May Miscellaneous

Last fall I transplanted a Crown of Thorns (Euphorbia Milii) from a pot into my yard. It seems to be doing well, but the intense heat has not yet started and it is recommended that in the Phoenix area they get light shade. This plant will get some afternoon shade, but it may not be enough. We'll see.

 This Agave angustifolia provided an interesting view from my dining room windows, but soon my view will change. Once the stalk matures, the Agave will begin to die. Not a quick process--I'd say it will be ready to be discarded by mid-July. I don't envy the landscapers who will be attacking this chore.

This Desert Willow tree (Chilopsis linearis) isn't mine--it belongs to a neighbor who planted it very close to my back block wall. Although it provides a nice show of flowers this time of year and again in the fall, it might as well be my tree because of all the debris it drops in my back yard.

Several of my Prickly Pear cacti are now in bloom. I have seven varieties, and this is the only one that I can't name. I got a pad of it at a Cactus and Succulent Society meeting years ago, and it is quite large now. I've never been able to identify it as there are dozens of species and varieties. 

It was a good spring for my roses--large blooms but little fragrance. This was taken late April. Although they are still producing buds, the heat is just too much and they dry and fry quickly. It was pretty while it lasted. 

I'm Back!

I seldom show photos of my front yard, but the Palo Verde trees are in full bloom right now and I just couldn't resist showing them off. I have two more in the back, which I've shown a number of times in previous posts. They leave a mess with all the spent blooms, but that's about the only downside to these trees, other than constant worry about breakage or uprooting during windstorms and the need for regular thinning. Come to think about it, that's a lot of downside!

After my six week absence from blogging, I am trying to get back into the swing of things by posting again. In early April, my husband had cardiac surgery, and after 16 days, he came home after spending that time in the hospital and then a rehabilitation facility. After he came home, he needed constant care, including trips to doctors, physical therapy, lab tests and other things associated with such surgery. He was cleared today by his surgeon, and will now be under the care of his regular cardiologist. In three weeks he'll be able to drive again and I can then get back into my regular routine.

My favorite Echinopsis hybrid, 'Flying Saucer', bloomed last week. Last year, it only produced one flower, so this is an improvement. I hope the flowers double each year!

Another favorite is Echinopsis 'Shere Kahn'. I'm partial to salmon, coral and orange hued cactus flowers, and 'Shere Kahn' along with 'Flying Saucer', fit the bill.

Most of my prickly pear cacti have bloomed and the fruits are ripening. Shown here are two types of  Opuntia; in the foreground is Opuntia Santa Rita, and in the back, Opuntia paraguayensis. I have three other types in addition to these.

I Give Up!

In the past week, we've received more rain than the whole of last year. Rain is always welcome, but this time, there's been too much of a good thing in too short of a time. The ground is saturated, and can't hold any more water, so it just stands. We will probably get more rain in the next few days, but the brunt of the five major storms to pass through is over. 

One bright spot in an otherwise gloomy week was a lone ripe tomato on my container plant. It was good--sweeter than the late spring tomatoes. This is the first time I tried to keep a winter tomato, and because we've had no frost, it worked out.

Standing water--no where else left to go. Today, we've had no rain, so it's starting to soak in a bit. The ground is boggy. I leave deep footprints wherever I step, (more work filling in when it dries) so I've stayed out of the yard. But, others have been out there....

The worst thing of all--two more huge Mesquite trees lost. The landscapers came today and made short shrift of the trees with their chipper. The cost? More than the cost of the trees when I purchased them five years ago. I've given up. I am not going to replace any of my lost trees or root-rotted cactus (if that happens.) Over these past five years, we've lost eleven of the original seventeen trees planted in the back and have two back there that are severely damaged. I should have gotten rid of the damaged ones, but they are doing ok--albeit grotesquely deformed. 

The reason these latest trees were uprooted is that when the soil is saturated, any wind gust at all will uproot shallow-rooted trees. We had a few gusts the other night in the 25 MPH range--not nearly enough to cause damage in non-rainy times.

I did add a Tipu tree in October, 2008 to replace one of the four Ficus lost to the 2007 deep freeze, and also added a Palo Brea in October of 2007 to replace a lost Willow Acacia. There ain't gonna be no more replacements!

In the front, we've lost five of the nine trees we started with. None down during this storm, though. The last storm split a large Palo Verde, but the other half is doing fine. The only problem is that the trunk is weaker because of the split, and the tree is lopsided, so it's not as stable as it should be. I'm not even going to think about next year's Monsoon winds and what they will probably do to this tree.

All this late winter rain is also going to bring rampant weed growth. I can't wait!

All Green Tuesday

One of my earliest memories is being lifted up high so that I could pull lemons off a tree. Even at about 18 months old, I loved lemons--I'd take a bite, shudder and grimace, and take another bite! My parents even recorded it in a home movie--a long, long time ago! Although I grew up around citrus orchards and loved all varieties of citrus, I did not plant my own citrus trees until the 1980s. We had one grapefruit tree and the two of us ended up eating all 92 grapefruits one year--not letting a single one go to waste. Then, for twenty years, I didn't have any citrus trees in my garden, until I purchased a Dwarf Meyer Lemon last year. It is in a huge pot, and will stay there. Currently, it has 20 lemons on its spindly branches, which I've had to tie up because the lemons are actually too heavy for the trunk and branches. The lemons are slowly turning yellow and ripening and will probably be ready by December. I found a split lemon last week and rather than throw it out, I cut it open and tasted it. It had a slightly sweet taste, far less tangy than I expected, even though it was far from ripe.

Earlier this year I purchased a couple of these unidentified plants for $1.00 at a Dollar store while looking for some plastic containers. I know a lot about desert plants and can identify most of them, but I'm usually at a loss with other types of plants. Recently I learned that this plant (the second one dried up within days of purchase) is an African Violet. I've learned the hard way not to get water on the leaves, as they invariably die. It's hard to water without getting the leaves wet because the leaves are so low they touch the soil. It has yet to bloom. After I learned what kind of plant it is, I read about its care, and surprisingly, I had done all the right things--location, watering, etc. Except for using extra care in keeping the leaves dry!

Does anyone know the name of this succulent? This was another unlabeled plant I picked up last year. It's done very well in the house, so I will continue to keep it indoors, but would like to know its genera and species so that I can learn more about it. I can't find it in my succulent dictionary.

Update:

(My blog friend, Georg, a succulent expert from South Africa, has identified this plant as Haworthia cymbiformis var. umbraticola. Others suggested H. cooperi, and Georg says this is not too far from wrong, as the two species do mix where distributions overlap.)

Sansevieria trifasciata 'Moonshine'

This plant came to me as a free offshoot from our Cactus and Succulent Society monthly meeting, where folks bring in unwanted plants, offshoots and cuttings. It has done very well and has put out a number of offshoots of its own now, almost filling the large pot I have it in. This hybrid has become my favorite Sansevieria because of its wonderful coloration.

Golden April Carpet

A golden carpet of Palo Verde tree flowers.

Although these dropped flowers make quite a mess and actually completely cover many small cacti, I really enjoy seeing this golden carpet. I'll worry about the mess later.

Emerging Aussies

Eremophila hygrophana

Many Australian plants love Arizona's climate, and local nurseries are providing more and more to choose from as time goes by. My garden has a lot of Australian natives, and several more Aussie plants began to bloom this week. In the past couple of weeks, Emu 'Valentine' and Yellow Emu shrubs started flowering, (shown in previous posts) and here are the rest.

I planted this E. hygrophana earlier this year, and although it looked a bit bedraggled in the heat of summer, I still think the silvery foliage and pale purple flowers make it one of the most attractive of the many Emu plants available to us in the low desert of Arizona. You can read more about this plant here.

Callistemon viminalis 'Little John'

Little John flowers are starting to emerge after a period of dormancy. We've had showers in the past week, and that has helped these small shrubs look their best. The fuzzy leaves are great dust collectors. See this previous post for more information on this shrub, and to see it in full bloom.

Acacia salicina

The honey-fragranced puffball flowers of my three Acacia trees are perfuming my garden again. These trees have several problems, but their wonderful smell isn't a problem at all! Read more about the pros and cons of this tree here.

Palo Brea

Cercidium praecox

This relative of the Palo Verde tree is really not recommended for our USDA Zone 9b, but it is very popular in the Phoenix area for areas that take a smaller tree. It does well in full and reflected sun and takes little to no supplemental water once established. I thought this was the perfect location for this Palo Brea when I planted it two years ago because it has a southwest exposure and a lot of reflected sun from the adjacent driveway to my husband's shop. It will eventually provide filtered shade for a large glass block window and a rose bed.

 The Palo Brea can reach 40 ft. high, but that is rare in this climate. More than likely it will reach a maximum of 25 ft. with a 20 ft. spread over many years. The tree has the typical Cercidium green trunk, with arching branches. The downside of this tree is that the branches are covered with thorns, and more than once, I've ducked under the branches while taking a shortcut to the shop and suffered the consequences with numerous scratches. Not only does it scratch, the branches seem grab you and it's hard to extricate yourself without additional scratches! I'm slowly raising the canopy by pruning the lower branches. Since end pruning is not good, the long arching branches pose a danger until the tree is quite a bit taller.

 

I've always loved the shape of this Cercidium species. The mature trees are especially attractive in spring when bright yellow flowers cover each branch from tip to base, which serves to emphasize the arching growth habit.Unlike the other trees in my landscape that started out as 24-inch boxed trees, this one was in a 15-gallon container, so it is still small, even after two years. I did not need to stake it at all, and it has withstood many summer monsoon windstorms. One of the reasons our region is not considered the optimum climate for this tree is that it is less hardy than the other Palo Verde species, and we occasionally have frost. It is hardy to 22°F., a temperature we very rarely see, even in our coldest winters. This tree was just getting established when we had the freak freeze a couple of years ago where our temperature got down to 18°F. There was only some very minor frost burn to the newer leaves, so I'm not worried about it at all.

My New Tipu

After I lost four Ficus trees in the freak hard freeze of two years ago, it's taken me that long time to decide if, and with what, to replace those lost Ficus trees. All four were located in the large east side yard of my property, along with quite a few other more tropical shrubs and plants that also succumbed to the freeze. It looked so bare on that side of my yard that it finally forced me to make a decision regarding a tree replacement.

The past four weeks have been the ultimate planting time for most plants here in the desert, so it was now, or wait until early spring. The nurseries are hurting for business, and began offering great sales on trees and planting, so I decided the time was now. I made up my mind to get a Tipuana Tipu, also called Palo Mortero, or Rosewood.

This tree is classified into the Leguminosae (pea family) and it will rapidly grow to about 30 feet here in the desert, with a huge, lacy, arching crown. In milder climates (it does well in southern California) it can grow to 50 feet tall! It is classified as a deciduous tree, but here in the desert, it usually keeps its leaves unless we have an especially cold winter. It will need regular water until it is established. It will take more water than the desert trees, but it is still fairly drought resistant. In this photo, it looks as if it is very close to the block wall, but it's actually about eight feet from it.

By deciding on this tree, I've invited more litter into my yard. In the spring, small yellow-orange flowers will adorn this tree and also the ground! The tree then forms pea pod-like seed pods that contain samaras, which are seeds that are encased in a membrane that covers a seed at one end and forms a wing at the other. So, I'll also have seed pods and little flying seeds all over the place, but that's why I hire the blow-and-go landscape maintenance crew to come in every few months.

Even with the litter problems, I think the positives will outweigh the negatives on this beautiful tree.

End Of Summer

It's the end of summer--well, almost the end. The daytime temperatures have been hovering around 100º F. but the overnight temperatures are around 72º F., cool enough to give all the plants some relief. Much is in need of trimming and shaping and the whole place needs a good blow-out and raking. Most of this will be done by a landscape maintenance crew because of the size of this place. I have to keep an eye on them as they love to go around shearing all my bushes. It's almost a compulsion for them. No matter how many times I tell crew leader, the crew, which is different each time, always has a sneaky, shear-happy individual.
The Queen's Wreath (Antigonon leptopus) has started to produce fall flowers. This variety is called Baja Red. I planted this fast-growing vine last year at this time, and it has struggled along, so it didn't grow as much as I expected. In late winter I will cut it to the ground and in spring, it will come back. Maybe next year it will really take off. This sad looking rose (Rosa 'Tiffany') is the first one in months. It's not yet cool enough for the roses to produce nice flowers. At least I hope that's the problem. It looks deformed, but I won't get worried until late October, when the temperatures are cool enough for the plant to put some energy into the flowers.
I moved my Madagascar Palm closer into the patio a month ago to protect it during a 70 MPH wind storm, and it really loves it there. This is as lush as it's been in two years. I'll need to move it back out into more light in October, but back in again when it gets too cold. At least now, I know exactly where to keep it next summer!


Every year at this time, the skies are extra blue and clear. This will last all of October and maybe into the first few weeks of November. As it cools down later in the year, we get an air inversion, causing a smoggy look to hover over the Phoenix Metro area. I live in a semi-rural area, so it's not as bad as closer into town.

The Monsoon Season Brings...

This

x Echinopsis 'Fire Chief'

This

Ortegocactus mcdougallii

This Echinopsis 'Haku Jo'

And This...A downed Chilean Mesquite

Pretty Litter

Acacia salicina seeds

Several months ago I wrote about the Willow Acacia's pros and cons. One negative I listed was the litter from leaf drop and seed pods several times a year. However, I do think the seeds are beautiful. The shiny black seeds have bright red structures on the ends that remind me of ladybugs. Well, actually the only resemblance is the color combination. Aren't they pretty?

Baby Sago Leaves

At my previous residence, we had a large Sago Palm (Cycas revoluta) that regularly produced pups. My husband always removed them, and I would occasionally plant them in pots. Some would take, but more just dried up. When we moved, one of the potted pups came along, and it is now five years old. A few times a year it puts out spikes, which slowly uncoil into individual leaflets that form a new set of leaves in the center of the plant. I love watching them uncoil. The whole process takes a couple of months.

Sago Palms are slow growing and don’t bloom for at least a decade. My large palm was 11 years old when it bloomed, and that’s when I learned it was a male. The male and female palms have different inflorescences. The male inflorescence looks like a pineapple or a large pinecone, and the female inflorescence is a globular group of strange looking scaly leaves covering large orange seeds. The seeds are poisonous to animals and humans.

The Sago Palm, recommended for USDA Zones 8-11, can’t take our intense summers, so it should be located in partial shade in Phoenix. The Sago Palm is good as a houseplant. It is extensively used as a Bonsai subject because of its lengthy lifespan.

Maybe Tomorrow...

I don't keep a regular vegetable garden, but I do grow at least one container tomato plant every year. I patiently feed and water it for several months just to get a few fresh tomatoes. The red one should be ready to pick tomorrow. This year's tomato plant is an Early Girl VFF Hybrid, with 16 tomatoes in various stages of growth. Now that the temperatures are getting consistently above 95 degrees, the 16 tomatoes I have will be all I'll get this year.

Maybe in the fall...

I hope my Brown Turkey figs continue to grow and ripen so that by October I'll have some fresh figs. I pruned the fig back in late winter, just as instructed by the nursery, in order to promote fig production. The first year I decided to let it grow and got only a very few, very small figs. This year there are a lot of figs growing on the small tree, so maybe the pruning worked.

By fall, the pears from this Opuntia engelmannii should be ripe and ready to use for Prickly Pear Vinaigrette and maybe some Cactus Candy.

The Demise of Bees

Arizona Republic published a story this week stating that 36.1 percent of the nation's commercially managed hives have been lost in the past year. After reading about this, I remembered a poem that seemed fitting.

The

When the last bee died,
nobody noticed. Nobody put on black
or made a dirge for the death
of honey. Nobody wrote an elegy
to apricots, no one mourned for cherries.

When the last bee died,
everyone was busy. They had things to do,
drove straight to work each morning,
straight back home each night. The roads
all seriously hummed. Besides,

the pantries were still packed
with cans of fruit cocktail in heavy syrup,
deep deep freezers full
of concentrated grape and orange juice,
stores stocked with artificial flavoring.

When the last bee died, nobody saw
the poppies winking out, nobody cried
for burdock, yarrow, wild delphinium.
Now and again a child would ask for
dandelions, quickly shushed: That pest!

And everyone is fine. The children healthy,
radish-cheeked. They play she loves me/not
with Savoy cabbage leaves, enjoy the telling
of the great myths, peach and peony.
No one believes in apples any more.

End Notes for a Small History
Betty Lies
"Southern Poetry Review"
Summer 1998 Vol. XXXVlll, No. 1 page 33

May Desert Garden

My garden is at its best right now--the Palo Verde trees and Mesquite trees are in full bloom. All the plants are lush, and many of my cactus plants continue to flower. The garden will stay this way until mid-June, and then it will start its dormant period in July through mid-September, our hottest time of the year. It's hard to belive that three years ago this month, this was a barren piece of land.

This dove and its female counterpart had the wherewithal to build a proper nest and they have been taking turns incubating the eggs for almost two weeks. Dove eggs hatch in 14 to 15 days, so I should be seeing some babies very soon. The male incubates by day and the female by night, so this is the male. Doves are notorious for building very poor nests as I noted in a previous post, so the fact that this nest is still intact is a small miracle!

The Chilean Mesquite tree flowers, called catkins, are in various stages of their life cycle. Soon, these will become Mesquite beans, suitable for drying and grinding into flour. Not that I do this--but many people in our region do it every year.

Echinopsis x 'Los Angeles, an early morning bloomer, produces numerous flowers that wilt within hours. I usually set my alarm to get up early enough to catch these flowers at their peak. Getting up early is no small feat for me, but a glimpse of these flowers makes it worth a couple of hours of lost sleep.

A Mammillaria sp. is flowering in the typical Mammillaria flower ring on the new growth. The tag got lost on this little cactus, and I won't hazard a guess as to its species.

This cactus was labeled as Echinopsis pentlandii longispinus, but now that it has flowered, I have to wonder. The buds look more like Gymnocalycium buds. However, the flowers open only at night, making it hard to get a good shot. I don't know of any species of Echinopsis or Gymnocalycium that bloom at night, so maybe it's another genus altogether.

An unidentified cactus (another lost tag!) that produces small flowers that are more green than yellow. The flowers are a nice contrast to the red spines.

This Sansevieria suffruticosa v. longituba flower stalk has sticky droplets all over the flowers and stalk. This is the first time I have ever seen the flowers. I have no idea if the droplets are normal--but I believe they are because the flower stalks on two of these plants have the same substance on them. Either it's normal or they both have the same problem!

Bryophyllum 'Crenatodaigremontianum' is making its little plantlets on the leaf margins. It is one of the "Mother of Thousands" plants that I keep potted to avoid having a crop of this stuff.

The Creosote bushes are in full bloom, with thousands of tiny sweat bees swarming around them. The small fuzzy seedpods form after the flowers are spent.