Bruce, the saying, "A watched pot never boils," can be changed to "a watched bud never opens," I suppose. What a great event. So pleased. Much anticipated. I have p. 'Japonica', p. 'Athena' and then Aphrodite, Ming Treasure, Doubled Up, and so many more, if you threw darts at Don Rawson's Fragrant-Flowered Hosta list, you'd hit one that I have. It is my recent observation that some have more pervasive fragrance than others. I was catching the scent earlier in the year, but it was elusive. Now I walk out to the garden, and it is THERE, it is hanging in the air, and that means morning as well as evening. Although Mariachi is still opening some blooms, one of the lower faded blooms is sporting a big ole seedpod. I am most happy to see it. Little 24-Caret Gold right beside it, with smaller flowers, shows no signs of a seedpod. Perhaps it is not fertile both ways? I don't understand the birds/bees/plants like some of you do. A young species plantaginea tried to bloom but got drowned in July. Now the largest p. has a stout scape turning toward the afternoon sun, and I am hopeful to see her show me her best as the grand finale of the season. Let's hope that the pods which form are all filled with big fat seeds. We've had a few days of dry weather, and some of the pods in the garden are turning colors now, like Invincible Spirit has sort of russet red pods. I know I am not the only one to be excited at the prospect of homegrown seedlings. Don, Holy Mole is a good one. Doubled Up is a good one too, with awesome sized blossoms. But I'm thinking a late bloomer is by far the most fragrant, being Mariachi. If I get some babies from the pods it produces, guess one of them will have a garden name of Fandango, another one La Coucaracha, and of course Flamenco for one with ruffled edges....even a dark green could be Irish Step.... You know of course that the Irish welcomed the Spanish Armada with open arms literally. That's why Michael Flatley in his show Lord of The Dance, had a flamenco performer. It is a part of the Irish culture too.....especially western Ireland where the Armada ships sank....true story. History is a part of our daily lives, but we seldom pause to make the connections.

Hi Pixie, When you posted about Little House on the Prairie I looked some things up and was planning to post but just haven't found the time! I'm glad you explained why you wanted to do the plains! At least now it makes sense! After you posted I looked up DeSmet on google Earth--to get the "lay of the land," and I think your daughter would be really disappointed with the "plains" we have out here compared to the terrain you'll find in eastern SD. The link I posted to a pic of "our" plains up above really is pretty accurate--there is simply nothing out there! If you do DeSmet I doubt that she'll actually be looking at "the land" very much when you do it, and she'll have all the Little House things, which is what she actually thinks of when she's reading the books. (Love it when kids are reading books!) So rather than taking her for a hot, dry, flat drive, and destroying her mental image of Little House, I now very definitely think you should skip the plains and enjoy the extra time in the hills! A couple things about the fishing if you're gonna stick that in. Wherever you do it you'll need a Colorado fishing license, so be sure you plan ahead for that so you're not disappointed. And if you do decide to go to the Poma Ranch near Pagosa Springs, you'd really need to stay there two nites to have time for fishing. Checkin is at 3:00, so that wouldn't leave much time on the day you arrive, and checkout is at 10:00, so there wouldn't be time on the day you were leaving. The Weminuche River that runs thru the ranch flows very gently and it could easily be fished wading or from the bank. Check out their Fishing page at the link below, and there's more fishing info on their FAQs page, including that they rent "basic" and "kids" fishing gear at the ranch. I don't really know anything about fishing so I'm not sure what all that would include, but if you're seriously considering it and have any questions, call the ranch and ask for Karen! Also, since the river flows gently--and is shallow (a "river" out here is not the same as a "river" in the midwest or east!) your daughter might enjoy wading around in it (probably with a pair of cotton tennis shoes or at least flip flops since the bottom will be "rocky")! But she probably wouldn't stay in too long since water in the mountains is COLD--it's melted snow--and the ranch is at 8,000'! Also, if you're seriously considering staying there, PM me and I'd be glad to send you some more pictures of the inside (and outside) of the Hideaway cabin! I've stayed there three times now so I have pics of the outsides of the other cabins too. This is a favorite pic! I couldn't help but smile the first time I drove in there and saw the Welcome Home sign! I immediately knew I was gonna love the place! (The sign is on the back side of the "bathhouse" building that has the "waterfall showers!") And before I got to the welcome home sign (on the small building on the right) I ran into this roadblock on the drive in! (If it looks gloomy, that's because it was raining on and off on the drive from Pagosa to the ranch the first year I stayed there! Then, right after I got there, the sun came out just in time for sunset!) This was a view heading out of Pagosa toward the ranch that year! The ranch is in them thar hills! I also highly recommend the "Cozy House" at Dolores for the Cortez part of your trip, and would be glad to send you a bunch of pics of that place too to help you decide if you're interested. One more thing since Zinnia brought up Dinosaur Ridge! Just a little further down the road, in Morrison, is a place called Tiny Town! Perhaps in lieu of Little House your daughter would like to see some "little houses"---and other buildings! I don't have time to live link these pages, but here's a copy/paste link to their site, and if you google for images of Tiny Town you'll come up with lots of pics of the buildings with people standing by them so you can get the scale. I haven't been out to this place since the late 70's when it was a run down (tiny) ghost town all overgrown with weeds, but it's been all spiffied up and is back in business, and this could be a real fun Kid Thing! You could plan your whole last day to do Red Rocks, the dinosaurs, and Tiny Town, and then head to the airport for your last nite's lodging! http://tinytownrailroad.com/ Out of time for tonite! I can't wait to find out what all you finally decide to do! Skybird Here is a link that might be useful: Fishing on the V. A. Poma Ranch!

Bump!

Glad you made it over here Happy. I'm bumping this so someone will see it. There are at least 2 people from GJ so hope they respond. David is right, so much has changed over there and with this time of year there is the Wine Festival, Peach Festival, a huge week of country western stars and oil is moving in production heavily. Perhaps a search for a B&B and definitely plan ahead. You can look at Fruita, Palisade or even go south a bit. If you consider white water rafting, call the companies and they can suggest hotels too.