This Easter brings with it memories of celebrations past and hopes of an extra special holiday this year.
Growing up, my entire extended family would gather together at my parent’s house and we would have a wonderful lunch. My mom was in charge of the food while my dad was in charge of the Easter egg hunt.
My dad had so much fun hiding the eggs and would cheer us on as we would frantically search for the eggs. Even as teenagers, we would still participate in the annual family Easter egg hunt.
When I grew up and had children, my dad would hide the eggs for them too.
I have also been blessed to spend Easter with my in-laws each year. My kids would also have fun having Easter egg hunts with them as well.
My two daughters and my son searching for the elusive Easter eggs.
The Easter, above, was especially memorable because it was my son’s first Easter celebration. We had just adopted him from China and he couldn’t really walk, so he crawled around to get his Easter eggs. (He has corrective surgery soon after).
The next Easter, he could not only walk, but run with his new braces helping him.
Each year, we spend the Saturday before Easter going on a huge Easter egg hunt, which is put on by the adult community where my in-laws live.
It is always crowded and crazy and the kids just love it – so do my in-laws.
The next day (Easter) is spent with my family, after church is over. The kids get to enjoy the annual Easter egg hunt, that my dad would organize.
The Easter celebration pictured below, is somewhat bittersweet to me.
You see, it is the last one that I got to spend with my dad.
He and my mother had just moved to Arizona from California one month earlier and they were so excited to host Easter at their new house.
It was fun to hang out with family and friends. My nephew was just 4 months old and my oldest daughter was newly engaged.
Sadly, my dad passed away suddenly just 5 weeks later from bacterial meningitis. This is one of the last photos that was taken of him.
Four years later, I still miss him and I always think of how special he made the Easter egg hunts. My husband and the other men of the family have picked up where he left off and hide the eggs for the new generation of kids on Easter Sunday.
This Saturday, I will spend Easter with my in-laws as usual and the kids are very excited about the huge Easter egg hunt at their community.
But this Easter brings sadness with it too. Some of you may remember me mentioning that my father-in-law is battling ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). I guess I shouldn’t say ‘battling’ because there is no cure and it is moving awfully fast.
He has lost his ability to speak, breathing is getting harder, muscle weakness and difficulty eating has made a feeding tube necessary.
I truly hate this horrible disease. But, it cannot take away the wonderful memories we have of our past Easter holidays with him and our ability to celebrate it with him this year.
My wish is that we will be grateful for the time we still have with him and that the memories that we will take from this special day will bring a smile to our face when he is gone.
Does Your Tree Look Like This?
TreesSuffered Frost Damage
Here in the Southwest, we were hit with a deep freeze this past winter. Temps in my garden fell to 20 degrees F. Now we aren’t strangers to occasional freezes each winter. But what made this one different was that we had 4 successive days of extreme cold.
As I drive down the streets in my neighborhood, I see trees that look much like the Lysiloma tree above. Do you have trees that suffered frost damage too? Ficus trees seem to have been most heavily affected by frost damage. But I also see some Jacaranda trees that look much the same.
Why are the upper branches more affected then the lower?
Well, the upper branches were the most exposed to the cold and they protected the lower branches from the cold.
With the arrival of warm weather, some of the ugly, brown branches are beginning to be covered with green again. The leaves start appearing towards the bottom of the tree canopy and work their way upward.
As a result, you see lush, green growth below and brown up above. So the question that many people have is when do you prune back the brown branches?
I recommend waiting at least 3- 4 more weeks (mid-May) to see if any leaves begin to appear. If they do not, then it is usually a sign that the upper branches are dead and can be pruned back. You can also bend the smaller branches to see if they break off easily – this is a sign that the branch is dead. If the branch is still flexible, then there is still live wood inside.
Because your tree has lost much its leaves to frost, it often produces a huge flush of new growth like the Lysiloma tree, above.
Now you may be tempted to remove some of the excess growth because it looks ‘messy’. But, please DON’T.
Leaves are what make ‘food’ for your tree and it needs all the leaves it can get right now until it has produced enough new growth to compensate for the leaves lost. I would recommend waiting as long as possible before removing any excess leaves.
Rest assured, before you know it, your tree will soon recover and look beautiful once again.
I would like to thank Becky who sent me these photos of her tree and suggested the topic for this post 🙂
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So, I am spending the day starting to pack for my upcoming road trip. It is so much easier when all you have to do is pack yourself and not 3 kids as well.
I am traveling with my mother. It is very strange to be traveling without my husband and kids, but I know we will have a fabulous time.
So, where are we going?
I’ll tell you next time….
A Chicken, Flowers and a Surprise….
AZ Plant LadyEarlier this week, I had a single day full of landscape consults. I enjoy helping people with their plants and landscapes.
My second consult of the day was with a couple who had just moved here from Ohio. They had questions about one of the Saguaro cactus, which was leaning a bit as well as other general gardening questions.
As I was walking up the driveway, the homeowner called out and told me to approach slowly and quietly. Then she pointed to her ceramic planter…
It was a colorful ceramic planter that was in the shape of a chicken.
But, the planter itself isn’t what she was talking about.
It was what was inside….
Can you see her?
Here is a closer look…
This little mama is a Gambel’s Quail, who was busy sitting on her eggs.
I just love it when I am able to see nesting birds in unusual spots, don’t you?
After I moved away and she flew away for a short while. So, I moved in and took a quick picture.
She will certainly be busy once her 13 chicks hatch.
The father was close by and kept a close eye on me until I moved on.
Gambel’s Quail are a quite abundant throughout the Sonoran desert. In the spring, both the male and female take care of the young, who look like little balls of fluff. They are very cute.
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I have been quite busy lately, trying to get all of my consults done and articles written.
Why?
Because I am headed out on a road trip in less then a week!
I plan to share my trip with you, (if you like) and will post more details soon 🙂
Does Your Tree Look Like This?
An Easter Wish…
az plant lady familyThis Easter brings with it memories of celebrations past and hopes of an extra special holiday this year.
Growing up, my entire extended family would gather together at my parent’s house and we would have a wonderful lunch. My mom was in charge of the food while my dad was in charge of the Easter egg hunt.
My dad had so much fun hiding the eggs and would cheer us on as we would frantically search for the eggs. Even as teenagers, we would still participate in the annual family Easter egg hunt.
When I grew up and had children, my dad would hide the eggs for them too.
I have also been blessed to spend Easter with my in-laws each year. My kids would also have fun having Easter egg hunts with them as well.
My two daughters and my son searching for the elusive Easter eggs.
The Easter, above, was especially memorable because it was my son’s first Easter celebration. We had just adopted him from China and he couldn’t really walk, so he crawled around to get his Easter eggs. (He has corrective surgery soon after).
The next Easter, he could not only walk, but run with his new braces helping him.
Each year, we spend the Saturday before Easter going on a huge Easter egg hunt, which is put on by the adult community where my in-laws live.
It is always crowded and crazy and the kids just love it – so do my in-laws.
The next day (Easter) is spent with my family, after church is over. The kids get to enjoy the annual Easter egg hunt, that my dad would organize.
The Easter celebration pictured below, is somewhat bittersweet to me.
You see, it is the last one that I got to spend with my dad.
He and my mother had just moved to Arizona from California one month earlier and they were so excited to host Easter at their new house.
It was fun to hang out with family and friends. My nephew was just 4 months old and my oldest daughter was newly engaged.
Sadly, my dad passed away suddenly just 5 weeks later from bacterial meningitis. This is one of the last photos that was taken of him.
Four years later, I still miss him and I always think of how special he made the Easter egg hunts. My husband and the other men of the family have picked up where he left off and hide the eggs for the new generation of kids on Easter Sunday.
This Saturday, I will spend Easter with my in-laws as usual and the kids are very excited about the huge Easter egg hunt at their community.
But this Easter brings sadness with it too. Some of you may remember me mentioning that my father-in-law is battling ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). I guess I shouldn’t say ‘battling’ because there is no cure and it is moving awfully fast.
He has lost his ability to speak, breathing is getting harder, muscle weakness and difficulty eating has made a feeding tube necessary.
I truly hate this horrible disease. But, it cannot take away the wonderful memories we have of our past Easter holidays with him and our ability to celebrate it with him this year.
My wish is that we will be grateful for the time we still have with him and that the memories that we will take from this special day will bring a smile to our face when he is gone.
April’s Monthly Bouquet
AZ Plant LadySpring seems to be rushing by so quickly. It seems it was just yesterday when I was protecting some of my more tender plants from frost.
Well, it is time for this month’s monthly bouquet. I had no problem figuring out what flowers I would use…
My daughter’s ‘Abraham Darby’ rose is just covered in beautiful blooms.
I only wish that you could smell their incredible fragrance through the computer 😉
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.
A Boat Race…On a Farm
Double S FarmsYes, you heard me right….a boat race on a farm.
For those of you wonderful people who have stuck around, reading this blog for a while, you have heard me talk about Double S Farms quite a few times.
For those of you who may be newer readers, Double S Farms is the residence of my mother, my sister and her family. It is actually a mini-farm, or what some call a ‘ranchette’. Besides two little boys and dogs, there is a vegetable garden, fruit trees (apple, lemon, grapefruit, kumquat, peach and plum) and chickens.
Every Tuesday night, my husband and I load up our family into the minivan and head over to Double S Farms for dinner. I always look forward to Tuesdays because I don’t have to cook 😉
This past Tuesday, my brother-in-law took my son, Kai and my two nephews out to race boats.
Okay, you may be asking, where can you race boats on a farm?
In the canal, of course!
Double S Farms has an irrigation canal running along behind it.
The boys were so excited to race their boats.
It turns out that they weren’t the only ones excited about watching the race…
The neighbor’s horses came over to see the action.
So did the cattle next door…
Well, I wish that I could say that the race was close, but it wasn’t.
My nephew Finley’s boat lost, while my son’s won.
I must admit that I was kind of routing for Finley’s boat….because my husband made it for him a long time ago.
You know what?
I can’t think of a better way to spend an evening, can you?
Hummingbirds Perched Up High….
Hummingbird GardeningEarlier this week, my husband and I decided to get outdoors and enjoy our beautiful spring weather. So, we visited our local Riparian Preserve. We had a great time walking and talking, but we also brought our camera so that we could take pictures of some of the feathered creatures that congregate around the preserve.
As we were walking, I would look upwards at the trees to see if I could see any birds. Sometimes they weren’t always easy to spot.
Local Riparian Preserve
Can you see it?
There is a hummingbird at the very tip of the flowering Palo Verde tree.
As we walked, we noticed quite a few hummingbirds perched high above.
An Anna’s Hummingbird perched in a Mesquite tree.
An Ash tree is the perfect perch for this little hummer.
We were able to get some really great photos, but because of our location, could not always identify which species of hummingbird we were looking at.
But, we did get a great photo of this Costa’s Hummingbird. His sharp eyes never left us.
Costa’s Hummingbird in an Acacia tree.
As we were walking along the trail, I heard the distinctive sounds of a hummer nearby. But, it took me a little while to locate it.
Can you see it?
Anna’s hummingbirds do blend well with their surroundings, except when the sun reflects off of their bright pink throat…
As we were leaving, we saw a few more of our feathered friends…
Black-Chinned Hummingbird
We were fortunate enough to have seen 3 different hummingbird species. Anna’s and Costa’s are year round residents, but the Black Chinned hummingbirds are summer residents, so it was especially nice to see them as well.
You know what? I think the fact that hummingbirds are so tiny might account for their preference for perching up on the tallest branches of trees?
What do you think?
Signs of Spring All Around…..
AZ Plant LadyYou know what? I don’t think that I know anyone who doesn’t like spring. Do you?
This past week, I spent some time capturing some of the signs of spring around me with my camera.
I hope you enjoy them…..
The beautiful vermilion colored flowers of the Ocotillo.
Hummingbirds think they are not only beautiful, but delicious as well….
There are signs of new life all around….
Canadian Goslings with their mother.
The desert is starting to bloom as well…..
Flowering Prickly Pear Cactus
I am starting to count down the weeks until the peaches are fully ripe….
I can almost taste the peach jam that I will be making with my mother next month 🙂
Yesterday evening, my daughter and I spent time harvesting carrots from our vegetable garden.
Anyone have a recipe for carrot soup?
How about you?
What signs of spring do you see where you live?
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Please stop by to read my latest Birds & Blooms blog
“Even Vegetables Need Friends”
Skies Full of Yellow Blossoms….
AZ Plant LadyBlue Palo Verde
This is one of my most favorite times of year.
Throughout the desert Southwest, our iconic Palo Verde trees are beginning to bloom.
Gorgeous display of yellow
Drive down any street and you will undoubtedly see a gorgeous display of yellow.
There are 4 different types of Palo Verde trees that are commonly planted, which include the Blue Palo Verde (Parkinsonia floridium), Palo Brea (Parkinsonia praecox), Foothills Palo Verde (Parkinsonia microphylla) and my personal favorite ‘Desert Museum’ Palo Verde (Parkinsonia hybrid ‘Desert Museum’).
Interestingly, not all Palo Verde species bloom at the same time. Right now, Blue Palo Verde trees are in full bloom, yet ‘Desert Museum’ Palo Verdes will begin to bloom in earnest in a few weeks.
I can hardly wait for mine to start, it looked so beautiful last year…..
Yesterday, my husband and I went to visit the Riparian Preserve in nearby Gilbert. I have visited a few times before and I am always struck by the beauty. We saw so many different types of birds and I took lots of photos, which I will be posting soon on my Birds & Blooms blog.
I hope you are all having a good week so far.
I love spring…..just not the allergies that come with it 😉
Flowers Raining Down….
WInter and Summer Vegetables….Oh My!
Vegetable GardeningI just love spring….and not just because everything is turning green and beginning to bloom in my garden.
I love this time of year because I have both winter and summer vegetables growing in my garden. I have harvested some of my winter vegetables already including my broccoli and lettuce. But, my spinach, garlic and carrots are still going strong.
I love how the leafy greens of my carrots look like ferns…
Winter and Summer Vegetables
My dog likes them too…
I must confess that my spinach has grown huge. I had been really good about picking it when the leaves were small and using them in salads, but life kind of got away from me and so did the spinach leaves 😉
I cannot wait to pick my garlic in May. It takes a long time to grow, (I planted it in September), but it will totally be worth it. I just need to wait for the green tops to start turning brown and then I can harvest them.
In early March, I planted my spring and summer vegetables. I went for less variety this year and concentrated on what we love to eat the most.
My San Marzano tomatoes are growing quickly and is flowering. I cannot wait to use the tomatoes for cooking.
My young cucumber plants are enjoying the protection that their friend, ‘Marigold’ provides.
I just love fresh corn, straight from the garden. In our area, we are fortunate to be able to not only plant a corn crop in the spring, but we can also plant corn in late summer for a fall harvest.
This year, I have planted 3 separate areas of corn and each area was planted 2 weeks apart from each other. That way, not all of my corn will be ready at once and I can extend my corn harvest.
Young corn seedlings.
While not a vegetable, Sunflowers are always present in my vegetable garden. I cannot wait for them to bloom…
I love to venture out into my vegetable garden to see how rapidly everything is growing.
The weather has been so nice and my garden has really responded.
Our spring weather has been rather crazy going from extremes. Last week we broke a record when we hit 100 degrees in Phoenix, which was 20 degrees above normal.
Tomorrow, we are expecting a storm that will bring temperatures down to 22 degrees below normal for this time of year.
So far, my garden doesn’t seem to be affected by the extremes.
So, how about you? How is your garden growing?
Have you experienced any crazy, spring weather?
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Please check out my latest Birds & Blooms blog
“Raising Butterflies Part 3”.
‘Friendly’ Plants in the Vegetable Garden
desert, Vegetable GardeningYou know what? I just love this time of year. The garden is full of colorful, blooming plants and all the brown, crispy frost-damaged growth has been pruned away.
That was what my husband and I did yesterday. We finished pruning off all of the frost damaged growth and everything now looks so much better.
I spent some time out in my vegetable garden, which has some winter vegetables still growing as well as summer vegetables. I will show you more about my vegetable garden soon.
Alyssum, Marigold and Bachelor’s Button growing in the vegetable garden.
What really caught my eye were my beautiful, flowering companion plants in the vegetable garden. What are companion plants you may wonder? Well, basically they are plants that attract beneficial insects to your garden and/or repel damaging insects, which decrease or even eliminate the need for pesticides.
Alyssum growing beneath a San Marzano tomato plant.
I just love the fragrance and delicate beauty of alyssum. It also attracts bees to my garden, which help to pollinate my summer vegetables.
Marigolds
Marigolds are a powerhouse in terms of repelling damaging insects. The fragrance of marigolds is just fine with me and I just love their bright flowers.
Finally, I have a new flowering plant in my vegetable garden, which is not listed on any companion plant list, but it is just beautiful and was given to me by my fellow blogger Grace, who lives in Oregon, and has a fabulous blog called Gardening With Grace. She was kind enough to send me some after I admired it in her garden.
I planted it in the corner of my vegetable garden last October and it started flowering just a few weeks ago.
Pink Oxalis
I just love how the little pink flowers are borne on top of clover-like leaves, don’t you? I’m not sure how it will do with the summer heat, but the unknown is something that has always attracted me to gardening. I do hope that it does well.
In the meantime, whenever I look at this beautiful little plant, I am so thankful for Grace’s generosity.
If you would like to learn more about companion plants, you can check out this earlier post, where I list quite a few beautiful, companion plants.
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I hope your week is going well. I had a bunch of consults earlier this week, but now I have a chance to catch my breath and have fun writing again 🙂
Please check out my latest blog post over at Birds & Blooms.