June 16- on the road

Greetings from Colorado. We traveled to the Cedar Rapids airport Friday afternoon, about an hour before they closed the highway due to high water. We then flew to Denver where we were a long way from flooding. I felt a little disloyal, leaving at such a dire time. On the other hand it wasn't as if we had made travel plans when we knew things were going to get bad. So we are away for ten days enjoying the quiet of the snowy Rocky Mountains.Actually it is only snowy at 9500 feet and even there spring is coming. More on that next week.
For now I do have some pictures I took of the garden before we left. I should say that our house is not in the way of any flood waters. The major effect of all this water on the garden is that the plants are just growing so much bigger, along with the weeds.


The first picture is this marvelous clematis. I think the variety is durandi. It is a new plant and this may be its only bloom for the year. I have had some trouble with clematis. More sun would help. I work with what I have. Sometimes you just keep at it and sooner or later the plants will grow.














This next picture is a Louisiana Iris. They bloom after Siberian Iris and before Japanese Iris. If you have sun and wet you must grow this.














The red orchid cactus is the second color that I have, after the yellow one. I want more colors. Come back to my garden in 5 years and you should see pink and white and maroon.














The last picture in this week's poll is a closeup of the alium we have all around the garden. It is certainly a bluish week judging by the pictures this week.
















In last week's poll the Oriental Poppy barely edged out the columbine. It is interesting that here in Estes Park the are Oriental Poppies blooming and the columbine are not even close to blooming.





So here are two extra pictures. The first is the bud of the yellow orchid cactus. The buds are almost as impressive as the flowers.













Here is a picture of the orchid cactus hanging in the front yard under the walnut tree. It is kind of active this time of year.












That's it for now. We are roughing it here in the mountains. The cell phones don't work. We have no TV. But the cabin is wired for the internet and my sister has her lap top.
Philip