September 24, 2026 I love this time of year. There are fewer gardening chores, more garden enjoyment. But I did plant 12 new native plants last week (three each of four species) in the Habitat Hero Demonstration Garden at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens so I must keep them well-watered until the garden goes dormant.
I planted Artemisia ludoviciana (Prairie Sage) to do battle with the milkweed (which tried to take over the whole garden this summer). Yucca glauca (Soapweed Yucca) should do well in the driest zones. I thought the garden could use a little more color this time of year and planted three more Gaillardia aristata (Blanketflower). The Linum lewisii (Lewis Blue Flax) will add more blue to early summer. All are from the High Plains Environmental Center nursery, which brought plants for sale to CBG’s Heirlooms and Blooms show last Saturday.
It’s also bird migration season. Every sort-of-robin shape perched in the backyard this week has been a Townsend’s Solitaire–they are fond of our juniper bush berries. I’m hearing Mountain Chickadees and Red-breasted Nuthatches and Blue Jays around the neighborhood. The Turkey Vultures are back, kettling over the Avenues neighborhood as usual.
Less daylight in the evenings brings me back inside to work on an old quilt project. My mother loved to shop antique stores and frequently gave me vintage quilt tops for birthdays and Christmases. I chose only one to finish. It was the one in good shape, well-made (hand pieced and hand appliqued) and was something I was unlikely to make myself (pieced hexagons). More than 20 years ago, I basted it and every few years I have hand quilted a little more. This quilting season, fall-winter-spring, I intend to finish it and hang it in the next Cheyenne Heritage Quilters show, August 2027–which I am chairing.
