Ghostwater Garden

USDA Zone Map

The new USDA zone map is now available.

Compared to the 1990 version, zone boundaries in this edition of the map have shifted in many areas. The new map is generally one 5-degree Fahrenheit half-zone warmer than the previous map throughout much of the United States. This is mostly a result of using temperature data from a longer and more recent time period; the new map uses data measured at weather stations during the 30-year period 1976-2005. In contrast, the 1990 map was based on temperature data from only a 13-year period of 1974-1986.

-Source

And a synopsis of the map generating process by one of the consultants.

Giant White Squill

Urginea maritima (syn. Drimia maritima)  Bloom from October 7th, 2011. 

I found mine at Lowes, last November.  It was a giant, unmarked bulb - orphaned from it's display - which had been taken down and trashed.  None of the employees had a clue what to call it, or how to price it.  I got it for 5.99 - the price of a potted bulb of another type (daffs?) they were also selling at the time. 

One of the other customers said 'Giant Squill,' so when I got home, I looked it up.

Glochids

Glochids. The bane of the desert gardener.

Found on Opuntia species. Like this one:

You like that cool color echo on the cinderblock fence?  Found that item on large trash day.  Somebody took the time to cut that out of masonite and color it a lovely mettalic copper.  And then they threw it away.  I love large trash day.

 

More pictures:

A little betta ceramic by Wade (a Red Rose tea lagniappe) amidst the haworthia [H. attenuata]. Very under-the-sea in feel.  I love these together. 

 

A relative of cotton.  It makes these little teeny tiny bolls.  Very cute.  Reliable in desert heat, but a scraggly looking plant. Blossoms for just a few hours.  All the more lovely for it's scarcity.

 

Pomegranate with rusting spiral.  This is the miniature pom {Punica granatum 'Nana'}.  I picked this plant up at Trader Joe's two or more years ago.  It does fine under the patio overhang. 

 

(Stick with me, kid.  I'll teach you new words.  You like new words, don't you?)

My new garden motto:

"The only paradise is paradise lost."
~Marcel Proust

I found it while looking for this quote:

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom."

Which is of course, another topical favorite.

.Maters

Picked up a pair of tomato starts at the Desert Botanical Garden's Fall Sale.

Maya & Scions Airdrie:

"A cross between a large and very tasty pink beefsteak-Brandywine- and a very early smaller red tomato-Stupice. Jeffrey Casey has been growing out this tomato since 2004. For the last couple of years it has been coming in a week to 10 days later than Stupice. I consider this tomato to be true Classic taste. It will produce red, oblate fruits with ribbing that weigh between 6 and 14 ozs, and hang in clusters of 4-8."

And Sophie's Choice:

"An heirloom from Edmonton, Canada and introduced by Carolyn Male in 1997. Considered to be the "best choice" for an extra early tomato. This is the earliest variety to ripen for me. Strong disease resistant short determinate (24") produces an abundance of 8 to 10 oz. globes. fruit is a red-orange outside and deep red inside. Best production in cooler climates."

That true "classic taste" is what I am hoping for.  Wish I'd noted the production note on Sophie earlier.  Ah well.  If she produces at all I'm good.  {ed:  We are heading into our cooler temps, now that I think about it.  Hey!}

I am hoping that using locally tested varieties will get me better results than what I had been trying (up to now the best producing tomato I've grown down here was a compost seedling of a supermarket grape tomato.) 

My thanks to H at HeirloomGarden.org for providing these plants and for being a low desert test garden for the rest of us transplants!

Sleep, Creep, Leap

I've long been a fan of personal garden essay collections.  Half my garden library consists of these marvelous journeys through the seasons.

So when I was the one of two lucky recipients of this book via the recent Garden Rant giveaway, I was elated!  I've already read the forward of Benjamin Vogt's book and laughed in recognition of another poor soul gardening while renting a townhouse.  Yep.  I've done that too.

I'm off to settle in for a long evening: a cuppa of hot mint tea and a good book.

Reader Beware...

Caution - crazy lady ranting - dead ahead:

 

Out of the Box

_{Click for larger image.... (See that sticker?  Bonded to the pot.  I need a razor blade to get it off, and I just haven't mustered the energy to attack it)}

Deborah Silver, of Dirt Simple, comments on formulas and breaking free of them. When you get comfortable with plants, thinking out of the box is fun. But formulas are useful for those starting out. The 'formula' for potted arrangements: A Thriller, a Spiller, and a Filler.

I’ve a three pot combo on my patio, it uses the formula, but breaks it into two or three plants in each pot, the thriller and spiller relating to each other across the boundaries. The whole thing is an experiment with the local climate. I’ve been horrible homesick for the lush container plantings of the midwest and am trialing these plants for hardiness and appearance. Most of them are new to me. (Save the pentas. Pentas are perennials down here, they just need to be protected during the handful of days we get to freezing temps. I love the pentas.)

Plant Delights is having a summer sale.

Thinking wishfully:

http://www.plantdelights.com/Moraea-polystachya-Perennial-Butterfly-Iris/productinfo/3370/ (have one that is not thriving, still want more)

http://www.plantdelights.com/Chasmanthium-latifolium-River-Mist-PP-20643-Perennial-Northern-Sea-Oats/productinfo/8502/ (not sure if it will take the heat, but love, love, love the stripes!)

http://www.plantdelights.com/Agave-xylonacantha-Frostbite-Perennial-Century-Plant/productinfo/8723/ (lust)

http://www.plantdelights.com/Sprekelia-formosissima-Perennial-Aztec-Lily/productinfo/5279/ (long time fav in pictures, might be worth trying here)

http://www.plantdelights.com/Rhodophiala-bifida-Perennial-Oxblood-Lily/productinfo/3014/ (also worth a try here)

http://www.plantdelights.com/Graptopetalum-paraguayense-Perennial-Mexican-Ghost-Plant/productinfo/8812/ (I’m having trouble with Echeveria and Aeoniums.  Maybe this will thrive?)

http://www.plantdelights.com/Ruellia-elegans-Ragin-Cajun-Perennial-False-Petunia/productinfo/8832/ (the purpley-blue version of this does well here.  Red?)

http://www.plantdelights.com/Erythrina-herbacea-Perennial-Coral-Bean/productinfo/8840/ (front border?)

http://www.plantdelights.com/Gladiolus-italicus-Texas-Snowflurry-Perennial-Italian-Corn-Flag/productinfo/8874/ (another for the border? Will it take shade – could I put it beside the walk?)

http://www.plantdelights.com/Agave-polianthiflora-Perennial-Tuberose-flowered-Century-Plant/productinfo/7562/ (fuzzy!)

http://www.plantdelights.com/Agave-victoriae-reginae-Kazo-Bana-Perennial-Hardy-Century-Plant/productinfo/7806/ (delicious)

http://www.plantdelights.com/Agave-schidigera-Shira-ito-no-Ohi-Perennial-Queen-of-White-Thread-Century-Plant/productinfo/7921/  (be still, my heart)

http://www.plantdelights.com/Mangave-Bloodspot-Perennial-Mangave/productinfo/8116/ (oo, la, la *faints*)

http://www.plantdelights.com/Canna-Thai-Rainbow-Perennial-Canna-Lily/productinfo/8117/ (pond potential)

 

(I know, this hardly passes for content, but hey!  I'm alive!)

Deep Chill Continues

With my usual timing, I am now looking up as many of my plants as I can find tags for, and finding out what their cold tolerances are.

By the amount of plants I have brought in to protect, it would seem that most of the plants that can tolerate our searing summers can't take the handful of days or so of true cold* that the low desert experiences.  This.  This is frustrating.  Sigh.

I've even managed to lose some of my agaves.  Just didn't know that they were tender, as they are passalongs and I have no idea what they actually are.  They have fat bulbish bodies, so I am nursing a hope that the leaves will die back and they *may*, maybe if I am very lucky, grow from the stem.  It's a long shot, though.  I'm pretty resigned to losing them. 

So last night it was predicted to go down to 21 degrees. It did dip to 29, which is still bone chillin' cold for these plants. Tonight they are looking for 29 again.  Brrrrr. 

Yesterday morning I got a picture of skim ice on my larger pond tank.  Today, that skim ice stayed all day.  This pond is sited so that the winter sun doesn't hit it, it sits in the shade of the house. 

 

*Yes, Minnesota, I know that temps hovering just below freezing are the balmy winter days for you, but this is the DESERT.  Below freezing is not our winter norm, okay?