The Aftermath....

Yesterday evening, I started to see the signs....

Gusty winds, thunder clouds, the smell of rain in the air and raindrops starting to fall.  A monsoon storm was on it's way.

Clouds gathering over my house and Eucalyptus tree.

When I first moved to the desert southwest from California, I was quite surprised that it rained in the desert frequently in the summer months.  Where I came from, summer rain was quite rare.

Another surprise awaited me when I experienced my first monsoon storm....flying dust followed by high winds, thunderclouds, lightning and torrential downpours - these were definitely things that I had not experienced in California.

*The Sonoran Desert has two rainy seasons, one in the winter and one in the summer.  Because of this our desert has the most animal and plant species of any North American desert.  We have over 2,000 native plant species alone.  

Although I love monsoon storms, I would dread going to work the day afterward because I knew that there could be a lot of tree damage to deal with due to the high winds...especially on the golf courses.  I would have to personally check all of the trees...some were completely blown over with roots sticking out and my crew would quickly cut them up.  Other trees would half in and half out of the soil and I would have to decide if we could save them or not.  

One summer brought a severe micro-burst over the area where I worked and the damage to the trees on the golf courses were thankfully, minimal, except for a large Saguaro cactus that was lost and just a handful of trees.

However, it was the damaged trees that I saw as a result of the storm in the residential areas that was shocking. 

There were the trees that had been completely blown over...

 Fallen Mesquite

 Fallen Palo Verde

 Fallen Ironwood

Some trees were completely snapped off at their base....

  Palo Verde

Some trees that completely lost their head...literally.

  This Palo Verde snapped off halfway up the trunk.

Some trees looked like they were swallowing up homes....

 

Although we did suffer some losses on the golf courses and landscape areas, the homeowners were hit the hardest in regards to damaged trees - mostly because their trees were either somewhat top-heavy or had not been pruned recently, or pruned correctly.  

You may be asking, what can I do to avoid having this happen to my tree?  Well, there are some steps that you can take to help prevent wind damage, BUT even if you maintain your trees correctly, wind damage may be unavoidable.  Following these tips will increase your chances of escaping severe wind damage, but nothing can totally prevent it due to circumstances beyond your control.

First, you may notice that all the trees in the pictures had a single (standard) trunk.  Imagine holding a lollipop at the base of the stick.  The top of the lollipop is quite heavy, isn't it?  Well, this is the same for many single trunk trees.  Many desert trees such as Mesquite, Palo Verde, Sweet Acacia and Ironwood are available in both standard (single) or multi-trunk forms.  In my opinion, multi-trunk trees are more attractive in addition to the fact that they are less likely to suffer damage from wind because the weight of the branches is more evenly distributed among multiple tree trunks.

Second, proper pruning will help your trees to weather the storms.  I would always schedule our annual tree pruning to be done before the monsoon season would begin.  Thinning trees is not the type of pruning that should be done.  Rather, use 'heading cuts' which help to reduce the drag on the tree caused by high winds.  Trees add lots of value to your house - not just aesthetically, but in dollars as well.  So, it is worth the investment to hire a Certified Arborist to advise you on the correct way to prune your trees.  Most also offer pruning services for your trees as well.   *You can find a Certified Arborist in your area by following this link.

Last, make sure that your trees are watered correctly.  Trees need to be watered deeply, so that their roots will grow down into the soil.  Repeated shallow watering results in tree roots that are close to the surface and are not able to anchor a tree against high winds. 

As I write this, I see storm clouds gathering to the east.  I am hoping for a nice rainstorm tonight, without the high winds ;-) 

"Raise Your Hand If You Have Ever Killed a Plant"

I asked this question years ago, to a room full of people as I was giving my first landscape presentation.  I was quite nervous as I began my presentation, but once I asked the question, "Raise your hand if you have ever killed a plant,"  almost everyone raised their hands.  A few people also laughed when my hand also went up and I immediately felt a little less nervous.

  

I think it would be very hard to find anyone who has a garden who has never killed a plant, don't you?  Over the years, I have heard many stories, some very humorous about mishaps in the garden which ended with dead plants.  I would like to share mine with you....

Over 18 years ago, we  moved into our new home in Phoenix.  It was a small, older, ranch style house that had quite a few roses and a lot of room for a garden.  I was so excited to have my own piece of land to grow plants in, I could hardly wait to get started.  I sent for plant catalogs and couldn't wait to select what I would grow.

I selected a beautiful Clematis vine and some Shasta Daisies.  It seemed like it took forever for them to arrive in the mail.  As soon as they arrived, I opened the box and was a little disappointed at how small the plants were.  But, I planted my Clematis and Daisies and had visions of how wonderful they would look once they started flowering.

*Courtesy of Wikipedia

You may notice that the picture of the Shasta Daisy above is not mine.  There is a good reason for that....I killed all of my Shasta Daisies.  You see, I decided that the tiny plants that arrived in the mail needed a little help growing.  So, I gave each 2" plant a handful of lawn fertilizer. 

I was sure that the added fertilizer would work miracles and I couldn't wait to see how much faster they would grow.  Well, most of you are probably already laughing at my mistake, but I was so surprised when I went out into the garden the next morning to find little brown, dried out plants.  So, lesson #1 that I learned was to read the directions on the fertilizer bag and that more is definitely not better when it comes to fertilizer.  I burned my little plants by adding too much fertilizer.

So, now that I learned my first lesson, I was sure to fertilize my new Clematis vine carefully.

*This is my photo, buy NOT my Clematis vine.  

I took this photo in a garden full of flowers in Wales.

Again, I do not have a photo of my Clematis vine flowering for one very good reason....it never flowered.  It did grow foliage, but after a year, it was only about 3 ft. high and kind of sad looking.  Lesson #2, just because a plant says it will grow in zone 9, does not mean that it will thrive in my desert climate.  The USDA Plant Hardiness zones is based on the lowest average temperature of a given region.  Phoenix is in zone 9.  But, the zones do not take into account the heat of a particular area.  It turns out that Clematis does not like the intense heat of our summers and as a result, mine never flowered.  

And so, a recap of what I learned....

  
First - a tiny amount of fertilizer goes very far and amending the soil with organic matter is preferable.  I now only fertilize when a plant that shows a specific nutrient deficiency (I make exceptions for citrus trees and roses, which fertilize regularly).

Second, just because a plant looks pretty in a catalog and says it grows in zone 9, it doesn't mean that it can handle the heat of our summer.  Sunset magazine has created a new hardiness zone map that factors in many different variables of a given region: low and high temperatures, humidity, soil type, length of growing season and rainfall.  You can access this information, which covers all regions of the United States.  *Many nurseries and those in the plant industry in the western US use the Sunset zones instead of the USDA hardiness maps since they are much more accurate.

 Well, for those of you who may be new to gardening, I hope my experiences will help you so that you don't make the same mistakes I did.  Many beautiful plants are very easy to grow in our desert climate....you just have to do a little research to find out which ones.  

I would like to offer one last bit of advice....wherever you live, don't rely on the plants you see offered in the big box stores - they are notorious for selling bright, flowering plants that will soon turn brown and die after you plant them.  This doesn't mean that you have a black thumb....it means that some of the plants that they sell do not necessarily thrive in your climate.

Now, I would love to hear your stories.....have you ever killed a plant?

Flowers From Abroad....

I absolutely love to travel and one of my favorite destinations is Europe.  Unfortunately, I have not been able to visit in recent years, but my daughter and her husband were able to travel there this summer and visited three different countries - France, Germany and Italy.

When they returned, I couldn't wait to hear about their adventures and view their photos.  I was particularly touched by the fact that my daughter took the time to take some pictures of some of the beautiful flowering plants they saw in Germany.

 I just love window boxes....don't you?

The reason it meant a lot to me is that my oldest daughter is not particularly into gardening - but that could be because she lives in an apartment and has no space for gardening ;-)  So, the fact that she took the time to take photos for me to share with me meant a lot.

I do not know what all of these flowering plants are and would love some help with identifying some of them :-)

Geraniums, Verbena and Chamomile?

Don't you love the stone planter?

Germany has a special place in my heart because years ago, my grandparents were transferred there for work when I was young.  As a result, I spent two summers in Germany as a child along with my parents and siblings.  

We spent our time in Frankfurt where my grandparents lived.  I remember the large field of strawberries that were grown in the back garden and the struggle keeping the rabbits away.  But mostly, I remember how delicious the strawberries tasted.

 Lobelia

I grow this beautiful annual in the winter months.

A couple of times a week, a local farmer would drive up our street and open up his van which contained a plentiful harvest of all sorts of fruit and vegetables.  Wouldn't it be great if the farmer delivered produce straight from the farm nowadays?

Okay, I just love this photo of little garden gnomes.

I find it interesting how certain smells can bring a crystal clear memory to my mind.  To this day, the smell of bus exhaust reminds me of a cobblestone street in downtown Frankfurt.

 These were my daughter's favorite flower that she saw.

Any ideas what type of flower this is?

On my kitchen wall is the beautiful cuckoo clock that my grandparents brought back from Germany.  Growing up, we loved hearing it cuckoo on the hour and dancing to the music that played afterward as the tiny figurines twirled in a circle.

Isn't this a beautiful flower?

Any ideas what it is? 

Our cuckoo clock has not worked for many years and I keep meaning to get it fixed so that my kids can enjoy it as I did as a child.

Beautiful red roses.

Both my husband and I have some German ancestry and I hope to be able to visit there again and experience the beauty that Germany has to offer.

  

Are there any places that have a special place in your heart for, or that you yearn to visit someday?

A Welcome Retreat...

This has not been a very fun summer for me or our family.  We have been largely confined to our home as our son, Kai, recovers from hip surgery.  I have written about his journey which you can read here if you like.

Well, we received some great news from the doctor 2 weeks ago...Kai was allowed to start to walk again.  Yeah!!!  Although it has been slow going, he is making great progress - he has already ditched the walker the doctor prescribed and insists on walking by himself, he goes to PT twice weekly and is making great progress.   We have been waiting for this moment and decided to take some time to go on a little vacation before the kids start school.

We do have a favorite vacation spot up in the Arizona mountains called Williams.  Williams is a little town, just east of Flagstaff and is situated right on Route 66 and is the gateway to the Grand Canyon.  We are blessed that my sister-in-law's family has some cabins up there that they graciously allow us to use.

We couldn't wait to go, especially the kids.  We wanted to do something special for all of them - Kai because he was such a great patient and his sisters because they were so helpful to him and didn't mind the extra attention that he got.  And so we packed up our van and started up the mountain.

Now all of us love to fish, so we dropped our bags off at the cabin and drove to the lake to start fishing right away.  My youngest daughter, Gracie, caught a fish but we had to leave soon after we arrived because a thunderstorm moved in.

The next day we went to one of our favorite lakes and started fishing.  The morning was windy and we didn't catch a thing, not even a nibble.  I was ready to quit after 4 hours, but my husband talked me into staying for 15 more minutes.  Well, guess what happened?

 Kai caught a fish and the wind calmed down.  Over the next 2 hours, we caught 18 rainbow trout between the five of us - Kai caught 6!

We threw some of them back, but came back to the cabin with 13 fish which I cooked for the kids.  As for me, I caught 5 fish and 2 severely sunburned feet ;-)

Although we were only able to spend two full days there, it was just what we needed as a family to refresh and rejuvenate before school starts again in only 5 days....

**I do want to apologize for not posting, visiting and commenting as often as I would like, but my life has been quite crazy this summer.  I am thankful that school is starting again and my life will get back to normal :-)

July's Monthly Garden Bouquet (MGB)

Hello Everyone!  It is hard to believe that it is already time for this month's MGB.  The summer seems to be flying by.  Soon my kids will be back in school and I will be able to get back to blogging more regularly and commenting on your posts :-)  I miss my normal routine and my life seems to revolve around my kids 24/7.  Not that that is bad, mind you....I love my kids a lot, but I am looking forward to having a little time to do the things that I enjoy.

The bouquet that I created for July is made up of Lysiloma leaves, Bougainvillea brachts and Yellow Bell (Tecoma stans) flowers.    *Did you know that the colorful magenta 'flowers' on the bougainvillea are not the flowers?  They are actually brachts that form around the tiny, cream colored flower in the middle.


I must confess that it took me awhile to decide where to take the picture of my bouquet and I finally settled on the lawn in our back garden.  I love how the color green can make me feel like the temperatures have dropped a few degrees.

 As you can see, my bouquet is rather simple like me but rather colorful at the same time.

I would love to see your July bouquets.  The guidelines for MGB are very simple....

1. MGB is held the third week of each month and bouquets can be submitted during a 7 day period (or even later if you like).

2. Create your own bouquet as fancy or simple as you like.

3. I would appreciate it if you would provide a link back to my post inside of your MGB post, but it is not required :-)

4. Add your link to Mr. Linky below and that's it!

I cannot wait to see what bouquets you create from your summer gardens.

Have a great week!

 

Natural Beauty Without The Fuss - Queen's Wreath

Who doesn't like 'natural beauty'?  I have a renewed appreciation for my 'natural beauties' out in the garden during the summer months.  Now, I realize that there are some who do enjoy the satisfaction of working hard with their plants and being rewarded with a beautiful display and I think that is great.  But for me, the last thing I want to do is have to fuss over a plant in the middle of the summer heat just so it will look beautiful for me.  I would much rather enjoy the 'natural beauty' of my summer plants looking through the windows from the comfort of my air-conditioned home.

Earlier this summer, I wrote about one of my favorite 'natural beauties' in the garden, Yellow Bells.  Today, I would like to introduce you to one of my favorite summer vines which is a wonderful example of 'natural beauty'.

Queen's Wreath vines grace the Arizona State University campus.

Queen Wreath Vine (Antigonon leptopus) is a wonderful asset to my garden.  This 'natural beauty' is a vine that is native to Mexico and Central America.  Stunning pink sprays of flowers appear in spring and last until the first frost.  *In tropical areas, it can be considered invasive, but here in the desert, it is easily managed.

In our desert climate, they do require supplemental water, but no fertilizer is needed.  Bees are attracted to the beautiful flowers and I love the pretty heart-shaped leaves. 

 A wall of Queen's Wreath at ASU

Queen's Wreath is a tough vine.  It can grow in full sun including areas of reflected heat.  It will also grow in light shade although flowering will be reduced.   

The only maintenance required in my garden is pruning it back in winter once it dies back after the first frost.  However the roots are hardy to 20 degrees F and in the spring, it quickly grows back with  a trellis, fence or an arbor for support.

**My first experience with Queen's Wreath occurred when we bought our first home in Phoenix.  There was a support made up of twine tied between two Palm trees.  We had no idea why it was there, but it sure looked ugly.  Well, before we had time to remove the twin support, beautiful, light green, heart-shaped leaves began climbing up the support and quickly covered it.  Gorgeous sprays of pink flowers quickly followed, which was a pleasant surprise.  

What natural beauties are enjoying in your garden this month?  

I will be sharing another favorite 'natural beauty' from my garden soon.

Sodapop and the "Un" Forbidden Fruit

This is the conclusion to a story that I wrote back in January about a dog and her battle with 'forbidden fruit'.

Sodapop, who belongs to my youngest sister, Chicken Farmer, and her family - is the main character of this story.  Sodapop is the daughter of my dog, Missy (that really has nothing to do with the story, however).  

The 'forbidden fruit' for Sodapop was an apple.  However, it was not your ordinary apple....it was an old, shriveled up apple hanging on the top of an apple tree.

We weren't sure what it is about this shriveled apple that made her want it so badly.  But most likely, it probably because it was out of her reach and that is what drove her crazy....

 

She was sorely tempted by the sight of the dried up apple and she did her best to reach it, jumping as high as she could, breaking small branches in the process.

As if one forbidden fruit was not enough....there were more hanging in the tree, taunting her.

But try as she might, all she ended up with were small apple branches for all her troubles.

 

It was small compensation for a lot of work....

*FAST FORWARD TO SUMMERTIME*


Now it is summer and the apple trees are now laden with delicious apples.  Now Sodapop has more apples then she knows what to do with.  First, she enjoyed eating the apples hanging on the lower branches of the apple trees.

However, now that most of the lower apples have either been eaten by her or picked by the residents of Double S Farms, Sodapop has had to content herself with eating the apples that have fallen from the tree....

I wonder if 'forbidden' apples taste better then 'unforbidden' apples?


I hope you are all having a great week so far.  We are hoping for a start to our summer rainy season later this week and are keeping our fingers crossed :-)

What Is Wrong With This Picture?

Can you figure out what is wrong with this picture?

I can see two things.  First of all, my son is holding a pumpkin from our vegetable garden in July.  Definitely not the normal time of year for seeing kids with pumpkins.

The second thing wrong with this photo is that my son is in a wheelchair.  He needs the wheelchair as he recovers from hip surgery.  We go back to the doctor this week and Kai will hopefully be able to stand up and start physical therapy and get out of that wheelchair.  I don't mean to complain about the wheelchair...it has made our lives much easier and Kai can really get around very well in it, but I yearn for the day when he will be able to run around again.  You can read more about Kai's story here if you like.

 Once Kai can stand and walk, he no longer will rely on us to carry him - I actually threw my back out last week picking him up and still cannot pick him up.  We are looking forward to his doctor saying that he can walk again :-)

Okay, back to the pumpkin....a few weeks ago, I wrote about "An Escapee From The Garden" which featured our pumpkin plant that decided to grow outside of our garden.

Back in March, my daughter, Gracie planted the seeds....

 They took about 7 days to germinate and then quickly began to grow.  *Now, we realized that the time to plant pumpkins for the fall is in June, but the kids really wanted to plant pumpkins early, and so we did :-)

Being rather new to vegetable gardening, we did not realize how large the pumpkin plants would spread.  Pretty soon one of our plants decided to venture outside of the garden...

Shortly afterward, we noticed a little pumpkin forming - outside of the garden, of course.

It grew quite quickly...

This morning, I stepped out into the garden and this is what I found...

And so, we are probably the only people in Arizona who have a pumpkin gracing the top of their kitchen table in the month of July.

We planted new pumpkin seeds this month in hopes of getting pumpkins in time for fall.

On my way back inside from the garden, I noticed another escapee from the garden...

Our watermelon plant decided to copy the pumpkin plant.  Next month may bring watermelons forming outside of the vegetable garden as well.  Oh well, we have plans to expand our garden this fall :-)

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July celebration!