Bosque is Spanish for forest, and if you’ve never been to Bosque del Apache in New Mexico, you’re missing a beautiful natural spot to observe birds and plants. I’ve been thinking a lot about the little bosque that surrounds Perennial Favorites nursery, hence the title of this blog that could be translated as Forest of Favorites. The picture below (half a moon is better than none) was taken this morning, looking south through the big cottonwoods that grow here.
Our nursery is located where the plains change to the foothills, in a little hollow within a bigger valley. The Great Plains, covering Eastern Colorado is a grassy area, naturally devoid of trees. In the foothills the pygmy forests begin, with scattered junipers and pinyon pines and scrub oak. Along the creeks, in all parts of Colorado, native trees grow. Ninety nine percent of the trees that grow at Perennial Favorites are those natives: boxelder, oak, cottonwood, willow, chokecherry, and hawthorn.
We don’t sell many of these native trees because most of them are not desirable trees for a city or suburban yard. In our rural area, however, they are perfect, they are the trees that belong to this land, with the spring fed creek, the pond, and the shale hillside. Walk a little way down our road, east of the nursery, and you’ll see the native hackberry and elderberry–trees that can survive in very dry conditions. And the oaks that grow here grow all over the Greenhorn Valley. Oaks are a favorite of mine and the subject of other posts to the blog, like this one– http://www.pfplants.com/?p=1629
Even though boxelders are know as trashy trees, that break easily and have seeds that attract the boxelder bug, they also are one of the first trees to flower in the spring, and they provide an early source of nectar for bees. I love their funky shapes and burly trunks. Birds love them, too, and hummingbirds often nest in them. Below is a picture of the boxelder bosque, taken a few weeks ago.
