2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 4

Welcome to Part 4, the last post of this year's annual...

Finally, the final finalist from July's event! Well, better late than never. As you may recall if you saw the first three posts from this series, eight finalists chosen by the local greenhouse that sponsors the event competed for the public's votes to determine a winner in each of two categories, "Amazing Backyard Gardens" and "Amazing Estate Gardens." This large property in the neighboring small mountain community of Story was the winning Estate Garden…

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Property-owner Robin and her husband spent six years converting a large area of marsh into these gardens (to the dismay of the local moose, no doubt), a task that included redirecting water to help create this spring fed pond, the centerpiece of the property...

Did you notice the three multi-colored "gazing globes" on the left side of the far bank?

They're bowling balls! :-)

One of the more relaxed inhabitants of the Fairy Garden in the woods beside the pond. 

The bottle garden in hues of blues even features a Blue Spruce!

The waterfalls tumbling from the woods to the pond and decorated with various treasures was my favorite feature of the property, due in no small part to the wonderful goat ~ a larger version of my own!....

We also loved the mellow mermaid, chillin' on the rocks beside the pond...

A trek further "inland" brings you to the beautiful and colorful Peace Garden...

…and into the presence of its compassionate guardian, a sweetly carved St. Francis, who ~ as the patron saint of all fellow creatures, the environment, and peace ~ is very much at home among the birds and flowers in a Peace Garden...

I hope you enjoyed this year's tour! Though the real gardens have been put to bed for the winter, you can visit five other gardens from the tour anytime you want...

2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 1

2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 2

2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 3

2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 3

Welcome to Part 3 in my 4-part series of this year's Garden Tour!

We toured seven of Sheridan's eight competing gardens on July 19. The finalists, chosen by the local greenhouse that sponsors the tour, competed this year for the most votes from the touring public in two categories. Part 1 and Part 2 featured finalists from the Backyard Garden category, while this post showcases our favorite finalist from the Estate Garden category...

The beautiful English style gardens of Lloyd and Diana enticed us in and entertained us during our visit with enchanting and soothing harp music...

Major bonus points for the lovely touch of a harpist among the roses!

As I was photographing the harpist another woman approached me with a similar camera, and as we were comparing them I noticed her shirt was a perfect match to the pink roses in front of us, so I offered to take her photo with them. But she politely declined - since they were her roses! Turns out she was Diana, delightful co-owner of this slice of paradise, who (she humbly disclosed during our conversation) worked for 20 years as the master gardener at Trail End State Historic Site, whose gorgeous gardens and grounds have appeared in some of my posts, this being my favorite. This explains why her own gardens are so exquisite! During the 22 years she and Lloyd have lived at this property they've planted 300 trees, designed and planted all the gardens (including a large vegetable garden), built all the sheds, cupolas, gazebos, arbors and fences, and installed all the rock walls. And now that he's "retired," Lloyd has taken up iron work (he built the handsome iron railing on their new deck, which I failed to photograph), and is now growing hops and grapes to use in making spirits. 

I loved many of their decorative touches, including this beautiful Victorian birdhouse…

And this wonderful dragonfly crafted by Lloyd from vintage utensil handles, one of two that I spied hiding in the foliage of their extensive gardens...

Diana designed the gardens to create outdoor rooms and secret gardens. The peekaboo glimpse I got through some tree branches (those dark green blobs in the foreground are leaves) is my favorite of her secret gardens…

I'm convinced that sweet woodland creatures bed down here at night, 

falling asleep to the softly twinkling sound of singing faeries.

My final garden tour post will feature the Estate Garden winner. Stay tuned!

2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 1

2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 2

2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 4

2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of my 4-part series about this year's Garden Tour!

We toured seven of Sheridan's eight competing gardens on July 19. The finalists, chosen by the local greenhouse that sponsors the tour, competed this year for the most votes from the touring public in two categories: "Amazing" Estate Garden and "Amazing" Backyard Garden. 

Part 1 featured one of the backyard garden finalists, so here are the remaining three we toured (the one we missed was also in this category), starting with the "Amazing" Backyard Garden winner and their friendly, colorful welcome by the front door…

This home and garden, belonging to Debra and Rob, is just a block away from the house we rented while our current home was being built, so we remember it but had never seen the private back yard before. The most impressive thing about this place (and the last one on this post) is something I didn't think I'd be able to show you: their "before" photos! But happily, I just discovered that Debra, a working artist, has a web site! So you can see the before photos, as well as more of their yard and her art, made from recycled/repurposed materials.

Both the house and yard were in horrible condition when they'd bought the place. In just five years, doing it all themselves, Rob and Debra turned a yard of bare dirt and weeds and a rundown house into this lovely prize-winning sanctuary...

I love the airplane whirligig in the foreground and the shady bench in the back corner. 

Oh, and the guy in the blue shirt, too! :-)

Apparently Rob and Deb also managed to squeeze in some traveling! (Or maybe they just steal license plates off vehicles at the visitor's center. LOL)...

This next contender was a very large property out in the country (we were surprised it was in the Backyard rather than the Estate garden category). Its best feature was the two adjoining ponds that the owners, Robert and Carla, built themselves. The ponds (one large, one small) had a little footbridge spanning them, with koi and lily pads and antiques and whimsical decorations scattered around their edges, and so many different kinds of solar lights that I'm sure this garden is best enjoyed at night! But in the daylight, the highlight was this lovely waterfall, positioned right in front of their large covered patio for maximum soothing effect…

I found this unobtrusive little sign pointing to the ponds quite amusing (and relatable!)...

This final Backyard Garden is the one that got our votes. Before we even saw the garden, their adorable cottage had won our hearts...

This time I have no web site to share and couldn't photograph the photo album they had on display that showed what this place looked like when they bought it. Trust me, it wasn't pretty - but in three years, the owners, Gene and Lillian (former stage and screen actors and musicians) had transformed a derelict hovel into this enchanting home...

As if the charm of the front yard weren't enough, when we walked through the gate to the back yard we were greeted by bubbles!! 

And aren't those hollyhocks wonderful?\

In addition to a lot of old-fashioned plants like the hollyhocks (many grown from seed) that went well with their early 1900's home, they had a vegetable garden I wanted to raid right then and there - filled to capacity with heirloom tomatoes and gorgeous kale! Besides the adorable cottage and fun bubbles, another reason we liked this garden so much was that it inspired us with a few ideas for our own back yard and patio, from their pagoda (not pictured) to their solar Japanese lanterns to this very tall lattice privacy screen. BW had me take several photos of its details and Gene generously answered BW's questions about its construction. Since our HOA only allows "privacy" fences to be 5' tall (which only really affords you privacy if you're a toddler!), a couple of these set 2-3 feet inside the fence, with trumpet vines or morning glories climbing them, would do the trick (and give the dogs some shady hidey-spots to nap!)...

We've been enjoying some really lovely weather (though yesterday's high of about 90º was a tad toasty for this time of year!), and everyone's flowers are looking beautiful, veggie gardens are spewing forth an abundance of tomatoes, zucchini, winter squash, herbs, etc, while just a few trees are beginning to turn. Late summer/early Autumn can be so delightful.

Except when it isn't! Here's our forecast as of this moment... 

A WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM WEDNESDAY EVENING THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING. 

PERIODS OF HEAVY WET SNOWFALL MAY IMPACT THE BEARTOOTH, ABSAROKA AND BIG HORN MOUNTAINS AND THEIR FOOTHILLS WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING. 

* ACCUMULATING WET SNOW MAY CAUSE DAMAGE TO TREES AND POWER LINES. 

* HEAVIEST SNOW WILL FALL ALONG THE NORTHEAST SLOPES OF THE BEARTOOTH, ABSAROKA AND BIG HORN MOUNTAINS.  SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW ARE ALSO POSSIBLE ALONG THE NEAR NYE, RED LODGE, DAYTON, SHERIDAN AND STORY. 

 * WINDS NORTHEAST 15 TO 25 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS OVER THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
Oh, UGH! Remember what happened to us last year? (At least it had the good graces to wait till October!) I sure hope this forecast is being overly dramatic, but the predicted low of 23º Thursday night is going to wreak havoc even if snow doesn't. We'd planned to leave today with the girls and Girasole for Havre, but since this storm is barreling down from northern Montana their forecast isn't any better than ours. So we're staying put until Saturday. (And so will do my best to publish a SkyWatch Friday post this week).

Anyway, Parts 3 and 4 of the Garden Tour (which may not materialize till October!) will feature two of the three gardens from the Estate Gardens category (the owners of the third one were rude and pissed us off, so their garden doesn't get to be on my blog. That'll show 'em!) 

2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 1
2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 3
2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 4

2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 1

As I've mentioned in a couple of previous posts, we went on Sheridan's 2nd Annual Garden Tour on July 19th. (We went to last year's also, in which our friends Al and Jackie's garden participated, but I didn't take my camera. This time I didn't make that blunder!

This year there were eight gardens (we made it to seven) competing in two categories: "Amazing" Estate Garden and "Amazing" Backyard Garden. It was a very bright sunny day, which made it difficult to get good photos, so I mostly concentrated on capturing the whimsy and beauty in the details, rather than taking sweeping panoramics of the properties ~ some of which were too huge to capture in a single photo anyway! I'll share them in four posts as time allows… so let's get started!

This garden, in the Backyard Garden category, belongs to a woman named Lauri, and is a certified Backyard Wildlife Habitat. It was an instant favorite and so gets this post all to itself because I took a lot of photos of it! :-) Lauri's backyard is fairly narrow but deep, and filled with treasures both hidden and not. She has a veggie garden and most of her plantings are from seed. She did all ofd the design and installation herself, and we loved its feeling of barely-controlled wildness and its mix of shady woods and open spaces. But mostly I loved all the whimsical touches! 

You know I had to get a closeup of that adorable birdie-hippie VW bus...

And this fun tent birdhouse! Look at all the great details. The birds in Lauri's back yard must be happy campers indeed!...

Lauri and I share (almost) the same first name and a love of birdhouses…

Anyone know what flower this is? (Thanks to Jackie for informing me it's a fancy clematis!) I thought they were really pretty…

She had a couple of gorgeous clematis plants (one a bit smaller than this gorgeous specimen was taking over part of the garage building)...

I loved the backdrop the neighbor's trees provided at the rear of Lauri's property, especially for this fun sunflower, which made me think of a sailor on watch in a ship's crow's nest...

2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 2

2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 3

2014 Sheridan Annual Garden Tour, Part 4

Thought while I'm at it, I'd share a few recent photos from our modest little front flower bed. It may be small, but it's been blooming like a big boy! 

The zinnias came from my friend Rose, who sent us a seed packet of them and one of snapdragons when we first moved to town. I didn't plant them at rental #1 because it was fall/winter, nor at rental #2 because we were building this place by then and I wanted to save them for our house. But in all the hubbub, I forgot about them till this summer! We planted them without high hopes, and though the snapdragon seeds didn't do anything, the zinnias have been amazing! I kept having to thin and transplant them, it seemed that every seed germinated. They just started to bloom this month…

I love the little yellow "stars" around the center of the pink one, which had vanished just a few days later when I took this closeup...

Good thing I got these photos when I did, because we had horrid winds over the weekend that frequently gusted to 50mph over the course of 24 hours, and by the time they moved on to ruin someone else's day they'd bent, broken, desiccated and denuded most of our zinnias. :-( Fortunately, quite a few were still safely tucked away in their buds, biding their time, and should be showing up any day now!

After my dental and haircut appointments tomorrow morning, we're off on our maiden voyage camping trip with the dogs and Girasole, spending the night at a state park campground about 20 miles away. It's been a really crazy week, but we purchased some more camper/camping gear and made some modifications to Girasole (like adding bed rails and slats; the "sleeping on a table top" concept just wasn't going to work for us) that should make things easier/safer/nicer, yet we still don't feel prepared. But the weather's supposed to be ideal, it's just one night, and not that far from home - what could possibly go wrong? ;-) We're not sure if we'll get another chance to "rehearse" before we all head up to Havre in mid-September for a much longer outing, but hope that tomorrow's experience will provide a good shakedown. Just not one that's too shaky!

Anyway, if I owe you an email (and it's probable that I do!), please bear with me - we didn't know BW's retirement would be so hectic! Our own fault for buying the camper. We thought you just buy one, toss in some food, clothes, and toiletries, hook it to your vehicle and you're off on adventures! We were SO naïve. Here's Girasole in her new home, undergoing a storage modification… can you spy BW? :-)

Methinx it's a Sphinx!

Sounded a little like a combination of William Shakespeare and Dr. Seuss for a second there, didn't I? :-) 

I'm not talking about the Great Sphinx of Giza, but of a pair of White-lined Sphinx moths (Hyles lineata) who have been flitting and feeding amongst our beautiful blooming bee balm in the front flowerbed the past few evenings. The first evening we noticed them as we sat on our front porch enjoying the cool temps of twilight, we thought they were hummingbirds. They are about the same size as hummingbirds and feed in the same manner, and so are often called hummingbird moths. As it happens, there was also an actual hummingbird in the mix that first evening - which rather confused things for a bit! But he took off over our roof and hasn't been seen since. Apparently the moths have staked out the bee balm for themselves, at least when the sun goes down.

I took a bazillion photos, most of which were crap - these are the best of the bunch, and aren't as ideal as I'd have wanted (it was dusk, after all, and they do flit fast, the flighty little farts!), but they'll give you a good idea, I think…

Pretty sure the pair is a male (R) and female (L)

Most of my photos are of the male, he was the one feeding the most (surprise, surprise! lol) The Sphinx moths (there are about 1200 species, 60 in North America - our White-lined Sphinx being the most common) get their name from the sphinx-like rearing posture the Sphinx moth caterpillars assume when alarmed.

In addition to hovering like a hummingbird, they can swoop & dive like hawks - hence their other nickname, hawk moths. And they can fly 30 miles an hour! (See why getting good photos was such a challenge?!)

This photo of the female is really blurry, but I wanted you to see her curled proboscis (tongue). Sphinx moths are important pollinators that typically feed on flowers with abundant nectar at the base of elongated tubes (like orchids), and so possess a 10-11 inch proboscis. No other insect has such a feature. Interestingly, flowers that have evolved to attract hummingbirds usually have no scent (since hummingbirds can’t smell), while moth-pollinated flowers often emit a strong, sweet scent as the sun sets. 

In most of my photos, the moths' wings - which beat about 50 times a second - were an indistinct blur, so my favorites were these few that captured their colorful wings frozen in motion. I especially love the wing position in this one.

A day or two after I took those evening photos, I was burying chopped organic banana peel at the base of our rosebush (works like a charm as a rose fertilizer) when who should I catch snoozing inside the rose branches but one of our Sphinx moth friends! Repose in the roses by day, belly up to the bee balm bar by night - doesn't sound half bad! :-) 

References: 
Beyond Bones (blog of the Houston Museum of Natural Science): Sphinx Moths 
Silkmoths: Hyles lineata lineata
Butterflies and Moths of North America: Attributes of Hyles lineata
ButterflyZone: Moths with Longest Proboscis 

And finally, here's wishing my dear friend Joanne ("AdventureJo" in Interwebz Land) a very happy birthday on Monday! Jo and I have been friends for 32 years - longer than some of my blog readers have been alive! :-)

Happy birthday, Jo - you are indeed a ray of sunshine! Eternally youthful sunshine! :-)

SkyWatch Friday: Thunderstorms & Toadstools

I've only got a couple of sky photos from this week, so I thought I'd also toss in a couple of photos of some very weird mushroom/toadstool interlopers I found in our front flower bed this morning and see if anyone out there might help me identify them. I've never seen anything like them growing here before, and they seemed to spring up out of nowhere during our overnight thunderstorms (magic mushrooms, maybe?) Anyway, I thought "Thunderstorms and Toadstools" was a much nicer title than "Mushroom Clouds," though I confess that was the first title that popped into my head! :-)

It's been a week of unsettled weather, to say the least, and unusually humid for our usually dry climate. I took this first photo Wednesday evening as the sun was going down behind the mounting storm clouds - I thought the contrast of the dark clouds against the sunlit blue sky was striking. I suppose those three white streaks of varying widths are crepuscular rays, but they didn't look like any sunbeams I'd ever seen before...

After several days of flirting with and skirting our area (but wreaking havoc in neighboring ones, as well as with my sinuses!), last evening the thunderstorms got down to business. We were surrounded by severe thunderstorms that were trouncing those in their path with large hail, high winds, heavy rains, and a lot of lightning, and we were under a severe thunderstorm watch all evening. I'm sure it was thanks to the fact that BW and I ran our Defcon 5 Storm Drill late that afternoon - bringing everything inside that wasn't actually rooted in the soil - that all we ended up getting were some breezes, gentle rain, enough thunder to make our dog Tess nervous, and an amazing lightning show in every direction. Oh, and these very ominous skies...

The little white specks are raindrops, lit up by my camera's flash

Hey, it's Friday. There are skies. You know the drill… 

Now about those toadstools. There were about half a dozen of them hiding beneath the foliage of one of our violas and one of our bergamot plants. They were growing at the very base of the plants, in a couple of cases so entwined with the plant stems and roots that it was hard to extricate them without digging up part of the flowers. I was just weeding the flower bed yesterday and swear they weren't there then! 

Here are the two largest ones, which measured about 3" tall and a little over 4" wide...

Shown with one of my beloved Merrell Mix Master Glides for scale! :-)

And here is what their stems and gills look like (you can see a stem of the bergamot plant, whose roots were entwined with the toadstool)... 

So, anyone know which agaric (gilled mushroom) these might be? I tossed them, of course, but it would be a shame if it turned out they were edible, especially since we're planning to make this for dinner tomorrow! :-)

Have a great weekend, everyone, and Happy Canada Day to our neighbors to the north on Tuesday, eh?