August at Birdhaven

GREEN MAN MAKES HIS MOVE

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The stark reality facing all gardens, and their attendant gardeners, here at 7,300 feet in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, is perhaps best illustrated by the all-too-brief transition from the astonishing cold of winter to the equally shocking naked heat of our Colorado summer sun.   Yes, the very one emblazoned upon our state flag, and for good reason; it’s all prevailing power and reach are difficult to underplay and govern much of what transpires beneath it’s ferocious gaze.  Quite often this most dramatic of seasonal transitions may play out over a matter of a few short weeks, a few days, or hours. They may even at times overlap. By late March, as illustrated above, the landscape bears a familiar winter aspect, but by mid April the rays of the sun are already searingly hot.

But no matter what conditions may occur, or however hot the sun may get during the day, even as temperatures recorded in the shade feel so mightily comfortable to the skin, it is the nights, and that old devil Jack Frost, that ultimately rules the show.    As many an unprepared Rocky Mountain camper will readily testify – no matter how lovely the daytime weather may be, come 4 am it is liable to be an altogether different story:  and a very cold one at that. Well into the month of July the nights will most likely turn nippy in the extreme, and I mean extreme.

This neurotic weather however does serve to produce fully grown plants (the ones able to survive) fully developed, and just waiting to sense for certain that the weather is no longer out to kill them each and every night.   And so once Jack Frost finally departs the scene for good, the flowers – so long in hiding – come blooming forth is such bountiful perfusion they practically explode upon the scene.  I imagine many botanical and geographical terms exist for this high elevation floral phenomenon, and further up the mountains in the alpine valleys they experience very much the same thing, but for me just one word adequately summons to mind all I need to know about our lovely Colorado Rocky Mountain summers, and that word is, as you may have guessed: August.

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We begin today’s tour – the first in the August in Birdhaven series of garden tours – with the unveiling of Green Man Solar Fountain’s rather spectacular annual makeover.    Even taking into account some of his previous incarnations I would have to say that this one is something special.     In keeping with the edible flower phenomenon sweeping over the Colorado Rocky Mountain Sculpture Garden these days I’d say he has triumphed,  as his salady garb neatly reflects, in a most spectacular fashion.   Closer inspection reveals a plethora of edibles: kohlrabi, kale, pak choi, basil, lettuce, to name a few.   But as revealed within the above title,  perhaps Green Man’s most spectacular transformation stems from his remarkable transplantation from the deep, dark depths of the arbor, to the vast openness of the garden’s sun-scorched Front Range.   We then take in a few views of Salad Cutting Hill, a new feature for 2016, after which we’ll move on over to the vastly transformed former studio workshop for a first glimpse of it’s transformation into the Emerald Greens outdoor grow station.  In similar fashion to last winter’s strictly indoor microgreen operation the summer outdoor grow focuses exclusively upon intensified systems of plant production.   Perhaps most revolutionary invention of all has been the steady transformation over the past year, from vague idea to fully operational system, of our Gallons of Peas program. Inured to the vagaries of our peculiar climate these customized greenhouses allow for an extraordinary degree of freshness, crispness, taste and consistency.  So popular have these deliciously tender and flavorful pea shoots proven that they are now being served in some of Aspen’s finest restaurants.   Over the course of the month I will be back with regular dispatches as the lovely month of August progresses.  I hope you enjoy a wonderful summer, wherever you are, and if you should hail from the southern hemisphere, then have yourself a most splendid winter.

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and now

the slideshow

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Green Man Makes His Move: August at Birdhaven, Woody Creek, Colorado

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thanks for visiting martincooney.com

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ΜΛℜτÏη

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