Is It Fall Yet?

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My favorite season is fall.  What do I love about fall, you may ask?

It’s not the colorful leaves….

Autumn color in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina

Autumn color in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina

Now before you think I am crazy, let me explain…

Fall foliage begins to make it's appearance in Williamsburg, VA

Fall foliage begins to make it’s appearance in Williamsburg, VA.

I have never lived anywhere that had lots of trees turn color.

I grew up in Southern California and I now live in Arizona.

I do love visiting areas with lovely fall foliage, but I don’t connect fall with leaves turning color.

My favorite season

Fall signifies for me, the beginning of holidays AND cooler weather after a hot summer.

This year, we are hosting the entire family’s Halloween celebration at our house because we have the best neighborhood for trick-or-treating.

I have been hand-making some new Halloween decorations – some of which have turned out pretty good.

Monday, my mother is coming out and we are going to try making paper-mache pumpkins.

I’m not sure how they will turn out….but it will be fun to try.  I promise I’ll share our results 🙂

A Welcome, Wet, Week

summer rains

Rain shaft heading straight for us.  Torrential rain began to fall just a 1/2 hour after I took this picture.

You would think that living in the desert – that we don’t get much rain.

While it’s true that we don’t get as much rain as most people, we do experience periods of torrential, summer rains.

That has certainly been true, this summer.

Actually, this week, we have had rain every day – often very heavy.

I had a landscape consultation yesterday and the back yard was not landscaped – there was just plain dirt, which had turned to mud.

My shoes are still muddy and drying out in the garage 😉

Approaching thunderstorms as seen from Double S Farms.

My garden has enjoyed the rainfall.  I have shut off my sprinklers and drip irrigation because there is a danger of over-watering plants.

My husband is very happy with how nice our back lawn looks.  The rain and high humidity have really brought out its best.  (The entire garden is my domain, except for our lawn – that is my husband’s).

Unfortunately, we aren’t the only ones who have enjoyed our wet, humid summer – so have the mosquitos.  We have gone through 1/2 a bottle of repellent in just 5 days 😉

And so, as the rain threatens to fall again tonight, I will cheerfully sweep the entry and patio for the fourth time this week because I know all too soon the rain will taper off and become an infrequent visitor.

Get Away…

When you get the opportunity to ‘get away’ for a few days – do you take it?

You would assume that most of us would reply with a resounding “YES!”

Well, unfortunately there are sometimes that you have to say “No”.  

Every year, my husband heads up to Northern Arizona for a conference.  And each time, he invites me to go with him.

Now, it isn’t that I didn’t want to go – but life has a habit of getting in the way of “getting away from it all”. 

But not this year!  I was determined to go.  So last week, we headed up to Payson, which is a small mountain town just 1 1/2 hours away.

Northern Arizona

Northern Arizona

While my husband was busy at his conference – I took the opportunity to take some pictures of the scenery around me…

Northern Arizona

Most of my photo-taking opportunities occurred at sunset.

Northern Arizona

I love how the sun makes the clouds look rosy, don’t you?

Northern Arizona

Besides the beautiful skies, I enjoyed the cooler temperatures.

Northern Arizona

We spent two nights and days.  It really was a wonderful time and a welcome ‘getaway’ from the daily stresses of life.

Get Away...

As we drove down the mountain towards home, I was refreshed and ready for the week to come.

Life is now officially crazy again because the kids have begun school.  (Our school district has 8 week summers and extended fall and spring breaks).

You know what?  Every year it seems that I have to buy more school supplies then the year before.

**I finally came to that realization on Monday after I had made three separate trips to Walmart and then one to Staples.

I hope you are all enjoying your summer and have had the opportunity to get away 🙂

Route 66 and Blue Corn

From Blue Sky to Dust…

After living in the Desert Southwest for 26 years not, I should be used to this by now…

Blue Sky

A beautiful afternoon sky that is soon to be overtaken by…

dust storms

DUST!

The monsoon season (rainy season) is officially upon us.  While I like the rain, I don’t particularly like the occasional dust storms that appear ‘out of the blue’ to speak literally.

dust storms

I guess that I should be grateful that it isn’t an enormous one like we received last year…

dust storms

That one was a ‘monster’ haboob (another word for dust storm).

But I must admit, that it was an exciting experience…

I wrote about it last year, if you would like to see more photos of this enormous dust storm.

“Guess What Blew in the Other Day”

Weekend Escape

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Do you ever feel the need to ‘escape’ for the weekend?

I do.  Especially when summer arrives.  

The hot summer temperatures do not really bother me much because it seldom gets humid where I live – however, I’m a wimp when it comes to humidity.

But, there is just something about hopping into the car and a couple of hours later, arriving at a completely different terrain and climate.

Phoenix metro area

Phoenix metro area

Thankfully, there are many places to visit that are within a 2 hour drive of the Phoenix metro area, where I live.

When my husband and I were much younger and didn’t have a lot of money (not that we have tons of money now ;-)….

we would take day trips up to exciting destinations in Northern Arizona.

Places like Sedona, Jerome, Prescott and Flagstaff were our favorites.  And, the temperatures were usually quite a bit cooler.

We would pack up our two daughters (our youngest three, weren’t here yet), and leave early on a Saturday morning for a day of fun, returning late at night.

A couple of weekends ago, we spent the weekend up in Prescott for Father’s Day.  You see, this Father’s Day was bittersweet, because it is the first one without my father-in-law, who passed away from ALS last September.

My dad passed away 5 years ago, so we decided to go out of town and do something really fun with the family.

We had a great time and I thought you might want to view our photo album 🙂

Weekend Escape

The entire Johnson clan.

So where are we?

We visited Montezuma’s Castle on our way up to Prescott.

Weekend Escape

It is not so much a castle, but a Indian cliff dwelling that was built 900 years ago.

We had fun walking the 1/3 mile trail around the area.

Phoenix metro area

Of course, it is always nice to get a piggy-back ride from dad 😉

(My son Kai has a disability called arthrogryposis, which can make it difficult to walk long distances.)

We had fun and were soon on our way to Prescott.

Phoenix metro area

Our favorite destination in Prescott is the Sharlot Hall Museum, which includes the first Arizona’s Governor’s Mansion (Prescott was the first state capitol).

Phoenix metro area

Yes…the first Governor’s mansion was a log cabin.

Phoenix metro area

The interior is complete with period furnishings and interactive displays for the kids.

Phoenix metro area

The rest of the grounds have beautiful gardens, a ranch house, school house and a building that houses period transportation…

Phoenix metro area

Kai is not quite ready for school to start yet….

Phoenix metro area

But, he did try to teach us something new 😉

Phoenix metro area

The ranch house had a ‘kitchen garden’ complete with heirloom variety vegetables that they used back in the 1800’s.

Weekend Escape

Another great attraction of Prescott’s is that they have great shopping – particularly if you like antiques.  So, of course we had some fun looking and buying some pieces.  I will be using some in the garden.

Weekend Escape

After shopping, we spent time hanging out at the quaint courthouse and its park.  The front walkway was lined with Arizona state flags in celebration of the centennial.

Weekend Escape

We had a great day and ended it by treating ourselves to ice-cream…

Weekend Escape

Soon our entire family (grandmas, aunts, uncles and cousins) will escape for our annual trip to Williams, AZ.

**I hope your summer is going well and that you are able to ‘escape’ for at least a day of fun 🙂

An Icy “First” For Me…

One of my favorite summer places is a lake in the town of Williams, Arizona.  Every year, our entire family (grandma, aunts, uncles and cousins) make the 3 hour trip up to the mountains and stay for a week.

Favorite Summer Places

Favorite Summer Places

What many of us really like to do while we are up there is fish.  Actually, it is the only time that I fish each year.

We usually fish from the dam itself and it is such a wonderful, stress-free way to spend a day.

Last weekend, my husband and I left the kids behind (aren’t we terrible parents ;-).  We traveled up to Northern Arizona and visited some of our favorite places – Sedona, Flagstaff and Prescott.

Since we were so close to Williams, I asked my husband if we could stop by and see what it looked like in winter.

So, we headed that way and drove by our favorite lake.  There was still areas with snow, which I expected.

What I didn’t expect to see was our favorite lake frozen over….

Favorite Summer Places

As I stood by the water’s edge, I realized that this was the first time that I had ever been to a frozen lake.

Of course, I have been in the snow many times, but none of those visits had brought me to a frozen lake.

I realize that it maybe hard to believe that in all of my 46 years, that I had never seen a frozen lake, but it’s true.  I grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles and then moved to the Phoenix area when I got married.  So you see, my exposure to icy lakes has been somewhat limited.

This lake fascinated me.  I was pretty sure that I could throw a rock and it would sink through the ice….

Favorite Summer Places

I was shocked to see that the rock did not sink, but just bounced over the ice.

At this point, I felt like a little kid who has just experienced a new thing for the first time.

Favorite Summer Places

It is nice to experience that feeling again.

Before I know it, we will all be up there again and I will be hoping to catch some fresh fish…

catch some fresh fish

What about you?

Have you experienced any “firsts” as an adult?

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I hope your week is off to a good start.  I am working on my latest batch of gardening articles and designing a butterfly/hummingbird garden.

A Beautiful Garden in the Middle of a Ghost Town

Did you all have a good weekend?  It was way too fast for me 😉

Last Friday, I had to head a couple hours north of town to do a consult in Sedona, AZ.  Now, north of where I live is always cooler, which is a good thing during the summer.  

On my way there, I started to look for the tiny hillside town of Jerome, which is visible from the highway.  Known as the “largest ghost town”, Jerome is one of my favorite places to visit.

My family and I did visit there last month and I was pleasantly surprised to find beautiful, perennial gardens, window boxes, a garden made up of glass and junk and so much more….

I would like to share my visit with you if I may….

largest ghost town

Largest ghost town

As you can see, Jerome sits on the side of a mountain.

largest ghost town

Largest ghost town

Although many of the historic buildings have been restored and play host to artists, stores and visiting tourists – there are those buildings that have definitely seen better days.

When I saw this building where grass and trees were now growing inside one old rooms, I could just imagine what was housed inside during the 1800’s.

largest ghost town

The town sits on a steep 30% slope.  So, over the years, some of the older buildings have started to slide down the mountainside, including the old town jail.

In fact, when our two oldest daughters were very young, we would visit Jerome and they would have fun crawling around the ruins of the old jail.  Now the jail is completely ruined and our youngest kids can’t get near it.

Now, although I love the town itself and the shopping, I must confess that I was determined to take pictures on this visit.  My goal was to find some gardens and I must say that I was very happy with what I was able to capture with my camera.

I can’t wait to share them with you….

flowering perennials

I first came upon a garden that was full of flowering perennials, including this hollyhock (which is technically a biennial, but I’m not going to be technical today).

hollyhocks

The garden was also host to roses in addition to the hollyhocks.

honey bees

There were quite a few bees at work collecting pollen.  Interestingly, I didn’t see any honey bees, just bumble bees.

hollyhocks

Okay, I realize that I am focusing a lot on hollyhocks, but they are just so pretty, aren’t they?

Once I was able to tear myself away from the hollyhocks, I did notice some of the other pretty perennials…

wildflower

Isn’t this Heart-Leafed Golden Alexander wildflower pretty?

I really don’t like extra long common names like this one 😉

It grows in zones 3a – 8b, which means that it won’t grow in my low desert garden, but it is very pretty.  It can be grown from seed and does best in sunny locations.

Jerome

 I just loved tiered gardens, don’t you?

Jerome
Jerome
Jerome

There were so many beautiful plants to see, but this Red Valerian caught my eye.

Now I have grown Red Valerian (Centhranthus ruber), which is also known as ‘Jupiter’s Beard’.

I grew this in my first desert garden when we lived in a small house in Phoenix.

It grows in zones 5-10 and can be started from seed.

Eager to see what else there was to discover, I left this beautiful garden and pressed on…

Trumpet Vine

I saw this Trumpet Vine growing on the side of this stone wall.  I have always liked Trumpet Vine, but haven’t grown it myself because it is deciduous in winter (loses its leaves) and I prefer using an evergreen vine such Purple Lilac Vine.

As I was walking, my husband and kids decided to take a break and play at the little park in the center of town.  Now, I only had about 20 minutes until we were to meet, so I hurried to see what else I could discover.

First, I stopped to enjoy the breathtaking view across the valley.  I could see the red mountains of Sedona in the distance…

largest ghost town

Then I started walking towards one of the most interesting gardens that I have ever seen.

You know, I’m not sure that you could even call it a garden…

largest ghost town

There are plants, but they are arranged around a bunch of ‘artistic junk’. 

largest ghost town

I’m not sure why I am drawn to this unique garden, but I find it irresistible.

There are lots of old glass bottles, a steer skull hanging inside of a broken door, and so much more odd things that are hard to describe.  

On my way back to meet up with my husband and kids, I spotted some pretty planters along the sidewalk.  

 

Jerome

I like how this restaurant filler their planter with quite a few herbs.  I think the flowering Verbena looks great alongside the herbs too, don’t you?

I spotted a beautiful Swallowtail butterfly and waited until it landed upon a Dianthus so I could take its picture…

Jerome

Okay, so my time was up and I was going to be late to meet up with my husband and kids.  So I walked (I really don’t run all that well), back as fast as I could.  I was happy that my husband wasn’t upset at my lateness.  It’s probably because he knows me so well that he adds 10 minutes to the time that I say I will be back 😉

On our way to the car, I noticed a doorway in the side of a wall / staircase.

largest ghost town

Now I’m not sure what this doorway was exactly.  But my kids knew what to do with it….

town of Jerome

Go inside and explore!

That is until they realized how dark it was inside…..

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Thank you so much for coming along with me on our day trip to Jerome.  I have been wanting to share my visit with you for some time.

If you get a chance, check out this link to find out more about this fun ghost town.  

Modern Shrub Sculpture?

Last week, I was visiting one of my favorite communities visiting a client’s sick Hibiscus plant.

(I’m not kidding about making a ‘house call’ about a single, indoor plant.  I will tell you more about that story in another post).

So, I was finished with my visit and decided to drive around the neighborhood.  This particular community has many beautiful examples of landscape design and great opportunities for taking pictures of plants.

On the other hand, this same community has many examples of “What NOT to Do” to your plants and I like to capture photos of those things as well.

As I was driving, I saw the following example of improper pruning of shrubs.  But instead of round green balls, I saw this….

improper pruning

At first, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Then I tried to figure out what the purpose of the unusual shapes were meant to be.

I slowly drove back so that I could take a picture.

Now, I have spoken at length about the unhealthy and sometimes unattractive results from pruning using hedge-trimmers for flowering shrubs.

“Shrubs Aren’t Meant To Be Cupcakes, Frisbees or Pill Boxes”

But I must admit that if I had to choose between round, green balls or a “modern shrub sculpture”, that I would probably lean towards the “shrub sculpture” because it is way more interesting 😉

What do you think?  Would prefer ‘green balls’ or more of a ‘free-form shrub sculpture’?

Saturday at the Farmer’s Market

I am almost ashamed to admit this to you, but if you have been reading my blog for any length of time  – you know that I am far from perfect.  So here it is…..until a few weeks ago, I had never visited our local farmer’s market.

So, what’s the big deal about it?  Well, for a plant lady who loves growing her own vegetables and supporting local vendors, a farmer’s market should be an event that is attended frequently.

It actually took my mother coming over to take me and my two youngest kids, Gracie and Kai, with a promise of lunch afterward that  got me out of the house on a Saturday morning.

Once we started walking around, all I could think of is why on earth I hadn’t started going sooner.  There was so much to look at and admire.

local farmer's market

Don’t these look delicious?

You know what?  I like to see what others grow in their vegetable gardens and am often inspired to try some of them in my own.

I just love how wonderful my vegetables taste when I pick them from my garden.  Well, if you don’t grow your own, support local farmers who have their produce available.  

local farmer's market

Isn’t it amazing how many different kinds of honey that are available?

My favorite is honey made from bees that pollinate orange blossoms 🙂

local farmer's market

How about buying some fresh baked bread to go with your honey?

Ask any of my friends or family members and you will soon discover that my favorite food in the whole world is….bread.  Add some real butter and it is pure heaven.

local farmer's market

One of the best things about going  places with grandma is that she likes to buy treats for her grandkids.

local farmer's market

This day, Gracie and Kai were treated to chocolate ice cream.

local farmer's market

Many vendors sold harvested vegetables, flowers, tomato plants and the little boy on the left was selling little offshoots of Aloe vera for $1.  I dare anyone to pass him by without buying one 😉

local farmer's market

Besides bread, I also love pasta.  Here were many different varieties that created their own sauce when cooked.  My mother bought some.

local farmer's market

As we continued to walk through the market, my son noticed this sign.  He pulled out what was left of his allowance and begged to go in.  So I stayed with him while Gracie went on with my mother.

chickens

The petting zoo had goats, rabbits, chickens and…

piglets

piglets, which were hard to catch.

variety of salsa

A Southwest farmer’s market isn’t complete without a variety of salsa.  I didn’t buy any since I like to make my own, but it did look delicious.

simple bouquets

I loved this little stand which had a variety of simple bouquets.

flavored popcorn

I love how you can find unusual products.  My son, who loves candy, was dying to buy this candy flavored popcorn, but he didn’t have enough allowance with him.

farmer market

I love the large variety of food that is available.  Believe it or not, I passed it up because I knew we were going out to lunch afterward.  But I must admit that I did help the kids finish their ice cream 😉

farmer market

Since I am really getting into growing my own tomatoes at home, I was very interested in seeing the different varieties available here.

As you can see, we had a great time and met some very nice people who were selling their goods.

You know what?  A farmer’s market is a great place to find gifts.

How about some regional honey or spicy salsa?

You could buy a pretty little bouquet for that special someone.

Hungry for dinner?  Fresh baked bread or flavored pasta may be just what you need.

I did buy something that day.  It was a $1 packet of hollyhock seeds, which I plan on  planting in my garden this fall.

So what are you waiting for?  There is sure to be a farmer’s market close to you.  Bring your kids along with you.  It can be quite an educational experience for them.

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For those of you who live in the east valley of the Phoenix metro area, information on the local farmer’s market can be found here.

A Monthly Garden Bouquet for May

It seems just like I was creating a bouquet for the month of April.  Where has the time gone?

My garden is in full bloom, but all I seem to see when I look outside is some plants in need of a bit of pruning 😉

I have had some exciting events occur in my garden, which I cannot wait to share with you next week.  

Some of you wondered how my daughter, Gracie, was doing after having 6 teeth pulled last week and she is doing much better.  She was able to eat a Rice Krispy treat last Monday, but told me that she it was too hard to eat salad – I don’t think so……

Okay, so back to my Monthly Garden Bouquet.  You know, some months it is difficult to come up with a bouquet.  In winter there are much fewer flowering plants to choose from.  So, I really appreciate the warmer months when it  only takes me about 10 minutes to put together a pretty bouquet.

So, I picked out two different flowers, one from a shrub and the other from a groundcover.  I had the perfect container and was ready to take my photo when, my dog, Tobey, decided to get a closer look at my bouquet….

Creating a bouquet

So once I got Tobey out of the way, I was able to take this picture of my bouquet.

Creating a bouquet

Creating a bouquet

I love using mason jars for flower arrangements.  I recently purchased a special lid that has a wire grid that separates and holds up each individual stem.  I love it.

The flowers that I chose were yellow flowers from my Arizona Yellow Bells shrubs (Tecoma stans stans).  I love the bright green foliage and the flowers are present from April to November in my zone 9a garden.

**You know what?  Many people overlook the fact that many flowering shrubs can be used to make great bouquets.

The  purple flowers are from my Trailing Purple Lantana (Lantana montevidensis), which add gorgeous purple to my garden for 9 months each year.

Okay, so maybe some of you are wondering about this Monthly Garden Bouquet.  Well, here are the details below…..

If you would like to participate in this month’s MGB, here are the guidelines:

1. MGB begins on the 21st of each month and runs until the end of each month. Bouquets can be submitted during this time (or even later 🙂

2. Create your own garden 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!

It can be as simple or fancy as you like.  Each month, I cannot wait to see what you all come up with.