Friday, September 28, 2012

Short Growing Season

Way back in June we worked on getting the drip irrigation system working at the Alamosa Visitor Center.  Then, at the end of July, we were approved a budget of $200 to spend on new plants.  I went to the local garden center with the refuge Manager and we had a lot of fun spending the entire $200.

Mark and I spent several hours planting all the new plants and spreading fresh mulch.

The entry way to the visitor center looks very nice.  Unfortunately, Fall is here and Winter is just around the corner.  We will be shutting down and winterizing the drip irrigation system this week.  It will be interesting to see this area next Spring.

It took a while for us to find the perfect place for every plant:


Mark digging holes:

Before and after:


View from the parking lot:
Teri


4 comments:

  1. Well, I'm curious... what plants did you use? I love seeing native plants at refuges. Your work came out real nice regardless... hope they make it through the winter.

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    1. Sharon - The plants that we used included some native bunchgrasses like Big Bluestem and Slender Wheatgrass. The largest plant was a Western Sand Cherry, and flowers included Purple Coneflower, several of the native penstemons, and a yellow composite called Blanketflower. There were already lots of lupines and wild roses in the garden so we cleaned them up and worked around them.

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  2. Sounds like you'll be returning next year?

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  3. Seems like the two of you are always planting something! Looks really nice. Did you ever go back to Santa Ana to see how all the plantings you put in there and at the volunteer campground turned out? They would have had to be tough to make it thru the dry summer they had that year.

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