Category Archives: trees and plants

Fall In Pieces

Posted on December 2, 2020 by Andrea Jones

Fourteen degrees as a daytime high is somewhat easier to take now that the calendar reads December…even if that same calendar assures me that winter is, technically, still more than two weeks away. We are on the far side of … Continue reading →

Posted in change of seasons, fall, gardening, trees and plants | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Riven

Posted on October 21, 2020 by Andrea Jones

The color of the wood caught my eye. Dull gold? Whitened tan? Honeyed beige? Light, in any event, blanched against the worn grasses and graying woodland litter. We were on the way back from a little hike, about a quarter … Continue reading →

Posted in trees and plants, weather | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Isn’t This a Long One?

Posted on August 14, 2020 by Andrea Jones

January last seems impossibly distant. Memories from back then are round-edged and worn, like relics of a lost civilization. The pandemic was dawning, of course, although few of us in this country had a clue what was to come. Lockdowns, … Continue reading →

Posted in gardening, humans and wildlife, precipitation, rodents, trees and plants, weather, wildlife encounters | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Vacation Reflections

Posted on August 31, 2019 by Andrea Jones

Well, vacations—both the planned of July and the unplanned of August—are over: time to get back to writing work. What better way to get back into the routine than to reflect on the break? About not writing in August, there’s … Continue reading →

Posted in observation, trees and plants, wildflowers, writing | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Sunny Flowers

Posted on July 31, 2019 by Andrea Jones

If you’ve been following this series of blog posts featuring the wildflowers blooming in our part of Colorado this July, you may have noticed a relative dearth of the classic and recognizable form commonly referred to as sunflowers. The local … Continue reading →

Posted in summer, trees and plants, wildflowers | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Penstemons

Posted on July 30, 2019 by Andrea Jones

Thirty days ago, I was inspired to blog the bloom by a prolific little flower I called “the little purple penstemon that blooms earlier than most of the penstemons” (kindly identified as P. virens by Susan J. Tweit in the comments … Continue reading →

Posted in summer, trees and plants, wildflowers | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Pioneers

Posted on July 29, 2019 by Andrea Jones

Not all of our wildflowers insist on living “wild.” Pioneer plants are the first to colonize disturbed ground, including construction sites and burn areas. They help recover disturbed soil by stabilizing against erosion and shading tender seedlings. What makes them … Continue reading →

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Astragulus

Posted on July 28, 2019 by Andrea Jones

Friends, the month of July is running out of days faster than I am running out of flowers to post. Here, then, is a sampling of the flowers from the Astragulus genus. By sharing them as a group, I’m able … Continue reading →

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Weedy Looking Not-Weeds

Posted on July 28, 2019 by Andrea Jones

The conventional definition of a weed is a plant s growing where it’s not wanted. By that subjective measure, any of the twenty-six wildflowers featured on this blog over the past few weeks might qualify as a weed if it’s … Continue reading →

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Yellowdot Saxifrage

Posted on July 26, 2019 by Andrea Jones

This flower-a-day project has encouraged me to look closer at familiar blooms, but I’ve also found new ones, which has been great fun. I knew this plant, but not its flower. The foliage grows in mats of tightly clustered rosettes, … Continue reading →

Posted in summer, trees and plants, wildflowers | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments