Written by Ellen Bell – Colorado Master Gardener since 2019

My late summer sketching walk in the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District (SECWCD) demonstration garden was another wonderful surprise!  I didn’t get out there in August as previously planned and was afraid I had missed the height of the blooming season. To my delight, in this well-planned garden, there were still many interesting botanical specimens to sketch.

I am a big fan of trees and I find the trees in this garden to be especially interesting. Crataegus monogyna or Common hawthorne provides nice color at this time of year with its vibrant red berries. Quercus lobata or Valley oak is sporting its acorns though they probably won’t last long with squirrels around. They are fun to sketch.

Achillea millefolium, Common yarrow, are dried now but they are still very interesting to look at in the garden. Vitex agnus-castus or Chaste tree (which is actually a shrub) is still blooming with purple flowers. It has been cultivated in Europe dating back to ancient Greece according to my plant finder app. Solidago speciosa, Showy goldenrod, is blooming and providing late season food for our pollinators. There are many others still in bloom as well.

If you are looking for plants for your garden with late season blooms and color, the end of summer is the time to visit SECWCD to find interesting plants that do well in Pueblo without using lots of water. The garden is open to the public every day and is a peaceful place to spend a little time observing plants. Part 4 will document my fall walk and sketching which will complete my year-long observation of this demonstration garden.