https://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Salvia_leucantha_Mexican_Bush_Sage_Costa27s_Hummingbird.jpg440640arizonaplantlady@gmail.comhttps://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/AZ-Plant-Lady-Logo-small.jpgarizonaplantlady@gmail.com2015-09-03 18:47:002025-08-09 04:25:31Drought Tolerant and Beautiful: Mexican Bush Sage
Picture a garden filled with colorful flowering plants with hummingbirds hovering about.
Now imagine that this garden is located in a small space against the backdrop of the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona and you have paradise.
Beds filled with flowering perennials are my favorite element of gardens. Their appearance changes month to month as blooming transitions from one type of perennial to the other.
So, I was delighted to see that this hummingbird paradise was filled with beds filled with blooms of every color.
What I liked about the first perennial bed that I first saw was its curved edge, brightly colored wall in the back and the colorful tiles, which highlighted the flower colors.
A single purple-flowering, Chihuahuan sage(Leucophyllum laevigatum) anchored the corner of the bed with its height. The purple flowers provided great color contrast with the blanket flower, coneflower, salvias and yarrow.
Coral Autumn Sage (Salvia greggii ‘Coral)
Some of my favorite hummingbird plants were growing in the garden. Salvias are quite frankly, hummingbird magnets and grow beautifully in arid climates.
Salvia microphylla ‘Lipstick’
While most Salvia species grow well in full sun – if you live in the low-desert, they will do best when planted in filtered shade.
Salvia greggii ‘Purple’
When deciding what types of plants to add to your garden that will attract hummingbirds – salvias are a sure thing.
The deck was paved with flagstone and had two separate planting beds. Even though each planting area wasn’t large, the plant palette was not limited since there are many perennials that don’t grow overly large, so the homeowners were able to fit in a lot of colorful plants in the confined spaces.
In the second perennial bed, two different colored hummingbird mint (Agastache spp.) plants provide height and anchor each end of the bed. The sunny colors of blanket flower fill the middle.
Again, a brightly-colored wall adds to the beauty of this area.
The flowers of hummingbird mint (also known as hyssop) are simply irresistible to hummingbirds.
Besides producing pretty flowers and attracting hummingbirds, these perennials are drought tolerant, love hot/dry spaces, can be grown in zones 5-10 and are deer and rabbit resistant. They bloom summer to fall.
Blanket flower (Gaillardia spp.) come in a multitude of warm colors with shades or red, yellow and orange.
This colorful plant thrives in sunny spaces and attracts butterflies.
You’ll find this perennial growing in a wide range of gardens from zones 3 – 10.
The homeowners made the most out of their small garden space by creating a painted ‘garden’ along a previously blank wall.
Hummingbirds weren’t bothered by us and they hovered by the hummingbird mint and salvia flowers enjoying a drink of nectar.
This special garden is a wonderful example of how a garden limited on space can be used to create a lovely hummingbird paradise.
**For more information on plants that will attract hummingbirds to your Southwest garden, I recommend Hummingbird Plants of the Southwest.
*This blog post contains affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). Thanks for your support in this way.*
As summer begins to wane, my thoughts start to turn toward fall planting and upcoming holidays.
But, before I put summer “to bed”, I thought I’d give you a glimpse of our summer adventures.
The highlight of our summer was spending a week in Williams, AZ.
Every year we head up to this small Route 66 town, which is the known as “The Gateway to the Grand Canyon”.
We travel up to this special place along with my mother, siblings and their families. A collection of small, rustic cabins house us for the week.
This small mound of dirt is called “Danny’s Mountain” by the boys (Danny is my little 4-year old nephew to the right).
It’s a place where smartphones and video games give way to playing outdoors with cousins finding new places to explore.
My niece Sofie and my daughter, Ruthie.
Teenage girls discover the delights of pushing each other on a tree swing.
Little army men toys replace video games as battle strategies are discussed and put in play.
5-month old Eric having fun with his grandpa.
As a grandparent, it is also a special time for my husband and I to spend with our two grandchildren.
Lily
My granddaughter, Lily, was busy picking flowers for her ‘collection’. She loves flowers and keeps them in her jewelry box.
Dare I hope that she follows in her grandma’s footsteps and becomes a horticulturist?
Of course, what’s summer vacation without delicious food!
Before, you ask…no, I didn’t eat all these pies myself – I shared with them with 15 other family members 😉
Fourth of July found us in the pool, waiting for fireworks to begin.
My daughter Rachele, who is in the Navy, was able to come visit with our newest family addition, Eric. This was his first time swimming and he loved it!
Ruthie, Sofie and Gracie
At the beginning of our summer season, we had a special visitor.
My daughter, Ruthie, was adopted from China when she was 9 years old. Her cousin, Sofie, came from the same orphanage and so did their friend, Gracie.
These girls spent their early childhood together, creating special, sisterly bonds with each other in the absence of having parents.
Now that they are all adopted and living in the U.S., they have kept in touch. Gracie flew in to spend a few days with her ‘orphanage sisters’ and we had so much fun with her.
Pillow fights, baking sweets, enjoying good Chinese food and playing board games filled much of their time together.
Walking along State Street in downtown Santa Barbara, CA
A quick trip to Southern California was taken in the beginning of June to visit Rachele. We were able to stay in her townhouse on the Navy base.
Whenever we visit her, we take time to travel up to picturesque Santa Barbara, CA, which is where my husband and I met almost 30 years ago.
Ruthie learned how squirmy little babies are when you try to get them dressed…
This summer, we went through a truly wonderful experience together.
We traveled to the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ. Both adults and kids were looking forward to seeing planets in our solar system.
While I did expect to see some great things through the telescopes, what I didn’t expect was the beautiful flowering perennials growing throughout the grounds of the observatory.
My brother, kept teasing me as I kept stopping to take pictures of the flowers.
My son, Kai, looking at Venus
Outdoor telescopes focused on Jupiter and Venus.
I don’t know who was more excited, the kids or the adults. It was almost incomprehensible that we could view these faraway planets.
My nephew, Dean, loves flowers and kept asking me what the names of them were.
I must admit that I enjoyed the flowers almost as much as I did the planets.
My mother, helping my daughter as she looks at Saturn.
Believe it or not, we were able to see Saturn and its rings!
We had a wonderful time at the observatory and learned so much. I highly recommend visiting this or any observatory near you. It was an unforgettable experience!
Hummingbird Festival
The last part of our summer fun occurred at the Hummingbird Festival, where I was asked to be a presenter.
I have two separate talks on small-space hummingbird gardening and had a great time meeting new people.
One of my favorite parts of the festival was touring many beautiful gardens in Sedona where the festival was held.
I came home from the festival inspired to create a garden space dedicated to plants that attract hummingbirds. I can hardly wait to get started this fall, which is the best time to add new plants to the garden.
In the meantime, we have increased the amount of hummingbird feeders in our backyard and have seen three hummingbirds at a single feeder 🙂
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Well, that was our summer fun in a nutshell. The kids are now in school and my eyes are focused on the fall including the upcoming Garden Writer’s Conference in Pasadena, CA in September.
**What did your ‘summer in review’ look like? Did you travel to any new places, see old friends or have any new experiences?**
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Do you like the look of ornamental grasses? One of my favorite plants has the appearance of ornamental grass but isn’t.
Bear grass (Nolina microcarpa) has lovely, evergreen foliage that mimics the look of grasses. But, my favorite part is the curlicue ends of the leaves.
ornamental grass
Aren’t they neat?
Like the other drought-tolerant and beautiful plants that I profile, bear grass thrives in hot, dry locations with little attention. Another bonus is that they easily handle 100+ temperatures in summer and can also survive winter temps down to -10 degrees F.
Want to learn more? Check out my latest plant profile on Houzz.
Apple harvest time starts early in the desert Southwest. In my low desert garden, it arrives precisely in the first half of June.
As I mentioned in my earlier post, this year’s apple harvest was to be a special one because for the first time, my own apple trees would provide a sufficient harvest without us having to pick the trees on the family farm.
On a bright and sunny June morning, I headed out into the potager (my kitchen garden) along with four teenagers and a 3-year old to pick apples.
We harvested 4 large bags full of sweet, tart apples from my ‘Anna’ and ‘Dorsett Golden’ apple trees, which are the verities that do best in hot, desert climates.
So, what did we plan on doing with all these apples?
Well, besides eating them raw, the plan was to make an apple pie with a cinnamon sugar crust, apple chips and applesauce.
Now, you may think that making an apple pie would be the last thing that a teenager would want to do. But, my kids along with my niece, look forward to this day every year.
I make one pie a year, so we make an occasion of it.
Before we get any further, I’d like to tell you about the participants in today’s apple adventure.
Ruthie – my 17-year old daughter
Gracie – my 13-year old daughter
Sofie – my 16-year old niece
Gracie C. – 17-year old friend of my daughter
Lily – my 3-year old granddaughter
While Ruthie and Sofie were peeling apples, Gracie C. worked on thinly slicing the apples.
Lily and Gracie had fun watching the peeling and slicing and were waiting patiently for their turn to help.
Lily’s job was to help mix the apple slices in a bowl filled with water with some lemon juice to keep the apples from browning.
Once the apples were ready, we made the pie crust. I use a mixture of both butter and vegetable shortening in my pie crust.
I taught the girls how to make a decorative pie crust edge using their fingers.
This may have been their favorite part.
To add an extra special touch to the pie, we brushed it with egg wash and then sprinkled cinnamon sugar on the top.
Here is the finished product, ready to bake in the oven.
*I’d like to note that I do not claim to be a professional food photographer like my sister. I use no special lighting and didn’t take the time to clean the counter before taking the photo 🙂
The kids had so much fun making the pie and couldn’t wait to eat it once it we took it out of the oven, which explains why I have no ‘after’ photos of our pie!
Now that our annual pie was finished, we got to work on our second apple recipe – Cinnamon Sugar Apple Chips.
Apple chips are ridiculously easy to make and they are addictive!
All you need to do is to slice them very thinly – a mandolin works great, if you have one. There is no need to peel or core the apples, which makes this an easy recipe – simply remove any stray seeds from the slices.
Lay the apple slices on a cookie sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
Lily had fun with the apple slices with holes in the center.
We sprinkled the apples with cinnamon sugar, but this an optional step – you don’t have to add any cinnamon sugar.
Bake the apples in a 200 degree F oven for 1 hour and then turn the apple slices over and bake for another hour.
The apples should be crispy and melt in your mouth. A word of caution – they won’t last long!
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While this photo protrays three normal teenage girls, their story is anything but average.
Their story together began years ago, before they were adopted and came to the U.S.
All of these girls grew up together in an orphanage in China. They formed deep bonds with each other and became each other’s family in the absence of parents. They often referred to themselves as “orphanage sisters”.
Unlike many adoptions, the girls waited until they were older to be adopted. Sofie and Gracie C. were adopted in 2006 and Ruthie in 2007.
Along with several other “orphanage sisters”, who were also adopted, we had a reunion several years ago in Colorado and since then, both the parents and kids have stayed in touch.
Gracie C. flew into town to visit with Ruthie and Sofie and it was so wonderful seeing them together again!
**You can read about our adoption journey to get Ruthie, here.**
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I do. I enjoy their soft texture, flowers, and the pollinators that come to enjoy their flowers.
Today, I’d like to share with you one of my favorite perennials that I have growing in my garden.
Gaura lindheimeri is a drought-tolerant perennial that produces small, delicate flowers that resemble butterflies floating in the air.
Available in white and pink colors, they are grown as a perennial or used as an annual in colder climates. This is one of the few plants that you can find growing in a desert garden and in more temperate climates such as the Midwest and Northeast.
This lovely perennial deserves to be seen more in the garden and I’d love to share more about gaura with you and why you’ll want to add it to your landscape in my latest Houzz article.
It’s hotter than he** (dare I use the word “hell”?) outside in June and while most desert dwellers can be found hibernating indoors enjoying air-conditioned temperatures in the 70’s – you’ll find a few of us darting outdoors to pick apples.
While parts of the country wait until late summer and on into early fall to harvest apples – June is apple harvesting time in the desert.
apple harvesting
Many people don’t realize that apple trees can grow in the desert Southwest – so do apricots, peaches and plums.
The key to growing these types of fruit trees is our relatively cold temperatures. They need a certain number of “chilling hours”, which are when temperatures are within 32 – 45 degrees F.
When summer temperatures are hovering in the 100+ range, it’s hard to recall what cold winter temperatures feel like, but it’s those chilly temps that make it possible to grow apple trees.
In the past years, I have harvested my apples from among the several apple trees located on the family farm.
But, not this year.
Three years ago, we transformed our side garden, creating a “potager”, which is a French term for a kitchen garden filled with fruits, herbs, vegetables alongside ornamental plants.
In the potager, we have the largest of our vegetable gardens, blackberry bushes, two peach trees, an orange tree and two apple trees.
The apple trees are located toward the end of the garden with the blackberry bushes growing against the wall.
This was what they looked like 1 1/2 years ago. Since then, they have grown quickly and are filled with apples, ready for us to pick.
Today, we will head out in the morning and pick our apples. There are so many growing, that I won’t need any from the family farm.
Normally, I make applesauce and an apple pie from apples. This year, I will make those but will add to it. We will also be making apple chips and apple sugar. Who knows? If we get a ton of apples, I may need to find more things to make with them.
My daughter, Ruthie, and niece, Sofie, will help me along with a very special friend who is their “orphanage sister”.
**Next time, I’ll share their special story along with all the goodies we make along with helpful links so you can make them yourself with apples from the supermarket.
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Whenever I look back on my garden travels, I find that my favorites tend to be the smaller ones with more of a personal feel. Ones that I can take my time walking through without feeling like I have to hurry in order to see the entire garden.
Recently, I visited a small garden run by Washington State University that is located in Mount Vernon, WA. The WSU Discovery Garden was designed by master gardeners and divided up into multiple smaller-themed gardens filled with creative elements.
Last week, I shared with you about some of the themed gardens, including the Four Seasons, Herb, Naturescape, Shade as well as the composting area along with its ‘Yuck Bin’.
While these gardens were fun to explore, I’ve saved the best for last!
I am a strong proponent of teaching children the joys of gardening, so I was especially excited to explore the Children’s Garden.
The gateway to the garden started down a ‘yellow brick road’ through an archway with weeping mulberry growing on it, creating the impression of entering through a green tunnel into a land of make-believe.
The curving pathway that ran down the center of the garden, included the game of ‘hopscotch’. I confess that I had an overwhelming impulse to hop down the pathway, but restrained myself. But, it did bring back memories of playing hopscotch on the playground when I was in elementary school!
For those who may be unfamiliar with the rules of ‘hopscotch’, there were helpful instructions.
Other areas in the garden included a small playground set and a bench that encircled a small tree.
Two vertical gardening towers stood sentinel in the center of the garden and were planted with strawberries and carrots.
In the corner of the Children’s Garden, sat Alice with the Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter.
An unusual ‘hotel’ was sitting off to the side. This insect hotel has lots of nooks and crannies for solitary bees and other pollinating insects to stay. In addition, insects that stay in the ‘hotel’ also help to keep damaging insects away from the garden.
Insect hotels are typically made up of scrap bits of wood and hollow bamboo reeds.
This hotel was quite fancy and had a roof planted with hen and chicks succulents.
A giant checkerboard beckoned kids (& adults) to try their hand at a friendly game.
Of course, instructions were also included.
Visitors strolling along the ‘yellow brick road’ must pass underneath an arch with a flying monkey keeping watch.
The next garden on our tour was the Enabling Garden.
The word “enabling” means to “give someone the means to do something”, which is exactly what this garden does. It gives people with disabilities the means to garden.
This garden bed was created for those who are visually impaired.
It’s filled with a variety of plants along with rock to provide a variety of textures that are experienced primarily through touch.
The velvety feel of lamb’s ear is a favorite of many gardeners and I find myself always reaching out to touch their leaves.
White rock is used to create small planting islands and helps visually impaired visitors to experience the separate planting islands in the raised bed.
A collection of ‘hens & chicks’ add spiky texture that can be touched safely.
A variety of mosses also grew in the garden.
This raised bed was built with a sitting ledge around it, which makes it easier for those who have trouble standing or bending over to garden. With this type of bed, you can simply sit on the edge and tend to the garden.
I have several clients who have had raised beds built since they can no longer bend down to garden for a variety of reasons.
At first glance, can you tell how this planting bed can be enabling?
Note the empty area underneath the bed – can you see how it would make someone who was wheelchair bound or uses a walker be able to get up close to garden?
Besides having garden beds to enable people with disabilities to garden, there was a helpful display with a variety of gardening tools that can make gardening easier.
Each tool had a description of how it can help make routine gardening tasks easier, which is helpful for those with disabilities and even those who don’t.
Photo: 2010
The display of enabling gardening tools spoke directly to my heart as a mother of a child with disabilities.
My son, Kai, has a disability that affects his joints, which makes everyday tasks difficult. He loves to help me in the garden, but even using a pair of hand pruners is hard for him to use correctly.
Photo: March 2006
In Kai’s short life, he has had several operations, which have left him wheelchair bound for weeks at a time and having a place where he could enjoy everyday activities, such as gardening, would be a blessing.
Walking through the garden, I noticed a sign pointing off to the outer area of the garden toward the Native Plant Garden.
Being in the Northwest, you can imagine that the path through patches of lush greenery.
As a landscape consultant, I hear of people’s frustration at trying to grow certain plants.
No matter where you live – the desert, jungle or in the Arctic Circle – the easiest way to garden is to grow plants that are native to your area.
The next best thing is to grow plants that are adapted to your area, which are native to climates similar to yours.
If you follow that simple piece of advice, you will enjoy a beautiful garden with a minimum of work since the plants will thrive with little to no attention because they are adapted to your climate.
When traveling, I always like to take time to learn more about the native plants that grow there.
Walking back toward the main areas of the garden, we passed by the Meadow Garden.
The garden consisted of grasses and wildflowers.
Throughout the year, you’ll find different flowers in bloom.
The last garden we visited was the Vegetable Garden.
However, it wasn’t just anyone’s vegetable garden…
It belonged to an infamous gardener.
Mr. McGregor’s garden was a good-sized plot filled with a variety of vegetables, including some that I decided to try in my garden in the fall.
This lovely row of leafy greens are green and purple spinach. I didn’t know that there was such thing as purple spinach. But, I do like to add unexpected color in my garden and so I will be sure to add this to my garden.
Garlic was growing nicely and would be ready to harvest in a month. You can tell when it is ready to be harvested with the outer leeaves begin to yellow and turn brown.
This crop caught my eye.
Can you tell what these are?
Potatoes!
To be completely honest, I’ve grown them a few times, but it is a lot of work for only a few potatoes in my desert garden so I don’t plant them anymore.
A healthy crop of sugar snap peas were in full flower.
I particularly love the color and shape of their flowers, don’t you?
This is one crop that I do plant each year.
An old wheelbarrow planted with radishes caught me eye as did the watering can with its strawberries.
My brother-in-law found an old, rusty wheelbarrow for my garden and I can’t wait to plant it!
It was obvious that Mr. McGregor took very good care of his garden and it was well fenced in.
But, that didn’t keep a particular rabbit from getting in 🙂
Thank you for joining me on a tour of this special garden. If you ever find yourself driving north of Seattle, toward Vancouver, take an hour and visit – you won’t be disappointed!
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On another note, we just returned from a weekend trip to Southern California where we visited my daughter, Rachele, who is stationed there in the Navy.
While we always have fun visiting her, it is even more so now because we also get to spend time with our new grandson!
He is absolutely darling and smiles more than any baby I’ve ever seen. He is one happy baby!
When we visit, we are able to stay on the Navy base with our daughter in her townhouse, which makes visiting her easier and less expensive than having to stay in a hotel.
As often occurs whenever we visit, we usually find ourselves driving the short distance to Santa Barbara. This California city is not only a beautiful place to visit, but it also holds a special place in my heart since it is where I met my husband in college.
We are back home now but look forward to seeing Rachele and her son, Eric, next month when they come out to visit us 🙂
Have you ever visited a garden that was not what you expected?
I recently had the opportunity to visit a small 2-acre garden run by master gardeners Mount Vernon, WA in conjunction with Washington State University.
Photo: Pink Dogwood
Now for those of you who kindly read through my myraid of garden travels on my Northwest road trip – this garden was somewhat different and completely unexpected.
I’ve had the opportunity through my travels to visit a number of gardens run by master gardeners and I have found them to be places for learning more about plants and gardening practices.
Discovery Garden
While I expected much of the same with this garden, I found so much more. Within its boundaries, there were so many separate gardens including a 4 seasons, cottage, Japanese, native, shade and sun garden just to name a few. However, in addition to the more traditional gardens, were also an imaginative children’s garden and an enabling garden for those with disabilities.
I’ve been waiting to share the wonders of this garden with you. I hope you enjoy the tour!
Discovery Garden
Discovery Garden
The Discovery Garden is located in the small town of Mount Vernon, otherwise known as the bulb-growing capital of the U.S. It is 60 miles north of Seattle.
Espaliered apple trees grew on the fence along the front entry.
Small apples were ripening, which made me remember that Washington is the state where the most apples are grown.
As we entered the gardens, we noticed helpful signs that described the theme of each sub-garden along with a list of the plants growing in it.
The paths curved, creating islands where each individual garden stood. This photo, above, shows how curving paths create a sense of mystery, leading one on to discover what is around the bend.
The Four Seasons garden showed examples of plants in bloom alongside others that will bloom later in the season.
Of course, anywhere I find peonies growing, I find it hard to tear myself away from this lovely flowering plant that can never grow in my warm desert garden.
Japanese gardens are quite popular in the Northwest and this garden had one of its own.
My mother and I journeyed through the garden on a cloudy Saturday morning. As we walked through the gardens, we met with one of the 27 master gardeners who take care of this garden.
She was nice enough to take us on a tour of the gardens and told us that the entire garden was designed by master gardeners. I must admit that the landscape designer in me was extremely impressed at how well it was designed.
Gardeners know that most landscapes hold secrets that aren’t always evident to the casual observer and this one was no different.
She guided us toward a tree that held a tiny hummingbird’s nest.
They have Anna’s hummingbirds living in the gardens year round.
However, I was very happy to be able to see a Rufous hummingbird for the very first time, drinking nectar from nearby flowers.
Continuing on our adventure through the garden, I spotted swaths of purple in the distance.
Have I ever told you that I like irises almost as much as peonies?
Thankfully, these can be grown in my Arizona garden.
The Herb Garden was next.
The sage was in full bloom and it was hard to imagine that people grow them for their foliage and not their lovely flowers.
There was even a variegated sage.
I really liked these rustic plant signs.
Within the Herb Garden, was a display with a list of herbs and how they are used as dyes.
Who knew that basil is used as a black dye?
Photo: Flowering Garlic Chives
Our time in this garden was limited since we had a plane to catch in Seattle in the early afternoon. To be honest, we hadn’t expected to find so much to explore in this university garden and so we had rush to see as much as we could.
Photo: Columbine
Of course, like most educational gardens, this one had a great compost working display.
Divided bins were filled with ‘greens’, ‘browns’ and ‘twigs’.
However, my favorite part was the ‘Yuck Bin’…
One of the many reasons that I like to visit gardens whenever I travel is that I get to see plants that don’t grow where I live.
This is the Heather Garden, filled with a variety of heathers.
I admit that I haven’t seen much heather growing except for trips to Great Britain.
Some of the heathers were beginning to flower.
While there is much more to see, I want to share with you one last garden area in this post that really caught my eye.
Have you ever heard of ‘naturescaping’? I haven’t, but it immediately sounded like my style of sustainable, low-maintenance garden.
This area of the garden was filled with native plants and associated cultivars that receive minimal maintenance. The plants were chosen with the goal of attracting wildlife with many plants providing shelter and food.
I hope you have enjoyed the first part of the tour of this small garden.
But, I’m not finished yet. I’ve saved the best for last. Come back next time to see the Children’s, Enabling, Native and Vegetable Gardens.
You may even spot the elusive Peter Rabbit in Mr. McGregor’s garden…
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For those of us who live in warm, southern climates, you’ll often see a citrus tree or two in the growing in the backyard.
While I do have a lemon and orange tree growing in my garden, that is just the beginning of my fruit crop. I also have a pair of apple and peach trees that generously provide us with fruit in late spring.
The final fruit crop that I grow isn’t found on a tree but rather on bushes.
Ever since I was a child in Southern California, I have loved blackberries. We had a line of blackberry bushes growing along the back wall of our suburban home and it was often a race between us and our dog ‘Smitty’ to see who would get to them first.
Now, I have my own blackberry bushes growing in my side garden, which are located right behind my apple trees.
While I enjoy eating fresh fruit, I also like to make jam so that I can enjoy the fruits of my garden throughout the entire year.
Last month, I made several batches of peach jam and last week, it was time to make my first batch of blackberry jam.
It took a few weeks to get all of the blackberries picked from the bushes. The reason for this is that not all the berries ripened at once, so we would freeze them after picking until the entire bush was clean of berries.
My 13-year-old son asked if he could help me make the jam. I was pleasantly surprised that he would want to help me, but I will take any opportunity I can to spend time with my son.
We gathered supplies – canning jars with lids, sugar, powdered pectin and a canner.
The first step involved mashing the blackberries in a large pot before adding the powdered pectin.
The blackberry mixture had to be heated to a high temperature until it began to boil.
Then it was time to add the sugar. Jam takes a lot of sugar, but I don’t like mine overly sweet, so I decreased the amount of sugar by 1 cup.
It helps to have the sugar pre-measured before boiling the fruit mixture.
After adding the sugar, we needed to heat the mixture back up to boiling. It was nice to have a helper, since you have to stir the entire time. Once it begins to boil, you have to let it continue for 1 minute before taking off the heat.
Take a couple of minutes to scoop off any foam that accumulated on the top of the blackberry jam before filling sterilized jam jars.
We carefully added the hot blackberry jam mixture into the jam jars. It smelled so good that we were tempted to try some, but decided against it since we didn’t want to burn our mouths.
Using the handy magnet utensil that came with my canning kit, I carefully put on the lids.
At this point, you can allow the jam to cool and then enjoy it on toast or English muffin. But, you will need to refrigerate the jam unless you want to preserve it by processing it by water bath canning.
A hot water canning bath involves submerging the jars of jam in boiling water for several minutes. This will preserve the blackberry jam and allow it to last over a year on the pantry shelf.
Canning kits include a large pot, metal insert, funnel, magnet utensil for lids and tongs. They are relatively inexpensive and can be found at Walmart or Amazon. I have even seen them in my local Ace Hardware store.
After a 10-minute boiling water bath, the jam was ready to be taken out carefully with tongs.
We let them sit overnight to cool before eagerly tasting the fruits of our labors.
It is hard to compare the delicious taste of homemade jam that was made from fruit from your own garden. In fact, I find myself tempted to make a second piece of toast just so I can enjoy some more delicious blackberry jam.
Of course, you don’t have to grow your own fruit to be able to make jam – simply buy some fruit at your local grocery store or farmers market. Earlier this month, I saw 1/2 pint containers of blackberries on sale for 97¢.
While I make jam every year, this was the first time I’ve made blackberry jam and I can’t wait until next year to make some more.
Thankfully, I have eleven jars to last me through the next year.
***********************
Want to learn more about canning?
If you are lucky, maybe your grandmother, mother, or aunt can teach you. 5 years ago, my mother taught me how to make jam and I’ve never stopped.
If you don’t have anyone to teach you, a simple Google search can help you find a class offered nearby or you can learn how to online.
https://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/blackberry_flower.jpg424640arizonaplantlady@gmail.comhttps://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/AZ-Plant-Lady-Logo-small.jpgarizonaplantlady@gmail.com2015-06-02 13:00:002022-10-23 09:55:22Blackberries, Jars and a Young Helper
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