WHAT WINTER!

 Talk to a snowbird and they will tell you " We can't believe the weather. It has been so wonderful" Talk to a gardener and he or she may have a different story. Yes! we have had endless sunny days with short bouts of rain.  But this is January, February and March. This is when we enjoy some cooler days in the 60s. Not this year. Early on in the month we had two spells in the 80s and last week 90. The promise of a fabulous wildflower season faded along with the delicate blooms. Here are my pretty California poppies which I cast along the driveway. They came from a small packet of wildflower seeds I picked up at our local library seedbank. I had no idea what was in the packet so was delighted when these poppies grew. Their blooms are more delicate than those in the packets of seeds you can buy and only flower for a few days.

What does no winter do to our desert plants? The Texas olive did not lose its leaves and is already in full flower. The flowering spoilt only by leaves that were shredded by the hail event. I keep going around pulling off the old leaves. The only positive here is the reduction of the clean-up required when they all fall. Why did someone not tell me rocks were a problem under Texas Olives. 

A familiar waft of fragrance on the air in early February was the Texas Mountain laurel. With such a mild fall and winter an influx of the Genista moth caterpillars, which resulted in all the new growth being decimated means very few flowers. The trees themselves look very ratty and I am pondering whether to remove one of the 4 trees I have. The problem is they form a screen from next doors driveway. It almost seems like sacrilege to pull out such a  large tree (I saw one in a large pot at the nursery and it was $385) but it wouldn't be the first. I believe the prior occupants grew them as bushes which their landscapers regularly pruned so they never saw any blooms.  

Just a waft of fragrance is a positive this year because it won't  be competing with the fragrance on the pink jasmine, Jasminum polyanthum , which I much prefer. Their petals fade very quickly when the temperatures are in the high 80s so I don't expect its bloom to last much longer. When I open the patio doors in the guest bedroom the fragrance fills the whole house. 

And what is going on with the Photinia fraseri x 'Red Robin' The rapid unchecked growth of the new stems is a sure sign that it is far too comfortable. I have 3 of these plants that remain in a clump in the front garden. While this plant is not suitable for all climates and soils it seems to do very well inthe desert. No bugs or diseases as yet. I do have to cut it back every year or it will reach over 8" without a trim. One in the back garden I have trained into multi tree-form. There wasn't one perfect trunk for this experiment so I have allowed 3 to grow. 

Bougainvillea has always entered a  dormant period in prior years losing all its leaves. Not his year. It took a beating from the hail but promptly put out new growth and is now flowering. And this was the year I was going to get in there and give it some training to improve its structure. I really would like it to grow against the wall.

The pomegranate tree, Punica granatum, only lost a few of its leaves and quickly added more and even a few pomegranate flowers. I shall be eagerly watching to see which are male flowers and which are female (hermaphrodite). Most of the flowers were males last year so we only harvested 3 good pomegranates. Maybe year 4 will prove to be a bonus year with more females. It is easy to spot the difference as the females have a more bulls base and the males smaller. Male flowers tend to drop off fairly quickly. 

 The calamondin tree bloomed and set fruit all through the winter and is now putting on new growth but no new blooms. We had a nice crop of grapefruit and the tree is putting out new growth but no blooms. This Oro Blanco variety is one of the most sought-after of grapefruit varieties for its pale green, sweet flesh which lacks the sharp bitter taste of some grapefruit. It is a cross between a pommelo and white grapefruit and therefore has a thick skin. The lack of flowers may be caused by too much fertilizer or too much water. 

The Philippine violet, Barleria cristata, has not entered dormancy and still has all its leaves. I even noticed a small purple bud at the end of one branch. Planted in a rather shady spot underneath a Texas Mountain Laurel it is reaching across the fence to which I have tied it. I believe I was successful in striking a cutting in the fall which I will plant in a more favorable position. 

The Anacacho orchid tree, Anacacho lunarioides,  bloomed on the top branches several weeks ago and now the lower branches. It looks rather strange with the green spiky seed pods on the top. It is my "apple tree blossom" of the desert. 

Who knows what the year will hold in store. This week the temperatures will hit 105 before settling back down into the 80s. But the heat will have done its damage frying delicate spring blooms. It is far too early to be having summer. I fear the saguaro will not flower this year. We shall have to wait and see.

WHAT’S NEW IN THE GARDEN.

 What's been going on in the garden. That is what I was thinking when we returned from another 3 week trip. My eyes eagerly scanned the front bed as we pulled up the driveway. It looked as though monsoon rains had been kind. The damianita, Blackfoot daisy and skullcaps were flowering. And no damage from javelina due to having left the dog fencing across the driveway. ( No letter from the HOA as yet)

Damianita Chrysactinia mexicana.

Blackfoot daisy, Melampodium leucanthum

Arizona Purple skullcap,Scutellaia potosina. with damianita

And then my eye caught a newcomer. What was this? My first thought was Arizona poppy, Kallstroemia grandiflora. A plant I had heard about but had never come across. A search for Arizona poppy confirmed this. Where had it come from? Maybe turned over  from deep in the soil when David had run a new sprinkler line. It is a rather rangy plant and would suit an open desert setting better than the narrow place in which it has inserted itself. Despite being called a poppy it is not in the poppy family but can mimic the look of the spring flowering California poppy. It may take several years to germinate because of a hard seed coat and usually springs up after monsoon rain. It is right on cue. 

Arizona poppy,  Kallstroemia grandiflora

 

And along the driveway the tree I love in summer but despair of all through the winter and early part of the year. All is forgiven! Those gorgeous white blooms on the Texas Olive, Cordia boissieri

One thing I try to do is to remove the fruits before they fall to the ground where they germinate. This year there are so many I will have to do a little weeding. I am now familiar with the first leaves which are nothing like the secondary leaves. 

 Along the side of the house the smaller leaved olive, Cordia parvifolia. The cordia are the desert blooms of the monsoon season. 

The first planted pomegranate tree has, this year, 6 pomegranates, the largest of which I have protected inside a bag. The others are quite small. As yet they are unblemished and I have no idea if they are ripe. I remember the same with my fabulous pomegranate tree in Austin but it was easy to sacrifice one each week to check for ripeness, there were so many.  It was usually later in the year. 

And the bougainvillea just coming into flower after the rain and moderation in temperature. 

So far so good. Then I noticed my prize prickly pear cactus had the starts of a cochineal infestation. From just a couple of pads this had grown quickly.

A little work with the toothbrush and the pads are as good as new. 

The back and sides of the house receive more visits from desert wildlife and they had been busy. One small agave eaten down to a nub. A spineless prickly pear just about annihilated. The pereskia had lost its drip line along with all its leaves. I'm not sure it will make a comeback. Death by rat and drought.

There were holes dug in the ground-the grub hunters were on the prowl. My neighbor has raccoons playing on her roof at night and using a corner of the roof as a toilet. They have professionals trying to trap them. Their wildlife camera spotted a skunk passing through last night. Another grub hunter. Was it the skunk that had ripped out two plants in order to root for grubs? But the worst of all happened last night when leaf cutter ants removed every single leaf from a Tecoma plant. It appears as though they had more cutters than gatherers and choppers, with hundreds of cut leaves beneath the plant and chopped pieces left along the pathway. This all done under cover of darkness. I could follow the trail of the few stragglers heading for home. It crossed my garden and up the wall into next door's garden. From there they crossed and climbed up and over the back wall of the property and down into the desert where the vegetation is too thick to track them to their nest. It is the most devastating thing to have happened yet and it makes me feel the closest I have ever felt to giving up gardening. "Get over it" say Tucson gardeners, who have had similar visits and  hope the plant makes a recovery. We are due to leave again next week for the last camping trip of the year so I imagine in a month's time I will be doing the same inspection. 

SHADE NATURAL OR OTHERWISE

When we moved to the Sonoran Desert in December I had one thing on my mind. Now I can grow all those wonderful cactus and succulents in the ground. Not so fast. We live on the edge of the desert and when I walk out there I notice that there are a limited number of cactus growing and no agave. Only saguaros, fishhook, mammillaria and cholla. There are, however, lots of small trees and bushes and it is these trees that make a nursery for the cactus to start their life. 

 

 

The fruits of the cactus are eaten by the birds, the birds perch in the trees, and their poop along with seeds falls to the ground beneath the tree. Even young plants need a little shade. To garden successfully here you need trees.

I have 3 good sized trees which anchor 3 corners of our small garden. The first is the ironwood, Olneya tesota. It is evergreen with pinnately compound leaves which give filtered light. It has pea like flowers although this one is not putting on the kind of show I am seeing out there in some neighborhoods. It does drop its small leaves which have to be brushed out of the cactus that are growing beneath it.

I am gradually extending the planting area by removing some bushes that had been pruned so poorly they would never recover. I am thinking of putting my lemon tree in the ground here. I think it would benefit from a little filtered shade. I have added rocks and a few skullcaps and blackfoot daisies.A drip irrigation system is in place.

I have also added a couple of penstemon and plan to try some wildflowers beneath the tree next spring. I threw a packet of scarlet flax in January and they have done quite well. The soil is desert soil and appears not to have been amended which is perfect for wildflowers.

Unfortunately the tree doesn't offer any shade for us but a patio set and umbrella close by allow us to enjoy the tree, the view of the desert, the hummingbird feeder and the birds that come to drink at the bird bath. We have been eating most meals out here and I do feel as though I am on vacation. The fact that daylight arrives early before 5 am means our days have shifted somewhat. That and the coolness of the desert mornings. At least for the moment.

 

Our second large tree at the opposite end of the patio is the Texas Olive, Cordia boissieri,  

 

What a show it has given us this spring. We removed all the bushes that were growing beneath this one,  added a few agave  and covered the area with rocks. The olive tree does have a few disadvantages. It holds onto its leaves a long time so it is a constant drop for several months in the spring. It makes fruits which are attractive to wildlife including javelinas. For that reason I am in the process of pulling them off before they mature. Plus it is extra work for the tree to mature the fruit. It seems we got more than our fair share of this tree as there are at least 6 more in the front of the house our house being the only house in the neighborhood which has them. A desert willow would be nice or a fruiting pomegranate.

 

The tree has a long bloom season and is visited by hummingbirds.  I am pruning most of the ones out front to be more like trees. 

It would be hard to compete with the Desert museum Palo verde tree for blooms. It has been spectacular for several weeks but of course now all the flowers are down and there is work to be done. They say this tree is less messy than the more common one! To stand under here in the warm sun is to hear the buzz from hundreds of bees. There is a lot of honey being made somewhere. I haven't even begun to work under the tree yet. That will have to wait until the monsoon rains arrive.

 

This tree is in the front right of the house on the edge of the driveway. For a tree that was only planted 5 years ago it is enormous and of some concern for the future. Its great value right now is to provide wonderful filtered shade for much of the day as the sun moves around and overhead. 

There are several other small trees which have been pruned into bushes. Two Texas mountain laurels which I am trying to prune up to be trees. I am learning which plants bloom on old wood and which on new wood. The mountain laurel I know will be making next year's flowers now so there will be no pruning except to shape up the tree. Judging by the lack of seed pods these trees were never allowed to bloom. It was when I was pruning the mountain laurel in the side garden that I had my close encounter with the Gila monster. A good reason to prune up all the bushes.

 I began to notice a number of my agave bleaching out. At first I was concerned that they had been visited by the agave weevil but then wondered if it might be the incredibly strong sunlight. That used to happen to my A. ovatifolia in Austin during the summer and I would often give it some relief by shading it. So I experimented by cutting pieces of 70% shade cloth and laying it over the plants. Within a few days they gained back some of their original color. It looks as though the covers will stay on until our dry summer is replaced by our wet summer when the monsoon rains arrive. 

 Newly planted agave get the shade treatment during the summer.

Many nurseries have markings on their cactus to show which direction to plant. As many are field grown it  assures the plant will be placed according the direction it had been growing in the ground.

My large collection of potted cactus and succulents have had a hard time finding their rightful place in the garden. The problem is the seasonal movement of the sun. While I was aware of such changes in Austin it is strikingly evident as the back of our house backs directly to the east. Clear blue skies mean a fierce sun. Most of my plants were getting scorched.

In December the north side of the house was almost completely shaded by the house. We purchased several masonry blocks and a plank of wood to raise the plants off the ground. That didn't stop the rats from nibbling off the flowers on several cactus. As spring progressed sun began to creep around the corner so we moved the structure around to the east side with some shade from the ironwood tree. That was not enough so we moved the plants under the patio. Pack rats came around and ate down all the succulent plants. The heat has become too much for some of the plants and I have moved them into the house. What next? We will be traveling for several weeks so I am hoping a good watering before I go will suffice. We really have no idea the challenges summer will bring.