Whaaaaaat's Up!? The Garden Edition

Ok, I can write a really looooooong post or save some stuff for more than one. I tell you, when it rains, it pours. It seems like I have little to say and then there's plenty.

To begin, a belated Happy Thanksgiving to all. Ours was quiet. This year the Chicklet went to dinner with her father for a couple of hours and I had dinner with the hairy ones. I bought a turkey breast for the Chicklet and I to make our own dinner. We have to wait until Sunday to spend the day cooking. We've managed to stay busy!Here's Maica enjoying a little appetizer. What is it with my dogs and grass chewing? Paint some spots on them and I have cows. The girls are napping right now. We just came back from an hour's long walk in the neighborhood. The days are so beautiful and the sun feels so good.Over the weekend I noticed that shadows of tree branches were dancing around in my bedroom. Then it dawned on me that they were my trees from the the front yard. Yippea!

I can be standing in my room and look out and see the blooms of the Mexican Honeysuckle pictured above. I love looking out and seeing color, lots of color!Here's the view from the other window. The fountain planter is somewhere underneath there. Once the irrigation was running properly, the basil plant exploded! I've replanted cilantro and mint and hope to have the same kind of success as the basil. For now I'm keeping my co-workers well stocked with basil deliveries.I'm full of anticipation with these babies. I pulled out some small agaves and replanted them elsewhere. These Dawe's Aloes took their place and were recommended because they bloom in winter and spring. Both plants are full of buds and I'm looking forward to the bloom.Everything is looking bright and beautiful in the the garden but the nights are cooling down and we've had some freeze warnings. There are some plants that are going to need to be covered. Pruning is off limits for now. The Popcorn plant has taken over a big spot in the yard. The recent rains brought out the flowers, big time.Here's Kenny!!! (The Sharkskin Agave). He's growing slow and steady. Not as quickly as some of the other agaves and the Lantana that is creeping and crawling it's way around him. I was not a fan of Lantana but I can't argue with the explosion of color. Good job of twisting my arm goes to Ray, the Designer Man!One more front yard shot. I forgot the name of this agave. It was a non-sanctioned-by-Ray plant. He warned me that the original plants would grow and fill up the yard and he wasn't kidding. He did leave me some holes. (Or what I perceive as good spots to add something to). I am in love with the pinkish bouganvillea. Grow, bloom, grow, bloom! My heart smiles everytime I drive up to our house.Canine territory-the backyard. Due to a beetle infestation, the melon plants had to go. The eggplant is thriving and now it's spilling our over the planter. Then lookey, lookey what we found...We planted peppers and tomatoes and lost all those to the summer heat. Or so we thought. One of the bell pepper plants pulled through. I took these off the bush yesterday and one of them went straight onto veggies pizzas for lunch. It still seems somewhat miraculous to plant it, grow it, and eat it from our own garden.Yellow Bells. I thought we would be swimming in them but we have only one plant in the back yard. The other seven are Orange Bells. Equally lovely but it makes these more appreciated. Freia had her head buried in these yesterday and there was no getting a good picture of her. Maica isn't posing. She's focused on a bird that wandered into the backyard. Maica has taken to jumping the fence again. She sprung over twice last week. Luckily, she comes back when I make my way out to the alley to corral her. Crazy pooch!

The Chicklet is bugging me to go out and check on a mural in the making. If it's being worked on, we hope to pick up some paint brushes and help out.

Happy Friday, everyone!
Marissa

The Pleasure of Spring

I'm here! It's weird... I haven't felt like I've had anything to say. Last week was a mess. If I did have much to say, it was best I kept it close to myself. Our teaching schedule was changed due to AIMS testing. That was workable. Then we find out at the last minute that we're expected to have classes outdoors leading different activities with the students.

Oh my g-d! With a Thursday deadline to have all 2-dimensional art work ready for our yearly exhibit, I was completely stressed. I was fried after one day in the sun. Then it was running around after work with the Chicklet. I wasn't handling the stress well.

A huge stress reliever is coming home and enjoying the garden. Everything is growing and blooming.The popcorn plant has grown so big I had to trim a few branches down. I saw one recently that was well over 5' high. The Chicklet has already reached my height, don't think I'll let the plant beat me too!The Palo Verde is full of buds. In the foreground to the left is a speck of a Desert Marigold. a replacement for the ones that didn't survive.The Ice Plants have exploded in size and color! We replaced another four and they've started to bloom as well. Kenny, the Sharkskin Agave, is holding steady. It's hard to measure his growth but his first offspring was dug up and sent to his new home. We have 4 more Sharkskin "babies" en route.The Chicklet and I love coming home to these. Sometimes we make it before they close, sometimes, not. They're different for the neighborhood and we've gotten some questions and compliments.We set up shop in the carport a few weekends ago. The Chicklet and a fellow Girl Scout came over and we worked on their Clay and Ceramics Badge. They worked on making tiles from clay slabs for one of the activities. We took some cuttings from various plants and trees in the garden and pressed them into the clay. They were fired this week. Can't wait to glaze them in the next week or two.
Marissa

Here We Are!

First meet "Kenny" our Sharkskin Agave. As you can see, Kenny received the royal treatment on his ride to his new home, our yard.Front courtyard patio completed! This took place almost 2 weeks ago. Been a little side tracked the last two weeks.
We had a cool turn in the weather-low 100's and we spent an few evenings sitting in the patio enjoying the outdoors.
Yes, it's a fountain. I chose not to connect it to water but the bottom area is filled with potting soil. Once the weather cools we'll plant annuals or herbs. Now you can see what we had in mind for the spaces between walls. 3" x 3" metal grid. Everything was planned so that standing in front of an open area highlighted an agave, the fountain, and the Desert Museum Palo Verde.
The side yard from the carport to the backyard. Oh, how absolutely beautiful!
One of two mesquite trees in the backyard.
Happy, but fuzzy faced, Freia. So far no plants have been trampled on. The girls are doing good. Freia spent a lot of time barking at these gentlemen-part of the hardworking crew from Gardeners' Eden that spent 2 hot weeks working on my dream landscape. Thank you!

Next post: Paint! Think "Blue," think "Red," think BRIGHT!
Marissa

Unwelcome Guests

Here's how today started. Hello Olive tree and it ended with good-bye Olive tree. The back yard is every shade of brown. Brown dirt, blah brown shed, blah gray wall...I took a walk around the shed. I usually refer to it as the garage/studio. It was the reason I bought my house and the reason I'm staying. I noticed something and I took a closer look.
I AM Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Pissed! Termites! I have Termites! They are going to DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! First I will kill them then I will paint the shed red. Yes, RED. The building is in the backyard and only visible to the neighbors above the block walls. I'm not sure about this red. It's a tad bright in the daylight. It needs to be deeper. But the in the evening it looked alright. Crazy light!

The whole termite thing was pretty upsetting. A big unexpected expense. No Jimmy Choos for me this year, I guess. I went for a swim and 1/2 way thru my workout, I'd made peace with the termite issue. Not with the termites but with their impending demise.
Then it was time to get home and wash the smell of chlorine off me in preparation for the rock hunt.
Lookee what we found! The square is the sample of rose flagstone we're using for the patio. The Yavapai Coral was my first choice. Then I wandered and liked at least two other colors of rock.This one wasn't bad but the rock was a bit sharper and perhaps too pink. Pink house, pink rock, pink flagstone....We both liked the contrast of the Saddleback brown against the Rose paver. The idea of looking at this large expanse of darker rock....it left me uneasy. Plus I also worry about the darker rock absorbing more heat. I chose the Yavapai Coral. Decisions, decisions!There were other rocks to see. River rocks, granite, beach pebbles.... here's a piece of rock that was on display showing the veins of different colors. You can't paint something so beautiful! At least I can't but I one day I might try.The rock place is in the North Valley. I couldn't tell you what the name of it is because I was being chauffeured by Ray, the Designer Man. We made some stops on our way back. We thought these stepping stones were hilarious. The pigs were even better. They fall within my criteria of "No sleeping Mexicans." I really dislike the serape covered, sombrero wearing Sleeping Mexican stepping stones, figurines, etc. I have 2 or three of the stepping stones and they are leaving. I should give them to the Blankety Blank Jerk neighbor...We made another detour. This relation to the Mountain Aloe is called Felox and it was huge. I'm not sure I like it although the red to orange to yellow bloom sounds intriguing. This plant looks like it has a bad case of acne. The leaves are also chunkier than the Mountain Aloe. Hmmmm...
Pure love! The red edge of this agave.....Wow! Palo Verde=Green bark, alright! Yum!

Not far from the Felox-OH MY G-D. LOOOOOOOOOKKKKK OUT! Shark ATTACK!!!!!YOWZA!!!! This is called Sharkskin Agave and we were entralled. Really, this plant had us both frothing at the mouth. Well, Ok, I can only speak for myself but this plant has an attitude. If I could put it in crude, male anatomical terms, I say that this agave has b....The plant feels like sharkskin and the edge is a deep gray/blue. It was big and in a 24" container for the price of $499.99. Oh yeah, I brought my new shark baby home....I wish. The nursery manager was going to check on availability of smaller plants. I called around when I got home. Another nursery had a 3 gal. size for $55 and a 3rd nursery didn't have any in stock. I called the first place back and they'll have a 5 gal. size available next week for less than the $55 for the 3 gal.This one also had us hot and bothered. Again, it was a specialty plant with the price to match. I'm going to be paying much more attention when the gardens have their plants sales in the fall.
At the days' end, the walls are up. They've started with the first layer of stucco. The smooth walls look fantastic. Ray and I walked around the yard, talked color, imagined trees in place... We had talked earlier about this design versus the serpentine wall. This is "the one." This design couldn't be more perfect.

This Mexican needs to get some sleep. No sombrero, no serape. Another time perhaps.
¡Buenas Noches!
Marissa