Sunday, June 19, 2005

Walking and Puttering

Today is the first nice day in a while and I think we might finally be headed into a real Chico hot spell, so what better place to spend it than outside?




alt="Comanche Creek, Chico... click for larger image. " title="Comanche Creek, Chico... click for larger image. "
src="http://photos17.flickr.com/20318415_c515a57926.jpg " style="margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px; float: left;" />

alt="Hybiscus?... click for larger image. " title="Hybiscus?... click for larger image. "
src="http://photos15.flickr.com/20312251_172c9201b3.jpg " style="margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px; float: right;" />

First there was a walk in Chico's own Mendocino National Forest Genetic Resource Center.  Mendocino is way over the coastal mountains West of here, but we have a piece of their National Forest here.  I'll never know why.  Comanche Creek runs through it and the nature trail is near the creek.



They have about 70 trees from places like California, Japan, Asia, China, England, Russia, Chile, Algeria, Australia, Palestine, Portugal, South Africa.  Many of the plants were planted during the USDA's Plant Introduction Program which began in 1904.





alt="Poppies... click for larger image. " title="Poppies... click for larger image. "
src="http://photos15.flickr.com/20312217_6c1df80f17.jpg " style="margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px; float: left;" />

alt="Bat Cave... click for larger image. " title="Bat Cave... click for larger image. "
src="http://photos13.flickr.com/20312344_fa17cf43c6.jpg " style="margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px; float: right;" />


Somebody must have thrown out wildflower seeds.  There are several patches of them in the park.  And we have our very own bat cave in one of the California Oaks.




... AND IN THE GARDEN...




alt="Sunflowers... click for larger image. " title="Sunflowers... click for larger image. "
src="http://photos17.flickr.com/20312187_f8ddc61681.jpg " style="margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px; float: left;" />

alt="Aptos Lilly... click for larger image. " title="Aptos Lilly... click for larger image. "
src="http://photos16.flickr.com/20312359_78c50cf631.jpg " style="margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px; float: right;" />

The Sunflower is going very well.  There are even more blooms under the bird feeders now.  This is the first time I've lived in a climate warm enough to grow them.  Why did it take 3 or 4 years to figure it out?



There is a Lilly that came all the way from Aptos, and is happy here.  It lives in a shady spot with it's own drip spout.




Maintenance, there is always maintenance.  I finally added drip lines to the big pot of geraniums, and also a drip line to the potted grass that grows for the cats.



Since I had the drip thingies I also fixed the THREE places in the front water lines that the damn gardeners whacked through with their bloody hedge trimmers.  I guess I can stop waiting for them to show up and fix it.





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