Wildflowers, breathtaking views at Horseshoe Bend and Glen Canyon Dam
The Horseshoe Bend trail passes through a rich desert landscape with lavender cliffs to a dramatic view of the Colorado River in Page, AZ.… Read More
The post Wildflowers, breathtaking views at Horseshoe Bend and Glen Canyon Dam appeared first on Digging.
While I was in San Antonio two weeks ago, Melody shared a friend’s meadow garden with me. The Kinder garden on Winding Way glowed that morning with tall golden sunflowers, swaths of fiery blanketflower, and my new fave, shaggy lavender American basketflower.
I circled the meadow, enjoying backlit petals…
…dewy spiderwebs…
…and trickling birdbaths half-hidden among the flowers. What a bird and pollinator’s paradise!
And what a pretty scene to enjoy for the homeowners and their friends.
Basketflower blowsiness
Sunflowers glowing like tiny suns
Salvia adding cool blue
See the caterpillar snacking on a dill flower (upper right)? Did you know that a “single clutch of Carolina Chickadee chicks can feast on upward of 9,000 caterpillars in the weeks between hatching and taking flight,” according to Audubon? But the chicks don’t get fed, or they’re poisoned, if you spray insecticides — including mosquito foggers — all over your yard. Please don’t do it. My gardening friends and I see mosquito fogging signs all over our neighborhoods, and we’ve also noticed far fewer bees, butterflies, dragonflies, ladybugs, lightning bugs, and other insects in our gardens. These creatures don’t live in just one garden. They travel from yard to yard, and all it takes is one yard sprayed for mosquitoes to kill them. Fogging treatments can also drift onto lawns, swimming pools, vegetable gardens, and patio furniture. Do you really want poison all over that, and in the air you breathe?
We all hate mosquitoes, but fogging is not a safe solution for pollinators, birds who feed their chicks caterpillars and other insects, or you and your loved ones.
That’s my mosquito fogger rant! Now back to the tour…
In a stucco-walled courtyard, a charming ceramic totem caught my eye amid pots of pansies and other plants.
Rows of stock tanks elevate cut flowers and edible plants. A birdbath with colorful ceramic birds makes a cute and functional focal point.
Inspiring! It makes me want a meadow, if only I had a patch of lawn in full sun to convert!
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Digging Deeper
Come learn about garden design from the experts at Garden Spark! I organize in-person talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added. Season 7 starts in August. Stay tuned for the lineup!
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The post Meadow in bloom for the birds and bees appeared first on Digging.
