin Ranch is a great place to bird all year round, but it is a must-see during spring migration. It’s easily worth the 45 minute drive from Colorado Springs, and the $15 daily access fee (annual passes are also available).
What makes this such a great spot?
A look at a map of Colorado shows why birds and birders love Chico Basin. Straddling the El Paso/Pueblo county line, the ranch attracts species found in the southeast corner of Colorado as well as those more that live in the north and west. Strategically situated between miles of arid, short-grass prairie on one side, and more miles of arid short-grass prairie on the other, the year-round ponds and green trees are a welcome rest stop for tired and thirsty migrating birds.
Mountain Plover 