“The Oxblood bulb I bought from you at the garden conference in Prescott, AZ, 2 years ago has finally bloomed. Gorgeous.”

Not long after that, my friends at the Southern Living Plant Collection prepared to write an article on oxblood lilies (Rhodophiala bifida and also called “school house lilies”)and sent it my way for edits. I looked at it, and it reminded me that oxblood lilies were on their way, a true harbinger of fall. I just didn’t realize how close they were!

Later in the week, I corresponded with a friend in South Carolina in regards to a November speaking engagement. I mentioned that I was preparing for a bulb hunt/cabin reception next week, and that I hoped the oxblood lilies and spider lilies would be in bloom. I received this in return from my friend in Charleston.

“…just in from watering the garden and I noticed that my oxblood lilies….are blooming…’school time’ for sure…..”

And then yesterday, Rebecca and I waved goodbye to the UPS man who picked up the spider lily orders we rushed to fill, and as he was pulling out, it caught my eye. The red, the only thing red in the field, was popping up. Our first oxblood lily bloom of the year!

But, I left my camera on the farm, so you will have to wait and see a picture of that particular bulb later!

Awoke this morning, and stepped outside and was shocked by the almost cold weather. In the distance I heard my first Canada geese of the season! Fall is on the way.

These oxblood lilies (Rhodophiala bifida) bloomed out of the ground several years ago.

I’ll hop to the point. We’re used to the naked stalks of Lycoris in the South, and it comes in all forms and fashions, but California (and other parts of the world) has it’s own surprise lily, Amaryllis belladona:

This was sent around today on a bulb e-mail list. I hope you will take the time to check out his flickr account.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amarguy/

He mentioned this bulb has been surviving here since construction began three years ago.

And…dumdededum!  The changing seasons brings one of my all time favorite bulbs to blooming, the red spider lily, Lycoris radiata! About this time last year walking across campus to class at Sam Houston State, I noticed some fragile, curious looking red flowers atop a spindly stem. My first reaction was to take a picture with my phone but that was impossible since it was an old hand-me-down from my sister, and the camera function was broken. Instead, I called Chris exclaiming about my discovery. A year before, I wouldn’t have even noticed them much less been able to identify these lovelies. The spider lilies haven’t popped up yet on the farm, but I anxiously await their return. More about the Red Spider Lily.

Lastly, I picked up this useful piece of crockery in Cheyenne, WY last week. Crafted by a local potter in the area, he actually fired the leaf with the pottery, and then brushed the bits away afterwards. I assume before applying the glaze. The sales lady thought it was an aspen leaf an appropriate choice since aspens grown in that area. I use it on my stovetop to set spoons on. Such a simple but oh so useful addition to the cabin. No more drippy spoons! Yay!

On a side note, here are some great shots of Cheyenne, WY for your viewing pleasure. I thought it would be loads of fun to visit this old fashioned theater…maybe next time.

It’s going to be a great day!

Notice the turtleneck. Completely necessary even though it was August.

YOU TUBE VIDEO – LOWER FALLS OF WEST YELLOWSTONE

Falling over 300 feet, the sight of The Lower Falls will take your breath away. Oh, and hiking down to the overlook and back up will too. It must have been the altitude. Actually, The Lower Falls are almost twice as high as Niagara Falls just not as wide. We hiked around to the various overlooks and snapped several shots of the falls and canyon. Several photographers were waiting for an eagle to come back to her nest where a baby was calling for the mama. We also saw a baby chipmunk, and a beautiful red fox with a flowing tail.

YOU TUBE VIDEO – DRAGON’S BREATH CAVE

A must see at the park, this Dragon’s Breath cave really did remind us of a dragon. Ignore the terrible quality of the video. It really did sound just like a dragon. Also, don’t mind the ravenous munching girl trying to hide her granola bag from the park ranger.

Farewell cooler temperatures, raging waters, mountain tops and skinny hind quarters. Hello Texas prairies and heat and humidity.

We now understand why it takes several hours to travel through Yellowstone National Park. Herds of bison kept interrupting the flow of traffic. Did you know that a raging buffalo can run three times as fast as a human? They got so close to the car that I could have reached out and touched them. Instead, we both gave a yelp and quickly rolled up the windows, forgetting to get a close up shot. I was amazed at how many of the trees in the park have been destroyed by forest fires. Apparently, there was a devastating fire that occurred in 1988. A resident of the area informed me that this dry and “hot” (Ha!) weather is prime for forest fires.

Most of the park closes in two months leaving West Yellowstone pretty deserted. Not so this time of year.

The number of gift shops and the higher priced restaurants serving merely sandwiches and hamburgers scream “tourist town!” Notice how bears, moose, and elk motifs are everywhere! Nevertheless, we are enjoying the beauty of the area, the quaintness of the town, and eating ham and cheese sandwiches out of the cooler.

Last night, the final e-mail I saw before going to bed was that our fall product pages had gone a little haywire (a.k.a. there was no way a customer could place an order or make sense of our site–a little stressful). I think that is why I awoke with the headache I had this morning and into the afternoon. After about 8 hours, Michael and crew had it fixed, and our fall product pages are back up and looking great. You can now sort our products by tulips, daffodils/narcissus, paperwhites, and ….drumroll…by our bulbs that are included in the Southern Living Plant Collection I linked to our bulbs, but if you want to know more about the SLPC, you can click here.

We are going to have a healthy crop of Chinese Sacred Lilies (Narcissus tazetta orientalis) this fall, and that makes me feel good. OK Gulf Coast residents, this is your chance for a January blooming, sweet smelling treasure.

Chinese Sacred Lily

OK….now my question for all of you. This person has signed up for my newsletter e-mail list, but every time I send them the newsletter, I get this response. What do you think I should do? Send this person the e-mail anyways? I don’t want to be out $500.

I am now using a automated program to reduce the amount of SPAM I receive.
The message you sent (attached below) requires confirmation before it can
be delivered. To confirm that you sent the message below, just hit the
REPLY button and the SEND button to send this message back. Do not make
any changes to the reply or put any message in the reply as it will be
processed by the computer and not read. Once you have sent a confirmation,
your name will be added to my approved sender list and you will not need
to do this again.

Your return of this message to me constitutes your acceptance of the above
terms. If you wish to keep a copy of this contract for your records, you
may do so by printing this message now.

In the meantime, I’m enjoying the flora of Colorado, and am envious of the plants and trees they can grow, like this clematis at the house in Castle Rock that we stayed at last night!

Clematis

Also, we continue to work on our fall product page, which will be up by the end of the week for fall bulb sales!  We will also have some new additions this year, including these great daffodils: Falconet, Ice Follies, Jetfire, Carlton, and Fortune!

Daffodil named falconet.

Daffodil named ice follies.

Daffodil named jetfire.

More jetfire daffodils.

A daffodil named carlton.

Daffodil called fortune.