Plant Story--Vera Aloe, Aloe vera

Vera aloe has been a household remedy for burns for millennia. It still works.

Vera aloe, Aloe vera

Travel--Plants of Conwy Castle

I live in Colorado. Castles are not a part of my landscape. So of course I was fascinated by the plants that had colonized the walls of Conwy Castle.

View of Conwy Castle

Plant Story--The Common Dandelion, Taraxacum officinale

The dandelion is a plant everybody knows. That is quite a distinction since so many people are oblivious to the plants around them. And because dandelions are not particularly distinctive. There are many plants with similar yellow flowers and others with a puff-ball seed head. It is not the dandelion's  unique shapes that make it so widely recognized, but rather because it is so common.

common dandelion, Taraxacum officinale
seen in Seattle, Washington

Guanella Pass in the Rocky Mountains

Winter enhances memories of summer. Here is a July visit to Guanella Pass, in the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado. 

Rocky Mountains, central Colorado, July