An Old, Antique Watering Can Re-Purposed

One of my favorite memories as a child was visiting antique stores with my mother.  We usually did this whenever we went on vacation.  My dad would stop the car whenever she saw a store that looked promising.

Now that I am an adult, my mother and I have fun visiting antique stores when we travel together.  I don’t have a lot of antiques myself, but I do have some special pieces.

Last summer, our family traveled to Prescott, which I blogged about back then in “Antique Junk for the Garden”.

visiting antique stores

One of the pieces that I got was an old, antique watering can.

I had a vision of seeing it full of flowering annuals.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t plant in the summer because it was too hot for plants to survive in the container.  (It can be very hard to grow plants in smaller containers in summer because the outer 6 inches of soil is often too hot for roots to grow.

However, once fall arrived, I was ready to plant my new (old) container.

First, I had to make some holes on the bottom for drainage.  Then I filled it with planting mix and then my annuals…

visiting antique stores

I planted alyssum, violas and lobelia.  The watering can is now sitting in the middle of my vegetable garden. I added a drip emitter, so my new container is watered whenever my vegetables are.

I must admit that I am quite pleased with how it turned out.

Have any of you used old, antique containers in the garden? 

Lesser Known Plants To Try In Your Garden – Snapdragon Penstemon

If you find yourself driving through the neighborhood, chances are that you will see an abundance of particular types of plants.  

However, what you often do not see are a wide variety of plants.  Instead, you usually see the same kind of plants repeated from landscape to landscape.

For example, in the larger Phoenix metro area, many homes have at least one of the following plants, if not more:

Dwarf Oleander

Lantana

Bougainvillea

Texas Sage

Now I have nothing against these particular plants (except for the fact that Oleanders are poisonous).  All are easy to grow, look beautiful when in flower and thrive in our dry desert climate.

What happens though is that there tends to be an overabundance of these plants.  Because of this, landscapes can tend to look a little boring because they look like their neighbor.

Have you ever thought about trying some different plants to spice things up in your garden?  Now I am not suggesting that you pull out all of your Oleanders, Lantana, Bougainvillea or Texas Sage.  I actually have the last three in my garden.  What I am suggesting is adding or replacing just a few plants with some lesser known plants.

Over the next few weeks I will profile a lesser known plant that I think that you should try out in your garden.  (Okay, this is where I refer you to my disclaimer at the bottom of this page – my recommendations are meant for those who live in a climate similar to my desert garden’s zone 9a).

Are you ready?

Snapdragon Penstemon

Let me introduce you to Snapdragon Penstemon (Penstemon palmeri) also known as Palmer’s Penstemon .  I saw the Penstemon, pictured above, while driving to an appointment in Cave Creek, AZ.  It was so beautiful that it stopped me in my tracks and I rushed out to take a picture.

The first time that I had seen a Snapdragon Penstemon was while working for a golf course back in the 90’s.  It had been planted around the golf course which had a desert plant palette.  

Snapdragon Penstemon

Even though this Penstemon has been planted in a desert-themed garden, it will do just as well and look just as great in a more traditional front yard landscape.

When in bloom, it can reach heights of 6 ft. and sometimes higher.  In my experience growing Snapdragon Penstemon, they tend to bloom a little later in spring then the better known Firecracker and Parry’s Penstemons.  Flowering can extend into early summer depending on the location.

Maintenance is super easy…..cut of the flowering spikes when the flowers fade.  It is drought tolerant, but does best with a little supplemental water in dry, desert climates AND it thrives in our desert soil without amendments.  It is native to Arizona and New Mexico, which probably explains why it thrives in our conditions.

The flowers have a lovely, light fragrance and attract hummingbirds.  Published literature states that it will grow in zones 4 – 9, but does not do well in humid locations or wet soils.

I do hope you decide to try out this lesser known plant.  Just plant it in full sun, give it a little water from time to time and watch it take off.  It can be a little difficult to find in your local nursery unless you visit a specialty nursery or a plant sale at your botanic garden.  But you can find them at High Country Gardens where they will ship them to you.

Who knows?  Maybe someone will stop in their tracks when they see this beautiful plant growing in your garden 🙂

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It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is less then a week away.

We will be enjoying two Thanksgiving celebrations this year.  The first one, I will be hosting for my husband’s family.  

The second celebration will be at my sister’s house with my family.

How about you?  

What will you be doing for Thanksgiving?  

‘Designer’ Plants Without the Designer Price

Friends and family know that I cannot pass up a bargain.  I come from a long line of bargain hunters as my mother will attest to 🙂

I do love designer quality, but rarely (if ever) pay full price.

This extends to buying plants.  One of my favorite plants is called ‘Lavender Lace’.  

Lavender Lace

This plant is a beautiful, flowering trailing lantana that has two different colored flowers.

I remember when I first saw this plant growing in a landscape.  I had to stop my car and take a closer look.

Since then, I have only rarely seen it in landscapes.  But, I knew I wanted it when we re-landscaped our front garden.

We did see it at our favorite nursery and I was so excited.

Until I saw the $25 price tag….

Even though we had enough money to buy this ‘designer’ plant – I just couldn’t make myself purchase them.

*The reason I wouldn’t buy them was because I knew that I could replicate the look of the ‘Lavender Lace’ Lantana for a fraction of the cost.

Here is my version of this ‘designer’ plant…

Lavender Lace

My ‘knock-off’ looks pretty good, doesn’t it?

It was absurdly easy to do.

Here’s how:

Simply take a 1-gallon Purple Trailing Lantana AND a 1-gallon White Trailing Lantana and plant them next to each other in the same hole.

That’s it.  As they grow, the purple and white flowers will intermingle with each other.

I love the effect of these two colors together.

AND, what I love even better is that I was able to achieve the same effect as ‘Lavender Lace’ Lantana for $4 instead of the $25 dollar ‘designer’ price tag.

Curing the Garden Blahs with Color

Strange and Unusual Plants All Ready for Halloween

It’s that time of year, the weather is cooler, the trees are dressed up in their colors and people are almost ready for Halloween.  

My youngest daughter, Gracie, is going to be a ‘butterfly princess’ this year and my son Kai will be the ‘Brawny’ paper towel guy.  I bought him work boots (he loves those), a flannel shirt and of course, a package of ‘Brawny’ paper towels.

This year, we will be hosting the family Halloween night with my sister, brother and their families.  I can hardly wait.  

This post has been a huge favorite every year.  I hope you enjoy it!

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My kids, aren’t the only ones ready for Halloween.  Use your imagination and see how these plants are prepared as well…..

ready for Halloween

Octopus Agave (Agave vilmoriniana) beginning growing it’s snake-like flower stalk.

Growing up to one foot a day, like a snake coming out of the snake charmer’s basket.

ready for Halloween

Creeping Fig (Ficus pumila) climbing up the pillar and underneath….hanging down like spiderwebs.c

ready for Halloween

A Yucca reclining like a lovely lady.

But beware….she stabs you with her leaves if you get too close….

(This Yucca was trained to grow this way)

Saguaro

Saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea) dressed as a giant.

Ready for Halloween

The ‘claws’ of an Agave

Ready for Halloween

Ocotillo (Fouquierea splendens) with a Medusa hairstyle.

Euphorbia tirucalli

Sticks of Fire (Euphorbia tirucalli), will not burn you….but it is poisonous.

Acacia stenophylla

The spooky silhouette of a Shoestring Acacia (Acacia stenophylla).

You can almost hear the hooting owls…

Saguaro carnegiea

Crested Saguaro (Saguaro carnegiea)

A saguaro all dressed up with a new hairstyle.

Agave geminiflora

Twin-Flowered Agave (Agave geminiflora), sprouting horns.

And finally….

White Oleander

A beautiful White Oleander (Nerium oleander) flower lures you in with her subtle fragrance.

But Beware!  She is deadly if ingested…

I hope you enjoyed the plants in their “costumes”.

Are you or your children dressing up for Halloween this year?

What as?

Slowly, but Surely….

I must admit that it has taken me longer then I thought to get over the flu.  It must be my age, but it seems like getting over being sick just sucks out any energy I have.

The other day, I walked by my son’s room and noticed that he was being really quiet….

Star Wars figurines

He had fallen asleep on the floor, playing with the little plastic weapons from his Star Wars figurines.

Please disregard the messy room – but Saturday is room cleaning day and I took this photo on Thursday 😉

Sometimes, I feel like falling asleep on the floor.

I have been getting busy with consults because the weather is cooling off and people are starting to venture outside again.

I have found time to do a little light pruning of my roses.

roses

Okay, I know that my roses look rather ugly – but all roses that grow in our area go through an ‘ugly’ stage in summer.

While we are very lucky that we have two growing seasons for roses (spring and fall) – roses are not fans of our hot, dry summers.

Their leaves get sunburned and if any roses form, they are small and dry out quickly.  This is normal.  Roses go somewhat dormant during summer and just exist until the cooler weather of fall arrives.

So once September arrives, it’s time to prune your roses back by 1/4 of their total size.  Then add the rose fertilizer of your choice, mixed with compost.  I make 6 – 8 holes around each of my roses, about 6″ deep and pour the fertilizer/compost mixture into them and then water deeply.

I only have three roses bushes, so this only took about 15 minutes to do it all.

A couple of weeks ago, as I was driving home from a consult, I noticed a home that had raised vegetable garden beds in their front yard.

cool-season vegetables

cool-season vegetables

I can only imagine how much they grow.  I have two vegetable gardens in the back garden.  Our HOA won’t allow me to put any in the front 😉

Last year at this time, I had all my vegetable seeds planted by September 5th.

This yearI have done nothing yet.

Thankfully, there is a window for planting that extends from September through October for most cool-season vegetables.

My plan is to get it all done by next weekend.  I made sure that my husband had time in his schedule to help me add the compost and manure and then I’ll get my seeds planted.

How about you?  Have you planted your vegetables yet?

A Box of Seeds and an Impatient Gardener…

Under the Weather…Literally and Figuratively

I haven’t stepped out into my garden since Wednesday.

It rained so hard on Friday, that our back patio flooded and my daughter and nephew started scooping up water using buckets and throwing it onto the back lawn.

To top it off, I have been rotating between my favorite chair in the family room and my bed.

I REALLY HATE THE FLU….

The good news is that I am feeling a little better, but have no energy.  But, I thought I would share with you a photo that I took last week of a very pretty Arizona Yellow Bells (Tecoma stans stans).

Arizona Yellow Bells

Arizona Yellow Bells

It has been pruned into a small tree.

I have three that are in the typical shrub-shape.  While I do really like the way they look pruned up like this – I probably won’t be doing this to ours anytime soon.

Mostly because we do our own landscaping and while I do enjoy pruning – I don’t like doing it enough to keep up with the tree form.

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I hope your week is off to a good start.  Our weather is beginning to cool off a little, so once I get my energy back, I’ll be back out in the garden getting my vegetable gardens ready for fall 🙂

The Good and The Bad….

The other day, I was driving home from a landscape consult and as usual – I was on the lookout for examples of good and bad landscaping.

This particular day, I saw some great examples that  I would love to share with you.  

First the good…

my favorite flowering shrubs

my favorite flowering shrubs

Isn’t this landscape grouping, attractive?

There is great texture and color.

The Mexican Bird-of-Paradise (Caesalpinia mexicana) is one of my favorite flowering shrubs, which can be trained as small trees – I have 3 at home.

The spiky foliage of the Red Yucca help to provide contrast with the softer edges of the tree and Lantana.

Speaking of which, you cannot beat Lantana for summer color.

Here is another good example of landscaping…

my favorite flowering shrubs

Although, the Texas Sage, above, is planted a bit too close together, the homeowner has solved the problem by pruning them back severely to approximately 1 ft. using loppers.  Notice that they did NOT use hedge shears or trimmers, which is a good thing!

What this does is to keep the shrubs within bounds, but since they weren’t sheared, the flowers and natural shape of the shrubs can be enjoyed.

You can really tell the difference when you see the photo below from the house next door – which is a bad example by the way…

my favorite flowering shrubs

The same shrubs, planted too close together.  But, the homeowner elected to shear them back with hedge-trimmers.

The flowers and absence of the shrubs natural shape make these look like green ‘cones’.

Finally, I saw this really bad example of landscaping… 

The Good and The Bad....

Isn’t this terrible?

Believe it or not, this is a Mesquite tree that has been ‘poodled’ – meaning sheared into a round shape.

Pruning trees this way is very unhealthy for them for many reasons:

– Shearing trees actually stimulates excess growth meaning that you will need to prune them more often then a properly pruned tree.

– Sunlight has difficulty penetrating the interior, which can lead to the eventual death of interior branches.

– New branches will grow at a ‘weak’ angle, which makes them more susceptible to breakage.

These are but a few of the reason of why not to ‘shear’ or ‘top’ trees.

**How about you?  What examples of good and bad landscaping have you seen this summer?

You can learn more about why it’s wrong to ‘top’ trees in this article from the International Society of Arboriculture.

A Box of Seeds and an Impatient Gardener…

cool-season vegetable garden

cool-season vegetable

Oh, I have been imagining the bounty of vegetables that will come from my cool-season vegetable garden.

I have visions of of harvesting lettuce, garlic, carrots, green onions, cauliflower, spinach and radishes fresh from the garden.

Marigolds and nasturtiums will also be included in the vegetable garden to help keep bad bugs away and they make the vegetable garden pretty.

Of course, I still have cucumbers, peppers, bush beans and tomato plants in the garden, which keep me busy.  But, I can hardly wait to plant my cool-season vegetables.

And so in a few weeks, I will add 3 inches of new compost and 1 inch of manure to my gardens, to get them ready for the seeds that I will plant.

I prefer starting vegetables from seed, except for cauliflower & garlic.  Cauliflower does best when started from transplants.  I’ll plant my garlic in October from cloves (I still have about ten heads of garlic left from my spring harvest 🙂.

I am putting my order in for my seeds now so that they will be ready to plant.

How about you?

What are you going to plant this fall?

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For information on what kind of vegetables to plant in your garden and when to plant them – check out this link(simply enter your zip code for a customized vegetable planting calendar).

**Here is a link of when to plant cool and warm-season vegetables Maricopa County, which is where I live 🙂

Seasonal Gardener ‘Malady’

Every year, I hope to avoid a certain malady that always pops its head up in mid-August.

I was pretty sure I had skipped it this year, but early this week – it hit me.

What is this malady?

“I don’t want to venture out into my garden.”

seasonal malady

seasonal malady

Shocking, isn’t it?  Now, there is nothing wrong with my garden.  In fact, it looks its best this time of year.

My summer-flowering shrubs are absolutely covered in blooms, my trees are growing beautifully and my lawn is thick and green (thanks largely to increased humidity and monsoon rains).

seasonal malady

Bougainvillea ‘Barbara Karst’

Arizona Yellow Bells (Tecoma stans stans)

Arizona Yellow Bells (Tecoma stans stans)

Orange Jubilee

Orange Jubilee

The fact that I haven’t spent much time out in the garden is rather obvious from the photos of my slightly overgrown plants below…

Rio Bravo Sage

Rio Bravo Sage

Gold Lantana

Gold Lantana

So, why on earth don’t I want to go out in the garden?

Well, I must admit that I get a little ‘burned out’ on gardening.  It has to do with the fact that I get a bit tired of the summer heat and living in the Desert Southwest, means that there is always something to do in the garden 12 months of the year.

Sometimes, I just need a little break.  I don’t think this makes me a bad gardener or horticulturist – do  you?

So, maybe some of my plants are a bit overgrown and need a little pruning.  Well, they can grow for a couple more weeks and I’ll get to it in early September.

Besides, I would rather have a overgrown plant covered in flowers then one that is over-pruned and ugly, wouldn’t you?

Seasonal malady

I will shake off this seasonal ‘malady’ and be out in the garden, eager to plant seeds for my winter vegetable garden the beginning of September.

**How about you?  Do you suffer from the same malady from time to time?  Please tell me about it – it will make me feel better 🙂  

Showing Love Through…..Pruning?

Pollinators in the Garden

A beautiful and successful garden, attracts pollinators.  My three favorite pollinators begin with the letter ‘B’ – bees, butterflies and birds.

First, the bees…

favorite pollinators

Icelandic Poppy

Begonia

Begonia

Rabbitbrush

Rabbitbrush

Now, butterflies…

Swallowtail and Dianthus

Swallowtail and Dianthus

Pipevine Swallowtail

Pipevine Swallowtail

White Checkered Butterfly

White Checkered Butterfly

And, my favorite – birds…

Black-Chinned Hummingbird feeding from Ocotillo flower

Black-Chinned Hummingbird feeding from Ocotillo flower.

What kind of pollinators do you have visiting your garden this week?

What are their favorite plants?