Each year I retreat from what seems to be seamless days of gardening. From clients to the farm and back to the clients, I never seem to be anywhere where I am not gardening. Even here in cyberspace I am constantly writing about gardening. My favorite place to get away from it all, is not a beach, nor a movie theater (though I do love a matinee on a hot day), nor a book ( I mostly read about gardening anyway). I escape to the mountains, where I become a botanist. I don't weed, or deadhead, or water. I just study the plants and how they grow. I know this might not sound like a get-away from gardening, but I can't help myself I love plants. Here are some of my favorites from Tucquala Meadows, my favorite place to go to get away from it all. I was there last week one of the peak times to see wildflowers there.
Our native Turk's cap lily, or Columbia lily (
Lilium columbianum) being pollenated by flies.
The elegant Greene's bog-orchid (
Habenaria greenei).
The very showy scarlet gilia, (
Ipomopsis aggregata).
The developing infloresences of sharptooth angelica (
Angelica arguta).
One of the over 100 species of lupine
(Lupinus sp) growing wild in our area. I haven't figured out which one this is yet.
