YELLOW IS THE COLOR OF THE MOMENT

Two weeks ago we had friends visiting from Denver. We were so excited to show them our wonderful desert home but disappointed that the lack of rain this year was making the desert look very drab and dowdy.  Usually the desert behind our house is a sea of yellow, at this time of year, with flowering brittle bush, Encelia farinosa. This year their leaves are brown and dried up living up to their name. I wish our friends had come a couple of weeks later, as following a brief shower and a cold front passing through, all the trees burst into bloom. Maybe the shower and drop in pressure had nothing to do with it and the flowering had more to do with daylight hours and the natural cycle of blooming. The Palo verde, mesquite and acacia are now putting on a magnificent show. Just driving down the road with the trees in flower and the backdrop of the mountains is the most magnificent sight. 

This is the  Palo Verde, Parkinsonia x Desert Museum, in our front garden. Regrettably this tree was overwatered by the previous occupants and has grown very large. We have had to do some canopy pruning as well as root pruning as the roots were bringing up our driveway in several places. We were also fearful of them making their way into our sewers system. But for all these negatives we love the tree for the filtered shade it provides for the plantings beneath its canopy. It is the sterile hybrid of three palo verde species, P. aculeata, P. microphyllum and P. florida. Its attributes are that it is thornless, fast growing, drought tolerant and attracts many pollinators.

When the flowers drop the ground is a carpet of yellow  

Below is another common spring bloomer, the mesquite, Prosopsis sp.  producing long pods later in the season. These are a favorite of the javelina and can also be ground to make a flour as the Hohokam  lived did many years ago. For all their messy nature the trees both stabilize and being a legume, improve the soil.

Above the sweet acacia, Vachellia farnesiana, The desert trees and shrubs are competing for who is the most fragrant. 

Other shrubs like the hop bush, Dodonaea viscose, are also blooming. These reseed quite readily and I have a couple which seeded in a perfect place among the rocks and which I intend to keep. Yesterday, I collected the papery winged fruits, with the intention of sowing some behind the house in what we now call the hinterland. 

This tree loves dry rocky slopes so will be quite at home. 

In my limited space areas damianita,  Chrysactinia mexicana, is very much at home in fast draining desert soils. It is extremely tolerant of heat and drought. If I had one complaint is that the yellow color is just a shade too bright. It germinates quickly from seed but bringing it to even childhood even under controlled conditions is very challenging. The wiry roots are thin and easily damaged. I have had success with only one plant. It makes thousands of seeds but never produces seedlings naturally. 

In truth I think I prefer the gently sprawling nature of the yellow evening primrose, Oenothera primiveris. It is planted along the edge of the walkway between two rosemary bushes. 

evening primrose

The first of the prickly pear blooms are opening. 

The barrel cactus make up for having the smallest of blooms by making a bold statement with their structure. 

Flowers on the Blue barrel cactus, Ferocactus glaucescens

The blooms are barely noticeable on the golden barrels, Echinocactus grusonii, but they leave behind dry prickly pods with small black seeds. I don't know what the conditions are for seedlings to grow but I never find any. The quail are very good foragers.

Next time I'll introduce you to the saguaro. There is much of interest to share.

SPRING IS HERE AGAIN!

 It seems the arrival of spring flowers has jogged me into writing a post. This, after an absence of 11 months. I don't know what happened. Maybe it was being away from my garden for 3 months last summer, or the daily walks and hikes which take up most of the morning. Maybe it was the long breakfasts after the morning exercise... they certainly eat into your day, or maybe it is my shortening attention span for everything I do. Could it have been our purchase of a new trailer and the planning it takes to book campsites. Or was it quite simply the ease of posting a few pictures on Instagram and the scrolling that goes along with it. Sheer laziness?

So here we are, our third spring in the desert. It has been a magnificent winter with lots of warm sunny days but no rain all winter long. My newly acquired rain barrels filled up during a rain in November. I emptied the contents into 50 gallon milk jugs and used the rest. Since then not a drop. And no rain in the desert really means no rain and no spring wildflowers. Of course we have a drip irrigation system but it has been very difficult judge how often to run them. I fear not often enough. Even with all that warmth the budding of leaves and the opening of cactus flowers did not happen earlier. It has been right on schedule. 

For any gardener seeing that first green leaf begin to unfurl brings enormous relief. Relief that the lack of rain did not kill it. The first to break were the two Wonderful pomegranates, purchased for $5 each from our power company. The one from the first planting produced one tiny pomegranate last year, too late in the season for it to mature. This year I have counted 14 flowers on that tree and one is starting to swell. Undoubtedly I will have to protect it from birds and wandering javelina. This morning I noticed 1 flower bud on the second pomegranate, planted a year later than the first. 

The next, of the deciduous trees to begin leafing out were the desert willows. Similarly purchased from TEP. I have 4 of those all of which are coming along nicely. We removed a Texas olive from this spot in favor of desert willow. 

And another deciduous Sonoran tree is the Arizona wild cotton, Gossypium thurberi. Growing to about 10' 

this tree was nearly eradicated because of a fear of the boll weevil which had attacked the cultivated cotton fields. It turned out it was not the same weevil and the cotton tree is now returning. I first saw it growing at Tohono Chul garden and was able to buy one from their garden shop. I look forward to its pretty white blooms later in the spring. 

   

                                                                Arizona cotton tree

                                                               Cotton tree bloom from last year.

And then the cactus begin their spring routine. They sit quietly all year until the first buds start to appear. At this point they need to be checked every day as if you blink you can miss them. 

Yesterday the first bloom on the ladyfinger cactus, Echinocereus pentalophus, followed today by two blooms on another plant. 

And then a cluster open on another plant.

When we moved here I brought a number of plants with me. One was the Myrtillocactus geometrizans, or

bilberry cactus. I had planted it alongside the garage, far too close to the wall. Unfazed it began to send out arms and last year produced a pup and yesterday I noticed flower buds. This morning when I took David over to show him one of the buds had opened. It is not showy as many cactus flowers are but certainly welcome. 

A purchase last year at Tohono Chul plant sale. 

                                                           Echinocereus engelmannii

It is a great time of year for the aloes to bloom and for the first time in its life the Aloe vera, I brought with me in a pot and planted in the ground, is blooming. I found the perfect place for it alongside the fence where there was another Aloe vera clump. Both have produced many pups. 

The large stand of giant aloes in the back garden have bloomed with one side taller than the other. I can only assume that the uneven growth is due to the lack over overall watering provided by rain and one side receiving some irrigation water. I would love to divide this aloe but it looks like a daunting task which would likely damage the symmetry of the plant. 

It is visited by the hummingbirds and Gila woodpecker. 

New blooms on the mammillaria open in tiers every day for several weeks. 

There is sure to be something new every day and it looks as though tomorrow it will be the first flowers on the Gymnocalcium baldianum.

MY DESERT GARDEN COMES TO LIFE

Spring is a wonderful time for all gardeners but particularly so for desert gardeners. It is the season of spectacular bloom brought on by winter rains. I have taken advantage of that by adding many blooming plants to my garden to complement the cactus and succulents. Some are perennial and some are annuals like this scarlet flax Linum grandiflorum rubrum. Annuals like to seed themselves along the edge of the paths where they driven by rain. Not always the best place.

Flax are dotted all over the front garden among rocks and cactus. I have always favored growing from seed and finally had success with damianita, Chrysactinia mexicana. This one I grew from seed planted 2 years ago. If I'm not careful it will be crowded out by these penstemon seedlings and a desert marigold. Despite the enormous numbers of seed they produce I have only ever found one growing naturally in my garden. No doubt the fault of the hungry quail who frequent the garden.

Damianita, blackfoot daisy and skullcaps are perfect low-growing perennials for the desert rock garden although not easy to come by. I did manage to find 2 purple skullcaps but unless they are in bloom they are sometimes miss-labeled and turn out to be the more common pink variety. Despite the many flowers and seeds produced it is very difficult to get these three to self-seed.

I'm trying to maintain a good balance of flowers and succulents for the quieter time of year when the cactus are center stage.

The damianita will  need to be sheared back soon so they can bloom again when and if the monsoon rains come. 

 

Just coming into bloom is the chocolate daisy, Berlandiera lyrata. I bought one plant 2 years ago and have been able to grow several more plants from seed over the winter. It has always performed well throughout the year opening new flowers every day. It is a morning bloomer, closing its petals by noon. It's chocolaty fragrance cannot be missed when walking around the garden. 

 This is one of three hedgehog cactus, Echinocereus triglochidiatus, I inherited,  which has bloomed successfully each year.  Their location is not ideal as they receive sun only in the later parts of the day. A place in a more open spot would probably result in a more spectacular bloom. I have allowed this native cudweed to remain. I love its silvery soft leaves which are the closest we would get to growing lambs ears in the desert. Some call it pearly everlasting as the flowers do well when cut and dried. 

My desert marigold,  Baileya multiradiata, has become so successful that it threatens to overgrow the driveway. I think it must be getting too much water. It reseeds quite readily where the layers of rock are not too deep or too large.

Spring is a very yellow time of year in the desert and I think I may just have a little too much of it. Between the brittle bush, damianita and the desert marigold I need to find a happier balance. Brittle bush is a wonderful desert plant which also reseeds heavily. I think it is underused as a native plant filling the roadsides with its yellow and dusky sage colored leaves. 

 

Seeds of blanket flowers grown from seed last year have been immensely successful. They are acting as though they are perennial. Last year they bloomed all summer long. You couldn't ask more of a plant in this desert climate.

 And there are frequent pop-ups in the spring of native wildflowers like the verbenas.

                                                         Verbena gooddingii

                                                              Moss verbena, Verbena tenuisecta

 The mix of colorful annual, perennials, cactus and succulents is a joy to behold on my early morning stroll around the garden. And it is always early.  Spring and summer in the Sonoran desert is a time to get up early to enjoy the cool mornings. The sun rises early and we must make the most of the best part of the day. Now we are in our dry summer with no rains expected until the monsoons arrive in July. Fingers crossed we will get good rains this summer.

THE NARROW SIDE GARDEN

I have thought about changing my blog name to Gardening on the Edge, which is exactly how I am gardening these days. Each of my gardening spaces follow the footprint of the house. The edge that needed attention was at the side of the house leading up to the side garage door. I get the feeling that the previous owners never walked around there because there were several bushes whose branches would grow at odd angles and grab you as you walked by. We use this way frequently and were tracking dirt intot he house. First step was to remove them leaving only the photinia and the Texas olive at the front and at the back a beautiful Anacacho orchid tree. 

In the spring the arching branches hang over the walkway and are reminiscent of times when I had apple and crabapple trees in my garden.  The fragrance isn't quite the same but not unpleasant and the bees love the flowers which give them black pollen.

This narrow 7' space is bounded by a low wall with fence on the left had side. On the right the garage wall. There are two scuppers coming off the roof. They carry water of the flat roof which drained away along the bare ground. The first job was to create a place on which the water could land before passing into a proposed wet weather channel.  And make it possible to walk past without getting muddy feet.

I marked out a winding channel which David lowered a few inches so water would flow out towards a drain at the front of the house. I knew we did the right thing bringing our pick axes with us.

This is a budget project using rocks abandoned by builders in the area and some taken from areas of our lot where we created more garden space.  To add more interest I found a couple of large ones and then filled in with smaller stones.

 I wish I had some larger rocks to create a rock garden but as my mother used to say " beggars can't be choosers" This is what I had to work with.

There will only be planting along the left side. I already have some native plants growing from seed( thanks to a gift from Syd Teague)  and hopefully they will soften the jagged rocks that I am making do with. By late April native Desert marigold, Bailey multiradiata, and Goodings verbena, Verbena gooddingii, are already flowering. They are short-lived plants but reseed easily. I['m also saving seeds from my very successful damianita and chocolate flower.

I have also added a few pups of Octopus agave. I really don't have a big enough garden for this large agave but they will stay until I find substitutes or they grow too large. 

As I mentioned this is a shoestring garden of native plants that are not attractive to the javelina. We finished off the walking area bu adding a small clean gravel. Most of them were bought at the 50% off bin at HD where they put their opened bags.