Okay, you may be thinking, what am I talking about? Well long ago, on a spring morning, I noticed an intoxicating fragrance in the air that reminded me of grape bubblegum. Well, there were no candy stores nearby, but I did notice a small tree with beautiful purple blossoms. It turns out, that the fragrance […]
For those of you who have not met him yet, I would like to introduce you to my nephew, Green Jeans. He is the resident vegetable gardener at “The Refuge”, which is where my sister and her family live. There is always something growing in his garden. Sweet Peas rush to climb up the trellis…. […]
I love color in the garden. My garden is full of flowering shrubs and perennials. I am blessed to live in an area where it is possible to have flowers in my garden 12 months of the year. My favorite way to accomplish this is to include plants that flower most, if not all year […]
I absolutely love this shrub. It flowers for me fall through spring. Normally, Globe Mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua) is seen with orange flowers. However, there are some varieties that produce red, purple, pink, white or coral flowers. I have posted about this native desert plant previously and you can read more here if you like. […]
It is hard to believe that just two weeks ago, we were first introduced to the newest residents of Double S Farms. Newest residents, Two Days Old Two weeks is actually a lot of time to a small chick. Look at how quickly they have grown…. From left to right, meet Flo, Ramona, Effie and […]
When I say rocks in the garden, I mean large rocks….boulders to be exact. Boulders enhance the beauty of the plants surrounding them. I love how they look as they gradually become surrounded by a flowering groundcover such as Lantana or Verbena. Succulents such as Agave always look great when placed next to a boulder. […]
Yesterday, my husband I dropped off the kids at school and then went on a hike around the beautiful Superstition Mountains, located just outside of the greater Phoenix metro area. Superstition Mountains You could see saguaro cacti growing up out of the rocky mountainsides. Did you know that saguaro cacti favor the south side of […]
One of my favorite flowering shrubs is Arizona Yellow Bells (Tecoma stans stans). The other day, I spent some time pruning it back with some little hands eager to help. Yellow Bells is susceptible to frost damage in the winter and with spring almost here, it was time to prune back the brown tips. Arizona […]
Well, here is the post that I have been promising you all winter long. Are you ready to begin spring pruning? Okay, let’s get started….. Those of you who have read my blog for any length of time have come to learn that I absolutely abhor formal pruning of flowering shrubs. I have posted about […]
Although I greatly enjoy being able to grow many frost-sensitive plants such as Bougainvillea and Arizona Yellow Bells (Tecoma stans), I do not particularly like how they look in the winter, once frost has hit our area – zone 9a. And so, when hints of spring are in the air….I am itching to get back […]
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