Rain is not a common thing on the Colorado Plateau.  But, early this morning, the rain came.  I could smell it from my bedroom window.  It always looks like pearls on the petals to me.

It’s also interesting how much the backdrop for photos can change its emotional tone.  When I got Ruby Spider a few years ago, it was to hide the timer for the drip system.  And, I have always thought it looked majestic with the rock masonry from my house in the background.  Last fall, I divided it into three Rubys because it had outgrown the planter that it shares with Return a Smile and Just Plum Happy.  So, the two extra Rubys were relocated to my front walkway garden (which I converted to more of a daylily theme last summer).

 

 

Today, I had the first Ruby bloom in the new setting.  I was taken back by the contrast with the clematis in the background.  It looks a little like Christmas.  I also like the one with the bluebells.

 

 

No new faces today, but another mystery.  When I divided up Ruby and her planter-mates last fall, the tags for Return a Smile and Just Plum Happy got (perhaps) mixed up.  These two look just enough alike, that I decided I would have to wait for blooms this year to decide which was which.  So, I think the photo taken today (below) is Return a Smile (although, I have changed my mind a few times).

 

 

Here are web photos of Just Plum Happy . . .

And, Return a Smile.

Any votes?

Other visitors today are Chief Four (Three) Fingers,

 

 

Hopi Jewel,

 

 

and Wild Horses.

 

I also went out and snapped a couple more of Chama Valley last night, in less intense sun.  Much better.

 

 

 

Enjoy your pictorial visit to my Colorado Western Slope garden.  I think we will see peak bloom in a week or so.  Hopefully, I won’t miss too much when I am at the National Nurse Practitioner Symposium next week.  I wish my cats could take pictures.