It's Spring Here

3/3/12

Flower Garden

     It is definitely spring in the desert.  It is supposed to be in the mid to low 80's the rest of the week, and the flower garden is filling in nicely.  The petunias and pansies are mounding nicely.

gazania

      The gazanias are bursting into bloom.

Tropicana rose

     The roses have many buds and a few open blossoms.

bush morning glory

     The bush morning glories have just begun to blossom.  Most just have a few flowers, but this one is fairly full.

bougainvillea two weeks ago

bougainvillea today

     As I walked around the yard, I noticed how full the bougainvillea has become since two weeks ago.

hopseed bush flowers

jojoba bush blossoms

                          Two weeks ago the hopseed bushes flowered as well as the jojoba bushes.

     Soon the lantana, yellow bells, red yucca, and the palo verde tree will blossom.  I wonder how fast the summer heat will arrive.  Last year we had our first 100 F day April 1.

The Heat Is On

Bougainvillea Bush

6/11/11
     Well, our brief "cool spell" of mid to upper 90's is gone.  Triple-digit heat will now be with us everyday for the next 120 days. Yes, that's one thing I did not know before our move here.  On average it is over 100 degrees F for 120 days.  The heat can climb to 120 degrees, but most of the time it is 108 to 115 degrees F.  There are several other things I did not know about living in the desert.  The merchants put pot holders on their door handles because they get so hot you can't touch them.  Ditto for steering wheels.  We cover our car seats with towels because the leather/vinyl is scorching hot.  There is no such thing as a cold shower in the summer here.  Water heaters are turned off because the temperature of the water coming out of the cold faucet is 105 degrees F unless you spend a thousand for a chiller.  We use a lot of ice.  Neighborhoods are like ghost towns in the summer because no one goes outside.  You can go for months without seeing your neighbors.  In the middle of summer it never goes below 90 degrees F at night, so forget about exercising out doors.  The thing I dislike the most is keeping all the blinds closed all summer to keep out the heat so the A/C bill is not $600 a month.  You come to hate the sun, and wake up thinking, "Oh, no.  Not another sunny day!"

Bougainvillea Blossom

     But despite the heat, some flowers will bloom all summer here.  I went to Lowe's today and bought celosia and vinca, two reliable through-the-summer bloomers.  I pulled out all my dead pansies and scraggly petunias and will start planting tomorrow.  We do have several bougainvillea bushes trellised against our backyard walls that blossom all summer, as well as the lantana plants scattered throughout the yard.  I am told that lisianthus will also bloom all summer.  I am waiting to see how long my zinnias and cosmos hold up.  The colors of my dwarf zinnias seem to be fading in the sun.  A lot of things get bleached in the strong sunlight here.

Celosia

White Vinca

Backyard Path

3/24/11
     When we had the backyard landscaped from nothing but dirt to rock and desert trees and plants, we had a path put in.  It follows the rectangular shape of the yard all the way around.  It is so much easier to enjoy all plants, bushes and trees by walking near them on this path of crushed granite instead of walking on the rock.  The path is also lined with solar lights, and I enjoy the soft glow from them at night.  Sometimes I take my daily walk on this path instead of around the neighborhood.  Today I checked out my trees, bushes and plants.  The nectarine tree has buds and a few blossoms, all the sissoo trees are growing new leaves that were damaged by frost, and the two chitalpa trees are leafing out.  I found two hibiscus that have a few green leaves, but nothing on the rest of them yet.  And several of the fourteen bougainvilleas are just starting to show leaves at he base.  The weeds have no trouble growing through the rock that is spread as a base all over the yard.  The weeds and rock.  That's desert landscaping.

nectarine

chitalpa

bougainvillea