Summer Fun

"The most successfull people are those who do all year long what they would othwerwise do on summer vacation"
                                                                 Mark Twain

By this account i'm woefully unsuccessful, if I could I would travel constantly, see all the new places, catch fish in far off lands and botanize the world. But until that lottery ticket hits, I remain for the most part shackled to the desk and bound to the paycheck. But every once in awhile I escape, or am granted the freedom to use those accrued vacation hours to see what can be seen.

The Rock gardens were bursting with color, although I think you could even push it a few weeks out for some pretty spectacular shows. 

Just back from a fun visit to my sisters place in Reno. Took the kiddo to Tahoe for the first time and we swam in that beautiful blue water. Toured the Tesla Giga Factory and marvelled at mans scientific and technological advances. Seeing that huge building, I kind of wonder what it must have been like for the first explorer who wandered into the Valley of the Kings. Just amazing what people are capable of building when they decide they want to go bigger then everyone else. 

Despite many awesome moments on this fun summer vacation trip, a highlight for me was a quick hike up around 7,000' in the Sierra Nevada. Below are a few pics.

What a beautiful natural rock garden setting can be found around Incline Lake. 

I love finding Monkeyflowers, not the most floriferous version of Mimulus tilingii i've ever seen but it had nice large flowers. 

Pussy paws, phlox and lupines in a veritable carpet.

We didn't get to any snow where we were at and I would have loved to have had more time for exploration above and beyond the ridges. But I will be back for more of that with more time at some point I'm sure.

Catalog update:

So it's looking like the dry spring and early summer have most of the stuff going dormant now, Still waiting for a few Calochortus to call it quits for the season, but so far it's looking like I'll be able to start harvest around the end of July which would make for an early August release of the bulb catalog. Stay tuned for more updates. 

Cheers, 

Mark