DIY Pumpkin Bird Feeder

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Did you enjoy your Halloween?  While you may be spending your morning cleaning up small candy wrappers and trying to get your kids out of bed after they crashed after their sugar high – I’d like to ask you a question:

“What are you going to do with your pumpkin?”

Before tossing it in the trash can (or compost pile) – how about getting a little more use out of it and creating a pumpkin bird feeder?

pumpkin bird feeder

Last year, I took my heirloom pumpkin and transformed it into a bird feeder.

Needless to say, the birds were thrilled and my kids and I had fun seeing how many different birds visited our pumpkin feeder.

**You can make your own pumpkin feeder and I recently wrote a “how-to” post for Birds & Blooms Magazine.  You can find my blog post, “Backyard Project: DIY Pumpkin Bird Feeder”.

So how about you? What do you do with your pumpkins after Halloween?

Desert Spoon Adds Spiky Texture and Color Contrast to the SW Garden

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Dasylirion wheeleri

(Dasylirion wheeleri)

I love to use plants that thrive in the desert Southwest.

But, I won’t use just any plant – it has to be drought tolerant, low-maintenance and add beauty to the landscape.

One of my favorites for adding spiky texture and great color contrast is desert spoon, also known as ‘sotol’.

It handles freezing temperatures, is evergreen and unlike agave, won’t die after it flowers.

I recently wrote about all the reasons that I like desert spoon along with ideas of how to use it in the landscape, which you can find in my latest article for Houzz.com

**By the way, there is just 5 days left to enter the giveaway I am hosting for Troy-Bilt’s most powerful, handheld blower.  Click here to enter!

 

Drive-Thru Landscaping: The Good and The Mostly Bad

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Do you ever find yourself pulling into the drive-thru of a fast food restaurant?

I do.

Lately, I have been very busy with landscape consults as well as working on a large golf course re-landscaping project, which have resulted in more than my share of visits to the local drive-thru.  Add to that my preparations for a local craft fair in November (along with my sister and mom where I am making basil salt, seed bombs and air plants mounted on creosote roots), preparations for an upcoming family reunion as well as hosting my daughter’s baby shower – we will probably be making quite a few more visits to the drive-thru.

Normally, drive-thru restaurants are places where you can see examples of poor design showcasing overplanted and over pruned shrubs that are too large for the narrow landscape spaces by the drive-thru lane.  However, I was truly surprised during one trip through at my local fast food restaurant.

First, let’s look at the landscaping you normally find as you visit the drive-thru…

drive-thru landscapes

Over pruned feathery cassia shrubs (Senna artemisioides)

These shrubs would actually work well in this space if you reduced the amount down to three and allowed them to grow to their natural size and form…

Feathery cassia in bloom

Feathery cassia in bloom

Do you think that those overpruned shrubs ever have any flowers appearing in late winter and spring, like this one?

I didn’t think so.

drive-thru landscapes

In the Southwest, the types of shrubs that you are most likely to see growing along drive-thru landscapes are oleander and Texas sage species.

Lately, Valentine bush, which is one of my favorite shrubs, has also been showing up more often in these areas.

Again, the problem is too many plants in not enough space.  Couple that with the compulsive need to strip the natural beauty from these beautiful, flowering shrubs in an attempt to create anonymous green shapes and you have the perfect scenario for drive-thru landscapes.

With so many bad examples of landscaping while visiting the drive-thru, I must admit that I’ve become somewhat de-sensitized and purposely ignore it.

However, a recent visit to the drive-thru made me take a second look as I drove past this…

drive-thru landscapes

Notice anything different?

The plants actually fit into this space and without over pruning!

There is room for the bougainvillea against the wall to grow and while the lantana could use a little more room – it is looking great too.

What I really liked about this landscape was the use of banana yucca.  Its leaves added great spiky texture and the flowers are just lovely.

*I did notice the overpruned dwarf oleanders in the background, but I’m ignoring them.

Using fewer shrubs and allowing them room to grow is a great start to rethinking the drive-thru landscape.

The next important part is to stop the frequent pruning of flowering shrubs.

I’d love to see a mix of shrubs and succulents in drive-thru landscapes for more interest, less maintenance and that is more water efficient.

For now, I will keep trying to keep my eyes open for another great example of a drive-thru landscape.

drive-thru landscapes

But, I think it may be awhile…

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For other examples of drive-thru landscapes, click here.

If you have shrubs that resemble this and would like to have beautiful shrubs with a pleasing natural shape that actually flowers as well as see some other examples of bad pruning – click here for some of my favorite pruning posts.

Blue Palo Verde Decorates the Landscape

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Do you like palo verde trees?

Blue palo verde (Parkinsonia florida)

I must confess that I fell in love with these iconic desert trees with their green trunks and yellow flowers when I moved to Arizona 28 years ago.

Some people may resent the mess that the fallen flowers leave behind in late spring, but I don’t mind – they look like a carpet of yellow.

Blue palo verde (Parkinsonia florida) is on my ‘fuss-free‘ list of trees that add beauty to the arid landscape.

How about you?  Do you like blue palo verde trees?

Want to learn more about this desert beauty?  Check out my latest plant profile for Houzz.com:

Great Design Plant: Parkinsonia Flor Paints the Desert Green and Yellow

Golden Barrel Cacti – So Many Uses

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Do you like cactus?

I find that even people who aren’t huge fans of cacti, tend to like make an exception for golden barrels (Echinocactus grusonii).  

Golden Barrel Cacti

I think one of the reasons for its popularity is because of its globular shape and yellow spines.

Golden Barrel Cacti

Another reason may be that golden barrel cacti are extremely versatile in the landscape.  Whether you prefer a contemporary landscape with golden barrels planted in neat, orderly rows or in a more natural grouping – they can be used both ways.

Golden Barrel Cacti

I like to place golden barrel cacti next to boulders, where their round shapes and sunny color provide great contrast.

desert Southwest

These popular cacti are native to the desert Southwest and can be grown outdoors in zones 9 and above.  However, larger specimens have been known to handle temperatures in the teens.

In colder regions, they can be planted in containers and brought inside in winter.  

golden barrel's spines

If you look closely at a golden barrel’s spines, you’ll notice how they criss-cross each other, forming an interesting geometric pattern.

You can probably guess one of the spines purposes – to provide protection from predators who may want to eat them.

However, there is another, somewhat surprising way that the spines help the cactus, which you read here:

“Why Do Cactus Have Spines?”

golden barrels

The care for golden barrels is quite simple.  They do best in well-drained, native desert soil in full sun to filtered shade.

Although they start out small, mature specimens can reach 3 feet tall and wide.  However, they can take years to reach that size, so they are often planted in much smaller areas and later replaced.

Now for the big question – how much water do they need?  Established golden barrels can get by with existing rainfall, but will grow faster and look their best with they recieve a deep watering once a month May through August.  The rest of the year, they should be fine with existing rainfall.

Earlier today, I mentioned on my azplantlady facebook page that I had seen golden barrel cacti growing in a very unusual place.

golden barrels

Well as promised, here is the answer:

I came across this cluster of golden barrel cacti growing in Michigan!

To be precise, they were located in a greenhouse at the Frederik Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, which I visited back in June.  I was looking forward to visiting these beautiful gardens and seeing examples of plants that grow in more temperate climates, so I was quite surprised to come across a plant from home.

So, even if you live in a climate that experiences frigid winter temperatures – you can grow golden barrels….inside.

How about you?  Do you have golden barrel cacti growing in your landscape?  Do you like seeing them in a more formal setting or a natural one such as when planted next to a boulder?

Three P’s: Puppies, iPhone and Plants

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Do you like puppies, iPhones and plants?

If so, then this should be a fun post. If you have an android phone, you will like at least two of the ‘P’s’.

Okay, the first ‘P’ stands for ‘puppy’….

English Labrador

Meet the newest addition to our furry family.

This is Polly.  She is an English Labrador Retriever.

We have been waiting 7 long weeks to be able to bring her home.  She is fearless, friendly and very playful.

We bought her from the same breeder as our black English Labrador Retriever dog, Penny, who joined our family last year.

English Labrador

So, they are already sisters.  Both dogs share the same father.

Penny has been such a joy in our lives and we decided to add another.

English Labrador

Polly was excited to meet her big sister, Penny.  But, Penny was scared of her little sister and ran off with her tail between her legs 😉

She is gradually beginning to warm up to her new little sister though.  For her part, Polly isn’t the least bit scared of her big sister.

Three P's: Puppies, iPhone and Plants

Like most puppies, most of her day is spent sleeping and cuddling with us.

Polly joins Penny and our two rescue dogs, Tobey and Max.

I’ll be sure to share more photos of Polly as she grows up.  I really want to take a picture of her and Penny side-by-side, but I’ll probably have to wait a while until Penny gets over being a big scaredy cat.  

Crested Saguaro Ribs

Crested Saguaro Ribs

The second ‘P’ stands for iPhone.  I took an iPhone photography class last weekend at the Desert Botanical Garden.  As a garden writer and blogger, I take a lot of pictures and while I have a nice DSLR camera – I don’t always have it with me, so I often use my iPhone for a lot my pictures.

Desert Garden Path

Desert Garden Path

The class was very informative and taught me some great tips.  The best part of the class was being able to walk through the garden with our intructor and take pictures of all the beautiful plants and scenery.

Ramada made from natural desert materials

Ramada made from natural desert materials.

It is really amazing what good photos you can take with your phone.

Monarch butterfly on lantana

Monarch butterfly on lantana.

I was even able to get some close up pictures of monarch butterflies with my phone.

*If you have never taken a class from the Desert Botanical Garden (or your local botanical garden) – I strongly urge you too.  They have a large variety of classes and there is so much to learn about all kinds of things..

Okay, back to our list.  The last ‘P’ is about plants.

Do you know what is happening next weekend?  The Desert Botanical Garden’s fall plant sale!

local botanical garden

I can hardly wait!

I always encourage people, no matter where they live, to visit their local botanical garden’s plant sales because you can be assured that their plants are well adapted for your climate.  In addition, they often have hard to find plants and new color introductions of some old favorites.

vegetable transplants for sale

Last time, they even had heirloom vegetable transplants for sale.

I wrote about my last visit this past spring, where I picked up three lovely plants, which you can view here.

I am still in the market for a few more plants to fill in some bare spots in my landscape.  The plant sale runs next Saturday to Sunday.

I’ll be sure to share with you my findings!

How to Tell If a Plant is Drought Tolerant

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When you visit a nursery, do you wonder which plants are drought tolerant as opposed to those who will wilt if not given enough water?

There are a few different traits that many drought-tolerant plants share.  For example, did you know that small leaves and gray foliage can be signs that a plant may be drought-tolerant?  

I recently shared several traits to look for when shopping for drought-tolerant plants for Houzz.com

I hope this article will help you to create a beautiful, drought-tolerant garden!

How to Spot a Drought-Tolerant Plant

Silvery, Purple Beauty

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violet silverleaf (Leucophyllum candid)

At first glance, violet Silverleaf (Leucophyllum candid) may look like a nice gray shrub with a smattering of purple flowers.

BUT, when you crank up the humidity and add some summer rain into the mix and it really explodes with color…

purple beauty

These shrubs literally stop people in their tracks with their purple beauty.

(Leucophyllum candid) is easy to grow in arid climates and when not in flower, its gray foliage provides great color contrast in the landscape.

Find out more about this Texas native and why you’ll want to include it in your garden in my latest plant profile for Houzz.com:

 

Have you ever seen this shrub growing?  Do you have one in your landscape?

A Rose Garden Garden Fit For a Castle?

A Rose Garden Garden Fit For a Castle?

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Do you love roses?  I do.

I used to have 40 roses in my Phoenix garden – I must admit that I went a little overboard.  

Showing my sister a few of my roses back in the 90's

Showing my sister a few of my roses back in the 90’s

Now my rose garden consists of three well-loved roses…

Abraham Darby

Abraham Darby

Although my passion has steered toward using drought tolerant trees and plants to add beauty to the landscape, I still have a special place in my heart for roses.

So, whenever I am on the road and a rose garden is nearby, I always take some time to “walk through the roses”.

trip to Ireland

Back in 2001, we took a trip to Ireland.  This was when we had two kids and not five (we adopted three children from China a few years later).

Of course when traveling in Europe, castles are always on the ‘must-see’ list.  While visiting the city of Kilkenny, we decided to make a stop at Kilkenny Castle.

The problem was, was that all of Ireland and Great Britain was under quarantine conditions at many of the tourist attractions due to ‘foot and mouth’ disease, which was highly contagious and speading to livestock.

So, much of our trip was spent looking from the outside in.

Kilkenny Castle

Fast forward 2 years later and we found ourselves in Kilkenny again and we were thrilled that there were no restrictions.

My husband was anxious to go on the tour of the inside of the castle, but the problem was, was that I couldn’t tear myself away from the rose gardens surrounding the castle.

Kilkenny Castle

It was June and the roses smelled heavenly and were so beautiful.

Whenever I find myself on a large estate or castle (which isn’t all that often), I like to dream of what I would do with the gardens.

In this case, I would probably tear up more grass and add more roses!

I look cranky in this photo, but I blame it on the jet lag from arriving in Ireland the day before.

I look cranky in this photo, but I blame it on the jet lag from arriving in Ireland the day before.

After spending an hour touring the grounds, we did make it indoors for the tour, which was very interesting – I like history too!

A Rose Garden Garden Fit For a Castle?

The next day was spent touring the surrounding countryside, but in the afternoon, we found ourselves drawn to the rose garden again and sat on the benches reading.

I can’t think of a better way to spend an afternoon, do you?

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For more information on roses and how to grow them in the desert, I have listed several blog posts that will help that you can access, here.  

A Snapshot of My Crazy, But Happy Life…

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For those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile, you know that I sometimes write about the goings on in my life.  And so I begin the post with fair warning- if you are looking for gardening content – there will be some, but not a lot.

Do you ever look back at your calendar for the past month and wonder where the time went?

I did just that and was pleasantly surprised to see how much went on.  I thought that I’d share with you a small snapshot of the past month in the life of ‘az plant lady’ (me)!

town of Carpentaria California

The most exciting event was visiting my daughter in California and being there for her ultrasound when she found out that she was having a little boy.

I am so excited and can’t wait for January to get here so that I can hold him in my arms!

Surf shop in Carpentaria California

Surf shop in Carpinteria, California

While visiting my daughter, who is in the Navy and stationed in California, we stopped by the small beach town of Carpinteria, which is just south of Santa Barbara.

We visited a couple of nurseries in Carpinteria, California where I discovered a new flowering perennial introduction and enjoyed a very unique experience at another nursery.

It was fun to stop and watch the surfers.  *Did you know that surfing is a really big deal in Carpinteria, California?  My high school had a surf club and I had many friends and family who were surfers.  As for me, I’ve never set foot on a surfboard 😉

Santa Barbara Mission and rose garden

Santa Barbara Mission and rose garden.

We stopped off to visit the beautiful mission of Santa Barbara, which was founded in 1786.  I always enjoy visiting the mission, but I must confess that my attention was diverted by the adjoining rose garden that was in full bloom.

I’ll share more about my visit to another special rose garden later this week.

My husband and I both enjoy visiting this area since we spent time there when we attended Westmont College in Santa Barbara, which is where we met.

The college has beautiful grounds and I recently shared some photos of our most recent visit there, which you can see here.  

Our daughter, Ruthie

Back home, homecoming at our local high school arrived early this year.  Our daughter, Ruthie had fun getting ready and had a great time!

Carpentaria California

Earlier in the month, Ruthie took part in the ice-bucket challenge for ALS on behalf of her grandpa who died from this truly horrible disease 3 years ago.

I was so proud of her.

Harley Davdison motorcycle

Has your husband ever had a dream of owning a certain car or motorcycle?

Mine has wanted a Harley Davidson motorcycle for over 9 years.  He has stacks of old motorcycle magazines dating back from 2006 that he has kept hidden away in a huge Rubbermaid plastic tub.

I am married to someone who is so giving and self-sacrificing and it was so nice to see the joy as his dream was finally realized.

He has been walking around with a smile on his face for weeks now and he looks forward to driving to and from work on his new bike.

my granddaughter, Lily

Surprisingly, my granddaughter, Lily, has been quite taken with her papa’s new motorcycle and asks to see “the Harley Davidson” when she visits.

It is really kind of funny since her parents aren’t into motorcycles at all.  But, she adores her papa and his new bike.

While at our local Harley Davidson dealer, my husband saw kid tattoos and picked up one for her that had a scorpion on it.

Lily likes to wear little tattoos of Minnie Mouse or other cartoon characters, but I was shocked when she wanted to wear the one her papa bought her with a scorpion on it.

If my granddaughter turns out to be a ‘biker chick’ when she gets older – it will be her papa’s fault 😉  

Carpinteria California

Two weeks ago, we received record-breaking 5 1/2 of rainfall within a few hours time!!!

My husband had to delay going to work in order to sweep water off of the patio to keep our house from flooding.  When he did finally get on the road to get to work, it took 30 minutes to drive 4 miles!

The garden loved the rain and now all the weeds are beginning to come up, so I’ll mix up a batch of my homemade weed killer.

So what will the coming month bring?

golf course

Right now, I’m busy designing landscape for four different areas on a golf course, where they are removing large areas of turf, in favor of a drought tolerant landscape.

My dining room table has been taken over by large sheets of vellum (what I draw my designs on), drafting supplies and the like.

I tend to get involved in creating designs this way and can easily spend an entire day in my own little world.

Arizona State University

This month also brings another first for us.  My husband and I are both alumni of Arizona State University and have season tickets this year.

We are so excited and hopefully, our team will do well this year.

Next week, we will be adding a new member to our family.

welcome a new dog

Meet Polly!

We recently said “goodbye” to our 15 year-old golden retriever and decided to welcome a new dog into our lives.

Although Polly is not ready to come live with us yet, we were able to visit her and her litter mates.

It will be hard to wait a whole week to hold her again.  In the meantime, I’ll stock on doggy toys, puppy food, dig out the baby gates again and be sure to have a lot of pet/floor cleaner on hand 😉

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Well, that is a snapshot of the past month and some of what will be happening soon.

Thank you for taking a little time out of your day and allowing me to share a little of my life.

I appreciate it so much!

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