Wildflower Walk

Living out in the country gives us a wonderful place to walk.  We just head out down our gravel road for what we call a "three mile Idaho."  By the time we get about a mile and a half down the road, we're in Idaho.  By the time we get home, we've gone three miles.  

This time of year the walk down the road is awe-inspiring.  The countryside is abloom with wildflowers...lots and lots of wildflowers.  These pictures are ones we took just today on our walk.  If you click on any of them, they will get bigger and show more detail.



 The blue one on the left is Brodiaea.  

The yellow one on the right is Arrowleaf Balsamroot with some purple Delphinium.

This shows a drift of purple Delphinium.

This is Golden Pea close-up

 


...and more down by the river.

This one is Groundsel.

The white one is Prairie Star and the blue one is Blue-eyed Mary.












This shrub is called Serviceberry.  It's growing up into a Ponderosa pine that is also "blooming" with red cone "flowers."

This yellow is Swale Desert Parsley (a type of lomatium).












This last one is a favorite of ours, Camas.  

I have to confess that these last two photos were taken on our property in the prairie Paul has been restoring for the past twenty years.  If you want to read about that project, visit his blog at palouserivermusic.blogspot.com .




We feel so lucky to live in such a beautiful place...all right down the road.

Asparagus!

It's suddenly spring on the Palouse!  Actually the weather the last week or so is more summer than spring but we'll take it!  Life is busy, busy in the garden.  Seedling are sprouting, trees are blooming, and flowers are dancing with color.  I love spring the most.

Last spring I planted a small asparagus bed.  I carved out a little nook of the encroaching prairie for 6 plants.  One must be patient to grow asparagus.  There is no harvesting until the plants have been in for an entire year and then one can harvest only for two weeks.  The next year you can harvest for about 4 weeks.  The following year for 6 weeks.  After that you can harvest an entire 8 week season!

See what I mean about being patient?

Anyway, this is the first harvesting year for my tiny patch and look what I picked today!  I'm so excited.  It's not going to be much of a meal but I bet they are going to taste wonderful.

I recently read that 24 mature asparagus plants will yield about 10 pounds of asparagus in a season.  Obviously, at 6 plants, I have under-planted!  I am already making plans to expand the asparagus bed and put in more plants next spring.  We love asparagus around here!