A STUNNING DISPLAY OF YELLOW LUPINS

Sixteen miles north of Ketchum, Idaho, we turned onto Baker Rd. The road is a dirt road which travels about 10 miles up the valley, climbing 1000' to the trail heads for Baker Lake and Osberg Ridgeline Trail. We have hiked Baker many times but this time we were to take the Osberg Trail.

 The hillsides here were changed dramatically 10 years ago when a major forest fire swept though here burning much of the forest. It is hard to imagine a great trail climbing up through the burnt out trees but we were in for a surprise. 

It was a chance meeting with a couple who were summer volunteers at the Sawtooth Visitor Center. We had met them in Organpipe NM in February and as they told us they would be volunteering there this summer we were camping close by we popped in to see them. They told us about the fabulous stands of fireweed, Chamaenerion angustifolium, growing along the hillside. Fireweed is known as a pioneer plant, quickly colonizing areas of burnt or disturbed land. We couldn't miss out on the opportunity to see them.

The trail first dropped down to cross the creek where monkey flowers, Mimulus, lewisii, and Mountain shooting star, Dodecatheon, find their perfect niche.

 

 Elegant camas, Anticlea elegans

We then began a steady climb up through the forest. As usual I was stopping frequently to take photos. 

 Sticky geranium, Geranium viscosissimum, and Streambank wild hollyhock

Mountain dandelion, Agosteris

Lots of fireweed but only the odd one blooming. They are a few weeks away from blooming, their flowers only yet in tight bud, which surprised me. I had imagined a huge display of pink would greet us. Maybe further along.

 

It's hard to keep a good hiking pace going when you constantly stop to take a photo. It is not often I spot Monkshood, a plant with which I was so familiar in England. and along the edges of the trail penstemons. Some pale in color some bright purple.

 I will forever call them bluebonnets after living in Texas. Here I must call them lupins as they are much paler in color, sometimes verging on white with tinges of pink and yellow. 

White yarrow against a burnt tree stump. 

 

 All these wildflowers are familiar characters in the Sawtooth Mountains. 

 

Lewis's blue flax, Linum lewisii above.

 and phlox, Leptosiphone nuttallii.

 

 And the gorgeous white Mariposa lily, Calochortus eurycarpus. But the best display was yet to come as we spotted large swathes of yellow on the bare hillsides above.

 The lupins had kindly left open a narrow trail through which we could walk without disturbing their beauty.

Even David, and this is rare, took out his phone and began taking photos.

And here a white lupin alone among the yellow.

We were absolutely besotted with the spectacle before our eyes. How fortunate we were to have caught the display at its peak and on a perfect cloudy day. All the way down I was trying to come up with adjectives that would best describe the scene we had witnessed. Magnificent, spectacular, mind blowing, stunning? and then I remembered a little bit of British slang, I thought gobsmacking might just fit the bill. 

So it wasn't fireweed but lupins that were putting on a show. But there is no doubt that fireweed will have its turn in the coming weeks.

THE SEPTEMBER GARDEN

When hurricane Harvey slammed into the Texas coast, 200 miles away, it brought some much needed rain to Central Texas. Along with that we saw a significant drop in daytime temperatures but more importantly night time temperatures in the low 60s. Warm days and cool nights. For a few days it was like being in California. The plants showed an immediate response; the sickly yellow leaves greened up and the flowers colors brightened. It was glorious but not to last. Still, for those brief few days I enjoyed every moment in the garden.
Sometimes I think fall is better than spring. Everything in the garden has become more blousy. There is barely a scrap of earth or gravel to be seen.

I never know from one year to the next how this will look or which flowers will be present-except there will always be plenty of rock roses.

The Salvia leucantha I have been planning to move for years is still there. The hummingbirds are very adept at flying in through the window in the high wall that separates the gardens.

A week ago there was but one bloom on the butterfly pea, Clitoria ternatea. Now there are many. The blackfoot daisy, Melampodium leucanthum, continues to spread across the step.

Ruby crystal grass, Melinis nerviglumis, is flowering. There will be plenty of those again next year.

  Globe amaranth, Gomphrena haggeana, 'Strawberry fields' is everywhere.

As are the purple and pink varieties growing in the pathway of the vegetable garden.

The spider zinnia will eventually be evicted from its home in the vegetable bed but I will save the seeds for next year.

In the sunken garden it grew where the white California poppy once grew.

In the sunken garden there are gomhrena, pink and purple skullcaps, aura, mealy blue sage, white Salvia greggii, and an errant member of the cucumber family which came in on the compost.

As well as zexmenia, Wedelia texana,  chocolate daisy, Berlandiera lyrata,  and returning alyssum.

But the absolute show stoppers of the moment are the liatris in the front courtyard. Purple is definitely the color of the moment.

Last year I removed many of the bulbs and planted them outside the walls. It seems that every seed germinates but they are silent all summer until their bloom time in the fall.

Phlox paniculata John Fanick, After the first flowering I pruned it back and here it is again. Smells wonderful.

Trailing Snapdragon vine, Asarina procumbens is a native of Mexico but seems to do well here as an annual.

Tradescantia sillamontana with its cobweb leaves and pretty pink flowers, easily grown from cuttings.

In the spring I bought a hanging basket because it looked simply gorgeous. I repotted it into a larger basket with baby diapers in the bottom. It was an impulse buy. It has been watered all summer on a drip system twice a day, and received an occasional fertilize. I have cut it back completely about 3 times. It took a beating on one side during the hurricane but is recovering.

The mandevilla vine is into its second year. I cut it down and put it in the potting shed last winter. It dried out and went dormant but started to come back after a good spring soaking. I will try to keep it for another year.

It is wonderful to see so much color back in the garden and there is still the Philippine violet yet to bloom. Soon it will be fall and these icky-sticky days will be a thing of the past!

HEADY FRAGRANCE ON HUMID DAYS

Twice this morning I was surprised by a new heady fragrance in the air and I think I know why. At 9:30am even though the thermometer said 82° it felt like 93° and that humidity is picking up the fragrance.

After many weeks without appreciable rain, 4 weeks ago we had over an inch. It seemed to wake everything up. We have moved into summer mode with daily temperatures in the high 90s and insufferable humidity. I'm sure it never used to be like this. Houston maybe but not Austin.

I can only bear to be outside for a short period of time before drowning in sweat. Very early I was out in the front courtyard, which has had little supplemental irrigation. The day lilies were going into a serious decline with brown withered leaves. A little hand watering was in order. That was when I noticed a fragrance and turning to look I realized it must be coming from the summer phlox, Phlox paniculata 'John Fanick'. I bent down to sniff and sure enough that was the source. I must get more of this plant next year.

A short time later I was crossing the driveway when another blast of fragrance hit me. There is only one plant blooming out there and that is the retama, Parkinsonia aculeate, which is in magnificent flower. The sound of bees along with that fragrance shouted 'Summer'.

In the vegetable garden I feel like I am in California with the fragrance of citrus. A long dry period followed by rain seems to have triggered a second bloom.
The same with the Meyer lemon. I could never have too many of those so I am hoping this will mean a bountiful crop. I hope it isn't too warm out there for the bees.

Calamondin orange tree with new blooms. I'm hoping for another marmalade making day in the winter.

Lots of plants have responded to the rain. The Texas sage, day lilies, California poppies and iris are all flowering for the second time. I'm wondering what the rest of the year holds in store for us all.