Monday, June 30, 2014

Bighorns bound (again!)...First full day.

Pot o' gold? Thomas the Apostle Center upper right....
 What an auspicious arrival! A van load of members of the Rocky Mountain Chapter off the North American Rock Garden Society rolled into Cody the evening of June 27 poised for three days of floral adventure. This is what greeted us at the fabulous Retreat Center when we arrived: a rainbow!

Lonicera x 'Mandarin'
The first day we took it easy, visiting the fabulous museums at the Buffalo Bill Center. That morning, we took a short drive through the valley and visited Jackie's private garden in Ralston.  Spectacular hybrid honeysuckle in Jackie's garden.a complex cross between species and hybrids done in Newfoundland by my friend Wilf: fun to see it in Wyoming (one tough plant)...

Liliu bulbiferum
 The last place one expects to find a wild lily from the Alps might be the Bighorn basin of Wyoming--but Jackie had many mass clumps of this wonderful orange gem around her garden.
Leymus cinereus

Great Basin wild rye: an amazing grass I'd never seen before: Jackie had several in the garden.
Leymuys cinereus
Here is the whole clump. The next day I saw lots of it along the highway towards the Bighorns...

Geranium sangineum and Penstemon 'Bandera'
Notice how the perennials are planted in a matrix of buffalo grass--a wonderful way to keep down weeds and weave the garden together. I liked this simple combo.

Hops planted at the four corners...
I have a hunch this will look very different in a few weeks when the hops grow up!

Rhubarb likes Wyoming! Love the color on the seedheads...

Veggie beds with colorful lettuce

Tomatoes in Walls of Water....

Geranium sanguineum
The geranium that consumed the Bighorn valley....I love it when they make these big hummocks. Jackie was complaining these were weedy--but weeds like this I can find a place for! Nice pink color rather than the commoner hot magenta.

Oxytropis besseyi
On our way home we stopped a few times and found some great drylanders including this pea...

Eriogonum pauciflorum
And fabulous colonies of this buckwheat along the highway...


The Bighorn Basin is surely one of America's most marvellous spots! And this is just athe  beginning!

2 comments:

  1. Leymus cinereus is also here in the southern interior of British Columbia, at the lower elevations in the shrub-steppe zone. And the Oxytropis is in my garden thanks to Alan Bradshaw :D. I envy you and members of the Rocky Mountain chapter - Beartooth Pass is #1 on the bucket list.

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