The hot dry winds are not only stoking the flames of the High Park fire and making it impossible to control, but they are wreaking havoc on tender succulent vegetation.
June should be a month of fresh and happy flowers, and green vegetation. Some flowers, such as penstemons, seem to be holding up pretty well, but others, including the otherwise tough blue flax, are withering almost as soon as they flower.
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| Blue flax withering in the drying wind |
Any new plants will probably need extra attention at this time. If you have the water rights, give plants some extra moisture. Otherwise, mulch heavily. The poor bleeding heart in the picture below was battered by the wind and sucked it away all the moisture from its tender foliage. I am hoping it will recover from its root system.
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| A tender bleeding heart was wind-whipped over the weekend |
The forest is dry and crackly to walk in, and I don’t think I need to repeat that fire danger is very high right now. Be careful out there!