Favorite DIY Posts- Day 4: Freezing Herbs Into Ice Cubes

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Do you grow your own herbs?

Did you know that you can preserve them by freezing them?

Freeze Herbs Into Ice Cubes

I frequently freeze my freshly-harvested herbs into ice cubes so that they are easily on hand, even when they are out of season.

“Freeze Herbs Into Ice Cubes”

Whenever I need them in my favorite dish, I simply pop out an ice cube from the freezer.

Favorite DIY Posts – Day 3: Stepping Stones and Border

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Do you have a border in your garden? 

How about a decorative garden that you made yourself?

decorative garden

Last year, I visited a garden that had a beautiful border that the owner made herself using concrete mix, broken dishes and glass beads.

decorative garden

There were also lovely step stones as well.

The creator of this functional garden art was kind enough to show me how she made them.

“DIY Stepping Stones and Border”

Have you ever made a piece of art that you display in your garden?

Favorite DIY Posts – Day 2: Natural Grapefruit Cleaner

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What kind of household cleaner do you use?

Earlier this year, I had heard of DIY natural cleaners made from grapefruit and decided to try it out myself.

Natural Grapefruit Cleaner

The cleaner was very easy to make and I used grapefruit from my mother’s tree, although you can get yours from the grocery store.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked.

“DIY Natural Household Cleaner”

Favorite DIY Posts – Day 1: Natural Air-Fresheners

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I have spent the past few weeks indoors whenever possible avoiding the desert heat.  While I do venture outdoors occasionally to do consults and take a weekly tour of the garden to make sure everything is okay.

We did lose a small tree and some branches during a fierce monsoon storm over the weekend, but I was grateful for the rain and the cool temperatures that followed.

Last week, I showed you some of my favorite plant photos.  This week, I would like to share with you some of my favorite DIY blog posts, most of which you can do inside.  

Natural Air-Fresheners

One of my favorite DIY projects was creating natural air-fresheners.

I don’t know about you, but I do not like the heavy, artificial smells of air-freshener sprays – not to mention the idea of chemicals floating through the air.  So, the idea of making air-fresheners using  plants definitely appealed to me.

“DIY Create Natural Air Fresheners From the Garden”

I hope you are inspired to make you own!

Favorite Flower Photos: Day 6 – Spikes of Red

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I am excited to show you two pictures of one of my favorite perennials.

Favorite Perennials Firecracker Penstemon (Penstemon eatonii)

Favorite Perennials Firecracker Penstemon (Penstemon eatonii) 

Isn’t this a cool picture of a bee, ready to pollinate the flowers of this penstemon?

I must confess that I did not take this photo (or the other one below).  My husband took both of these beautiful pictures.

Favorite Perennials Firecracker Penstemon (Penstemon eatonii)

This firecracker penstemon is happily growing in my garden and is now over 14 years old, which is rare.

Every winter, it sends up spikes covered in red, tubular flowers, much to the delight of the resident hummingbirds.

The blooms last through spring in my desert garden.  In cooler climates, it will bloom in spring through early summer.

To learn more about this red beauty and how easy it is to grow in your garden, click here.

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I hope you have enjoyed my favorite flower photos.  Starting tomorrow, I will begin posting a series of my favorite DIY blog posts, so please come back for a visit!  

Favorite Flower Photos: Day 5 – A Cloud of Yellow

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Yellow is a great color to include in the garden.  

Why?

Yellow-flowering plants will help the other colors in your garden to ‘pop’ visually because it provides great color contrast.

Damainita (Chrysactinia mexicana)

Damainita (Chrysactinia mexicana) 

One of my favorite yellow-flowering plants is damianita, which blooms in spring and again in fall.

yellow flowering plants

It thrives in hot, sunny, desert gardens, is drought-tolerant and is almost maintenance-free.

I love how it looks like ‘yellow clouds’ sitting on the ground when in bloom.

For more information on damianita as well as a few other desert perennials that I like to use in desert landscapes, click here.

Favorite Flower Photo: Day 4 – Purple Profusion

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I love the color purple in the garden because the color, helps to visually ‘cool’ the garden.

'Rio Bravo' Sage (Leucophyllum langmaniae 'Rio Bravo')

‘Rio Bravo’ Sage (Leucophyllum langmaniae ‘Rio Bravo’) 

Have you ever wondered how some plants handle our hot temperatures and intense sunlight?

Look carefully at the flowers, above.  Note the small hairs covering the petals?  They help to reflect the sun’s rays.

sage shrubs

I like using large shrubs to screen the back wall of my garden, so I have quite a few ‘Rio Bravo’ sage shrubs.

They put on a spectacular show off and on throughout the summer when they bloom.  (Leucophyllum langmaniae) is just one species of Leucophyllum (Texas Sage).

Of course, if you insist on pruning your sage shrubs into round ‘blobs’ – you will never see the flower show.

For guidelines on how to prune your desert, flowering shrubs correctly, click here.

Favorite Flower Photos: Day 3 – Orange Beauty

Do you like orange flowers?

I do.

Orange Jubilee (Tecoma x 'Orange Jubilee')

Orange Jubilee (Tecoma x ‘Orange Jubilee’) 

Which is why I have the orange flowering beauty in my garden.

Clusters of orange, tubular flowers hang from this large shrub from spring through fall, making the hummingbirds in my garden very happy.

Learn more about this beautiful shrub and how to grow it in your garden, here.

Favorite Flower Photos: Day 2

I am sharing with you a few of my favorite close-up flower photographs this week.

Here is one that brightens up my garden summer and into early fall…

Sunflower&nbsp

Sunflower 

It is hard to find a flower that grows so large and that is easy to grow.

flower photographs

I plant mine from seed each spring and then plant a second crop in mid-summer.

Did you know that you can make a bird feeder and shade tomatoes using sunflowers?

Favorite Flower Photos: Day 1

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The dog days of summer have arrived, which means that I spend most of my time indoors.  So, I spend time on my garden writing, knitting, trying new recipes and catching up on reading some great books.   I also decided to tackle my photo library.  It is very large and filled with gardening photos, covering everything from close-ups of favorite blossoms, unique containers, DIY projects, vegetable gardening and pictures taken of the beautiful Southwest.

Over the next few weeks, I won’t be doing a lot of gardening outdoors, (if I can help it), so I thought that I would share with you some of my favorite pictures, grouped by subject.

This week, I would like to share with you some of my favorite close-up photos of flowers.

So, to start it off, here is a photograph from one of my most popular blog posts…

Beautiful Southwest - Queen's Wreath Vine (Antigonon leptopus)

Beautiful Southwest – Queen’s Wreath Vine (Antigonon leptopus) 

Aren’t these pink blossoms beautiful?

I took this picture on the Arizona State University campus some years ago.

You can learn more about this vine and why it does so well in low-desert gardens, here.

I hope you come back tomorrow for my next close-up flower photo AND I will be announcing the winner of the giveaway for one of my favorite gardening books, “Hellstrip Gardening”.

Enter now to win a free copy! Hellstrip Gardening Book Giveaway