Back to work.......

.. or just back to normal.  My husband has been on holidays the last couple of weeks, so we've taken the opportunity to drive around and take lots of pictures from our favourite spots.  We're lucky enough to live almost across the road from the Beaver Creek Conservation Area, and just down the road from Cranberry Flats, so it's easy to drop in and check out what's blooming - and right now, there's lots blooming! 

Aren't these pretty?  These are Gaillardia and right now, there are several large patches blooming.

This is a mixture happily growing together on a sandy slope. There were also lots of butterflies, but none cooperated for a photo op!  Here you can see wild Bergamot,  Prairie Coneflowers (Ratibida) and wild Flax.

 


More Bergamot - I love stitching these.

This little guy is Scarlet Gaura, or Gaura coccinea. You can easily miss this charming little plant. The newer flowers are light pink and they turn quite red-scarlet as they mature. The blossoms open a few at a time and are almost white, but within a few hours, they turn this gorgeous red.

 This is my stitched version of Liatris punctata, or Dotted Blazingstar.  It's just starting to appear but soon the fields will be full of it. 

And this is a stitched lily growing in my garden! 

Out at Blackstrap - just down from the Retreat is this "housing development" that really begged to be photographed.  The grass in the ditch was almost taller than I was! 

 

This is a stitched version of the path down to the lookout at Cranberry Flats.  This is from last autumn. I especially like this piece.

Are these not the cutest little things?? They're Eriogonum flavum, or Yellow Umbrellaplant and are growing happily on the banks of the river.  We hadn't seen these before, so naturally took a dozen or more pictures. Excess is good, especially when it's botanical excess!

My husband Adrian took this one. The riverbank, in one spot, is riddled with enormous rocks that are covered in lichen. They're stunning, as this one clearly shows.

And finally, we hit paydirt when it comes to wild flowers!  We found a large patch of wild Lilies. It was off the regular path and we very nearly missed them, but fortunately Adrian picked up a haze of orange and investigated.  Once we found this patch, we found quite a few more scattered throughout the area. I'm soooo very glad these are in a protected area and not at the mercy of well-meaning gardeners with shovels!  These plants don't like to be disturbed and when they are, they usually don't survive, so PLEASE - leave them where they grow so we can all enjoy their beauty.

Well, that's just a tiny sample of the pictures we took over the past couple of weeks. Most of what you see above will be stitched, so I'll post those when they are completed.  I'm already thinking about my next show/sale, which will be September 20th at Solar Gardens.  If you haven't visited Solar Gardens yet, you really must go and have a look at this place. You won't believe your eyes - I promise!!! It's rather like being in the tropics in the middle of the Canadian prairie! It's run by two very ambitious, not to mention talented guys who grow masses and masses of succulents, have a tasting room for all kinds of yummy goodies, and now have a restaurant called the Firesticks Cafe where you can stuff yourself on the most delicious pizza anywhere. This show/sale promises to be really great - lots of very well known artists will be in attendance, so watch for the poster. It's only one day so you won't want to miss it.  I'm planning on having my new cards there (Art in a Card) and also some rather large stitched pieces.  I've been experimenting with getting out of the 5" x 7" and 8" x 10" rut and going BIG - how big remains to be seen, but so far an looking at around the 24"-30" range.

Ok - back to work.  Enjoy this fabulous weather!!! .............................. donna