Tag Archive for: Hummingbird feeder.

Usually when I am called to a help out a homeowner with their landscape, it is because they are having a problem with their plants, or sometimes they are new to the desert and want to learn how to garden in our dry climate.  

Last week, I visited a homeowner who had some questions about whether or not he was taking good care of his garden.

His house is located just northeast of the metro Phoenix area, in the desert.  He and his wife had lived there for over 15 years and they designed their garden by themselves.

As I approached the front entry, I was greeted by this beautiful Ocotillo that was back lit by the morning sun…

Desert Garden

When approaching a new client’s house, I always look around their front garden, because it gives me an idea of their preferences and maybe problems that they are having.  This gives me a ‘heads-up’ before I actually meet the client.

His front garden was just beautiful and I was looking forward to seeing what his back garden looked like…

Desert Garden

There was a fireplace with a lovely seating area and you could see the pool surrounded by beautiful desert plants in the distance.

Desert Garden

The wall of his back garden backed right onto the desert.  He had some beautiful artistic pieces, including this metal Ocotillo.

Desert Garden

There was a very large Indian Fig cactus.  This type of prickly pear is very popular because it is thornless.  But it needs a lot of room to grow.

This particular Indian Fig was hiding something….

Indian Fig.

A beautiful water feature flowed from underneath the Indian Fig.

Rosemary grew along the side as well as potted annuals.

Isn’t this a beautiful area?

There was also an empty vegetable garden, but the homeowner did have herbs growing in containers….

Rosemary

 Many people keep their hummingbird feeders up year round because we have hummingbirds 12 months out of the year.

hummingbird feeders

This hummingbird faces a mirror.  The mirror serves two purposes, according to the homeowner:

One, it keeps the woodpeckers from making holes and second, it gives them an additional view of visiting hummingbirds.

You can see a little Verdin flying in for a drink of the hummingbird nectar.

Lastly, we viewed a shady area of his garden.

shady area of his garden

The plants in this area do very well in light shade.

There was Heavenly Bamboo to the left, Cape Honeysuckle to the right, Star Jasmine vine next to the door and Texas Mountain Laurel ‘Silver Peso’, which is a gray-leafed form.

I had a wonderful time visiting and I did have a few suggestions regarding proper watering and when to prune.

I hope you enjoyed seeing this beautiful desert garden with me.

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Life is quite busy this week for me as I am sure it is for most of you with the upcoming holiday.

I will post again before Thanksgiving 🙂

Lesser Known Tropical Beauty for the Desert Garden

You know what?  I do not think that I know anyone who doesn’t enjoy hummingbirds.  I guess that there are probably a handful, but what’s not to love? 

enjoy hummingbirds

This little hummer was busy bathing and drinking from this fountain at The Living Desert in Palm Desert, CA.

I had never seen a hummingbird bathe before and it was so fun to sit and watch him.

I have a pair of Anna’s hummingbirds who live in one of my trees. They take turns visiting my hummingbird feeder.

Here is Mr. A…..

enjoy hummingbirds

and his wife, Mrs. A….

hummingbirds

How about you?  

Are hummingbirds one of your favorite things?

I would love to hear about your little visitors…..

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Thank you all for visiting my Birds & Blooms blog.

Here is my latest post…

A Gathering of Cattle Egrets

From the title of this post, you might surmise that I am somewhat distracted because I have a lot on my mind.  Well, I am quite busy at the moment getting ready for our upcoming trip along the east coast, which is why I am a bit behind on posting….

I do love this month and it’s cooler temperatures, pumpkins and the beginnings of holiday decorations.  In fact, the other day I was on my way home for a consultation for a friend of mine when I drove by the ‘cactus house’ in our neighborhood.  I call it the ‘cactus house’ because they have a lot of cactus in their front garden.  Now don’t get me wrong, I do like cactus, but not as the main plant type in a garden.

Okay back to what I saw in the front garden of the ‘cactus house’.  In the center of the garden there is a beautiful Organ Pipe cactus.  Well, the cactus is not what caught my attention….it’s what was crawling on it…..

holiday decorations

Holiday Decorations

Can you see it?

holiday decorations

Yes….that is a scary spider crawling up the cactus.  Believe it or not, cacti are often used for holiday decorating.  Wait until you see what people do for Christmas here in the desert.

My second topic has to do with the weather….

Last week, we had a huge storm blow through.  We are used to strong storms during the summer monsoon months, but generally not in the beginning of October.  There were tornadoes in the northern part of our state while people in our area received a lot of rain and hail.

holiday decorations

I always have trouble capturing rain with my camera.  But the rain and wind was impressive.  We had about 2″ total that day, with four different thunderstorms hitting us.

Okay, now for my last topic…..

Like many of you, I have a hummingbird feeder that hangs outside of my window.  My kids gave it to me for Mother’s Day.  I love seeing these tiny birds fly up and take a sip and then leave again.

Whenever I am in the kitchen, I am usually on the lookout for any activity outside of my kitchen window.  Well, the other day I saw movement and my hummingbird feeder was moving and turning.  I was sure I had a little visitor and so I grabbed my camera….

holiday decorations

I couldn’t see my visitor clearly, and so I waited for the feeder to turn my way….

hummingbird feeder

At this point, I began to see more of my visitor…..

hummingbird feeder

 Well, she is definitely not a hummingbird.  This little sparrow was absolutely determined to get some nectar out of my feeder.

hummingbird feeder

Despite her efforts, she was not able to figure out how to get any food out of those tiny holes.

hummingbird feeder

I should probably fill my regular bird feeder with birdseed 😉

A Few of my Favorite Things……Hummingbirds