Flowers Shrubs & Trees

It’s Cold Outside

JM Perez By JM Perez2 min read450 views

I have not spent time in the garden lately and it’s been a few weeks since I shared what is happening around my home.

The weather has been intolerably cold lately that we have been sitting by the fireplace. After dropping my kids to school this morning, I took a look around my backyard and found a couple of interesting things.

Frozen Pipes.
Frozen Pipes.

The pipes are fine. What you see on the picture is the result of rain and wind on a very cold night.  Last month, my husband covered all the outdoor faucets and exposed pipes with insulation and we drained the pipes a few days ago. Click here to learn about keeping your pipes from freezing.

Herb Robert covered in frost.
Herb Robert covered in frost.

Nana Nandina, one of my favorite plants for Winter color, with its red winter foliage.

Nana Nandina.
Nana Nandina.

A couple of weeks ago we cut down the Raywood Ash Tree and last weekend we said goodbye to our Sweet Almond Tree. Around June of last year it began bleeding sap and eventually died. We later found out that it was due to flatheaded borers. According to the website Yardener.com, adult borers are beetles, flat looking and colored metallic brown to dull gray. They emerge in the spring and females lay eggs in crevices in the tree bark. These hatch into yellowish-white worms, which promptly burrow into the trunk at the site where the eggs were laid. If the host tree is vigorous and healthy, these burrowing worms may be drowned by the sap. Weak trees fall victim to the borers’ activity as they tunnel in the trunk, producing sawdust-like material (called frass) and eventually girdling the tree. White, foamy sap leaking from cracks in the bark is a sign that borers are at work. Successive generations of borers widen tree wounds, burrowing more deeply into the heartwood of the tree.

I hope you are all staying warm during this holidays.

Windy Day In The Garden

JM Perez By JM Perez1 min read593 views

It’s been a while. So much has happened around my gardens since my last blog post and I have been busier than before. The weather has been hectic lately and days like these I think I must be completely crazy to live in the High Desert. I can’t stand the wind, dirt and debris flying all over the place. It’s just insane.

Rabbits and Squirrels have returned.
Fortunately for me, there’s nothing soft enough for the Rabbits to eat. Not being able to climb on the Almond Tree, the Ground Squirrels are so desperate for food. They have been digging up bulbs, damaging irrigation tubing as well as attempting to dig holes throughout our property.

Cottontail Rabbit.

The set of  tiny rose bushes I transplanted (Pristine® Hybrid Tea Rose and Chicago Peace® Hybrid Tea Rose) a while back have bloomed for the first time. They look more like climbing roses and the colors are different. It makes me wonder if what I transplanted was a Rose Sucker. We will build pretty trellises to support the branches.

Climbing Rose.
Climbing Rose.
Climbing Rose.
Climbing Rose.

Until next time, have a very good start to your weekend.

Long Walk Through The Garden

JM Perez By JM Perez2 min read544 views

It’s that time of year with much of the city looking gloomy and temperatures beginning to plunge to freezing at night . Warmer days are far gone and the cold weather is settling in slowly, but surely.
During days like these, I find solace in my garden.

Gloomy Weather.
Gloomy Weather.

I haven’t done much around my gardens lately since Fall is one of the best seasons for my plants to flourish and thrive. Once in a while I take long walks through the garden where I go to unclog my mind.

For Mother’s day this year, I received a bouquet of Chrysanthemums from a good friend. I transferred the plant in a container and this is the second time it has blessed me with large mounds of gorgeous and impressive flowers; forever reminding me of my friend’s gentleness and kindness.

Chrysanthemums.
Chrysanthemums.

My wonderful friend also gave a tiny Agave Ovatifolia Frosty Blue plant, which I planted in ground and has now tripled in size. As you can see, a pup is emerging next to the mother plant. Very soon this delicate plant will need protection for winter safety, even though it is said to be cold hardy. I love the formation of its leaves.

Agave Ovatifolia 'Frosty Blue'.
Agave Ovatifolia ‘Frosty Blue’.

Seven months later, my young and tender Grevillea Noellii is pulling through.

Young Grevillea Noellii.
Young Grevillea Noellii.

The Asparagus Aethiopicus is doing much better in a Pot. Growing it in a container will prevent the roots from spreading in different directions.

Asparagus Aethiopicus.
Asparagus Aethiopicus.

I planted a Common Jasmine (Jasminum Officinale) early this year and trained it to grow on a home made trellis. This morning I found a couple vines swaying away from the trellis and starting to twine on the plastic hanger of my Pachyphytum Bracteosum (Moonstones) hanging planter.

Star Jasmine Vines.
Common Jasmine Vines (Pachyphytum Bracteosum in planter).

From my garden to yours, happy Fall Gardening (and don’t let the gloomy weather get to you).

Happy In The Garden

JM Perez By JM Perez1 min read453 views

You know that feeling you get after a job well done? That’s how I feel today, Happy in the Garden.

This has been a good year for my Longiflorum-Asiatic Lily ‘Birgi’. This gorgeous and exceptional perennial with erect stems, dark green foliage and large deep pink fragrant, upward-facing trumpet-like flowers.

Longiflorum-Asiatic (Lily 'Birgi').
Longiflorum-Asiatic Lily ‘Birgi’.

Silvery Cassia, also known as Feathery Cassia and Silver Leaf Cassia is an evergreen Australian shrub. The plant produces cheerful bright yellow buttercup-shaped flowers from late Winter to Spring followed by flat brown seedpods. The plant can be propagated by seeds and cuttings.

According to Growing With Science Blog, the female part of the flower is the light green part that curves off to the side from the center of the flower and the male part of the flower are the brown stamens.

Silvery Cassia.
Silvery Cassia.

My semi-evergreen Daylily ‘Pretty Woman’ are going strong this year as well. It is such a delicate and sophisticated plant with light creamy-apricot petals.

Pretty Woman Daylily.
Pretty Woman Daylily.

A Miniature Hybrid Rose with different flower colors.

Miniature Hybrid Rose.
Miniature Hybrid Rose.

I was pleasantly surprised to see tiny ivory Seed Pods (without the seeds) on my Coleonema Pulchrum. From a distance, they look like delicate flowers.

Coleonema Pulchrum Seed Pods.
Coleonema Pulchrum Seed Pods.

Wishing you all a good day and a great start to your week. Happy Gardening too!