Garden Djinn

Goin' to the Hoedown...

The hoedown at May Dreams Gardens!

These three rakish wallflowers are late to the party, and shy because they have no fancywear like some of the hoes.  But they are all three hard workers, and called to duty in the garden time and time again.  Time for them to get a bit of a break,  kick back, relax, and watch the ladies dance.

The adjustable rake has proven itself indispensable.  Purchased over a decade ago when I was living in a townhouse in Pontiac, I was thinking about storage and portability.  Turns out those folding tines can come in handy in tightly planted borders, or opened to full extension for fall leaves.  A great rake. 

The cobra head was  a raffle prize on Heavy Petal a few years ago (Hi, Andrea!  How soon before we get Lila holding a rake?)

The short three tined rake is representing his brothers that I can't find (were they left behind?  Oh my!) - I have (maybe) a long three tined rake that can be used while standing, and a long handled version that can enable twice my normal reach and retrieve things in the depths of the plants.  Handy fellows, all. 

Been thinking of a hoe, a little scuffle number to get under this gravel 'desert' landscaping and put an end to weeds.  Been thinking.   Maybe when the boys come home tonight they'll be able to convince me. 

Gardening Resources

Tired of searching for seed or plant sources on Google and getting the same few, or no results?  Looking for the rare, the unusual, or just another source than the ubiquitous 'big names' for your seeds?

Mother Earth News has compiled a search parameter that custom fits Google to a gardener's needs.

Check it out.

This tool has already pointed me to a fascinating new vendor:
Plants of the Southwest

Hope you have the same kind of success in your next search!

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, The Ides of March bring Goldfinches

On the fifteenth of every month, Carol of May Dreams Gardens is kind enough to host Gardener Blogger’s Bloom Day.

The Desert Mallow, Sphaeralcea ambigua, is blooming in my backyard.  We moved into this rental at the beginning of the year.  The winter rains dumped nearly two inches of precipitation soon after, guaranteeing good weed wildflower germination. 

So I've been pulling a lot of weedy material out of the gravel in both the front and back, but I've been doing so with a careful eye, trying to identify what grows down here.  In the far back corner of the yard, I have a cluster of these mallows.  The one in the corner might even be a second-year plant, all of the others look like newbies.  This is a lovely plant, obviously desert adapted.  It's cousins in the mallow family like to have their feet in the damp, and this one is no exception.  The plants I have seen in the wild have been constrained to the areas of the washes, where the water comes in volume and stays longer than anywhere else in the desert. 

I will be watching my plants to see their summer habits.  Desert Tropicals, an informal on-line encyclopedia of Arizona desert plants, states that "The coral flowers of the desert mallow come in summer to fall." I'm not keeping my hopes up.  The ones in my backyard look like they are putting on an all-or-nothing show.

Meanwhile, at the back feeder, I got a positive id on the Lesser Goldfinch.  He is a green-backed male, and the two of them seem to be local.  Maybe I'll get to see babies in a few months!

Bloom Where You Are Planted

Jodi at bloomingwriter invites us to describe our location with a gardener's eye.  Hmmm. This is an interesting challenge.  I've been in Phoenix for less than a year.  What do I know about Phoenix?

Heh. heh heh heh....

Oh, yeah, this SOUNDS good.  And I love the bit about the 'Growing Area' map, with the line that states:

The green area shows where Eco-Lawn does not need watering once established. Below the green area, you will need to water occasionally.

BWA HA HA!  Ya think it'll grow HERE?

Yeah.  I'm not buying it.  Sounds great, though.  Anybody out there trying this in a temperate zone?

Desert Garden Resources

Because desert gardens are not the norm, it's not always easy to find good resource material.  I'm always looking for what is basic information elsewhere, seeing how it translates to the environment I now find myself working in. 

Pruning, for instance.  We have two bloom seasons here.  Spring is the obvious one, but we are in the middle of the second bloom season.  Fall, or post-monsoon, is when the plants that have caught some water, or just benefited from the additional humidity of those months, let out with blooms, often the second flush of the year. 

And we don't, as a norm, get any freezing temperatures.  So while there are plants, like many of the trees, that are currently dropping their leaves for winter (quietly, a few at a time, going soft yellow and falling to the ground - almost unnoticeable until one sees the yellow drifts of tiny palo verde leaves on the stones and sidewalks) there is no definite marker for 'now' being the time to prune. 

When is that 'now'?  Luckily I found an article online for this very information. 

It's from az.central.com, and I've reposted the critical parts here for my records: