An Orgy of Orchids

My dear friends, Ron and Chris, have a passion for growing beautiful orchids and other exotic plants. The more exotic and rare the better. They travel all over collecting these beauties and what started as a hobby is now a business. I had a hard time staying out of the greenhouse while visiting them in California. The scent of sweet flowers was intoxicating! I hope you enjoy a few of my favorite orchids. Let me know which one is your personal favorite.

White and Magenta Orchid

Lavender Orchids

Black Beauty Orchid

Magenta Flame Orchid

Orange Orchids

Flame Orchids

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Lily Love

It was one of those mild summer days that left dew on the wildflowers and grass, a rarity in Colorado's dry climate. As I sat on my favorite rock gazing into the distance at the "Valley of Contentment," my focus turned to a nearby sprinkle of white in the still green meadow. I got up to investigate and found two beautiful Sego Lilies. I had never seen them in this area before and wondered if it was because of our wetter than normal summer. So I had to look them up and found that they are also called Mariposa Lilies and can come in a variety of colors. I am always astounded at the beauty I find in nature, growing totally untended. My garden flowers never seem to measure up to the delicate beauty of the wildflowers that spring up with no help at all in the extreme climate of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Nature is still the master gardener.

Lily Love
This flower photo of a delicate white wildflower, the Sego or Mariposa Lily, was found in the Northern Colorado Rocky Mountains.
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Lovely Locoweed

I was on my morning walk with my two exuberant dogs. The air still had the chill of a Rocky Mountain morning but the sun was warm. As I rounded the bend in the dusty dirt road I saw the mound of white blossoms that we locals in the West know as locoweed. It is so pretty and also so poisonous. The variety that commonly grows near my home is usually white but can also be a pale lavender. It is dangerous to grazing animals and also very tasty to them. I ponder this apparent conundrum in nature as we continue to walk through the dappled shade of pines on the dusty road.

Lovely Loco
The delicate spires of white blossoms of the locoweed plant are lovely and common throughout the West.
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Locoweed Road
White locoweed grows in a beautiful clump near a country road in Colorado.

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