Talk to most homeowners about what they want in their garden and they will usually reply “color”. I am no different and when I was given the opportunity to try out two new plants, courtesy of the folks at Monrovia, I jumped at the chance to showcase more examples of their plants, which are available at Lowe’s or at your local garden center.
I would like to share with you two plants that will add a pop of color to your garden.
The first is Friendship Sage(Salvia ‘Amistad’). Recent visitors to my garden couldn’t take their eyes off of the vibrant purple flowers and the lush green foliage of this new plant.
This particular salvia does best in filtered shade and should be kept away from full sun, especially in hot, inland areas. Hardy to zone 9, it is suitable for climates with mild winters.
I would recommend pairing it with yellow-flowering perennials like angelita daisy(Tetraneuris acaulis), or gold lantana(Lantana ‘New Gold Mound’). I can hardly wait to see the hummingbirds flock to the tubular blooms. Flowering occurs in spring, summer, and fall. However, in hot climates, flowers may disappear in the summer only to resume in fall.
Hummingbirds will flock to the tubular blooms so be sure to place friendship salvia where you can view it up close. Flowering occurs in spring, summer, and fall. However, in hot climates, flowers may disappear in the summer only to resume in fall.
Salvias have always been a huge favorite of mine and I am so happy to have this new addition to the garden.
*Learn more about this and other colorful plants at Monrovia.
‘Little Janie’ Gaura
The second perennial that I’d like to show you is a variety of pink gaura. ‘Little Janie’ gaura(Gaura lindheimeri ‘Little Janie’) produces masses of small, pink flowers, which are shaped like butterflies.
They thrive in full sun to light, filtered shade and are drought tolerant.
Gaura have a long bloom period, beginning in spring and lasting through fall. They are also very cold and heat tolerant and can be grown in zone 6 gardens (-10 degrees F.) while easily handling summer temperatures over 100+.
I like to group 3 gaura together and plant them next to boulders or plant them in perennial beds along a front entry.
My new ‘Little Janie’ gaura has lots of buds, ready to open up to reveal their pretty, pink flowers. They look great next to purple-flowering plants such as Blue Bells(Eremophila hygrophana) or purple trailing lantana(Lantana montevidensis).
These are just two of the beautiful plants from Monrovia that you can find at Lowe’s or your local nursery. Simply look for plants in the green ‘Monrovia’ containers.
*Learn more about Monrovia and their ‘Grow Beautifully’ campaign to help you create a colorful outdoor space.
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Have you ever invited a child outside to help you in the garden? They are naturally curious about the outdoors, and most kids jump at the chance to explore the landscape. That is why, whenever I get the chance, I invite my grandkids to come with me when I’m working outdoors.
However, if you are expecting them to unleash their curiosity on the plants in the garden, when there are rocks nearby, you are apt to be disappointed. Children tend to focus on the rocks scattered throughout the landscape rather than on the lovely, flowering plants nearby.
My grandson, Eric, took the water bowl from our desert tortoise, took my hand shovel and proceeded to fill it up with rocks.
Gardening With Kids: A Love Affair With Rocks
Several years ago, my granddaughter, Lily, went through the same stage – grabbing rocks and playing with them. That small pile of rocks kept her occupied for a long time while I was planting containers.
I believe that it is the texture of rocks and their weight that attract children. Of course, rocks also make noise when you fill up a metal bowl with them.
Rocks come in all sizes, and big ones are perfect for climbing on.
The outdoor environment is filled with wonders that children are anxious to discover – including the discovery that water comes out of hoses.
*Do your kids play with rocks? What else do they like to play with outdoors?
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While spring break is a time where masses of people escape the cold for warmer climates (like Arizona), we decided to do the exact opposite. We flew out of warm, sunny Phoenix and headed to cold and snowy Michigan.
Now before you start to question my sanity, I have an excellent reason for bundling up and bracing myself for the cold, windy weather. My daughter and her family call Michigan their home now, and since then, we try to make it out at least twice a year, and spring break just happened to be the best time to do it.
I always look forward to visits to their town of Petoskey, Michigan which sits on the shore of Little Traverse Bay. It is a popular summer destination, and I spent several weeks here last year helping my daughter move into her new house and add new plants to her garden.
It is always fun pulling out my warm weather gear, which seldom gets used at home. I knit these fingerless mittens a few years ago and rarely have a chance to wear them.
As a Southern California native and Arizona resident, I must admit that I have relatively little experience with cold weather so, it has been fun exploring the landscape and seeing the effects of winter. Seeing the bay frozen in time where we waded in with our feet last June was exciting.
At the beginning of our week, the temperatures were in the mid 20’s with a brisk wind, and we were excited to see an unexpected snow shower.
I realize that many of you who have lived in areas with cold winters may be rolling your eyes at this point, but for someone who has always lived where winters are mild, the weather has been a novelty.
However, the novelty quickly wore off this morning when I stepped outside, and it was a frigid 16 degrees, and I learned why people start their cars a few minutes before they get in to let them heat up inside. But, I braved the few steps from the house to the car, and we were off to my granddaughter Lily’s preschool class where I was to give a presentation on the desert and Arizona.
I brought photographs of the animals, cactuses, and flowers of the desert. The kids were a great audience and seemed especially impressed with the following pictures:
The height of a saguaro cactus with people standing at its base
A bird poking its head out of a hole in the saguaro
Cactus flowers
Aesop – our desert tortoise
I was struck by how different the desert is from the Michigan landscape and felt honored to expand their horizons.
On the way back from pre-school, we were tasked with bringing the classroom pet, ‘Snowball’ the guinea pig home where he will stay with Lily for spring break. Doing little tasks such as this bring back happy memories of when our kids were little.
We will be home soon, and spring is a busy time for me. I have new plants coming in the mail (straight from the grower) for me to test in my Arizona garden, I’ll be showcasing two new plants from the folks at Monrovia, and in a couple of weeks, I’ll be traveling again – this time to Savannah, Georgia for a fun project that I’m excited to share with you soon.
*What are you doing for spring break?
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There is nothing quite so refreshing as the fragrance of lemons as you slice through their yellow skin. Lemons are a very popular fruit tree for those of us who in zones 8 and above and their lush green foliage and yellow fruit add beauty to the garden.
If you have been thinking of adding a lemon tree to your landscape, March is the best time of year to plant new citrus in the garden as it gives them time to become established before the heat of summer arrives.
I am often asked about what type of lemon is best for the garden. My personal choice is Meyer lemon for a number of reasons. You may have heard of this type of lemon tree, but what you may not know is that it isn’t a ‘true’ lemon – it’s actually a naturally occurring hybrid of a lemon and ‘Mandarin’ orange. This results in a pseudo-lemon that is sweeter and less acidic than true lemons such as ‘Eureka’ and ‘Lisbon’.
See why you should consider planting a Meyer lemon tree in your backyard in my latest article for Houzz.com. (Click on the photo below to read the article).
*What type of lemon tree to you grow?
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Today as I was downloading photos from my phone, this one caught my eye. It is a picture of an artichoke agave(Agave parryi ‘truncata’) along with her babies. For some reason, it spoke to me about family relationships. Some of her tiniest children are venturing a bit too far like our kids do as toddlers when they walk into the street without any fear.
Some of her tiniest children are venturing a bit too far like our kids do as toddlers when they walk into the street without any fear. Then there are those slightly older babies who I like to describe as ‘tweens’ who still enjoy their mother’s protection while looking outward into the world.
Then there are those slightly older babies, nestled under their mother’s protective leaves, who I like to describe as ‘tweens’ who still enjoy their mother’s protection while looking out toward the wonders of the world.
The medium-sized agave baby is the teenager who enjoys the illusion of independence while still being attached to their mother by an underground root – kind of like relying on their parents for allowance, paying for their phone, and driving them where they need to go.
I especially love the largest of the babies and the relationship to its mother as it speaks of my relationship with my two oldest daughters. They are individuals, yet they enjoy being close to their mom and go to her for advice and even enjoy hanging out together.
Black Spine Agave (Agave macroacantha)
Many species of agave propagate themselves by producing ‘pups’, which are attached to the parent plant by an underground stem. These new agave can be removed and replanted elsewhere in the landscape. It’s not hard to do and I wrote about how to do this, which you can read here.
Have you ever replanted an agave baby?
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Winter Garden, The vibrant flowers of firecracker penstemon (Penstemon eatoni) add a welcome splash of color during winter and into spring.
People often ask me to post more photographs of my garden on my blog. I must confess that I am sometimes reluctant to do so as I wonder if they expect a ‘perfect’ garden – one that is meticulously maintained and expertly designed.
However, I decided that would show you my garden, even if it bursts a few bubbles of what people expect it to look like.
The yellow flowers of angelita daisy contrast with the cool colors of purple and white trailing lantana. Gopher plants (Euphorbia rigida) are getting ready to produce chartreuse-colored flowers.
The landscape that surrounds my home reflects my love for plants that add beauty without needing much attention from me. I don’t tend to rake or blow my leaves and the plants are allowed to grow into their natural shapes without much interference from me.
The fragrant blossoms of feathery cassia (Senna artemisiodes) add visual warmth to the winter landscape.
That is important because I am usually so busy helping others with their landscapes, that I often don’t have enough time to fuss over mine. Pruning once, or at most, twice a year is my standard of a fuss-free plant.
I love color throughout all seasons. So, you are just as likely to find as much color in my winter garden as in the summer.
Green desert spoon (Dasylirion texanum) add spiky texture contrast to the landscape.
As for the design of my garden, horticulturists are by nature, collectors of plants. This means that we likely to include many different kinds of plants – often more than you would see in a well-designed garden.
I do enjoy designing landscapes and have done my best in designing my own garden, while incorporating a large variety of plants.
The leafless canes of an ocotillo will soon leaf out with the arrival of spring.
I’ve always felt that a garden should reflect the owner’s personality while also enhancing the exterior of their home. Mine shows my love for color and low-maintenance beauty.
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February is what I like to call a ‘bridge’ month. In regards to work, it is a transition month for me. It is the month between January, when work slows down as it’s cold with not much is growing and March, when the weather is delightfully warm and everybody seemingly wants to redo their landscape. If I could choose the perfect month in terms of work load, it would be February.
Landscape Dilemma ,Colorful Container Before and After Landscape
Last week, I was visiting one of my favorite clients whose landscape has been a work in progress. The backyard was finished last year and now, it was time to pay attention to the front. Of course, I took a few minutes to see how things were doing in the back and my attention was immediately drawn to this colorful container filled with colorful succulents. The orange stems of ‘Sticks on Fire’ Euphorbia adds welcome color to the garden throughout the year while elephant’s food(Portulacaria afra) trails down the side of the pot.
I am a strong proponent of using colorful pots filled with low-maintenance succulents in the garden. Why mess with flowering annuals if you can enjoy vibrant color without the high maintenance?
Full disclosure: I do have a couple of pots filled with petunias, but the vast majority are filled with succulents 😉
Landscape Dilemma
One of the most rewarding parts of my job is assisting my clients with their landscape dilemma. Often, the solution is much simpler than the client imagined. Last fall, I visited this home which had a large, shallow depression that was filled with dying agave. The interesting thing was that there was no obvious reason for its presence as no water drained into it. It definitely wasn’t what the client wanted in this high-profile area.
So what would be a good solution for this area? The client wanted to plant a large saguaro cactus in this area, but didn’t want to add a lot of plants. My recommendation was to get rid of the dying agave and turn the depression into an attractive feature of the garden.
This is what it looks like now. Filling the area with rip-rap rock, adds both a texture and color contrasting element to the landscape. Well-placed boulders with a century plant(Agave americana), Mexican fence post(Stenocereus marginatus), and golden barrel cactus(Echinocactus grusonii) help to break up the large expanse of the shallow depression with their spiky and globular shapes. Finally, a saguaro cactus was added, which stands sentinel over this renovated area.
One would never imagine that this part of landcape hadn’t been planned this way when it was first planted years ago.
Lastly, February is all about Valentine’s Day. I sent my granddaughter a care package filled with goodies for Valentine’s Day. Dinosaur cards for her classmates, a little craft, a hanging mobile, stickers, and of course chocolates – all with a Valentine theme.
For me, Valentine’s day comes with mostly great memories. As a child, I looked forward to handing out Valentines to my classmates and getting them in return. During teenage years, there was one particularly memorable one when I was 17 years old. My boyfriend didn’t get me anything, however, another boy gave me a card and a flower, which was some consulation. And to finish off that infamous Valentine’s Day, I came down the chicken pox that very day. Guess who also got the chicken pox? The boyfriend who forgot Valentine’s Day. Now, I look forward spending the 14th with the main man in my life, who after 31 years, still makes me feel special.
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*Disclosure: I am so excited about these two roses, which were sent to me free of charge, to test in my garden.
Roses have enchanted gardeners over the centuries with their colorful petals arranged in intricate rosette shapes, which release intoxicating fragrance into the air.
For those of you who have followed my blog for a while, you’ll know about my love affair with roses and that it was this lovely flower that created my passion for gardening.
AZ Plant Lady taking time to smell the roses at the Santa Barbara Mission in California.
If there is a rose garden nearby, I’ll find it, excited to explore both old and newer varieties of my favorite flower.
When I first began growing roses in my Arizona garden, I used hybrid tea roses as I was obsessed with the regal beauty and upright form of their blossoms. As the years passed and I found myself in a new home, the question was, what type of roses would I plant? Should I go with old favorites or branch out and try new ones?
In the end, I did both.
‘Mister Lincoln’ hybrid tea rose
My outdoor space is broken up into separate areas and my roses grow in a raised bed in the side garden where I can view the flowering plants from my kitchen window. Within the garden, is a single ‘Mister Lincoln’ hybrid tea rose. Of the over forty different hybrid tea roses that I’ve grown through the years, this lovely, red rose is unsurpassed in both beauty and fragrance.
The rest of the garden is home to new roses as well as several perennials that growers throughout the country send me to test out to see how the perform in the desert climate.
‘Graham Thomas’ English shrub rose
So what are the other roses in my garden? I’ll let you in on a secret – hybrid tea roses are no longer my rose of choice. Why, you may ask? Well, I’ve discovered a new category of roses that highly fragrant, have beautiful old-fashioned blooms, and are very low-maintenance.
Rose breeders have taken the best traits from old-fashioned roses and modern roses and combined them to create the perfect type of rose, in my opinion – shrub roses. An English breeder, David Austin, has pioneered this new type of rose and is famous for the majority of truly stunning shrub roses on the market and in gardens throughout the world. I have several shrub roses in my garden and two new roses have recently found a home in a desert garden – mine!
I’ve grown David Austin roses in the past and currently have several in my garden.
Receiving a package in the mail is always a welcome event, particularly when it contains plants. The arrival of this box was initiated months ago by a conversation that I had with the folks at David Austin Roses last fall. I was describing the success that I had with one of their newest varieties that was sent to me the previous year. They asked me if I had had success with growing any of their red varieties and offered to send me two different red roses to see how they would perform in a desert garden.
Fast forward four months later and a box showed up on my doorstep filled with two bare root roses.
Let’s be honest, bare root roses aren’t going to win any beauty contests. In fact, they are quite ugly, but they won’t stay that way for long.
Bare root roses must remain moist and need a good soaking before being planted. This allows the roots to help replenish any water lost as well as prepare it for planting.
Allow the roses to soak for 8 – 24 hours before planting. During this stage, some people like to add vitamin B-1 transplant solution, however, this is optional. I remember my horticulture professor state over and over again, that there is no published studies that showed that using vitamin B-1 had any effect on successful transplanting. If you want to add it, go ahead – I’ve never used it.
The next day, it was time to plant. Before putting the rose in the hole, you need to amend the soil – click here to see how. When planting bare root roses, you need to create a ‘cone’ of raised soil in the middle of the hole so that the base of the rose rests on the top with its roots fanned outward. If the roots are too long, you can cut them a little shorter.
Fill the hole in with soil and tamp it down to get rid of any air pockets. Create a shallow basin around the rose and water deeply. Don’t fertilize the new rose until it has produced its first set of blooms – it needs to concentrate on growing roots first.
It’s hard to believe that this cluster of naked stems will soon give life to glorious, fragrant red roses in a few months. I’ll be sure to keep you updated as to how they do. I can’t wait to see if these red roses do well in my desert garden.
These shrub roses can be hard to find in your local nursery, but can easily be found online.
Now, something fun for you! I hope that I’ve inspired you to try growing David Austin shrub roses. You may have noticed that I didn’t tell you what type of David Austin rose varieties that I received. I invite you to come back for a visit when I’ll be hosting a book giveaway where you can win your own copy of “The English Roses”, which is a lovely book filled with spectacular photos and detailed information on different varieties of shrub roses. I’ve enjoyed my copy very much and it looks great sitting on my coffee table.
Abraham Darby Rose
**What are your favorite type of roses to grow?
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I love roses. So much so, that at one time I had over forty different varieties growing in the garden of my home in Phoenix.
Fast forward 25 years later, and I live in a different house with a different garden. While I don’t have quite as many roses as before, I still do have a special place for several of my favorites.
After growing over fifty varieties of roses, I do have a favorite one, which is ‘Mister Lincoln.’ There are so many reasons to grow this rose including dark red, velvety petals along with incredible fragrance.
I planted this bush in my newest garden last year, and I was delighted to see a single, large red bloom decorating my winter garden. What is so special about this single rose is that there are no other flowers currently blooming in this area of the garden, which makes it even that more special.
The leaves of my apple trees are falling in the background, and much of my garden is sleeping. However, this single Mister Lincoln rose brightens my winter garden bringing welcome beauty on a cold winter’s day.
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One of the things that I enjoy about living in the Southwest is the ability to garden throughout the year. Well, that may be a slight exaggeration – I don’t especially like gardening in July or August. During those months, I simply like to view my garden out the window from the air-conditioned comfort of my home. But, you’ll often see me outside spending January in the vegetable garden through the winter months.
So far, this year’s cool-season garden hasn’t been very impressive. In fact, it was quite disappointing. Our drip irrigation system wasn’t watering this particular vegetable bed well because the tiny holes had become clogged from mineral deposits left behind by our notorious hard water. As a result, a handful of romaine lettuce transplants survived, but none of the seeds that I planted in early October germinated except for the radishes and a couple of carrots.
To make it worse, when I discovered the problem last fall, I was so busy trying to keep up with my landscape consulting that I didn’t fix the irrigation troubles. Spring and fall for horticulturists is much like tax season for accountants, and little else gets done.
Well, I felt bad looking out at my sad little vegetable bed, so I cleared my calendar to give it a little TLC earlier this week. First on the list was to pull out the lettuce plants, which had bolted and were ready to be taken out. I was able to get a few radishes, much to the delight of my youngest daughter who loves them.
Before planting, I added a 4-inch layer of compost to help refresh the soil. There wasn’t any need to mix it in with the existing soil – in fact, it’s better if you don’t do that.
Like many people, I find working out in the garden therapeutic and the stresses of day to day life simply melt away. What made this day even better was that my husband came out to help me. At this point, I should mention that he isn’t one of those men who loves to work out in the garden. Oh, he does a great job at it, but he doesn’t like it – at all. Poor guy, he had no idea that the woman he married 30 years ago would turn out to be a plant lady who lives, eats, and breathes all things related to the garden.
My darling husband took an entire morning out of his busy schedule to help me in the garden, fixing the drip irrigation system in my garden. Forget flowers, if spending a morning out in your wife’s vegetable garden fixing irrigation doesn’t shout “I love you,” I don’t know what does.
The drip irrigation system in my vegetable garden is made up of a main poly drip line that runs up the center of the garden. Micro-tubing, with small holes along the length, are then looped along the length of the main drip line. We pulled out the old micro-tubing and replaced it.
Once the irrigation repair was finished, it was time to add plants. Luckily, there is still plenty of time to plant cool-season favorites. To get a head start, I bought romaine lettuce, Swiss chard, and spinach transplants. The rest I would grow from seed. Irish Eyes Garden Seeds is one of my favorite seed companies.
Another seed company who I have used over the years is Burpee. I remember perusing my dad’s Burpee seed catalog when I was a child and planning on which ones I would order for the little plot of land that he gave me in the back garden.
I still order seeds from Burpee and was pleasantly surprised to receive a gift from them this Christmas – an advent calendar where each door opened up to a seed packet filled with one of their new 2017 plant introductions. What an ingenious marketing tool! Every morning, I felt like a kid again waiting to see what new seeds I would find behind the door.
I selected ‘Dragon Tail’ radish, where you eat its purple seed pods and NOT the roots. It is a version of an Asian heirloom radish and has a more delicate flavor than regular radishes. I am very excited to see what this one does in my garden. ‘Rido Red’ radish and ‘Bend and Snap’ snap peas also found a spot in the garden.
Marigolds and nasturtiums are always present alongside cool-season vegetables as they attract beneficial pollinators, discourage harmful insect pests, and just make the garden look pretty. Imagine my delight when I saw new varieties of my favorite flowers in the advent calendar. ‘Strawberry Blonde’ marigolds and ‘Orange Troika’ nasturtiums will add welcome beauty to my vegetable bed. There were other seeds in the calendar that I plan on using including ‘Bend and Snap’ snap peas. I plan on giving some of my seeds to my mother for her garden. Burpee has a list of their new 2017 introductions, which you can access here. I’d love to hear if you grow any of them.
Next to the vegetable garden is my young ‘Meyer’ lemon tree. We planted it two years ago, and this is its first ever fruit. Young citrus trees can take a year or two, after planting, before it produces fruit and I look forward to years of delicious fruit from mine.
Meyer lemons aren’t true lemons. They are a cross between a regular lemon and mandarin orange, and this gives them a sweeter flavor and a deep yellow skin. The story behind Meyer lemons includes overseas exploration, threatened extinction, and Martha Stewart.
Well, that is what is happening in the January vegetable garden. What is growing in your winter garden?
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Pop In Color: Two Lovely Perennials for the Garden
Arizona, California, Drought Tolerant, PerennialLovely Perennials, Friendship Sage (Salvia ‘Amistad’)
Talk to most homeowners about what they want in their garden and they will usually reply “color”. I am no different and when I was given the opportunity to try out two new plants, courtesy of the folks at Monrovia, I jumped at the chance to showcase more examples of their plants, which are available at Lowe’s or at your local garden center.
I would like to share with you two plants that will add a pop of color to your garden.
The first is Friendship Sage (Salvia ‘Amistad’). Recent visitors to my garden couldn’t take their eyes off of the vibrant purple flowers and the lush green foliage of this new plant.
This particular salvia does best in filtered shade and should be kept away from full sun, especially in hot, inland areas. Hardy to zone 9, it is suitable for climates with mild winters.
I would recommend pairing it with yellow-flowering perennials like angelita daisy (Tetraneuris acaulis), or gold lantana (Lantana ‘New Gold Mound’). I can hardly wait to see the hummingbirds flock to the tubular blooms. Flowering occurs in spring, summer, and fall. However, in hot climates, flowers may disappear in the summer only to resume in fall.
Hummingbirds will flock to the tubular blooms so be sure to place friendship salvia where you can view it up close. Flowering occurs in spring, summer, and fall. However, in hot climates, flowers may disappear in the summer only to resume in fall.
Salvias have always been a huge favorite of mine and I am so happy to have this new addition to the garden.
*Learn more about this and other colorful plants at Monrovia.
‘Little Janie’ Gaura
The second perennial that I’d like to show you is a variety of pink gaura. ‘Little Janie’ gaura (Gaura lindheimeri ‘Little Janie’) produces masses of small, pink flowers, which are shaped like butterflies.
They thrive in full sun to light, filtered shade and are drought tolerant.
Gaura have a long bloom period, beginning in spring and lasting through fall. They are also very cold and heat tolerant and can be grown in zone 6 gardens (-10 degrees F.) while easily handling summer temperatures over 100+.
I like to group 3 gaura together and plant them next to boulders or plant them in perennial beds along a front entry.
My new ‘Little Janie’ gaura has lots of buds, ready to open up to reveal their pretty, pink flowers. They look great next to purple-flowering plants such as Blue Bells (Eremophila hygrophana) or purple trailing lantana (Lantana montevidensis).
These are just two of the beautiful plants from Monrovia that you can find at Lowe’s or your local nursery. Simply look for plants in the green ‘Monrovia’ containers.
*Learn more about Monrovia and their ‘Grow Beautifully’ campaign to help you create a colorful outdoor space.
Gardening With Kids: A Love Affair With Rocks
az plant lady family, Gardening With KidsGardening With Kids: A Love Affair With Rocks
Have you ever invited a child outside to help you in the garden? They are naturally curious about the outdoors, and most kids jump at the chance to explore the landscape. That is why, whenever I get the chance, I invite my grandkids to come with me when I’m working outdoors.
However, if you are expecting them to unleash their curiosity on the plants in the garden, when there are rocks nearby, you are apt to be disappointed. Children tend to focus on the rocks scattered throughout the landscape rather than on the lovely, flowering plants nearby.
My grandson, Eric, took the water bowl from our desert tortoise, took my hand shovel and proceeded to fill it up with rocks.
Gardening With Kids: A Love Affair With Rocks
Several years ago, my granddaughter, Lily, went through the same stage – grabbing rocks and playing with them. That small pile of rocks kept her occupied for a long time while I was planting containers.
I believe that it is the texture of rocks and their weight that attract children. Of course, rocks also make noise when you fill up a metal bowl with them.
Rocks come in all sizes, and big ones are perfect for climbing on.
The outdoor environment is filled with wonders that children are anxious to discover – including the discovery that water comes out of hoses.
*Do your kids play with rocks? What else do they like to play with outdoors?
A Cold and Snowy Spring Break
Arizona, az plant lady family, azplantlady, Cactus/Succulents, Desert Animals, Garden Travels, Road TripPetoskey, Michigan lighthouse
While spring break is a time where masses of people escape the cold for warmer climates (like Arizona), we decided to do the exact opposite. We flew out of warm, sunny Phoenix and headed to cold and snowy Michigan.
Now before you start to question my sanity, I have an excellent reason for bundling up and bracing myself for the cold, windy weather. My daughter and her family call Michigan their home now, and since then, we try to make it out at least twice a year, and spring break just happened to be the best time to do it.
I always look forward to visits to their town of Petoskey, Michigan which sits on the shore of Little Traverse Bay. It is a popular summer destination, and I spent several weeks here last year helping my daughter move into her new house and add new plants to her garden.
It is always fun pulling out my warm weather gear, which seldom gets used at home. I knit these fingerless mittens a few years ago and rarely have a chance to wear them.
As a Southern California native and Arizona resident, I must admit that I have relatively little experience with cold weather so, it has been fun exploring the landscape and seeing the effects of winter. Seeing the bay frozen in time where we waded in with our feet last June was exciting.
At the beginning of our week, the temperatures were in the mid 20’s with a brisk wind, and we were excited to see an unexpected snow shower.
I realize that many of you who have lived in areas with cold winters may be rolling your eyes at this point, but for someone who has always lived where winters are mild, the weather has been a novelty.
However, the novelty quickly wore off this morning when I stepped outside, and it was a frigid 16 degrees, and I learned why people start their cars a few minutes before they get in to let them heat up inside. But, I braved the few steps from the house to the car, and we were off to my granddaughter Lily’s preschool class where I was to give a presentation on the desert and Arizona.
I brought photographs of the animals, cactuses, and flowers of the desert. The kids were a great audience and seemed especially impressed with the following pictures:
I was struck by how different the desert is from the Michigan landscape and felt honored to expand their horizons.
On the way back from pre-school, we were tasked with bringing the classroom pet, ‘Snowball’ the guinea pig home where he will stay with Lily for spring break. Doing little tasks such as this bring back happy memories of when our kids were little.
We will be home soon, and spring is a busy time for me. I have new plants coming in the mail (straight from the grower) for me to test in my Arizona garden, I’ll be showcasing two new plants from the folks at Monrovia, and in a couple of weeks, I’ll be traveling again – this time to Savannah, Georgia for a fun project that I’m excited to share with you soon.
*What are you doing for spring break?
March is the Perfect Time for Planting a Meyer Lemon Tree
Arizona, California, Citrus, desert gardening, Houzz Article, Southwest garden, TreesMeyer Lemon
There is nothing quite so refreshing as the fragrance of lemons as you slice through their yellow skin. Lemons are a very popular fruit tree for those of us who in zones 8 and above and their lush green foliage and yellow fruit add beauty to the garden.
If you have been thinking of adding a lemon tree to your landscape, March is the best time of year to plant new citrus in the garden as it gives them time to become established before the heat of summer arrives.
I am often asked about what type of lemon is best for the garden. My personal choice is Meyer lemon for a number of reasons. You may have heard of this type of lemon tree, but what you may not know is that it isn’t a ‘true’ lemon – it’s actually a naturally occurring hybrid of a lemon and ‘Mandarin’ orange. This results in a pseudo-lemon that is sweeter and less acidic than true lemons such as ‘Eureka’ and ‘Lisbon’.
See why you should consider planting a Meyer lemon tree in your backyard in my latest article for Houzz.com. (Click on the photo below to read the article).
*What type of lemon tree to you grow?
A Prickly Mama and Her Babies
Agave, Arizona, Cactus/Succulents, desert gardening, Southwest gardenartichoke agave (Agave parryi ‘truncata’)
Today as I was downloading photos from my phone, this one caught my eye. It is a picture of an artichoke agave (Agave parryi ‘truncata’) along with her babies. For some reason, it spoke to me about family relationships. Some of her tiniest children are venturing a bit too far like our kids do as toddlers when they walk into the street without any fear.
Some of her tiniest children are venturing a bit too far like our kids do as toddlers when they walk into the street without any fear. Then there are those slightly older babies who I like to describe as ‘tweens’ who still enjoy their mother’s protection while looking outward into the world.
Then there are those slightly older babies, nestled under their mother’s protective leaves, who I like to describe as ‘tweens’ who still enjoy their mother’s protection while looking out toward the wonders of the world.
The medium-sized agave baby is the teenager who enjoys the illusion of independence while still being attached to their mother by an underground root – kind of like relying on their parents for allowance, paying for their phone, and driving them where they need to go.
I especially love the largest of the babies and the relationship to its mother as it speaks of my relationship with my two oldest daughters. They are individuals, yet they enjoy being close to their mom and go to her for advice and even enjoy hanging out together.
Black Spine Agave (Agave macroacantha)
Many species of agave propagate themselves by producing ‘pups’, which are attached to the parent plant by an underground stem. These new agave can be removed and replanted elsewhere in the landscape. It’s not hard to do and I wrote about how to do this, which you can read here.
Have you ever replanted an agave baby?
A Peek into My Winter Garden
azplantlady, desert gardening, Drought Tolerant, Fuss Free Plant, Horticulturist, Perennial, Shrubs, Southwest gardenWinter Garden, The vibrant flowers of firecracker penstemon (Penstemon eatoni) add a welcome splash of color during winter and into spring.
People often ask me to post more photographs of my garden on my blog. I must confess that I am sometimes reluctant to do so as I wonder if they expect a ‘perfect’ garden – one that is meticulously maintained and expertly designed.
However, I decided that would show you my garden, even if it bursts a few bubbles of what people expect it to look like.
The yellow flowers of angelita daisy contrast with the cool colors of purple and white trailing lantana. Gopher plants (Euphorbia rigida) are getting ready to produce chartreuse-colored flowers.
The landscape that surrounds my home reflects my love for plants that add beauty without needing much attention from me. I don’t tend to rake or blow my leaves and the plants are allowed to grow into their natural shapes without much interference from me.
The fragrant blossoms of feathery cassia (Senna artemisiodes) add visual warmth to the winter landscape.
That is important because I am usually so busy helping others with their landscapes, that I often don’t have enough time to fuss over mine. Pruning once, or at most, twice a year is my standard of a fuss-free plant.
I love color throughout all seasons. So, you are just as likely to find as much color in my winter garden as in the summer.
Green desert spoon (Dasylirion texanum) add spiky texture contrast to the landscape.
As for the design of my garden, horticulturists are by nature, collectors of plants. This means that we likely to include many different kinds of plants – often more than you would see in a well-designed garden.
I do enjoy designing landscapes and have done my best in designing my own garden, while incorporating a large variety of plants.
The leafless canes of an ocotillo will soon leaf out with the arrival of spring.
I’ve always felt that a garden should reflect the owner’s personality while also enhancing the exterior of their home. Mine shows my love for color and low-maintenance beauty.
What does your garden reveal about you?
Colorless Winter Garden ? No Way!
Colorful Container, Before and After, and Valentines
Agave, azplantlady, Cactus/Succulents, Containers, Landscape Problems, Noelle Johnson Landscape Consulting, Southwest gardenFebruary is what I like to call a ‘bridge’ month. In regards to work, it is a transition month for me. It is the month between January, when work slows down as it’s cold with not much is growing and March, when the weather is delightfully warm and everybody seemingly wants to redo their landscape. If I could choose the perfect month in terms of work load, it would be February.
Landscape Dilemma ,Colorful Container Before and After Landscape
Last week, I was visiting one of my favorite clients whose landscape has been a work in progress. The backyard was finished last year and now, it was time to pay attention to the front. Of course, I took a few minutes to see how things were doing in the back and my attention was immediately drawn to this colorful container filled with colorful succulents. The orange stems of ‘Sticks on Fire’ Euphorbia adds welcome color to the garden throughout the year while elephant’s food (Portulacaria afra) trails down the side of the pot.
I am a strong proponent of using colorful pots filled with low-maintenance succulents in the garden. Why mess with flowering annuals if you can enjoy vibrant color without the high maintenance?
Full disclosure: I do have a couple of pots filled with petunias, but the vast majority are filled with succulents 😉
Landscape Dilemma
One of the most rewarding parts of my job is assisting my clients with their landscape dilemma. Often, the solution is much simpler than the client imagined. Last fall, I visited this home which had a large, shallow depression that was filled with dying agave. The interesting thing was that there was no obvious reason for its presence as no water drained into it. It definitely wasn’t what the client wanted in this high-profile area.
So what would be a good solution for this area? The client wanted to plant a large saguaro cactus in this area, but didn’t want to add a lot of plants. My recommendation was to get rid of the dying agave and turn the depression into an attractive feature of the garden.
This is what it looks like now. Filling the area with rip-rap rock, adds both a texture and color contrasting element to the landscape. Well-placed boulders with a century plant (Agave americana), Mexican fence post (Stenocereus marginatus), and golden barrel cactus (Echinocactus grusonii) help to break up the large expanse of the shallow depression with their spiky and globular shapes. Finally, a saguaro cactus was added, which stands sentinel over this renovated area.
One would never imagine that this part of landcape hadn’t been planned this way when it was first planted years ago.
Lastly, February is all about Valentine’s Day. I sent my granddaughter a care package filled with goodies for Valentine’s Day. Dinosaur cards for her classmates, a little craft, a hanging mobile, stickers, and of course chocolates – all with a Valentine theme.
For me, Valentine’s day comes with mostly great memories. As a child, I looked forward to handing out Valentines to my classmates and getting them in return. During teenage years, there was one particularly memorable one when I was 17 years old. My boyfriend didn’t get me anything, however, another boy gave me a card and a flower, which was some consulation. And to finish off that infamous Valentine’s Day, I came down the chicken pox that very day. Guess who also got the chicken pox? The boyfriend who forgot Valentine’s Day. Now, I look forward spending the 14th with the main man in my life, who after 31 years, still makes me feel special.
*What do you do to celebrate Valentine’s Day?
Cactus Flowers Color the Desert Landscape
Two New Roses Find a Home in a Desert Garden
Roses in the DesertEnglish shrub roses
*Disclosure: I am so excited about these two roses, which were sent to me free of charge, to test in my garden.
Roses have enchanted gardeners over the centuries with their colorful petals arranged in intricate rosette shapes, which release intoxicating fragrance into the air.
For those of you who have followed my blog for a while, you’ll know about my love affair with roses and that it was this lovely flower that created my passion for gardening.
AZ Plant Lady taking time to smell the roses at the Santa Barbara Mission in California.
If there is a rose garden nearby, I’ll find it, excited to explore both old and newer varieties of my favorite flower.
When I first began growing roses in my Arizona garden, I used hybrid tea roses as I was obsessed with the regal beauty and upright form of their blossoms. As the years passed and I found myself in a new home, the question was, what type of roses would I plant? Should I go with old favorites or branch out and try new ones?
In the end, I did both.
‘Mister Lincoln’ hybrid tea rose
My outdoor space is broken up into separate areas and my roses grow in a raised bed in the side garden where I can view the flowering plants from my kitchen window. Within the garden, is a single ‘Mister Lincoln’ hybrid tea rose. Of the over forty different hybrid tea roses that I’ve grown through the years, this lovely, red rose is unsurpassed in both beauty and fragrance.
The rest of the garden is home to new roses as well as several perennials that growers throughout the country send me to test out to see how the perform in the desert climate.
‘Graham Thomas’ English shrub rose
So what are the other roses in my garden? I’ll let you in on a secret – hybrid tea roses are no longer my rose of choice. Why, you may ask? Well, I’ve discovered a new category of roses that highly fragrant, have beautiful old-fashioned blooms, and are very low-maintenance.
Rose breeders have taken the best traits from old-fashioned roses and modern roses and combined them to create the perfect type of rose, in my opinion – shrub roses. An English breeder, David Austin, has pioneered this new type of rose and is famous for the majority of truly stunning shrub roses on the market and in gardens throughout the world. I have several shrub roses in my garden and two new roses have recently found a home in a desert garden – mine!
I’ve grown David Austin roses in the past and currently have several in my garden.
Receiving a package in the mail is always a welcome event, particularly when it contains plants. The arrival of this box was initiated months ago by a conversation that I had with the folks at David Austin Roses last fall. I was describing the success that I had with one of their newest varieties that was sent to me the previous year. They asked me if I had had success with growing any of their red varieties and offered to send me two different red roses to see how they would perform in a desert garden.
Fast forward four months later and a box showed up on my doorstep filled with two bare root roses.
Let’s be honest, bare root roses aren’t going to win any beauty contests. In fact, they are quite ugly, but they won’t stay that way for long.
Bare root roses must remain moist and need a good soaking before being planted. This allows the roots to help replenish any water lost as well as prepare it for planting.
Allow the roses to soak for 8 – 24 hours before planting. During this stage, some people like to add vitamin B-1 transplant solution, however, this is optional. I remember my horticulture professor state over and over again, that there is no published studies that showed that using vitamin B-1 had any effect on successful transplanting. If you want to add it, go ahead – I’ve never used it.
The next day, it was time to plant. Before putting the rose in the hole, you need to amend the soil – click here to see how. When planting bare root roses, you need to create a ‘cone’ of raised soil in the middle of the hole so that the base of the rose rests on the top with its roots fanned outward. If the roots are too long, you can cut them a little shorter.
Fill the hole in with soil and tamp it down to get rid of any air pockets. Create a shallow basin around the rose and water deeply. Don’t fertilize the new rose until it has produced its first set of blooms – it needs to concentrate on growing roots first.
It’s hard to believe that this cluster of naked stems will soon give life to glorious, fragrant red roses in a few months. I’ll be sure to keep you updated as to how they do. I can’t wait to see if these red roses do well in my desert garden.
These shrub roses can be hard to find in your local nursery, but can easily be found online.
Now, something fun for you! I hope that I’ve inspired you to try growing David Austin shrub roses. You may have noticed that I didn’t tell you what type of David Austin rose varieties that I received. I invite you to come back for a visit when I’ll be hosting a book giveaway where you can win your own copy of “The English Roses”, which is a lovely book filled with spectacular photos and detailed information on different varieties of shrub roses. I’ve enjoyed my copy very much and it looks great sitting on my coffee table.
Abraham Darby Rose
**What are your favorite type of roses to grow?
A Single Rose Brightens a Winter’s Day
Arizona, desert gardening, Roses in the DesertPhoto: Mister Lincoln hybrid tea rose
I love roses. So much so, that at one time I had over forty different varieties growing in the garden of my home in Phoenix.
Fast forward 25 years later, and I live in a different house with a different garden. While I don’t have quite as many roses as before, I still do have a special place for several of my favorites.
After growing over fifty varieties of roses, I do have a favorite one, which is ‘Mister Lincoln.’ There are so many reasons to grow this rose including dark red, velvety petals along with incredible fragrance.
I planted this bush in my newest garden last year, and I was delighted to see a single, large red bloom decorating my winter garden. What is so special about this single rose is that there are no other flowers currently blooming in this area of the garden, which makes it even that more special.
The leaves of my apple trees are falling in the background, and much of my garden is sleeping. However, this single Mister Lincoln rose brightens my winter garden bringing welcome beauty on a cold winter’s day.
A Hidden Rose Garden in the Desert
January in the Vegetable Garden
Arizona, Citrus, Compost, desert gardening, Vegetable GardeningCool-season vegetables transplants
One of the things that I enjoy about living in the Southwest is the ability to garden throughout the year. Well, that may be a slight exaggeration – I don’t especially like gardening in July or August. During those months, I simply like to view my garden out the window from the air-conditioned comfort of my home. But, you’ll often see me outside spending January in the vegetable garden through the winter months.
So far, this year’s cool-season garden hasn’t been very impressive. In fact, it was quite disappointing. Our drip irrigation system wasn’t watering this particular vegetable bed well because the tiny holes had become clogged from mineral deposits left behind by our notorious hard water. As a result, a handful of romaine lettuce transplants survived, but none of the seeds that I planted in early October germinated except for the radishes and a couple of carrots.
To make it worse, when I discovered the problem last fall, I was so busy trying to keep up with my landscape consulting that I didn’t fix the irrigation troubles. Spring and fall for horticulturists is much like tax season for accountants, and little else gets done.
Well, I felt bad looking out at my sad little vegetable bed, so I cleared my calendar to give it a little TLC earlier this week. First on the list was to pull out the lettuce plants, which had bolted and were ready to be taken out. I was able to get a few radishes, much to the delight of my youngest daughter who loves them.
Before planting, I added a 4-inch layer of compost to help refresh the soil. There wasn’t any need to mix it in with the existing soil – in fact, it’s better if you don’t do that.
Like many people, I find working out in the garden therapeutic and the stresses of day to day life simply melt away. What made this day even better was that my husband came out to help me. At this point, I should mention that he isn’t one of those men who loves to work out in the garden. Oh, he does a great job at it, but he doesn’t like it – at all. Poor guy, he had no idea that the woman he married 30 years ago would turn out to be a plant lady who lives, eats, and breathes all things related to the garden.
My darling husband took an entire morning out of his busy schedule to help me in the garden, fixing the drip irrigation system in my garden. Forget flowers, if spending a morning out in your wife’s vegetable garden fixing irrigation doesn’t shout “I love you,” I don’t know what does.
The drip irrigation system in my vegetable garden is made up of a main poly drip line that runs up the center of the garden. Micro-tubing, with small holes along the length, are then looped along the length of the main drip line. We pulled out the old micro-tubing and replaced it.
Once the irrigation repair was finished, it was time to add plants. Luckily, there is still plenty of time to plant cool-season favorites. To get a head start, I bought romaine lettuce, Swiss chard, and spinach transplants. The rest I would grow from seed. Irish Eyes Garden Seeds is one of my favorite seed companies.
Another seed company who I have used over the years is Burpee. I remember perusing my dad’s Burpee seed catalog when I was a child and planning on which ones I would order for the little plot of land that he gave me in the back garden.
I still order seeds from Burpee and was pleasantly surprised to receive a gift from them this Christmas – an advent calendar where each door opened up to a seed packet filled with one of their new 2017 plant introductions. What an ingenious marketing tool! Every morning, I felt like a kid again waiting to see what new seeds I would find behind the door.
I selected ‘Dragon Tail’ radish, where you eat its purple seed pods and NOT the roots. It is a version of an Asian heirloom radish and has a more delicate flavor than regular radishes. I am very excited to see what this one does in my garden. ‘Rido Red’ radish and ‘Bend and Snap’ snap peas also found a spot in the garden.
Marigolds and nasturtiums are always present alongside cool-season vegetables as they attract beneficial pollinators, discourage harmful insect pests, and just make the garden look pretty. Imagine my delight when I saw new varieties of my favorite flowers in the advent calendar. ‘Strawberry Blonde’ marigolds and ‘Orange Troika’ nasturtiums will add welcome beauty to my vegetable bed. There were other seeds in the calendar that I plan on using including ‘Bend and Snap’ snap peas. I plan on giving some of my seeds to my mother for her garden. Burpee has a list of their new 2017 introductions, which you can access here. I’d love to hear if you grow any of them.
Next to the vegetable garden is my young ‘Meyer’ lemon tree. We planted it two years ago, and this is its first ever fruit. Young citrus trees can take a year or two, after planting, before it produces fruit and I look forward to years of delicious fruit from mine.
Meyer lemons aren’t true lemons. They are a cross between a regular lemon and mandarin orange, and this gives them a sweeter flavor and a deep yellow skin. The story behind Meyer lemons includes overseas exploration, threatened extinction, and Martha Stewart.
Well, that is what is happening in the January vegetable garden. What is growing in your winter garden?