"And lo, they did proclaim..."

Happy Saturday friends!

I'm gearing up for 5am starts this weekend, I am so over this heat. I have a bunch of stuff that I want in the ground and I'm debating: do I want to get up extra early and start the process of creating my next big garden bed or just give up and wait until September? As you know, gardening is an extreme sport to me but, how extreme? My body got used to moving and working again and it doesn't like the idea of stopping! 

Last weekend, I picked up a bunch of new native plants from home growers around the area. So much better deals than if you go to a nursery! Mountain mint, false blue indigo, saltmarsh mallow, sweetspire, spiderwort, the list goes on. I also found three more varieties of canna because I'm so in love with Mom's giant orange one (which is close to 10' now!) I'd really like to get all these into the ground, this pic shows about three quarters of what I need to plant:

Brad said he would (begrudgingly) get up with me...

Mom's cannas now:

I've water propagated some of my huge perennial lantana. With the drought they don't have the masses of flowers they usually do:

But someday the rain will return right? Right??

Here are the babies:

I'm excited to plant another big bed of them this fall, well, what will eventually become a big bed anyway!

The "Native Plant Police" will not be happy with me but pffftttt 😜 my farm, my flowers, bug off! I can't post butterfly pics on the lantana Nextdoor anymore without someone stating the obvious, "Not native."

Yes Brittany, you are correct. 🙄😁

Remember Game of Thrones when they paraded Circe naked through the streets with Hannah Waddington's character clanging the bell and chanting, "Shame. Shame. Shame." That's the Natives Plant Police silent mantra lol 

😂

Speaking of natives, I found out that these cannas might be! There are only a couple varieties that are and I assumed they weren't. Dug into some research, because that's how my brain likes to roll and found that they have the flowers that are like a native Golden Canna (canna flaccida) which sometimes have spots in the throat:

and the seed pod shape of a Water Canna (canna glauca):

So, either there are two varieties and I've never noticed, or they are some old unknown non-sterile hybrid, or the two natives married and had a baby. All a possibility. I will be keeping an eye on them to see if I can figure out this little mystery.

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Walked out of the garage to the sidewalk along the house and almost stepped on this plain bellied water snake. It zipped off when I jumped back. Big but harmless!

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Had another visit from my umbrella loving tree frog. It fell out of the umbrella once again, so now I tip it over first before opening. Of course it's not been in there again LOL

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We have great blue herons all the time at our pond, but rarely snowy egrets:

Maybe it's happier that the pond is shrinking and there is a little beach now? We've been here five years and have never seen it this low:

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When I was out watering one morning I was visited by a five lined skink who seemed to be interested in the water I was spraying:

I sprayed a perimeter of water around him and he stayed still. I let the water mist over him lightly and he stayed still. It's been soooo hot. I sprayed more water around him, enough to pool a bit in the brick grout. And then he did this a few times:

He scooched his head in the water! Awwwww! When I posted it on Nextdoor someone said they did a little research and found that they do drink water but they also absorb it through their skin. Cool. I also filled up a little plant saucer with water, just in case it was too far to the pond for them.

This little one visited right after the bigger one, they have blue tails when they are young:

This is just a short post for this week, maybe my brain is too fried to think and it's too hot to take a bunch of pics! It might (because who can trust the forecast) cool down into the high 80s next week, fingers crossed!

Oh, wait! Did you guys see that there is a remake of Little House on the Prairie? OMG! My Grandma Johnson (Dad's mom) was a third grade teacher and when I was in third she gave me the set of Little House books. I was in love. Still have them. It's no wonder I felt so at home when we moved to Colorado ;-) This sweet series brought back all the feels 💜

HOW TO WORK WITH ME

Equine Partnered Coaching! With horses (early morning appointments in the summer), without horses, or online, your choice. 

Neurofeedback Train your brain to calm and ease. The most common response I hear about neurofeedback is, "I'm so much less reactive in my life!" It really does smooth out the sharp spikes. Super helpful if your world feels harsh and spiky right now. 

Reiki Another way to facilitate relaxation, calm, healing. If the weather is nice, you can choose outside, or outside in the herd (this is an early morning appointment) and of course in my office is always available :-)

And Women's Circles! I've updated my website yet again so read up and then contact me if you want to talk about joining my Women's Circles!

Wednesday Women's Circle has a waiting list, I will add you to it if you'd like. Newer people do indeed get in occasionally, as sometimes the people higher on the list end up with upcoming vacations, too busy at work, or just life is life-ing. 

Tuesday Women's Circle, runs 11am—1pm, Aug 4—Sept 8, the 6 weeks is $210, contact me if you're interested, there is one more spot left!

Monday online art class via Zoom. Ongoing, every Monday, 7:30-9pmET. $35 There isn't a link for this one but you can contact me for the supply list and link here. I teach you something fun in watercolor or mixed media. It's a low key, jammies kind of class. Right now it's small so you get more one on one instruction if you want it. 

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Hope you all have a great week!

Thank you for reading :-)

All of my art and writing is made with human intelligence!

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