FAKE IS FINE....SOMETIMES

 I have had a few fake flowers and plants in my time but these days I am very selective in my choices. Gone are the days when I had the fake ficus in that dark corner. And gone is the lovely azalea basket. A friend once told me he was surprised at me for having such a thing. Me a gardener. 

They have some very fine metal agave in our neighborhood and the club house has a beautiful art sculpture which looks real from a distance and even up close. I actually had to touch one to be sure. They actually fit well into the landscape and the agave create a uniformity in a series of of planters in the center of the road as we enter the neighborhood. 

 

I had been toying with the idea of putting some such metalwork in a very difficult place in the garden. We inherited a tall planter to the left of the front door. Open to the sky the space is narrow and receives sun only in the late afternoon. The previous owners had never done anything with it and it had become a depository for discarded water bottles. Wouldn't it be so much easier to put a metal agave in there-if I could just find one. Last week while visiting a nursery and having nixed a number of pieces David beckoned me over to see the perfect one.

 It was a saguaro. What could be more perfect and I did not have to balk at the price. A good sized plant and soil would likely cost more. I'm not sure whether  should treat it but for now we went ahead and 'planted' it.

 

We had to rack our brains as to what we were going to fill the pot with as well as how best to secure it. In the past I have filled pots with plastic and bags of mulch. They didn't seem stable enough. It was our son who came up with the idea of using masonry blocks. We headed to the local store and purchased 2 blocks and a tile to make a platform. We robbed our dry creeks for the rock to secure and cover the base.

The added bonus is that we now have something to look at through the window just inside the house.

WAIT A YEAR, THEY SAY

 I'm sure you have heard this piece of advice given when you move into a new house. Take the time to understand the passage of the sun through the year, mark the various micro climates around the garden. When the garden is already planted watch through each of the seasons as plants come and go. Catalogue which plants you have, which will stay and which will go. All the while planning new areas and new plantings.

Sound advice but not for me. I will say I complained the first time I saw the house. "It's already planted. There is no gardening to do" How wrong I was. After moving in and taking a good look around I very quickly saw there was no time to lose. Most of the agave have reached a point where they need to be removed. So far we have removed 3. There are at least 3 more to remove. One monster, one large one and one smaller one at the back. If David thought he would never have to remove another agave after the tens he removed at our last house he was wrong. Thank goodness we kept the chain saw and the pick axes which I insisted on bringing.

Why would anyone plant an A. weberi so close to the fence? It had grown so big that growth of the Texas Mountain laurel planted next to it had been compromised.

I cut off the leaves and then called in the big guns to get out the root. 

Next to go, this monster. I have always thought A. weberii to be pretty innocuous as agave go but these ones have small teeth.

This time David didn't beat about the bush but got out the chain saw, making quick work of it. 

 

I have my eye on this spot to plant either a new calamondin or an satsuma tree. The shops are full of citrus at the moment so I shouldn't have a problem finding one.

I have begun work on making a retaining wall around the mound. Originally the area was piled up with rocks, which prevented us from walking down the side. Now with the soil retained further back I can use left over rocks to make a pathway. 

I am not 100% happy with the rock work but I must make do with what I have on hand and these angular lumps of granite are not as easy to work with as the flat limestone stones I have used in the past. Still I am hoping that succulents and cactus will soften the edges and find a happy home in the nooks and crannies.

After reorganizing the rocks beneath the roof scupper outfalls I will get a few bags of gravel from the local big box store to put down on the rest of the pathway and between the cracks.

 

There is more rock work to do here but I am making a list of plants that I hope to introduce to this part of the garden. Most are desert dwellers. On my list are,

Agave parryi, var, truncata, Artichoke agave,  Euphorbia resinifera Moroccan mound, Echinocereus triglochidiatus Claret cup, Echinocereus engelmannii Engelmanns hedgehog, Aloe x 'Blue elf', as well as many flowering perennials with which I am familiar like Melampodium leucanthum, Blackfoot daisy, Tetraneuris acaulis, Angelita daisy, Damianita and Berlandiera lyrata, chocolate flower.

Let the shopping begin.

YES, WE'VE GOT ROCKS BUT THEY ARE DIFFERENT

One of the things that attracted us to this area of Tucson was the rocks. How can you possibly go wrong when the desert scene is offset by rocks. You can't. The area is stunningly beautiful with tall graceful saguaros taking center stage and with smaller cactus and other desert dwellers interspersed among the towering piles of rocks.

 

 

 

Although I can enjoy this scene from most rooms in the house the tight spaces in my garden do not have these spectacular rocks. It was cleared for the building of the houses. The package of information from the builder specifies 10 boulders from onsite stockpile. I counted and we have exactly 10. Whomever was responsible for their placement clearly had no thought as to the best way to place them. He dotted them around the landscape, one here one there and lucky for us 2 in one place. Far better to have used them all at the front to make a really big statement. 

 I was lamenting this and what the possibility might be of getting more! I can't imagine the cost of getting someone to just bring in a few boulders and placing them, with me standing over them telling them which way they should go.

Now as it happens 2 of the 10 original boulders are serving no visual function at all. They are along the edge of the driveway, mostly hidden by overgrown bushes. How about relocating them, I suggest? And so using pieces of cardboard David moved the first rock end over end to finally get it into the place where I had dug the hole. 

 

Although it is not the perfect shape but I will tuck in cactus and other low growing plants to soften the angles.  I think it will work well. Plus we will try to procure another one to make it 3. 

That is what we did this week. But we could only manage rocks that would fit in the car. They are not super big so I will have to use my thinking cap as to how to manage and plant them for their best visual appeal. My plan is to tuck cactus in among the rocks as well as low growing desert bloomers.

But there are more rocks provided both as drainage and cover. 2-8" Coronado brown rock for drainage and 1/4" minus desert gold gravel.  In fact we have everything they specified. The 2-8" rip rap in abundance. Every scupper that drains from the roof must have an area of this rock to get water away from the house. 

 

The owners of dry creeks know that they eventually fill up with debris and blowing soil and must be cleaned out. We have 5 years worth. So I have begun to work on some areas pulling out all the rocks as well as some rather tired bushes. 

 

Maybe they would have surprised me come spring but honestly there was gross over planting followed by hacking. Out came two Baja ruellia, Ruellia pensularis, and after a lot of thought I cut the Cape honeysuckle, Tecomaria capensis, down to the ground. It took me two weeks to make the decision on the Tecomaria because I think it might bloom on old wood. We'll see what happens and if it survives.

 

There are 3 more,  planted beneath a Texas Olive, Cordia boissieri. David does not like the look of the tree, which is not at its best in winter. I remember this tree, outside the auditorium at the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center, which sadly was killed by last winter's freeze and removed. I also saw it down at the coast blooming with gorgeous white flowers. We shall see.

 When all was cleaned up and irrigation lines were marked the rocks were returned leaving a few planting places. I happen to have a couple of Agave demettiana, which may prefer this sheltered location as well as as a  A. Joe Hoak (as yet still in a pot). I am eyeing up this space for some smaller agave like Confederate rose, which is currently in a pot. We do get a little colder than down in the city so I am not sure if they would survive winter. 

Among the rocks I placed a few fossils I had had for many years but never quite had the right place for.

And who could resist a few spring bulbs. Every year Walmart sells 4" pots of these for a dollar. 

 I have begun a small collection of the rocks that show traces of copper. They will be used as a mulch in my hypertufa trough which house the paddle plants. They are not looking to attractive at present having been out of soil for some time.

 

The bird bath came from Texas with us and is holding a spot for something more colorful as is the A.weberi which I have left for structure for the time being. I feel sure it won't be there for too much longer.

Behind the agave are three crowded bushes one of which is to go and the others cut to the ground. I might then have a view of my neighbor's beautiful whale's tongue agave, Agave ovatifolia. I have not been able to find one here so a trip to Austin may be necessary.

NUTS AND BOLTS OF A NEW GARDEN

 We are trying to get an understanding of some very important aspects of our garden, which are essential to a successful desert garden. Namely the irrigation and drainage. Not a very exciting topic, I'm sure you will agree, and will probably be of little interest unless you too are facing a new old garden. I am writing it as a reminder for my future forgetfulness.  In a desert garden, even one with cactus and succulents, some irrigation will be necessary, especially with new plantings. And with monsoon rains which come in the summer, there had better be a way to get water out of here. If only we could capture it. It will only be possible to do so in small quantities as we just don't have the space for large tanks. Nor would our close neighbors appreciate their presence. We may put in one small rain barrel (wishing I had brought mine with me). 

We began by trying to understand the outside system of pipes which include a water softener and multiple pipes and shut-off valves. We now have an understanding that our irrigation system is run on hard water (relief) but not the outside faucets that come from the house. There is one faucet on this pipe work which is before the water softener which will be useful for watering by hand. 

 

Everyone had been saying that i would eventually kill all my plants if I used the softened water. Apparently using potassium rather than sodium to soften the water would be better for both people and plants. We will look into that.

We also learned that the large pipe going into the house is for our in-house sprinker system. We have never had one of those before but they are required here. Fortunately they are unobtrusive flat discs in the ceiling. 

The previous owners were taking no chance and put in a reverse osmosis system under the kitchen sink. I have never bought bottled water as we did have filters on our drinking water in the last house but I guess now we are triple protected.  

Our attention now turned to the irrigation system which had been coming on every day, dripping for short periods multiple times. Finally, after some heavy rain, I said let's just shut it off for now until we understand all the drips. So many of them had no plant anywhere near them so I capped a number, and others had clearly been chewed by varmints. When we finally got around to checking which program was linked to which drips we discovered that most of the buttons on the main control box were not working! So we had to replace the front panel. Very quickly and efficiently done on line but still quite expensive. We now have a working system but must investigate the best way to irrigate for soaking. The soil is basically desert soil. And finally we must check out all those drip lines to find which work, which don't and which are redundant. 

This must be the way commercial companies install install their irrigation lines, possibly as a protective mechanism against rodents who like to chew them to get at water. It was prevent leaks.

Most of the roof is flat and water comes off by way of scuppers. When we had a rain 2 weeks ago we discovered one of the scuppers was causing a problem. The water splashing down on a decorative overhead was being deflected to the patio door and finding its way into the house. So we deemed the solution to be extending the scupper further out. It has been ordered and David will attempt to install it. We had to buy a new ladder as David sold all the ones we had before we left!

Rain from multiple scuppers around the house either drops directly onto the paving or rocks which feed into drains. That was the next job. Over time the wet weather drainage system has filled up with sand and is not flowing well.

We investigated the 4 large grids, two at the back of the house and two down the side. They had standing water which we will have to watch closely and keep fed with mosquito dunks. David used a hose to determine what was going on and where the water was coming out. Suddenly water started coming out at the bottom of the driveway running into the street. A neighbor came over to warn us that we might have a leak! 

So this is the boring but necessary investigation we have been working on. Although I have instructed the removal of a large agave and also a little leaf Cordia, Cordia parvifolia, which was hampering our passage down the side of the garage. The information that came from the landscaper says little or no pruning necessary on this beautiful evergreen shrub. The one we removed had been horribly hacked and was in terrible shape. I think I can find a better replacement. Then I discovered an Anacacho orchid tree, Bauhinia lunarioides, poor thing. It was fighting for its life beneath a Texas Olive,  Cordia boissieri, A tree hacked into a shrub. Shame on you landscape designers for your thoughtless plantings.

THE STOCKERS TAKE STOCK

 Moving to a new garden is no piece of cake. Unless maybe it is your first and comes already made. Such was the case when we bought our first house in 1972 in Beaconsfield, Quebec, Canada. It came with lawns, fruit trees, a Russian olive, a weeping willow, lilac, spring bulbs, iris and a rockery. What more could a newbie gardener wish for. I did tinker with it adding a veg. garden and fruit bushes and a post and rail fence.  Fast forward nearly 50 years with 6 more gardens under my belt, none of which came with so much as a blade of grass, to December 2021 when we purchased, what we expect to be our final house, in the Sonoran desert of Oro Valley, Arizona. The much smaller house on a very small lot is already landscaped and to a non-gardener might be considered complete. 

The builder was very generous with the plants which was clearly required by the association to make sure properties were pleasing to the eye. Even to installing lights and drip irrigation. It would appear the original owners added more plants to the plan although many have been lost. Javelina, rabbits, rats, mice and lack of care may be to blame. Or was it just over planting? If they had just waited, but you know how that goes. They left me the plans which are very helpful in identifying a few of the plants I am not familiar with.  

 

Then, there were additional plans with more plants added. I have no idea how many were in the final installation but it is clear that many are missing like S. greggii and gaura. 

I was incredibly excited to find quite a number of Agave "Blue Glow" and Anacacho orchid trees, Texas mountain laurel and a number of Mexican olive trees. Now I learn the latter are rather messy as their brown leaves hold even through winter and I will need to remove the fruits so we don't encourage rats.

 

And several Agave Victoriae reginae. I brought Brer rabbit with me and he seems happy in his new home. He was a housewarming gift 22 years ago when we built our last house.

There are more large A. weberi that I need. Already past their prime. We have already begun removing some of the lowers leaves becasue they provide a good hangout for mice and rats.

 And we are not making a pineapple out of this one but slowly removing the leaves with each trash day! It will finally be removed and as yet I don't have plans for what will be there. Maybe a Whales tongue, A. ovatifolia. There are a number of pups which I will likely use to replaced other outgrown agave.

Oh! and there are quite a lot of red tip photinia. That was a no-no in Austin so not quite sure how conditions might differ here. They look healthy. I suspect they are the builders standard plant which grows quickly is evergreen and wows with those red tips.

There are a number of bushes I am not familiar with and frankly most of them will have to come out or at least be cut down to the ground as they are growing into other bushes.They have been miserably hacked by the landscapers to keep them under control-with a blunt pair of sheers. It is sad to see the Texas mountain laurel treated in this way as well as a number of Anacacho orchid trees. Only one has been allowed to take a tree form and then a small one shows promise of making it to adulthood. 

At first glance I remember thinking there wasn't much gardening to be done but a second glance has told me otherwise. I have been scanning local landscapes for which plants will work best here. Once again much will depend on micro climates and visiting wildlife. Although our property is fenced on 3 sides we intend to complete the fencing. It may keep javelinas away but not rabbits. 

This weekend we got to grips with some drainage we needed to understand and the irrigation system. We have had to order a new control box as most of the buttons weren't working. What was that David was thinking about not having to do such things! We also removed the Mediterranean fan palm(what a brute) and I planted an Agave desmettiana I brought with me. It feels good to get my hands in the dirt although I'm not sure I would call it that. It's basically just gritty sand. 

Maybe I will get to a nursery this week.

PART 2 THE PLANTS ARRIVE

 The drive took full 2 days as we could only travel at 55 mph. We also took a different route deciding to go via Carlsbad NM which is exactly half way. It meant that we did not have to travel on I10 which has become increasingly busy in recent months. Plus there is no halfway place with a good hotel.

We're all loaded up and raring to go. Fortunately the morning was bright and clear and the weather remained favorable the whole way. Driving in wet conditions would not have been easy. But there are a few disadvantages ot the sun beating in through the window. We decided to buy some window screens which should be better than trying to secure a piece of paper in the window. We joked about the old saying of the wealthy going out to India and China years ago. POSH. Port out starboard home. No AC on ships back then.

Of course we saw plenty of cotton and plenty of oil and the two seem to survive hand in hand. I didn't manage to get a wind farm with oil and cotton in the same shot  but there were plenty of those especially around Big Spring. I remember reading how the early settlers were nearly driven crazy by the wind.

 The cotton is no longer picked by hand but bailed ready for transportation to the gin.

 My ancestors were in the cotton business but not this end. Some had cotton and bleaching mills in Lancashire where the climate was perfect for spinning. Some were spinners, some weavers, some carders and one was a designer in a calico print factory. Those that owned the mills (the part of the family that made all the money) actually came to America to source their cotton arriving in New Orleans before the civil war. 

We had planned our journey to coincide with closing on the house early Wednesday morning at 8:30 am The transaction was recorded by 9:30am and by 10:30 we were meeting our realtor at the entrance to the community where they were busy setting up the seasonal decorations.

 It was just by chance that we had saved the balls that decorated our agave a year ago. There were no longer any agave to decorate in the old garden but I have plenty in the new garden-at least for now! It will just be a matter of finding the box among hundreds still to come.

Reversing the trailer up the tight driveway took some doing because there is a hill and a bend and a Palo Verde tree which arches over the driveway. After several tries David succeeded. 

But before we began we were given the key of the door. I joked about David carrying me over the threshold or maybe he would prefer to put me on the dolly! In the end we just opted for a photo.

I was both nervous and anxious. After all I had only been in the house one time a month before, at which time I had already crossed the house off my list for not having enough garden and for being a little dark inside. It was only when we came home that David persuaded me that we should make an offer. I relented and when we had a contract he went with our son to the inspection. It was much better seeing the house empty. I walked around and then made a beeline out to the back garden or should I say patio. For the time being I will not reveal what is there as there isn't a lot to show. Back to emptying the trailer. We needed to return it before the 5 day limit was up. We brought two large pots to put either side of the garage door. Both traveled well as did the citrus, only shedding 2 lemons. They have taken up a temporary home on the end of the driveway.

 All the boxes were unloaded into the garage. By the time we had finished we counted 40 in all. We began to open them taking the plants out to the patio at the back. The patio faces east so they will get the morning sun during our absence. Then we knocked down the boxes to take back to Austin for the final move.

 We had sold all our patio furniture so we asked the sellers if they were interested in selling theirs. We had some concerns that with the back log of supplies we would be left with nothing to sit on during the winter months. It was a boon because we had our morning coffee and then our lunch out there. 

 

 

The patio has such a beautiful view that it was hard to get back to work. We just had two days to get all the boxes open and everything moved. And to get set up with wifi access. That took longer than anticipated as we were also trying to set up the TV in the living room which we had also purchased. We are so used to using rabbit ears for local stations that what appeared on the TV was totally alien to us. The TV is far too smart and big for us and we will welcome Nick coming down to help up out with technology. But, we had internet and that matters more to me than anything. I took the following morning off and played bridge on line. 

And then it was back the 900 miles to Austin. As we pulled out of the driveway a rabbit ran right in front of us and down the side of the house! At least it wasn't a javelina, pack rat or a Gila monster. They will be round according to the neighbor. Will there be anything left when we get back I wonder. I have certainly left them some juicy things to eat. Desert life will be as much of a challenge as gardening in Austin.

Stay tuned for part 3 in which I discover all my plants, their names and look at the original landscape plans for the house. There is much to discover.