Jewels of July

Seven years in Montana, and hundreds of hiking miles, and one can be forgiven for thinking you have seen it all.  And then you round a curve on a trail and your jaw drops.  Mountain Lady's Slipper stands regally.  The upper sepal shields the slipper like the hood of a cape; the lower sepals twist downward like strands of curly hair.  Why haven't I seen this demure orchid before?  Maybe it's because this trail is not often used, and the Slipper has managed to survive here.  A quick scan of Internet sources suggests that Cypripedium montanum is "apparently secure", a technical term that means a plant is uncommon but not rare, with some cause for concern due to declines or other factors.  Time of year is also significant - if I was walking this same trail a month later, the blooms would be gone.  All the more reason to be delighted to be in the right place at the right time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Early July took us to Glacier National Park, executing our responsibilities as citizen scientists to document Mountain Goat and Bighorn Sheep populations.  I could stop there - the simple elegance of the Park's beauty is enough.  And yet we are blessed to have many other delights layered into the experience.  The sunrise at the house, with lake mist lingering in the valley.  A black bear grazing along the roadside.  Dashing through the rain at the new Kyiyo Mercantile for a Huckleberry Bear Claw.

Forecasters called for a full day of rain, and we were pleasantly surprised that it eased up early in the morning and didn't return.  The hike along Cut Bank Creek is known to us, and yet we commented that we had forgotten how lovely it is.

In the afternoon, we covered new terrain via the Dry Fork Trail.  The Two Medicine area is known for bears, and given the low usage of this trail, it wasn't a big surprise to encounter a grizzly sharing the area with us - fortunately, it took off in the other direction as soon as it saw us.
 

Have you noticed the lack of photos of goats and sheep?  Yep, two hikes in and no observations.  Sigh.  The next morning, we popped in our favorite East Glacier breakfast spot, the Two Medicine Grill.  Fortified for the day ahead, we hiked Scenic Point and we were rewarded with numerous sheep, including the nanny group in the photo below.  Our second hike that day, along Rose Creek, yielded plenty of mosquitoes but no mammals! 

 

 

In early July, Lupine and Penstemon are plentiful along alpine trails, and I am hoping the video below gives you a small taste of purple splendor as we walked back to St. Mary Lake.

Back at the house, the flowers were doing their best to represent for Kila, Montana.  July is certainly the peak for native plants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the early years of the garden, I had Prairie Coneflower (pure yellow) and Mexican Hat (a deep burgundy coneflower).  Now, cross-pollination (thanks, bees, moths and butterflies!) has delivered numerous flower shades.

I am constantly bragging about Head Chef and his cooking - the summer salads he creates are always a massive hit with me - I love the variety of colors, textures and flavors.  A neighbor has a flock of chickens, and we are regularly purchasing a dozen eggs from her.  As everyone knows, the taste and color of free-range eggs cannot be "beat"!

Another neighbor grows vegetables, and her arrival at the July ladies' gathering was like our own personal farmer's market!  So many talents in our neck of the woods - check out the baby quilt one of my friends recently finished.  I love our neighborhood get-togethers!

Summer in Montana also means guests, and the end of July started our string of visitors - my oldest brother and his wife came from Utah for a few days.  For a year, we had been talking with them about huckleberry picking and a picnic at a location that we had spotted the summer before, while on a back-country camping trip.  The site delivered, the weather delivered and Head Chef delivered with charcuterie and beverages that had been chilled in Mineral Creek while we picked hucks.  

And it is our tradition to wrap up visits to Glacier with a cold bevvie on the back porch of Lake McDonald Lodge - this is livin'!!!

 *****

Linking up with LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color for I Like Thursday.  She has a super group of bloggers that always have something positive and interesting to share!  The prompt for September 26 is "What is your favorite fall scent?  Would you rather have a pumpkin spice drink or apple cider?"  I love the aroma of slightly damp leaves, especially when you walk through them and you get the bonus of the rustling sound.  But I don't miss raking said leaves!!! At our house here in Montana, the aspen trees are vastly outnumbered by pine trees, and we wouldn't rake the leaves anyway since they provide natural fertilizer for the trees and other plants.  This is a huge change from the mounds of leaves we used to rake in Cleveland, Ohio.

I am obsessed with Pumpkin Spice Lattes (PSL), so that gets my vote over apple cider.  I go to coffee shops a lot, so I have to limit my PSL intake due to the high calorie count and so that I don't get bored with them!

Linking to Thankful Thursday

Linking to Mosaic Monday

Mosaic Monday #188: Garden Gala 2

And there's more!  If you enjoyed last week's post, you will be drooling over this one!  July is the best month for the native plants, especially toward the end of it.  I wish I could distill July into a genie's lamp, and poof it into existence when people come to visit at other times of the year.  I want them to see the garden in all its July glory.  Perhaps I will just show them this post ... although in my heart I know it is not the same as seeing the real thing.

To the left is Rocky Mountain Penstemon, with Paintbrush in the background.

Keeping with the purple theme, below is Walker's Low Catmint and Salvia May Night.  Both have terrific symmetry and a compact nature that is pleasing to the eye.  I have several Catmint "volunteers" - I am just waiting for them to get big enough to move to other spots in the garden.  And I have been delighted this summer to find at least two Salvia "volunteers".  Isn't Nature just the best propagator of them all?

The collage below has a better view of the Salvia, with Aspen Fleabane in the foreground.  The other photo puts the Fleabane in the spotlight, with Paintbrush bringing up the rear.

Blanketflower.

The first year the native grass seed/flower seed blend sprouted, we had numerous orange and red poppies, plus some pink ones.  We have seen very few since, except this one that came up within the "formal" flower beds.  I will take it!  The groundsel occurs naturally, and I saw it on one of my many walks. 

In last week's post, I might have mentioned that I am obsessed with the blue of the Flax?

I am also enamored with the sea of Coreopsis that blankets the rock steps below our kitchen and dining room.  It doesn't look like much now, but in mid-July it is nothing short of glorious.

As July marches on, the Prairie Coneflower and Bee Balm come into their own.

Harebell can be found throughout our property, but usually I only find one bloom per stem.

We have two Mock Orange bushes.  One had barely bloomed until this year, and the one below had twice the blooms as previous years, which I attribute to the abundant spring rainfall.

Toward the end of July, the Goldenrod bursts into color.  I remember, as a child, thinking of Goldenrod as quite ordinary, a plant found on abandoned parking lots, among broken glass and discarded beer cans.  Now I know better.  Like many things, a plant needs the proper environment to be at its best!

Mexican Hat first appeared in the prairie in the summer of 2019, and it is propagating across our property quite nicely!

Black-eyed Susans also arrived as part of the native grass/flower blend, and the simplicity has its own beauty.

And sometimes you find an interesting blend - two species cross-pollinating?

White daisies, another gift from the prairie blend, have long-lasting blooms.

Aster and Russian Sage are the last plants to bloom, and they do put on a show!

Meanwhile, the grasshoppers seem to be more prolific this year, and one of their favorite hang-outs is the Russian Sage, nipping off the top three to four inches of the majestic flower spikes.  Another opportunity to remind myself that they, too, are part of the ecosystem!

*** I will be slow in commenting due to a backcountry camping trip!

Mosaic Monday

Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.

Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.

The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Tuesday (U.S. Mountain time).

Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog.

Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back.

As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by.

Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.

Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us.

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Click here to enter

Mosaic Monday #44: Gardening Galore

Blue flax - from wildflower seed scattered last fall

I have so much to share with you, dear friends.  The ongoing transformation of my garden.  My burgeoning knowledge about the plants in this region.  The challenges of gardening in the woods with critters of all kinds. My embryonic plans for next year’s garden.  Are you seated comfortably?  Then let’s begin.

In my previous garden posts (June 9 and July 21), I have featured 70% of my formal plantings.  Today you will see the remainder, again through collages illustrating their progression since the snow melted!  (Click on the collage to make it bigger.)

I always thought of Goldenrod as "common" - but it has

"grown" on me - LOL!

Bee Balm was in my June 9 post, but before blooming

Coreopsis - in the upper middle photo, the plants are 

barely visible.  They exploded into my most prolific plant,

all by self-seeding.  I transplanted many of them just to

make the flower bed look a little more shapely (lower middle

 shot is "after").  This is also the plant most plagued by deer.

Aster - far right plant was drastically nibbled by deer

earlier this summer - silver lining?  Abundant flowers

on the ends of multiple stems

Prairie coneflower - I love this plant.  Began blooming in

mid-July and is still full of color.   Knock on wood, deer

don't bother it.

Goodland apple - I wrote about the apple trees in my

June 9 post - at that time, they were still in flower.  The

Goodland has 12 apples.  We beefed up the protection on

this tree after the 1 small apple on the Honeycrisp 

disappeared.  Suspect?  Chipmunks.

Scarlet Gilia - given its delicate nature last summer, I was surprised it returned at all.

I have since learned by observation that it does not grow back from its base, but only

by self-seeding - we must have over 140 "volunteers".  I have also learned from visiting

the nursery that it will not flower this year but next.

Russian Sage - another love.  As you can see, it grows back from its base and becomes

this sprawling web of purple.  And the deer don't bother it.

Black-eyed Susan: another plant that returns only via self-seeding.  It takes a keen eye to spot

these "volunteers", and some patience to see how they develop before deciding to keep or

to pluck.  Shortly after the last picture, deer came along and ate this bloom and several of

the buds closest to opening.  Grrrr ….

Speaking of deer – perhaps it is obvious that our “deer defense” system has ceased to be effective.  I guess those clinking beer/cat food cans are now music to their ears!  Few plants have been immune to their affections, but the coreopsis below the mudroom has been nibbled almost every night for the last month.  Good thing I have a lot of it – I have deliberately left some sections uncovered in the hopes that the deer will focus on those.  Friday we installed an “Animal Repeller” – when it senses an animal, it emits a high-pitched noise, and if at night, flashes a strobe light as well.  So far? Mixed results since I do have deer tracks this morning.  Might need to move it slightly.  This has also taught us that we need to change up the defense system.  Cans for a period, then sparkly ribbons, then the repeller, and so on.

Black aphids also returned to the pearly everlasting and the yellow penstemon in mid-August.  The good news?  The Columbian ground squirrels have gone into hibernation!!!  At least one less threat to deal with!

As you can see from some of these pictures, the “formal” landscaping is quickly outgrowing its defined boundaries.  I am torn between a desire for “order”, and the joy of nature doing its thing.  Just given my personality, this will be an ongoing tussle, but I am determined to encourage a natural garden, so “disorder” is the preferred condition.  This means allowing many plants to grow until I can figure out what they are – the benefit is less weeding (at first)!   Each time I realize I have a new volunteer, it’s like a instant shot of joy. 

It is much easier for me to accept “chaos” in our “prairie”, which you may recall was planted with a grass seed/wildflower seed mix last fall.  It’s the gift that keeps on giving – I can almost always find something new out there. 

Clockwise from upper left: Larkspur; Coreopsis variant; Lupine; Purple Coneflower; Blue Flax; Black-eyed Susan

I learned that Blue Flax flowers last less than 24 hours.  I took the above picture in the morning and I was glad I did!

Yarrow

It seems each day brings new learning for me, and from a variety of sources.  Most of it is plain observation.  For example, the aster plant that was significantly pruned by deer produced the most flowers.  And once a plant is flowering, the deer don’t eat it.  And I have been amazed (and pleased) that most of our plants are as advertised – they thrive even in our dry conditions.  Of course, the Web is a superb source of information, but sometimes you need a fellow human, and in that case, the Center for Native Plants has been a god-send.    While the wildflowers have been easy to identify, the grasses have been much more difficult.

I called Hooper’s Garden Center (which provided the grass/wildflower mix), and they gave me a list of grasses that was included in the mix.  I studied each of them, even sketching diagrams in my garden journal, and teaching myself about grass anatomy.  Unfortunately, most of them did not seem to match the grasses outside.  I reached out to a friend who works for the Forest Service, and he recommended two sources: the book “Plants of the Rocky Mountains” and the Center for Native Plants in Whitefish. 

I ordered the book and it was helpful to identify some of the grasses, but I still had gaps.  So, on one of my weekly trips to Whitefish, I stopped in the Center and talked with Sarah about my challenge.  She referred me to the nursery manager, Hailey.  She suggested Hailey might come out to our house (for a fee plus gas), but that she might also be able to identify the grasses just from pictures.  Sold!  That night I sent off a series of emails to Hailey, and within a few days she had responded.  Most importantly, she was able to tell me that only one of the grasses is highly invasive. 

Lower middle is Cheatgrass - highly invasive.  Fortunately, I only found two small patches of it - pulled it up

carefully - trying not to spread seeds - and threw it away.  Only three of these matched the list given to me

by Hooper's.  Go figure!

While I am enjoying the plants which are blooming in the garden now, half of me has already turned my attention to next year’s garden.  At the end of July, seeds were ready to be harvested from both columbine and blanket flower plants.  Since then, I have also collected the following seeds: aspen fleabane, lupine, chives, goldenrod, nodding onion, aster, coreopsis, rocky mountain penstemon, red poppy, bee balm, coneflower and yarrow.  It gave me great joy yesterday to give some seeds to a friend who recently moved into her new house.

At least half of my seeds are to be planted in the fall, so I am creating to-scale drawings of each of my flower beds, including all the volunteers.  This will allow me to decide where to augment the landscape, taking into account size, color and the time frame for blooming.  I would like to make sure that every flower bed has something in bloom at all times.

Red Osier Dogwood

In early August, we transformed the area near our “address rock”.  Our neighbor on the hill had previously given us nearly 20 rocks, and had carefully arranged them in a semi-circle using his tractor.  After driving by it numerous times, I decided for a different look, and he willingly came down the hill with the tractor and re-arranged them in real time.  And gave us a scoop of dirt.  And dug a hole for a dogwood we plan to place there.  What a pal!  The barter system is alive and well in Montana; he was happy to help us out in exchange for the water he has been able to access from our well head throughout the summer! 

We will be adding some top soil to the area, and then fall seeding will begin using the design you see below.  The Red Osier Dogwood will go in the hole – it is meant to provide some contrast with the pines, and to anchor that end of the flower bed.  A few transplants, such as juniper, will complete the fall planting and we will let Mother Nature do her work until it is time for spring planting of the other seeds.  I am so excited to see how this develops.

Re-focusing on events closer on the time horizon, I wanted to get a jump on the deer and/or the elk that might take a shine to the apple trees and maples. (You may remember my post from September 29 last year, when elk had seriously pruned one of my maples and also nibbled the apple trees.)  Not this year, my friends – we bought taller caging material and put it around both maples and the apple trees. 

Soon we will harvest the apples to prevent them from attracting bears.  And frost might nip away at my flower pots as early as next week.  But in the meantime, I will relish all the beauty that they have to offer.  

Mosaic Monday

Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.
Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.
The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Monday (U.S. Mountain time).
Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog.
Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back.
As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by.
Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.
Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter