What's blooming and a little whine

With all of this heat and drought, I am pleased that I still have some plants that are thriving despite the extremes. Unfortunately, the weeds seem to be holding up marvelously as well. There are are a few hours in the evening when I can go out and tackle some of them if only my hands would cooperate. A recent new challenge of rheumatoid arthritis has slowed me down considerably and it's darn right annoying. I will adapt as I refuse to stop the work and the hobbies that I love so dearly, but the learning curve, well, I am still learning. From what I have read, I have it easy compared to some, and I have been fortunate that most of the time it's very managable, I certainly count my blessings. I guess I will just have to learn to coexist a little more with the weeds than I care to.

"The garden reconciles human art and wild nature, hard work and deep pleasure, spiritual practice and the material world. It is a magical place because it is not divided. The many divisions and polarizations that terrorize a disenchanted world find peaceful accord among mossy rock walls, rough stone paths, and trimmed bushes. Maybe a garden sometimes seems fragile, for all its earth and labor, because it achieves such an extraordinary delicate balance of nature and human life, naturalness and artificiality. It has its own liminality, its point of balance between great extremes."

Thomas Moore

Love love love this canna!
Coreopsis, a donation from the plant swap in SpringMy herb bed with zinnias

Lantana, can't remember which one. I know some people think they are boring, but I love how they attract butterflies and bloom all summer!
My desert willow's first year. It's not even batting an eye at this weather!
One of the best bits to come with the house, landscaping wise. These huge esperanza's just keep getting bigger and bigger and are blooming like crazy.

Contributions from a fellow gardener

I had the great pleasure of meeting a very generous and neat lady when I posted on a gardening forum last fall in search of turks cap seeds. I was anxious to start my garden and was disappointed that my turks cap I had taken from my last garden didn't make the move. Little did I know that she would be so instrumental in helping me start to create my own garden paradise. I went for turks cap seeds and came home with a car load full of plant starts for my garden! Not to mention I got the bonus of getting to enjoy her beautiful gardens, a true inspiration!
Between the crazy winter we had and the drought and extreme heat this year, not all of them are making it, but alot of them are and I thought I would share the wonderful plants that she has passed on to me. I look forward to the day when my plants are more established and I can pay it forward.


Tropical sage and blue mist flower (uh hum, among the ever present hackberry trees)


Cannas for my tropical look! Can't wait for these to start reproducing!


Crinums which will go in their new home this fall, along with a vitex that a client gave me.
The Fairy Rose which has started climbing the pergola already. There were two, one on either column but the grrrrr, lawn guys weed wacked it down to dead. I was not happy about that.

Henry Duelburg (think I spelled that right) or black and blue salvia, absolutely love this one!
Bouncing Bet or soapwort, a particularly sentimental plant for me because it was in my mother's garden. I was crushed when I discovered it didn't survive the move because the cutting was from my mother's garden. However, I am so very pleased that I got it from a fellow gardener and not a nursery, somehow that keeps the specialness alive.
The amazing and gorgeous Brugmansia. I think this is one of my favorites. I can't believe how big it's gotten just since May. I kept waiting for it to bloom all at one time ( has done that once already) so I can take a picture, but of course I am always on the way out the door on those days and by the time I get home, the show is over. Either way, I adore this plant.
There was at least one bloom this morning.
More of the Tropical Sage, do love this plant and southern wood ferns in my one pseudo shady area.
Of course as I am wrapping up this post it occurs to me that I didn't take a picture of the turks cap that started it all. I will include it in future posts as it's not looking very happy right now anyways, but it's hanging on and that's the important part.

Tree "tops"

A few days ago, I lost track of one of my bathing suit tops.
You see, we generally leave our suites out on the back patio to dry after swimming, draped over a lounge chair on the porch to be specific.
I have been rather miffed by the recent disappearance but figured the missing top was somewhere lost in a dirty laundry pile.
I was relaxing in the pool after a swim tonight and was just kinda gazing up into the sky, looking around at the trees, just really enjoying the blessing that is my backyard paradise and imagine my surprise when I spied my missing swim top dangling off a limb high up in our cedar tree!! I busted out laughing so hard I scared the wildlife off...I think the crickets even stopped chirping for a minute, not to mention I think I snorted some pool water. Just not something or someplace I would expect to find the missing top. It reminded me of the shoes I see hanging from power lines from time to time and you always wonder how they got there?
I would have loved to have seen whether bird or critter when they were trying to haul my top off and what their plans for it were. I definitely have that moment in my celestial bookmarks now!!

Where a year has taken us

I can't believe we have been in our dream home for almost a year now!!!


I've been working hard on making it ours and still have so much left that I want to do. Good thing we aren't planning on going anywhere anytime soon!
I thought it would be fun to see the before and after's of the last year, so here we go!!

Before:



I was never a big fan of the "seusical" type topiaries but the poor trees do take a while to grown back to their natural form. The grass is still sad, but hopefully in the next year or two I will get the yard itself in a much healthier state. It's sticker city out there right now, can't wait to rid the yard of those pesky things!

And here is another shot of the bed I have started where the grass used to be. The "artistic" piece in the middle is the remainder of a stump of one of the trees we lost to the storms this year. I think I have come up with a creative way to incorporate it into the landscape, I will update a picture when I complete that project.


Before:


After: I am still working on what to do where the grass won't grow, but at least there is SOMETHING under the tree now besides dirt. I was very mindful with the mulch to keep a thin layer and keep the roots exposed where they already stuck out. I love this tree!



Before:
After: Some of the bigger changes can't be seen as well as I'd like. Of course the pool has been resurfaced and retiled and I have slowly started on the pool landscaping, mainly just expanding the little spot the previous owners had started at the end of the pool.


Notice my birthday palm tree has been added to the mix!!



Before:

After:

This is where I envisioned the memorial garden! As a matter of fact, I have an earlier blog about starting this garden. I had hoped to get farther with this bed, but with all of the beds I put in this year, I decided that this would be phase 1!

Here's another shot! I am happy that most of the plants I put in are making it in this crazy heat and drought. Oy vey! What a year to start establishing plants. Good thing I was aiming for all xeriscape! Just wish the stupid bermuda would quit sneaking in when I am not looking.

Before:


After: ARGH! I am still fighting the stubborn hackberry trees that are coming up everywhere. I must have pulled well over 200 sproutlings this year and right now there is a small grove coming up behind my wagon wheels. Unfortunately, I will have to wait til the end of the season to kill them once and for all. Little did I know that there is no organic way to kill those stupid trees and of course I am growing edibles in that corner too, So, alas, I will wait til winter to hit them with stump killer.

So there you have it! When I look at the pictures, it doesn't seem like enough, but boy, I am staying busy just maintaining what I have already put in. However, that won't stop me from plowing forward. I already have plans for the fall, although I think this time I will try to not bite quite so much off. The bonus is with so much more to maintain compared to the last place, I am back to my high school size in clothes. Can't beat that!!