As I mentioned in my last post, I headed over today to visit a local farm and it’s adjoining restaurants to view the gardens. As I started walking towards the entry, I was greeted by numerous dragons – all flaunting their beautiful colors.
Snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus) have always been one of my favorite annual flowers. I remember my dad teaching me how to gently squeeze the flowers on the side to cause their “mouths” to open and close, like a dragon’s. It is a trick that I have taught my children as well.
There were so many different colors all planted together, without much thought to design.
To be honest, when I design annual beds, I tend to use the same color of snapdragons and then pair them with a contrasting petunia or geranium.
**One of my favorite combinations is using yellow snapdragons and planting deep purple petunias around them and finishing off with white alyssum around the border. Or you can try red snapdragons with white petunias and lobelia.
Even though, I generally do not mix colors, I must admit that all of these colors mixed together, really worked. It was a stunning display of color.
Snapdragons are typically planted in October and last through April in our area. Obviously, they have reached their peak bloom.
I spent quite some time just admiring the snapdragons and taking pictures. But then, it was time to move on and visit the organic vegetable gardens, the restaurant and explore the rest of the gardens.
I will be posting about my visit next week. I can’t wait to show you the many wonderful treasures tucked away in this special place.
But for now, I would just like to enjoy the snapdragons….
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Happy Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day! This is one of my favorite meme’s. I love participating each month and I always look forward to seeing what my fellow garden bloggers have blooming in their gardens.
On another note, I got it. I thought I had escaped it completely. With such beautiful spring weather, it is just incomprehensible to me that I succumbed to it – the flu. Isn’t there a rule or law somewhere that states you can only be sick with the flu when it is cold and rainy outside? Not when it is gorgeous and sunny outside.
Thankfully, I am feeling better and was able to go outside (in my pajamas) to take pictures for April’s GBBD. The following flowering plants are in my backyard because I did not want to venture out in the front garden in my pajamas 😉
This is the first cluster of flowers this year on my Orange Jubilee (Tecoma x Orange Jubilee) shrub. Since it is located up next to my house, it usually does not suffer frost damage in the winter. Soon, the hummingbirds will be fighting over the blooms.
Closely related to the Orange Jubilee, my Yellow Bells (Tecoma stans stans) is located along the back wall of my garden. It is covered in yellow flowers from April through November.
I am extra excited about this one because these are the first blooms on my Whirling Butterfly Bush (Gaura lindheimeri ‘Siskiyou Pink’). We planted this back in March.
Okay, technically this Cat Claw Vine (Macfadyena unguis-cati) is not planted in my garden, but in my neighbor’s. But, it is blooming in my garden, so that counts, doesn’t it?
Cat Claw Vine does suffer frost damage in some locations in the winter, but quickly grows back.
It can become invasive and so I would use caution when considering growing this vine. I cut back the portion that hangs over my fence about twice a year when it gets too close to my shrubs.
Geraniums in our new vegetable garden. This was recently moved from our Children’s Flower Garden
as it was being deconstructed.
It is not very easy to see all of the yellow blooms that are covering both of my Mexican Bird-of-Paradise (Caesalpinia mexicana), but they are lovely just the same. Although they are commonly grown as shrubs, they can also be trained as small trees as I have done here. In our area, they bloom off and on all year.
I hope you enjoyed this brief visit to some of my flowering plants in the back garden. Please visit May Dreams Gardens for a list of other garden bloggers who are participating in Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day.
Now I’m off to visit my fellow garden blogger’s gardens to see what they have blooming…..
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Those who know me quickly learn that I love a bargain. I get so excited when I find something on sale. It gets even better when I have a coupon for the sale item. Finding a good bargain is in my DNA. I come from a long line of women who love to find great deals.
Well for me, this also extends to the landscape. Now, it may seem a contradiction when I state to my clients that they can save a lot of money by using large plants. We all know that large plants cost a lot of money at the nursery.
I quickly go on to explain to them that I DO NOT recommend buying large-sized plants at the nursery. In fact, I love finding shrubs in the 1-gallon size at the nursery. They are much cheaper, which pleases the bargain hunter in me. What I DO recommend is buying plants in small containers that will grow large fairly quickly.
For example, this 1-gallon Green Cloud Texas Sage cost about $5 dollars at the nursery.
I admit, it is not very impressive and it is hard to imagine what it will look like when it grows up. But, this is a fast growing shrub and in just 2 – 3 years it will look like this….
I’d say that you got a pretty good deal for only $5.
A few years ago, I worked for a home builder, helping new buyers design their new landscapes. By the time I would meet with them, they had spent a lot of their money already on the inside of their new home. And so, their budget was quite limited in terms of what they could spend on their landscaping.
I would then create a design for them using trees and shrubs that would grow large and quickly. This way, they did not have to spend money on a large amount of plants and their garden would still look very beautiful.
Here are some shrubs that grow quickly and will grow large, as long as you don’t over-prune them. All of them can be purchased as 1-gallon plants.
Orange Jubilee (Tecoma x Jubilee)
Threadleaf Cassia (Senna nemophila)
Hopbush (Dodonaea viscosa)
Bougainvillea
Other advantages in starting out using 1-gallon plants as opposed to 5-gallon or larger is that the smaller the initial size of the plant, the easier it is for them to be transplanted. Not just for the gardener, but it is also easier for the plant as well. Larger plants can have a more difficult time dealing with transplant shock.
I have been making some changes in my own garden and have been on the look out for shrubs in a 1-gallon size. I planted a Chaparral Sage (Salvia clevelandii) last month from a 1-gallon container.
I admit, that it is quite small. But, it won’t stay this way for long. Soon, it will soon reach the size of this 3 year old Chaparral Sage that I planted in a commercial landscape….
While you are waiting for your small shrubs to grow large, you can fill in the empty spaces with annuals that you can later pull out once your shrubs start to grow.
Another new addition to my garden is a new Red Bird-of-Paradise (Caesalpinia pulcherrima). The nurseries are starting to stock them right now and it is easy to find them in 5-gallon sizes. I had to look a little more carefully before I found the 1-gallon size.
Okay I admit that I almost have to put on my reading glasses to be able to see this tiny shrub. But it grows so quickly.
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Did you know that plants lose most of their water through their leaves? Some of you may remember this fact from their high school biology class. And if you somehow were able to remember anything from your high school biology class – I applaud you 😉 As for me, I did not remember this fact until I had to take more biology courses in college.
Alright, now back to my next question… Have you ever wondered how trees survive hot, dry conditions while still looking green and beautiful? Well, there are many trees like this growing naturally out in the desert and inside of your own garden.
Now, I will not go into a lecture about transpiration (loss of water from parts of the plant, especially leaves). But I will show you how some of my favorite trees survive the intense sun without losing all of their water.
Palo Blanco (Acacia willardiana)
Take a look at the leaves of one of my favorite Acacia species. They are tiny, aren’t they?
Sweet Acacia (Acacia farnesiana)
The leaves of the Sweet Acacia are even tinier.
Some trees vary in the shape of small leaves that they produce. Some leaves are more round in their shape.
Cascalote (Caesalpinia cacalaco)
Leatherleaf Acacia (Acacia craspedocarpa)
Others are long and narrow.
Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis)
Weeping Wattle (Acacia saligna)
What all of these leaves have in common is that they limit the amount of water that is lost to the air.
Ironwood (Olneya tesota)
How do they do this, you may ask? Well it turns out that the smaller the leaf, the less surface area that is exposed to the sun and air. And so as a result, there is less water lost to the atmosphere.
One way that the leaves help to hold on to their water is by having a tough cuticle (outer coating) that also cuts down on water loss. Another way is that many desert trees and plants are light green or gray in color. This helps the leaves to reflect more sunlight and heat.
Of course, trees with large leaves are grown quite successfully here in the desert and you will find many of them growing in the landscape.
Orchid Tree (Bauhinia variegata)
Since we live in a semi-tropical environment, many trees from tropical areas thrive in our climate. They are largely characterized by large leaves.
Bamboo
Some trees with large leaves require high amounts of water to grow since they lose so much water through their leaves. Now, I am not saying that you should not use trees that have larger leaves, but if you do decide to include them in your landscape, I would limit them to only a few and then plant more drought-tolerant trees as well.
Some of my other favorite drought tolerant trees that are not pictured are the Palo Verde, Texas Ebony, Eucalpytus and Mesquite.
Below, is one of my favorite desert trees, the Lysiloma, which is a perfect example of a tree adapted to our desert climate and is extremely drought tolerant – just look at the tiny leaves. They look somewhat like the fronds of a fern from far away.
Lysiloma
Lysiloma leaves
Some examples of trees that are known to be high water users are Cottonwood, Ash, Weeping Willow and Chinese Pistache trees.
For those of you who want to do all you can about conserving water in the landscape, I would recommend that you select trees that have smaller leaves and/or are known to be drought tolerant. You can find more trees listed and find out whether or not they are high or low water users at this helpful link.
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Now, the title of this post does NOT apply to me. My ancestors hail from Northern Europe and so whenever a sunny day beckons me outdoors, you will find me with my hat and my sunscreen.
What this title does refer to are plants that not only thrive in our full desert sun, but those that can even thrive in areas with hot, reflected heat. Just picture a brick wall, facing west, getting the full force of the sun in the afternoon. Believe it or not, there are quite a few plants that do quite well in the summer sun and seem to be saying “Bring it On”.
Full desert sun
Most people either hate or love Bougainvillea. If you have a pool – do NOT use this plant as they can be quite messy. That being said, I do love Bougainvillea and have two planted along the back wall that receives afternoon sun. They do extremely well and actually flower more when in full sun.
For those who prefer using native plants, Brittlebush (Encelia farinosa) provides beautiful yellow flowers in the winter and spring. Their gray leaves provide a great color contrast to your other plants throughout the year, even when not in flower.
Texas Sage (Leucophyllum frutescens), a native from our neighboring Chihuahuan Desert, is a favorite of mine to use in hot, sunny areas. There are quite a few different Leucophyllum species that come in a variety of leaf colors and offer flowers in shades of purple, pink and white. They can grow up to 6 ft. high and are great for covering up a large expanse of a brick wall.
Red Fairy Duster (Calliandra californica) is a wonderful plant to use in sunny locations. Red flowers are produced year-round, although the heaviest bloom occurs in the spring and fall months. They are a great favorite of hummingbirds.
Cassia species are a wonderful export to us from Australia. There are four different species that are commonly found in our area, but my two favorites are Silvery Senna (Senna phyllodenia) and Desert Senna (Senna artemisioides sturtii). Beautiful flowers appear in winter and last through spring.
It is no surprise to those who have read my blog for any length of time that I would add Globe Mallow Sphaeralcea ambigua) to my list of sun-loving plants. The shrub above, is located in my front garden and I will soon be planting some seeds along the wall in my back garden, which faces west and receives full sun all afternoon.
Whether you prefer the green or purple leafed Hopbush (Dodonaea viscosa), both types will grow upright and produce an evergreen shrub that will thrive in the sun.
Many succulent plants do well in areas with hot, reflected heat. But a word of caution – just because a plant is a succulent (stores water in it’s leaves), does NOT mean that it can handle full sun. However, Soaptree Yucca (Yucca elata) does very well in the hot sun.
This is one of my favorite succulent plants. Red Yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora) is actually not a yucca at all. But it’s succulent leaves make it look like an ornamental grass. In spring and summer red flowers start to bloom.
Chuparosa (Justicia californica) can be seen along the roadsides throughout the desert. They are decorated with orange/red tubular flowers that hummingbirds just love. If they can thrive out in the open desert, they can do very well in your garden.
I hope this list is helpful to those of you who have an area that receives hot, reflected heat that desperately needs a plant. By adding a plant to areas such as these – actually help to cool that area down because the plant actually absorbs the sun’s rays and keeps them from heating up the surrounding wall, rock, etc.
**Please stay away from planting plants such as Hibiscus, Roses, Citrus and Heavenly Bamboo in these areas. They do not do well in areas with hot, reflected heat. However, all of these plants will do very well in north, south and eastern exposures.
If you are reading a plant label at the nursery to see what type of exposure the plant requires, please keep the following in mind. Full sun in the desert is quite different from the full sun experienced in other areas of the country. For example, a Hibiscus shrub that is growing in San Diego, can handle full sun. However, the intensity of the sun coupled with the heat of desert, will make it difficult for a Hibiscus to handle being planted in a western exposure in Arizona.
And so in closing, I hope this list will prove helpful to you as you search for the right plant for that particular area in your garden.
Do you remember when you were a child and couldn’t wait to grow up? First it was learning how to walk before you could run. Then learning how to ride a bike without training wheels. Later you become impatient, waiting until you are old enough to get your driver’s license, although that is often scary for the parents.
Well, this is not a story about a child impatient to grow up. Rather, it is a story of a rose bush that is in too much of a hurry to flower.
Back in January, we reintroduced roses into our garden. We purchased 3 David Austin roses – Abraham Darby, Graham Thomas and William Shakespeare. My children were so excited the day we received the roses in the mail.
Reintroduced Roses
We prepared the holes using bone meal, bagged compost, blood meal and aged steer manure according to the directions from the rose grower.
Once we planted them, they were so small, it was hard to even see them.
Only two months later, we saw the beginning of a single rose bud growing on our Abraham Darby rose, which belongs to my third oldest daughter, Ruthie. We were all so excited and it seemed like it took forever for it to bloom.
It was well worth the wait. I love the light pink of the petals and the fragrance was just intoxicating.
Well, not wanting to be outdone by it’s neighbor, Abraham Darby….Graham Thomas decided that he would outdo Abraham.
Almost all at once, he started to grow not just one rose bud, but 10!
Now normally, I would be absolutely thrilled.
I mean, who wouldn’t love all of these beautiful roses perfuming the air. But, there was just one problem. You can see part of the problem in the photo above.
Graham had not grown big enough stems to support all the new roses, not to mention even one rose.
And so, we had beautiful roses laying on the ground….
Hopefully, Graham will think twice about growing roses before he has big enough stems.
Interestingly, our William Shakespeare rose is quite patient. He is rather puny and only formed his first rose bud a week ago. But, the stem should be able to support the rose (hopefully).
And so the moral of the story is, do not flower until you have grown big enough to support them. I hope Mr. Graham Thomas has learned his lesson….
Each time I go on a landscape consult, it is an adventure. I never know what to expect. Will there be serious problems with any of the trees and plants? Or will my help be needed to re-design the landscape, adjust the irrigation schedule or help people learn how to maintain their plants? Well, life is full of surprises.
Of course, every time I go on a consult, I always bring my camera. I am always looking for examples of beautiful plants and problems to photograph. I then share many of them with you.
Yesterday, was a gorgeous spring day. The high was 78 degrees and I actually had two consults scheduled, within two miles of each other. My first client had just bought a new home and wanted help identifying her plants and how to take care of them. She also had inherited some sick citrus trees and needed help in how to help them.
First the good things that I saw….
I was greeted by the front entry by this spectacular white flower. Argentine Giant (Trichocereus candicans), is a cactus that is highly desired. It produces flowers a few times during spring and summer months. This particular cactus was absolutely covered in these large blossoms.
Nearby the Argentine Giant, was the smaller Claret Cup Cactus (Echinocereus triglochidiatus) awash in bright orange blooms.
An unusually shaped flowering Twin Flower Agave (Agave geminiflora) caught my eye. Normally, they produce a single flowering stalk like the one on the left. However, the one on the right had seven smaller stalks. I love seeing examples of plants that are doing something out of the ordinary 🙂
Now for the bad….
This is one of the four sickly citrus trees that I was asked to see. The diagnosis was relatively easy. Lack of water and nutrient deficiency. Both problems will be solved by enlarging the basin underneath the tree so that it extends out to where the branches end. As the tree grows, so must the basin since a trees roots extend outwards where the branches extend. A new watering schedule and making sure that the water penetrates to 3 ft. in depth should do much to help these trees.
Nutrient deficiencies are corrected by fertilizing citrus trees three times a year – in Feb/Mar, May and September, using either a synthetic or organic fertilizer specially formulated for citrus which contains not only nitrogen, but also micronutrients that are often deficient in our soils.
More information on citrus care, irrigation and fertilization can be found here.
As I walked the landscape with the homeowner, we started looking at the trees that she had inherited with her new home. I quickly noticed something very bad. The previous homeowners had never removed the stake and cables from their tree when it was young.
The tree ended up growing around the wire and there is no way to remove it now without seriously damaging the tree. Usually, when wires are left on the tree, they gradually cut off the nutrients to the tree as the “veins” of the tree are located directly underneath the bark. This usually results in the death of the tree. However, this Mesquite tree appears to have survived and regrown it’s vascular (veins) system around the wire. The tree is 11 years old and is the exception in terms of surviving this type of treatment.
**If your trees are staked, PLEASE make sure to check your wires/cables to make sure that this does not happen to you. Trees are not to be staked forever, only the first 1 – 2 years after planting.
Now the next bad thing I observed was not immediately obvious, but as I began to focus my gaze upwards to evaluate the trees, I saw a few clumps of mistletoe (Phoradendron californicum) growing in the tree. Now, this is not the same kind of leafy mistletoe that is often seen at Christmas. But it is a parasite that will, over time, cause a decline in the tree and stress the tree. This makes the tree more susceptible to disease, insect infestations and other stresses.
As an arborist, I have taken part in discussions regarding whether or not you should leave mistletoe in trees. Mistletoe is part of the natural desert and can be seen growing in trees in the wild. Mistletoe itself will not kill a tree, but does stress the tree and leaves it vulnerable to disease, insects and environmental stresses that will kill the tree eventually.
In managed landscape areas I have always had mistletoe removed. In my opinion, trees do not need any additional stress and the trees are part of a larger landscape design and aesthetics are important.
I also recommend that homeowners also remove the mistletoe from their trees. Not only will it help their tree, but will help keep the mistletoe from spreading to their neighbor’s trees. Mistletoe is spread when birds eat the berries it produces and then they ‘poop’ them out on another tree’s branch and the seed germinates and starts to infect the branch it landed on.
Small clumps of mistletoe are not always obvious, but once you know what to look for, you will easily be able to spot it. I recommend looking at your tree in the winter, when there are fewer leaves to hide the mistletoe.
There are two ways to remove mistletoe. To completely get rid of it, you need to cut the branch that it occurs on at least 12″ below where the mistletoe begins. In most cases, this will completely get rid of the mistletoe. This works best with smaller branches. However, if you have a very large branch that is infected, it may not be feasible to remove the branch. In this case, you can prune the mistletoe off – just take your gloved hand and brush them off of the branch. It is really that easy. Doing this will not get rid of the mistletoe, but help to control it. You will have to continue to do this periodically to keep the mistletoe from becoming larger and spreading.
Now on to my second client of the day. Overall, is landscape was in good shape. His citrus trees were healthy as were the rest of his plants. But, the majority of his concerns were in regards to his irrigation system. His mature Palo Brea tree (Parkinsonia praecox), pictured above, still had the irrigation emitters positioned by the trunk of the tree. The same place that they had been place 8 years ago. The problem is, the roots have now moved.
I explained to him that as a tree grows, so do the roots. They grow outwards, toward the edge of where the branches extend. And so as the tree grows, the emitters need to be moved and places around the tree where the branches end. For this tree, three 2 (gph) emitters evenly spaced around the tree will work just fine.
Well, I had a very fulfilling day working with some very nice people. I just love help people learn how to care for their trees and plants and spend time outdoors and admiring the beauty in people’s gardens.
As I was leaving, I saw something very ugly….
This homeowner had ‘topped’ his Mesquite tree. Now, I am not sure why they had this done. I could tell that from looking at the branches, that it was not the first time it had been ‘topped’.
Now any arborist will tell you that ‘topping’ is bad and there are a number of reasons why. I will address it further in another post, but will leave you with these few reasons NOT to top your trees:
-It causes the tree to grow more quickly to replace the leaves lost, therefore increasing the amount of pruning needed.
-The new branches will not be firmly attached and will be more likely to break.
-Topping stresses the tree, making it susceptible to disease, insects and environmental stresses.
-If those reasons are not enough, then maybe this one will be….IT IS UGLY.
Thank you for hanging in there with me…I realize this was a long post, but there was so much to ‘talk’ about from my visits yesterday. I hope you enjoyed the beauty of the flowers and that maybe I have helped people avoid some of the problems that I have highlighted.
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Today’s post is written by my sister, Chicken Farmer, who is a resident of Double S Farms – a place that I have often posted about. This is her story of an unexpected surprise and not necessarily a welcome one.
I have to start this post by saying that I love Arizona. Really, I do. But the first time I saw a scorpion, I was ready to high tail it back to California. Yes, there are scorpions in California, but I didn’t see one until I moved to Arizona.
Scorpions like to eat insects and you can see the wings of the Lacewing bug that he had just captured. By the way, Lacewings are the sort of insect you want in your garden. They eat aphids.
My family and I have lived in Arizona for close to 4 years. the first 2 1/2 years, we didn’t see a single scorpion around our house. However, my mother, who lived about 5 miles from us, had a ton of them in her backyard. And by a ton, I’m talking about 40 – 50 scorpions on her back garden wall in a single night when we first realized she had a problem.
As soon as she realized that she had scorpions, my brother and husband were on a mission. They showed up at her house armed with a black light and a torch (which is really my creme brulee torch from Williams Sonoma). The strange thing about scorpions is that they glow a bright green color under a black light so they’re very easy to spot at night. Once my brother and husband would spot one, they’d fry them with the torch. After a few weeks of this, her scorpion problem got a lot better.
Fast forward to about a year ago when my husband and I purchased Double S Farms with my mother. The first day at the house, I saw a scorpion on the drapes. An hour later, I found one in my bathroom. An hour after that, one of them crawled out of a box I was unpacking. I’m not really wimpy about bugs, but I have to admit that I was totally freaked. We soon came to find out that our house was literally crawling with scorpions. Within our first year of living at Double S Farms, I’d guess we’ve found at least 75+ of those buggers in our house!
There are 30 – 45 scorpion species here in Arizona. Of those, only one is considered life threatening – the bark scorpion. Unfortunately, we have seen those little stinkers in our house. We have young boys and have found scorpions within inches of their feet on more then one occasion. Fortunately, their pediatrician has assured me that since my kids are healthy, they would weather a scorpion sting just fine. In addition, Arizona is home of the only scorpion antivenin program in North America – so an antivenin, if needed, is available at most local hospitals.
We have taken a lot of measures to eliminate our scorpion problem (including having our home sealed and getting chickens). Although we’ve seen an improvement, we still find them in the house more often than I’d like (3 of them just last week!).
I guess my next step should be to learn to co-exist with them, which really isn’t likely as that is definitely not in my DNA.
For more information on scorpions such as what they eat and how they kill their prey, you can click on this link.
**Noelle here – I must say that I have lived in Arizona for over 23 years in 5 different houses and have only seen one scorpion (it was in the garage). You can have a scorpion problem in one neighborhood and two blocks away, there are none.
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What a wonderful, busy weekend we had. I always enjoy the coming of Easter and what it signifies – rebirth.
When I first started this blog, I promised myself that I would not create a post solely about my family – I didn’t want to bore anyone and although my family is wonderful, we aren’t terribly interesting.
And so, I will keep my promise and show you a garden, sandwiched between two separate family Easter celebrations. That way, you can skip over the family photos and just look at the garden if you like.
You can see my two youngest with their cousin, planning their strategy on how to get the golden egg in the middle of the field.
Saturday morning found me with the kids at the Sun Lakes Annual Easter Egg Hunt. It is a fun event for the kids and they always look forward to it. I love to watch the joy on their faces as they anticipate the hunt and plan their strategy. I don’t particularly like having to get up really early on a Saturday though.
Easter celebrations
They both did pretty well and got quite a few eggs, but alas….the golden egg was found by someone else.
After the hunt for eggs was over, we settled ourselves to watch the Easter parade, which consists of golf carts decorated for Easter.
I will not show all of the entries, but I will show you the one that the kids selected as the best one.
After the parade was over, we went back to my in-law’s home. I am very fortunate that I have very wonderful in-law’s – (and they occasionally read my blog 😉 My favorite thing about their home is their landscape. It is a wonderful mixture of succulents, shrubs and perennials.
I was fortunate to have been asked by my father-in-law to design their front and back landscape when they had their home built. Prickly Pear Cacti, Agave, Golden Barrel Cactus, Pygmy Date Palm, Palo Brea Tree, Baja Ruellia, Katie Ruellia, Damianita and Firecracker Penstemon are all part of the front garden.
My father-in-law has a green thumb, especially when it comes to growing annuals, like these geraniums.
Our gardening styles differ in that he is more of a formal gardener. His plants are carefully pruned and his garden is the ‘cleanest’ garden I have ever seen. I am a more carefree gardener and prefer more naturally shaped plants and I do not mind loose leaves in the garden.
Last fall, my father-in-law asked me to re-design the corners of the backyard. The new Firecracker Penstemon and Blackfoot Daisy are growing in nicely. The original Desert Spoon (Dasylirion wheeleri), were kept in the background as they offer texture and a great color contrast.
After a wonderful Easter lunch of my mother-in-law’s lasagna and the ice-box cake that I made, I was ready to go home and take a nap, which I did.
The next morning, we went to church and then prepared to go to my mother and sister’s home on Double S Farms. My brother and his wife, my cousin and her family were to join us all there for Easter lunch and another Easter egg hunt. As my son put it, you can never have enough Easter egg hunts.
My two oldest daughters.
I had a great time catching up with my cousin and her daughters.
We had a great lunch and then it was time for the hunt. Tradition in our family holds that the men of the family hide the eggs.
The vegetable garden at Double S Farms made a great place to hid eggs, along with the fruit trees and the chicken coop.
Little & Littlest Farmers got a head start on the Easter egg hunt with assistance from their mother, Chicken Farmer. Little Farmer, figured that since he was hunting for eggs with candy that his Halloween pumpkin would work just fine.
Easter celebrations
I think this is the cutest Easter bunny I have ever seen 🙂
There were a lot of places to hide eggs, but the kids soon found them all.
Including my youngest daughter, who was so happy because she absolutely LOVES chocolate candy.
Well, I hope I have not bored you with our exploits over Easter weekend, but we had a wonderful time being outdoors enjoying the springtime weather and being with family. I do hope that you all had a very blessed Easter.
My next post will be a guest post by my sister, Chicken Farmer. You don’t want to miss it….
Last week, on a trip to our local big box store, I was greeted by the pallets loaded with beautiful, red geraniums. This is a sight that made me angry.
You may be wondering why on earth the sight of beautiful flowers made me angry. Well, I do love flowers, (obviously… I’m a horticulturist) – so that is not what made me mad.
What if I told you that most of the annual flowers that were on display at the beginning of April, are the same kind of flowers that were for sale in September and October.
Petunias
Now, if you take a minute to consider this, you come to the conclusion that the annual flowers that the big box stores are being offered for sale in early April – just in time for summer. That doesn’t make much sense does it?
Well, winter annuals are called “winter annuals” for a reason….because they grow in the winter, NOT in the summer. They cannot handle our hot summers here in the desert.
You may think that this problem does not apply to you if you don’t live in the desert and your summers do not get as hot as ours. Well, I hate to inform you that this problem occurs all over the US.
Violas
I love Violas, but these beautiful hanging violas that were hanging outside of the nursery department will be toast, literally, in just a couple of months. My violas that have been growing beautifully since late October, are starting to show signs of stress with the couple of 80+ days we have experienced last week.
And so, this is what makes me angry this time of year, when I enter the nursery section of my big box store. The winter annual flowers are beautifully laid out in order to entice shoppers as they enter. You can see the shoppers envisioning how beautiful their gardens will be once they add some of these colorful flowers.
Marigolds, Alyssum, and Petunias
What they do not realize is that in two months, the alyssum and petunias, pictured above, will be dead and their money wasted.**Interestingly, the petunias and alyssum are placed alongside the orange colored marigolds, which usually will do quite well through most of the summer.
Arizona is different from many parts of the country. Our mild winters allow us to grow annual flowers that are grown elsewhere in the country in the summer.
Stock
People put their trust in their plant nursery and believe that they would not sell anything that would not thrive in their garden. They rely on their expertise to sell the right plant for the right time of year. Sadly, this is not true of all nurseries, especially those at the big box stores. People begin to believe that they cannot grow flowers or that they have a “black thumb” instead of a green one when their newly planted flowers begin to die soon after planting.
But do not DESPAIR….there is hope!
You can avoid being a victim and the solution is really quite simple….do a little research. It can be as simple as doing a Google Search and enter the term….summer annuals for (your city or area). You should be given a long list of plants that should thrive in your area.
**For residents of the Arizona and California desert, I have done the online searching for you. You can check out the following link for information on what kind of flowers to grow and when.
https://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/DSC03141.jpg390640arizonaplantlady@gmail.comhttp://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/favicon.pngarizonaplantlady@gmail.com2010-04-05 17:15:002021-02-27 01:57:06Flowers for Summer? Not So Fast…..
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Greeted By Dragons….
AZ Plant LadyAs I mentioned in my last post, I headed over today to visit a local farm and it’s adjoining restaurants to view the gardens. As I started walking towards the entry, I was greeted by numerous dragons – all flaunting their beautiful colors.
Snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus) have always been one of my favorite annual flowers. I remember my dad teaching me how to gently squeeze the flowers on the side to cause their “mouths” to open and close, like a dragon’s. It is a trick that I have taught my children as well.
There were so many different colors all planted together, without much thought to design.
To be honest, when I design annual beds, I tend to use the same color of snapdragons and then pair them with a contrasting petunia or geranium.
**One of my favorite combinations is using yellow snapdragons and planting deep purple petunias around them and finishing off with white alyssum around the border. Or you can try red snapdragons with white petunias and lobelia.
Even though, I generally do not mix colors, I must admit that all of these colors mixed together, really worked. It was a stunning display of color.
Snapdragons are typically planted in October and last through April in our area. Obviously, they have reached their peak bloom.
I spent quite some time just admiring the snapdragons and taking pictures. But then, it was time to move on and visit the organic vegetable gardens, the restaurant and explore the rest of the gardens.
I will be posting about my visit next week. I can’t wait to show you the many wonderful treasures tucked away in this special place.
But for now, I would just like to enjoy the snapdragons….
A Farm, Flowers and a Restaurant in the Midst of Suburbia
April Garden Bloggers Bloom Day….and the flu
AZ Plant LadyHappy Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day! This is one of my favorite meme’s. I love participating each month and I always look forward to seeing what my fellow garden bloggers have blooming in their gardens.
On another note, I got it. I thought I had escaped it completely. With such beautiful spring weather, it is just incomprehensible to me that I succumbed to it – the flu. Isn’t there a rule or law somewhere that states you can only be sick with the flu when it is cold and rainy outside? Not when it is gorgeous and sunny outside.
Thankfully, I am feeling better and was able to go outside (in my pajamas) to take pictures for April’s GBBD. The following flowering plants are in my backyard because I did not want to venture out in the front garden in my pajamas 😉
This is the first cluster of flowers this year on my Orange Jubilee (Tecoma x Orange Jubilee) shrub. Since it is located up next to my house, it usually does not suffer frost damage in the winter. Soon, the hummingbirds will be fighting over the blooms.
Closely related to the Orange Jubilee, my Yellow Bells (Tecoma stans stans) is located along the back wall of my garden. It is covered in yellow flowers from April through November.
I am extra excited about this one because these are the first blooms on my Whirling Butterfly Bush (Gaura lindheimeri ‘Siskiyou Pink’). We planted this back in March.
Okay, technically this Cat Claw Vine (Macfadyena unguis-cati) is not planted in my garden, but in my neighbor’s. But, it is blooming in my garden, so that counts, doesn’t it? Cat Claw Vine does suffer frost damage in some locations in the winter, but quickly grows back. It can become invasive and so I would use caution when considering growing this vine. I cut back the portion that hangs over my fence about twice a year when it gets too close to my shrubs.
Geraniums in our new vegetable garden. This was recently moved from our Children’s Flower Garden as it was being deconstructed.
It is not very easy to see all of the yellow blooms that are covering both of my Mexican Bird-of-Paradise (Caesalpinia mexicana), but they are lovely just the same. Although they are commonly grown as shrubs, they can also be trained as small trees as I have done here. In our area, they bloom off and on all year.
I hope you enjoyed this brief visit to some of my flowering plants in the back garden. Please visit May Dreams Gardens for a list of other garden bloggers who are participating in Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day.
Now I’m off to visit my fellow garden blogger’s gardens to see what they have blooming…..
Planning a Beautiful Garden and Saving Money
Landscape Design, Landscape ProblemsThose who know me quickly learn that I love a bargain. I get so excited when I find something on sale. It gets even better when I have a coupon for the sale item. Finding a good bargain is in my DNA. I come from a long line of women who love to find great deals.
Well for me, this also extends to the landscape. Now, it may seem a contradiction when I state to my clients that they can save a lot of money by using large plants. We all know that large plants cost a lot of money at the nursery.
I quickly go on to explain to them that I DO NOT recommend buying large-sized plants at the nursery. In fact, I love finding shrubs in the 1-gallon size at the nursery. They are much cheaper, which pleases the bargain hunter in me. What I DO recommend is buying plants in small containers that will grow large fairly quickly.
For example, this 1-gallon Green Cloud Texas Sage cost about $5 dollars at the nursery.
I admit, it is not very impressive and it is hard to imagine what it will look like when it grows up. But, this is a fast growing shrub and in just 2 – 3 years it will look like this….
I’d say that you got a pretty good deal for only $5.
A few years ago, I worked for a home builder, helping new buyers design their new landscapes. By the time I would meet with them, they had spent a lot of their money already on the inside of their new home. And so, their budget was quite limited in terms of what they could spend on their landscaping.
I would then create a design for them using trees and shrubs that would grow large and quickly. This way, they did not have to spend money on a large amount of plants and their garden would still look very beautiful.
Here are some shrubs that grow quickly and will grow large, as long as you don’t over-prune them. All of them can be purchased as 1-gallon plants.
Orange Jubilee (Tecoma x Jubilee)
Threadleaf Cassia (Senna nemophila)
Hopbush (Dodonaea viscosa)
Bougainvillea
Other advantages in starting out using 1-gallon plants as opposed to 5-gallon or larger is that the smaller the initial size of the plant, the easier it is for them to be transplanted. Not just for the gardener, but it is also easier for the plant as well. Larger plants can have a more difficult time dealing with transplant shock.
I have been making some changes in my own garden and have been on the look out for shrubs in a 1-gallon size. I planted a Chaparral Sage (Salvia clevelandii) last month from a 1-gallon container.
I admit, that it is quite small. But, it won’t stay this way for long. Soon, it will soon reach the size of this 3 year old Chaparral Sage that I planted in a commercial landscape….
While you are waiting for your small shrubs to grow large, you can fill in the empty spaces with annuals that you can later pull out once your shrubs start to grow.
Another new addition to my garden is a new Red Bird-of-Paradise (Caesalpinia pulcherrima). The nurseries are starting to stock them right now and it is easy to find them in 5-gallon sizes. I had to look a little more carefully before I found the 1-gallon size.
Okay I admit that I almost have to put on my reading glasses to be able to see this tiny shrub. But it grows so quickly.
In just 2 – 3 years, it will look like this….
Not too bad for $4, is it?
Visions of Pink – One Pretty, One Amusing and the Other Unique
Large Trees and Little Leaves…
Drought TolerantDid you know that plants lose most of their water through their leaves? Some of you may remember this fact from their high school biology class. And if you somehow were able to remember anything from your high school biology class – I applaud you 😉 As for me, I did not remember this fact until I had to take more biology courses in college.
Alright, now back to my next question… Have you ever wondered how trees survive hot, dry conditions while still looking green and beautiful? Well, there are many trees like this growing naturally out in the desert and inside of your own garden.
Now, I will not go into a lecture about transpiration (loss of water from parts of the plant, especially leaves). But I will show you how some of my favorite trees survive the intense sun without losing all of their water.
Palo Blanco (Acacia willardiana)
Take a look at the leaves of one of my favorite Acacia species. They are tiny, aren’t they?
Sweet Acacia (Acacia farnesiana)
The leaves of the Sweet Acacia are even tinier.
Some trees vary in the shape of small leaves that they produce. Some leaves are more round in their shape.
Cascalote (Caesalpinia cacalaco)
Leatherleaf Acacia (Acacia craspedocarpa)
Others are long and narrow.
Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis)
Weeping Wattle (Acacia saligna)
What all of these leaves have in common is that they limit the amount of water that is lost to the air.
Ironwood (Olneya tesota)
How do they do this, you may ask? Well it turns out that the smaller the leaf, the less surface area that is exposed to the sun and air. And so as a result, there is less water lost to the atmosphere.
One way that the leaves help to hold on to their water is by having a tough cuticle (outer coating) that also cuts down on water loss. Another way is that many desert trees and plants are light green or gray in color. This helps the leaves to reflect more sunlight and heat.
Of course, trees with large leaves are grown quite successfully here in the desert and you will find many of them growing in the landscape.
Orchid Tree (Bauhinia variegata)
Since we live in a semi-tropical environment, many trees from tropical areas thrive in our climate. They are largely characterized by large leaves.
Bamboo
Some trees with large leaves require high amounts of water to grow since they lose so much water through their leaves. Now, I am not saying that you should not use trees that have larger leaves, but if you do decide to include them in your landscape, I would limit them to only a few and then plant more drought-tolerant trees as well.
Some of my other favorite drought tolerant trees that are not pictured are the Palo Verde, Texas Ebony, Eucalpytus and Mesquite.
Below, is one of my favorite desert trees, the Lysiloma, which is a perfect example of a tree adapted to our desert climate and is extremely drought tolerant – just look at the tiny leaves. They look somewhat like the fronds of a fern from far away.
Lysiloma
Lysiloma leaves
Some examples of trees that are known to be high water users are Cottonwood, Ash, Weeping Willow and Chinese Pistache trees.
For those of you who want to do all you can about conserving water in the landscape, I would recommend that you select trees that have smaller leaves and/or are known to be drought tolerant. You can find more trees listed and find out whether or not they are high or low water users at this helpful link.
I hope some of you find this information helpful.
Have a great day!
A Wonderful Dilemma….Part 2
Enjoying the Sun…..No Sunscreen Required
AZ Plant LadyNow, the title of this post does NOT apply to me. My ancestors hail from Northern Europe and so whenever a sunny day beckons me outdoors, you will find me with my hat and my sunscreen.
What this title does refer to are plants that not only thrive in our full desert sun, but those that can even thrive in areas with hot, reflected heat. Just picture a brick wall, facing west, getting the full force of the sun in the afternoon. Believe it or not, there are quite a few plants that do quite well in the summer sun and seem to be saying “Bring it On”.
Full desert sun
Most people either hate or love Bougainvillea. If you have a pool – do NOT use this plant as they can be quite messy. That being said, I do love Bougainvillea and have two planted along the back wall that receives afternoon sun. They do extremely well and actually flower more when in full sun.
For those who prefer using native plants, Brittlebush (Encelia farinosa) provides beautiful yellow flowers in the winter and spring. Their gray leaves provide a great color contrast to your other plants throughout the year, even when not in flower.
Texas Sage (Leucophyllum frutescens), a native from our neighboring Chihuahuan Desert, is a favorite of mine to use in hot, sunny areas. There are quite a few different Leucophyllum species that come in a variety of leaf colors and offer flowers in shades of purple, pink and white. They can grow up to 6 ft. high and are great for covering up a large expanse of a brick wall.
Red Fairy Duster (Calliandra californica) is a wonderful plant to use in sunny locations. Red flowers are produced year-round, although the heaviest bloom occurs in the spring and fall months. They are a great favorite of hummingbirds.
Cassia species are a wonderful export to us from Australia. There are four different species that are commonly found in our area, but my two favorites are Silvery Senna (Senna phyllodenia) and Desert Senna (Senna artemisioides sturtii). Beautiful flowers appear in winter and last through spring.
It is no surprise to those who have read my blog for any length of time that I would add Globe Mallow Sphaeralcea ambigua) to my list of sun-loving plants. The shrub above, is located in my front garden and I will soon be planting some seeds along the wall in my back garden, which faces west and receives full sun all afternoon.
Whether you prefer the green or purple leafed Hopbush (Dodonaea viscosa), both types will grow upright and produce an evergreen shrub that will thrive in the sun.
Many succulent plants do well in areas with hot, reflected heat. But a word of caution – just because a plant is a succulent (stores water in it’s leaves), does NOT mean that it can handle full sun. However, Soaptree Yucca (Yucca elata) does very well in the hot sun.
This is one of my favorite succulent plants. Red Yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora) is actually not a yucca at all. But it’s succulent leaves make it look like an ornamental grass. In spring and summer red flowers start to bloom.
Chuparosa (Justicia californica) can be seen along the roadsides throughout the desert. They are decorated with orange/red tubular flowers that hummingbirds just love. If they can thrive out in the open desert, they can do very well in your garden.
I hope this list is helpful to those of you who have an area that receives hot, reflected heat that desperately needs a plant. By adding a plant to areas such as these – actually help to cool that area down because the plant actually absorbs the sun’s rays and keeps them from heating up the surrounding wall, rock, etc.
**Please stay away from planting plants such as Hibiscus, Roses, Citrus and Heavenly Bamboo in these areas. They do not do well in areas with hot, reflected heat. However, all of these plants will do very well in north, south and eastern exposures.
If you are reading a plant label at the nursery to see what type of exposure the plant requires, please keep the following in mind. Full sun in the desert is quite different from the full sun experienced in other areas of the country. For example, a Hibiscus shrub that is growing in San Diego, can handle full sun. However, the intensity of the sun coupled with the heat of desert, will make it difficult for a Hibiscus to handle being planted in a western exposure in Arizona.
And so in closing, I hope this list will prove helpful to you as you search for the right plant for that particular area in your garden.
Large Trees and Little Leaves…
Impatient To Grow Up….
Flowering AnnualsDo you remember when you were a child and couldn’t wait to grow up? First it was learning how to walk before you could run. Then learning how to ride a bike without training wheels. Later you become impatient, waiting until you are old enough to get your driver’s license, although that is often scary for the parents.
Well, this is not a story about a child impatient to grow up. Rather, it is a story of a rose bush that is in too much of a hurry to flower.
Back in January, we reintroduced roses into our garden. We purchased 3 David Austin roses – Abraham Darby, Graham Thomas and William Shakespeare. My children were so excited the day we received the roses in the mail.
Reintroduced Roses
We prepared the holes using bone meal, bagged compost, blood meal and aged steer manure according to the directions from the rose grower.
Once we planted them, they were so small, it was hard to even see them.
Only two months later, we saw the beginning of a single rose bud growing on our Abraham Darby rose, which belongs to my third oldest daughter, Ruthie. We were all so excited and it seemed like it took forever for it to bloom.
It was well worth the wait. I love the light pink of the petals and the fragrance was just intoxicating.
Well, not wanting to be outdone by it’s neighbor, Abraham Darby….Graham Thomas decided that he would outdo Abraham.
Almost all at once, he started to grow not just one rose bud, but 10!
Now normally, I would be absolutely thrilled.
I mean, who wouldn’t love all of these beautiful roses perfuming the air. But, there was just one problem. You can see part of the problem in the photo above.
Graham had not grown big enough stems to support all the new roses, not to mention even one rose.
And so, we had beautiful roses laying on the ground….
Hopefully, Graham will think twice about growing roses before he has big enough stems.
Interestingly, our William Shakespeare rose is quite patient. He is rather puny and only formed his first rose bud a week ago. But, the stem should be able to support the rose (hopefully).
And so the moral of the story is, do not flower until you have grown big enough to support them. I hope Mr. Graham Thomas has learned his lesson….
A Neglected, Overgrown, Nameless Rose….
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly….
Cactus/SucculentsEach time I go on a landscape consult, it is an adventure. I never know what to expect. Will there be serious problems with any of the trees and plants? Or will my help be needed to re-design the landscape, adjust the irrigation schedule or help people learn how to maintain their plants? Well, life is full of surprises.
Of course, every time I go on a consult, I always bring my camera. I am always looking for examples of beautiful plants and problems to photograph. I then share many of them with you.
Yesterday, was a gorgeous spring day. The high was 78 degrees and I actually had two consults scheduled, within two miles of each other. My first client had just bought a new home and wanted help identifying her plants and how to take care of them. She also had inherited some sick citrus trees and needed help in how to help them.
First the good things that I saw….
I was greeted by the front entry by this spectacular white flower. Argentine Giant (Trichocereus candicans), is a cactus that is highly desired. It produces flowers a few times during spring and summer months. This particular cactus was absolutely covered in these large blossoms.
Nearby the Argentine Giant, was the smaller Claret Cup Cactus (Echinocereus triglochidiatus) awash in bright orange blooms.
An unusually shaped flowering Twin Flower Agave (Agave geminiflora) caught my eye. Normally, they produce a single flowering stalk like the one on the left. However, the one on the right had seven smaller stalks. I love seeing examples of plants that are doing something out of the ordinary 🙂
Now for the bad….
This is one of the four sickly citrus trees that I was asked to see. The diagnosis was relatively easy. Lack of water and nutrient deficiency. Both problems will be solved by enlarging the basin underneath the tree so that it extends out to where the branches end. As the tree grows, so must the basin since a trees roots extend outwards where the branches extend. A new watering schedule and making sure that the water penetrates to 3 ft. in depth should do much to help these trees.
Nutrient deficiencies are corrected by fertilizing citrus trees three times a year – in Feb/Mar, May and September, using either a synthetic or organic fertilizer specially formulated for citrus which contains not only nitrogen, but also micronutrients that are often deficient in our soils.
More information on citrus care, irrigation and fertilization can be found here.
As I walked the landscape with the homeowner, we started looking at the trees that she had inherited with her new home. I quickly noticed something very bad. The previous homeowners had never removed the stake and cables from their tree when it was young.
The tree ended up growing around the wire and there is no way to remove it now without seriously damaging the tree. Usually, when wires are left on the tree, they gradually cut off the nutrients to the tree as the “veins” of the tree are located directly underneath the bark. This usually results in the death of the tree. However, this Mesquite tree appears to have survived and regrown it’s vascular (veins) system around the wire. The tree is 11 years old and is the exception in terms of surviving this type of treatment.
**If your trees are staked, PLEASE make sure to check your wires/cables to make sure that this does not happen to you. Trees are not to be staked forever, only the first 1 – 2 years after planting.
Now the next bad thing I observed was not immediately obvious, but as I began to focus my gaze upwards to evaluate the trees, I saw a few clumps of mistletoe (Phoradendron californicum) growing in the tree. Now, this is not the same kind of leafy mistletoe that is often seen at Christmas. But it is a parasite that will, over time, cause a decline in the tree and stress the tree. This makes the tree more susceptible to disease, insect infestations and other stresses.
As an arborist, I have taken part in discussions regarding whether or not you should leave mistletoe in trees. Mistletoe is part of the natural desert and can be seen growing in trees in the wild. Mistletoe itself will not kill a tree, but does stress the tree and leaves it vulnerable to disease, insects and environmental stresses that will kill the tree eventually.
In managed landscape areas I have always had mistletoe removed. In my opinion, trees do not need any additional stress and the trees are part of a larger landscape design and aesthetics are important.
I also recommend that homeowners also remove the mistletoe from their trees. Not only will it help their tree, but will help keep the mistletoe from spreading to their neighbor’s trees. Mistletoe is spread when birds eat the berries it produces and then they ‘poop’ them out on another tree’s branch and the seed germinates and starts to infect the branch it landed on.
Small clumps of mistletoe are not always obvious, but once you know what to look for, you will easily be able to spot it. I recommend looking at your tree in the winter, when there are fewer leaves to hide the mistletoe.
There are two ways to remove mistletoe. To completely get rid of it, you need to cut the branch that it occurs on at least 12″ below where the mistletoe begins. In most cases, this will completely get rid of the mistletoe. This works best with smaller branches. However, if you have a very large branch that is infected, it may not be feasible to remove the branch. In this case, you can prune the mistletoe off – just take your gloved hand and brush them off of the branch. It is really that easy. Doing this will not get rid of the mistletoe, but help to control it. You will have to continue to do this periodically to keep the mistletoe from becoming larger and spreading.
Now on to my second client of the day. Overall, is landscape was in good shape. His citrus trees were healthy as were the rest of his plants. But, the majority of his concerns were in regards to his irrigation system. His mature Palo Brea tree (Parkinsonia praecox), pictured above, still had the irrigation emitters positioned by the trunk of the tree. The same place that they had been place 8 years ago. The problem is, the roots have now moved.
I explained to him that as a tree grows, so do the roots. They grow outwards, toward the edge of where the branches extend. And so as the tree grows, the emitters need to be moved and places around the tree where the branches end. For this tree, three 2 (gph) emitters evenly spaced around the tree will work just fine.
Well, I had a very fulfilling day working with some very nice people. I just love help people learn how to care for their trees and plants and spend time outdoors and admiring the beauty in people’s gardens.
As I was leaving, I saw something very ugly….
This homeowner had ‘topped’ his Mesquite tree. Now, I am not sure why they had this done. I could tell that from looking at the branches, that it was not the first time it had been ‘topped’.
Now any arborist will tell you that ‘topping’ is bad and there are a number of reasons why. I will address it further in another post, but will leave you with these few reasons NOT to top your trees:
-It causes the tree to grow more quickly to replace the leaves lost, therefore increasing the amount of pruning needed.
-The new branches will not be firmly attached and will be more likely to break.
-Topping stresses the tree, making it susceptible to disease, insects and environmental stresses.
-If those reasons are not enough, then maybe this one will be….IT IS UGLY.
*For more information on the damage ‘topping’ trees does, you can visit The International Society of Arboriculture.
Thank you for hanging in there with me…I realize this was a long post, but there was so much to ‘talk’ about from my visits yesterday. I hope you enjoyed the beauty of the flowers and that maybe I have helped people avoid some of the problems that I have highlighted.
“Scary” Pruning Practices and the Unfortunate Results
New To Arizona and an Unexpected Surprise….
Double S FarmsToday’s post is written by my sister, Chicken Farmer, who is a resident of Double S Farms – a place that I have often posted about. This is her story of an unexpected surprise and not necessarily a welcome one.
I have to start this post by saying that I love Arizona. Really, I do. But the first time I saw a scorpion, I was ready to high tail it back to California. Yes, there are scorpions in California, but I didn’t see one until I moved to Arizona.
Scorpions like to eat insects and you can see the wings of the Lacewing bug that he had just captured. By the way, Lacewings are the sort of insect you want in your garden. They eat aphids.
My family and I have lived in Arizona for close to 4 years. the first 2 1/2 years, we didn’t see a single scorpion around our house. However, my mother, who lived about 5 miles from us, had a ton of them in her backyard. And by a ton, I’m talking about 40 – 50 scorpions on her back garden wall in a single night when we first realized she had a problem.
As soon as she realized that she had scorpions, my brother and husband were on a mission. They showed up at her house armed with a black light and a torch (which is really my creme brulee torch from Williams Sonoma). The strange thing about scorpions is that they glow a bright green color under a black light so they’re very easy to spot at night. Once my brother and husband would spot one, they’d fry them with the torch. After a few weeks of this, her scorpion problem got a lot better.
Fast forward to about a year ago when my husband and I purchased Double S Farms with my mother. The first day at the house, I saw a scorpion on the drapes. An hour later, I found one in my bathroom. An hour after that, one of them crawled out of a box I was unpacking. I’m not really wimpy about bugs, but I have to admit that I was totally freaked. We soon came to find out that our house was literally crawling with scorpions. Within our first year of living at Double S Farms, I’d guess we’ve found at least 75+ of those buggers in our house!
There are 30 – 45 scorpion species here in Arizona. Of those, only one is considered life threatening – the bark scorpion. Unfortunately, we have seen those little stinkers in our house. We have young boys and have found scorpions within inches of their feet on more then one occasion. Fortunately, their pediatrician has assured me that since my kids are healthy, they would weather a scorpion sting just fine. In addition, Arizona is home of the only scorpion antivenin program in North America – so an antivenin, if needed, is available at most local hospitals.
We have taken a lot of measures to eliminate our scorpion problem (including having our home sealed and getting chickens). Although we’ve seen an improvement, we still find them in the house more often than I’d like (3 of them just last week!).
I guess my next step should be to learn to co-exist with them, which really isn’t likely as that is definitely not in my DNA.
For more information on scorpions such as what they eat and how they kill their prey, you can click on this link.
**Noelle here – I must say that I have lived in Arizona for over 23 years in 5 different houses and have only seen one scorpion (it was in the garage). You can have a scorpion problem in one neighborhood and two blocks away, there are none.
By the way, my sister has started her own blog about her life in Arizona. Please visit her at http://finleyandoliver.blogspot.com
Eggs, Gardens, Cake & Chocolate….
Double S FarmsWhat a wonderful, busy weekend we had. I always enjoy the coming of Easter and what it signifies – rebirth.
When I first started this blog, I promised myself that I would not create a post solely about my family – I didn’t want to bore anyone and although my family is wonderful, we aren’t terribly interesting.
And so, I will keep my promise and show you a garden, sandwiched between two separate family Easter celebrations. That way, you can skip over the family photos and just look at the garden if you like.
You can see my two youngest with their cousin, planning their strategy on how to get the golden egg in the middle of the field.
Saturday morning found me with the kids at the Sun Lakes Annual Easter Egg Hunt. It is a fun event for the kids and they always look forward to it. I love to watch the joy on their faces as they anticipate the hunt and plan their strategy. I don’t particularly like having to get up really early on a Saturday though.
Easter celebrations
They both did pretty well and got quite a few eggs, but alas….the golden egg was found by someone else.
After the hunt for eggs was over, we settled ourselves to watch the Easter parade, which consists of golf carts decorated for Easter.
I will not show all of the entries, but I will show you the one that the kids selected as the best one.
After the parade was over, we went back to my in-law’s home. I am very fortunate that I have very wonderful in-law’s – (and they occasionally read my blog 😉 My favorite thing about their home is their landscape. It is a wonderful mixture of succulents, shrubs and perennials.
I was fortunate to have been asked by my father-in-law to design their front and back landscape when they had their home built. Prickly Pear Cacti, Agave, Golden Barrel Cactus, Pygmy Date Palm, Palo Brea Tree, Baja Ruellia, Katie Ruellia, Damianita and Firecracker Penstemon are all part of the front garden.
My father-in-law has a green thumb, especially when it comes to growing annuals, like these geraniums.
Our gardening styles differ in that he is more of a formal gardener. His plants are carefully pruned and his garden is the ‘cleanest’ garden I have ever seen. I am a more carefree gardener and prefer more naturally shaped plants and I do not mind loose leaves in the garden.
Last fall, my father-in-law asked me to re-design the corners of the backyard. The new Firecracker Penstemon and Blackfoot Daisy are growing in nicely. The original Desert Spoon (Dasylirion wheeleri), were kept in the background as they offer texture and a great color contrast.
After a wonderful Easter lunch of my mother-in-law’s lasagna and the ice-box cake that I made, I was ready to go home and take a nap, which I did.
The next morning, we went to church and then prepared to go to my mother and sister’s home on Double S Farms. My brother and his wife, my cousin and her family were to join us all there for Easter lunch and another Easter egg hunt. As my son put it, you can never have enough Easter egg hunts.
My two oldest daughters.
I had a great time catching up with my cousin and her daughters.
We had a great lunch and then it was time for the hunt. Tradition in our family holds that the men of the family hide the eggs.
The vegetable garden at Double S Farms made a great place to hid eggs, along with the fruit trees and the chicken coop.
Little & Littlest Farmers got a head start on the Easter egg hunt with assistance from their mother, Chicken Farmer. Little Farmer, figured that since he was hunting for eggs with candy that his Halloween pumpkin would work just fine.
Easter celebrations
I think this is the cutest Easter bunny I have ever seen 🙂
There were a lot of places to hide eggs, but the kids soon found them all.
Including my youngest daughter, who was so happy because she absolutely LOVES chocolate candy.
Well, I hope I have not bored you with our exploits over Easter weekend, but we had a wonderful time being outdoors enjoying the springtime weather and being with family. I do hope that you all had a very blessed Easter.
My next post will be a guest post by my sister, Chicken Farmer. You don’t want to miss it….
All Dressed Up For Easter….
Flowers for Summer? Not So Fast…..
AZ Plant LadyLast week, on a trip to our local big box store, I was greeted by the pallets loaded with beautiful, red geraniums. This is a sight that made me angry.
You may be wondering why on earth the sight of beautiful flowers made me angry. Well, I do love flowers, (obviously… I’m a horticulturist) – so that is not what made me mad.
What if I told you that most of the annual flowers that were on display at the beginning of April, are the same kind of flowers that were for sale in September and October.
Petunias
Now, if you take a minute to consider this, you come to the conclusion that the annual flowers that the big box stores are being offered for sale in early April – just in time for summer. That doesn’t make much sense does it?
Well, winter annuals are called “winter annuals” for a reason….because they grow in the winter, NOT in the summer. They cannot handle our hot summers here in the desert.
You may think that this problem does not apply to you if you don’t live in the desert and your summers do not get as hot as ours. Well, I hate to inform you that this problem occurs all over the US.
Violas
I love Violas, but these beautiful hanging violas that were hanging outside of the nursery department will be toast, literally, in just a couple of months. My violas that have been growing beautifully since late October, are starting to show signs of stress with the couple of 80+ days we have experienced last week.
And so, this is what makes me angry this time of year, when I enter the nursery section of my big box store. The winter annual flowers are beautifully laid out in order to entice shoppers as they enter. You can see the shoppers envisioning how beautiful their gardens will be once they add some of these colorful flowers.
Marigolds, Alyssum, and Petunias
What they do not realize is that in two months, the alyssum and petunias, pictured above, will be dead and their money wasted.**Interestingly, the petunias and alyssum are placed alongside the orange colored marigolds, which usually will do quite well through most of the summer.
Arizona is different from many parts of the country. Our mild winters allow us to grow annual flowers that are grown elsewhere in the country in the summer.
Stock
People put their trust in their plant nursery and believe that they would not sell anything that would not thrive in their garden. They rely on their expertise to sell the right plant for the right time of year. Sadly, this is not true of all nurseries, especially those at the big box stores. People begin to believe that they cannot grow flowers or that they have a “black thumb” instead of a green one when their newly planted flowers begin to die soon after planting.
But do not DESPAIR….there is hope!
You can avoid being a victim and the solution is really quite simple….do a little research. It can be as simple as doing a Google Search and enter the term….summer annuals for (your city or area). You should be given a long list of plants that should thrive in your area.
**For residents of the Arizona and California desert, I have done the online searching for you. You can check out the following link for information on what kind of flowers to grow and when.
Out With The Old and In With The New….