sunflowers

My darlin' Rick takes great pride in his gardening skills. Taos, on the other hand, delights in making gardening more of an extreme sport than a gentle pastime. The soil is hard and rocky, water is in short supply, and the growing season is about twenty minutes long. Still, when a man wants to grow stuff, he'll find a way. And what Rick has discovered here is the beauty and cooperation of the sunflower. They grow wild all over the valley, and if you take a drive this time of year, you can see oceans of yellow for acres and acres in all directions. Rick started to cultivate sunflowers here a few years ago, and this year he's really outdone himself. The wild sunnies have begun to mingle with the ones he plants from seeds, and now there's a most wonderful yellow forest of different sizes and shapes growing in our very own yard. It stretches from front to back, all along the driveway, and then along the fence back to the guest casita. They're at their best right now, this very minute. If you're in the neighborhood, drop by and meet them in person. If not, here are some samples...










If you click this one to make it bigger, you might see the pink and purple cosmos growing all over the place, and hollyhocks, geraniums, petunias, and fat orange marigolds blooming around the front of the house. I think the whole place looks really beautiful. Can't even consider snow at this point! I wish I could freeze time right here for a while...



And here's the Garden Guy himself, resting up after a lot of happy work this summer. That's my Boyfriend. He's so dreamy.