Bloom Day, August 2015

Being new to the garden blogging world I didn't realize there was a tradition of posting pictures of blooms on the 15th. Being in the desert in August really made me jealous. Not much is blooming. But here's what I have:

 Bouganvillea, always a sure thing.

 Aloe from a mother's day flower arrangement.

Lantana, but sure of the variety, but it's a big, happy, healthy plant.

Lantana, a different variety. A little smaller, not as robust, but doing well. Lantana and Bouganvillea are pretty reliable here for blooming.

This is a red verbena, barely hanging on through the heat, the only beautiful bloom in this hanging pot.

Russelia equisetiformis, firecracker plant. I just recently planted this where a red yucca used to be.

Now on to the blooms I'm excited about! My kitchen garden.

 This little flower, with a bee, grows into this....

Watermelon, beach ball sized! 

My mint in the herb garden is blooming.

Even though the sweet peppers are tiny, and need some supplemental calcium, they are still flowering and growing.

The 3 sisters garden is doing well. The tassel on the corn is a male flower technically, anthers.

 Just this morning the squash flowered for the first time!

Happy belated bloom day.

Prickly Pear Juice

This weekend the boys and I picked 5 gallons of prickly pears, many of them from this cactus.

Being careful not to get the tiny spines (glochids) in our hands, we tried a number of things.  First we torched some to burn off the spines. Then cut them open to taste. They didn't taste very good. Not horrible, but disappointing. A mix of kiwi, melon, grapefruit flavor. We juiced them by squishing them, then boiled the juice for 90 minutes. Strained it a dozen times I think. Added sugar. Eventually I admitted defeat the next day and poured it down the drain.

The corn is growing fast! 

My air layering experiment is ready to go. You may be able to see some roots there in the plastic.

Planted.

I potted some octopus agaves, agave vilmoriniana and sedum morganianum (burro's tail)

Agave seedlings. In the left tray is agave parryi from seeds I collected by the Sunrise Library. The middle round pot has agave geminiflora seed I collected near Wal-Mart.

Taking a walk Sunday I saw this giant toad (unfortunately I think he was mortally injured, maybe run over?)

This morning, I pulled out this red yucca (hesperaloe parviflora) from the front yard and attempted to pot it. I filled this pot completely. I didn't realize red yucca is a tuber, like onions almost. I'm pretty sure this isn't an ideal way to pot it, we'll see how it goes. I replaced it with firecracker plant, russelia equisetiformis. I'll take a picture later.

 And finally, I consulted with an arborist, Erik Wilson, about my Desert Museum Palo Verde and Mesquite trees. He recommended a tree trimming company, Trees For Needs. They came out this morning and really did a great job. I wish I had a good "before" picture.

Three Sisters Garden

Coming home I was excited to see the corn all sprouted, except about 10 of the 60 I planted.

Last night I planted white tepary beans by the every other corn mound. The other corn mounds I planted with rattlesnake green beans. The beans will climb the corn stalks and support them from the winds.

In between the corn mounds (5 corn mounds per row, 4 seeds per mound) I planted 3 different squash-like plants, Tohono O'Odham squash, yellow flesh watermelon, and dipper gourds. Each mound had only one species, 3 seeds each. Then diagonally the same seed in the next row. So I have 5 mounds for each species.

Something I'm excited about is I found a beautiful bloomed agave perryi "artichoke" and planted the seeds in a little home greenhouse and they sprouted right before we left.

Right before we left I planted some seeds from a few agave geminiflora blooming over by Wal-Mart at Pinnacle Peak and Lake Pleasant Pkwy.

Now I have tons of small sprouted agave seeds and not sure how to get them from seedlings to viable plants!

Another thing, right before we left I stopped by a nursery in Wickenburg, Cactus Ranch Garden and Nursery. It was the best nursery I've ever seen, by far. The owner Gilbert is creating a museum, and I'm pretty sure some of his customers have no idea what kind of amazing place he has there, other than it's beautifully designed.

I bought a pedalanthis macrocarpis (slipper plant), I put in the ground this morning

and a fire barrel cactus.

He gave me a cutting from a specimen succulent arrangement he has that is rare and gorgeous. Here's an image I found courtesy of this site, it's not exactly how Gilbert had it arranged, but close:

I'm excited to go back up with Lori and wander around with her there. I was so overwhelmed by the spectacle he has I didn't think to document it for the blog.

The heat also did it's damage while we were gone.

The red hibiscus I've been nursing along in hospice care finally checked out. Hopefully the roots are still alive and I can cut the dead wood off and let it come back.

Tragically, one of my very favorite agaves, the variegated attenuata burned up, and I'm pretty sure it's toast.

We hardly knew ye fox tail. Hopefully you will have just enough energy to sucker a new one.

Backyard

While the front yard is all native, drought resistant, water wise, desert adapted, the back is lush tropical or garden area, that probably wastes water. But I do love it.

A 4x4 raised bed, with 2 tomatoes, Brussels sprouts, kale, cucumber, watermelon, and jalapeno. Along the wall is a grape trellis for table grape, Thompson seedless, and another variety.

....and a pool. Ok, so the back isn't water wise. But I have a beautiful variegated agave attenuata.

It maybe a little sunburned, but it's an absolute gorgeous species. I'd like to get the green variety too.

I also have an agave bracteosa back here. In the back by the pool I want the spineless toothless varieties, and I think these 2 are the only common varieties.

I can't believe how heart tolerant cana lilies are.

The hibiscus....not so much. I've been nursing this one for 6 months.

Here is my agave pup section, and cactus, euphorbia, dracaena draco starting area. Plus some sweet peppers, bell peppers, bean starts, squash starts, lemon grass, kale, some bok choy that bolted and I'm growing for seed. A Mexican lime tree in a container.

The herb and flower garden. Chocolate mint, tomato, zucchini, onion, chives, red onion, garlic chives, oregano, sweet basil and purple basil. A pot with parsley, sage, and thyme (German and lemon). Can you tell what's missing? After planting this I had to add rosemary.

This is my most exciting project going in this coming week. A "three sisters" garden; corn, beans, squash. I ordered native seeds that have been grown here in the low desert for centuries. I ordered sweet corn, Maricopa. Once the corn is 4" I'll plant tepary beans and rattlesnake beans to climb the corn. And I'll plant a yellow flesh watermelon, dipper gourds, and a winter squash. I'm looking forward to reporting more. This is the week the native peoples planted their 2nd crops, timed for the monsoon rains. All the seeds are native to this area, all used by the Tohono O'Odham.

Desert Rose, Adenium obesum. Purchased at the Phoenix Botanical Garden.

Pomegranate wonderful, the edible kind. Apparently the other pomegranate planted here are ornamental.

Banana, unknown variety. Moon Valley nursery said it's an edible variety. I know Whitfil has dwarf Cavendish (which is the variety of banana we all eat everyday and *little known fact here* the single item Walmart sells the most quantity of)

Black mission fig, struggling with the heat and sun.

The other garden, full of pumpkin, squash, and watermelon. Celery, broccoli, cauliflower, kale. The broccoli and cauliflower are growing and are green, but no produce, and I don't expect it, but they haven't bolted yet either. The filtered sunlight under the sissou tree may help. Notice the white pumpkin.

Curious as to how long he'll last and what he'll eventually look like.

Compost, 90 gallons, and about ready to use on the corn garden. On the right is the only grapefruit I enjoy eating.

Potting table, recycled from Jeff's room, it's falling apart and bowed.

Finally, this is where Lori and I take our coffee every morning. Peaceful.