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.

A Hint of Fall

9/16/11

lantana

     Many fellow gardeners have mentioned that it is feeling like fall in their area.  I can finally say that we are having a hint of fall here in the desert southwest.  The night time temperature finally fell below 80 F (27C) this week.  And we had a few days below 100 F (38C).  We had the hottest August on record here, and now, relief.

     My yard and flower garden appreciate the lower temperatures.  The lantana are all starting to bloom again after not flowering for six weeks.  The ruellia plants are full of flowers again after weeks of producing an anemic bloom or two per week.  My palms are looking fresher, the yellow bell bushes are blossoming profusely, and my purple fountain grasses are growing purple seed heads again.  Hopefully the grass stalks on the plants will turn green again.

purple seed heads on fountain grass

     The citrus is looking good, with the oranges and grapefruits getting larger and starting to turn color.  The lime tree is shooting up its branches and getting taller suddenly this week.

grapefruit tree

 
     The one petunia in the garden I kept alive by watering generously is now flowering again as well as the roses which haven't bloomed much this August.

petunia

Honor rose

   
     It is like everything woke up from summer hibernation and realized it is not going to be blazing hot anymore.  I'm sure the amount and angle of the sunlight played a part.  We understand here in the desert southwest that it is not going to really cool off until October.  By then it won't go above 100 F (38 C) anymore.  By mid-November we are home free.  The hot weather will be gone until next May.

Roses and Tomatoes

4/21/11    
I bought three roses last weekend.  One is a red Mr. Lincoln rose, an old favorite of mine.  Another is the beautiful coral-colored Tropicana, and the third is a white rose called Honor.  Although I am not a rosarian, roses are one of my favorite flowers.  They are quite beautiful to me, and I love their shape and their fragrance.  I have wanted to plant roses since moving to the desert, but there are very few places that carry them around here, and the places that do, carry a very limited supply.  I don't know why, because roses should do well here without any spraying (I don't spray roses or anything else in my gardens).  No black spot or mold or mildew to bother them here, I understand.  Maybe they don't do well in the extreme summer heat unless they are shaded from some of the afternoon sun.  I have no shade at all in my yard, so we will see how they do.



Burpee Big Boy tomato

I received my tomato and pepper plants from Burpee the first week of April.  Burpee's Big Boy tomato is my all-time favorite tomato.  I have grown them from seed many times, but there's no place in the house I am living in now to grow seedlings.  I kept them in the garage for a day or two because it was so windy the entire week they arrived.  On the third day I put them out in a protected place so they could get some sun.  But the wind was blowing so furiously from all directions it seemed, and they ended up getting windburned.  I kept them in for two more days.  They were not looking good, and their leaves were dying off. I figured I had to plant them if they were going to survive.  And it was going to be hot in a few days.  So into my garden they went.  They still did not look great after four days.  So I fertilized them with my favorite natural fertilizer.  Fish emulsion.  After two days they perked up, and now all are growing new green leaves.  They have some catching up to do, and hopefully will produce tomatoes before the real heat arrives.