High Desert Gardening Archives – Page 10 of 29

Dragonfly Invertebrates Nature Flowers Shrubs & Trees Gardening High Desert

Fall Blooming Beauties

By JM PerezOctober 27, 20182 min read642 views

It’s been a while since it rained, so we are grateful for Saturday’s much needed rain.
The weather’s great. The plants are thriving with their leaves changing colors and starting to fall. Somehow, I am missing the Raywood Ash tree this year.

A few of the plants in my gardens are blooming profusely this Fall. A variety of Daylilies, Trumpet Creepers, Roses, Mums, Snapdragons, Hibiscus and Gaura are still blooming. Many Hibiscus are not cold-hardy in the High Desert, so they have to be taken indoors over the winter.

Oddly, I find Mums the prettiest in fall, especially Orange Mums. They are one of my favorites plants and stunning blooming beauties.

I love Bougainvilleas for their stunning flowers and colors. I planted a few many years ago, they lasted a couple of years and died. While digging them out, I found curl grubs (the larvae of different species of beetle) feeding on the roots of the plants. I will give this plant another shot.

Snapdragon are also on my list of favorite plants. This plant will self-seed if its flower-head is left untouched at the end of the growing season. Just a few weeks ago, I had some white and orange flowers.

Baby Sun Rose cascading over the side of its hanging container.

Asparagus Plumosus look great in hanging containers and large planters. I have had the one below for six years now, divided and repotted a few times and they keep coming back every year. Be careful while handling the plant as its stems have thorns and the plant can irritate the skin.

Like a magnet, the rain brought out insects …
I spotted a large black bee, possibly a carpenter bee, collecting pollen from flowers.

I wasn’t always fond of Praying Mantises. However, many years ago, after finding out that they are beneficial garden insects, every sight of them became a breath of fresh air. I am an avid gardener, I planned my own landscape design and created my front and backyard gardens from scratch. I have so many plants and Praying Mantises as well as Ladybugs have been my garden silent helpers. While Ladybugs appear around Spring, Praying Mantises on the other hand have been seen all year round.
It’s amazing how they can turn their heads and look over their shoulders.

I found a dead dragonfly next to one of the Purpleleaf Cherry Plum trees and felt a little sad. What a beautiful and fascinating creature.

Wishing you all a peaceful and productive day.

Happy gardening!

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By JM Perez

Flowers Shrubs & Trees Gardening High Desert

Beautiful Summer Blooms

By JM PerezJune 21, 20181 min read778 views

It’s the first day of Summer and it’s humid!

Some of the plants which are currently bursting out with colors in the garden are Daililies, Peony, Agapanthus ‘Storm Cloud,’ Salvia, Sage, Gaura, Snapdragon and rose bushes.

Julia Rose Itoh Peony is one of the newest addition to my front yard garden. I can’t get enough of its gorgeous large flowers with ruffled petals and sweet fragrance.

Asparagus Fern always make a nice full display and is a wonderful houseplant too.

I am loving the daylilies this year with their vibrant colors.

The evergreen Agapanthus are blooming heavily this year.

The Horsetail Reeds in one of my many sliced wine barrels have not been thriving this season. As you can see, the hard to control creeping woodsorrel have equally been competing for water and nutrients. As soon as I manually remove them, I will have stronger and healthier Horsetail Reeds to enjoy.

*Horsetail Reeds and Gaura Lindheimeri.*

Happy gardening and don’t forget to keep both your plants and yourselves hydrated.

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By JM Perez

Nature Flowers Shrubs & Trees Gardening High Desert

Welcoming Spring!

By JM PerezMarch 21, 20182 min read636 views

I have been busy all morning tending to my climbing roses (Sweetheart Rose). I pruned and began training the rose canes to the double garden arches leading into my backyard. I will be purchasing another climbing rose and training it up the opposite side of the double arch.

The Ice King Double Daffodils are the first bulbs to bloom this year.

New Growth on Navajo Globe Willow and Photinia Fraseri ‘Red Robin.’

Azalea is blooming profusely in this Home Depot Lead Gray Resin Antibes Urn.

Siloam David Kirchhoff Daylily are finally emerging.

*Siloam David Kirchhoff Daylily shoots.*

I purchased a couple of allen + roth Fiberglass Urns and filled them with Asparagus Fern.

On Monday we bought two Purpleleaf Plum trees and some shrubs from Mark & Nellie’s Nursery & Landscape and had them delivered within a couple of hours. We planted them in the front yard and moved the Pygmy Date Palm trees to the backyard. I can’t wait for everything to start blooming.

We finally got rid of all the Desert Willows trees around our property except for the one at the end of the backyard, which I am training to grow as single trunk trees. My main concern with the plants are ants. They are fond of Desert Willow trees.

Hungry squirrels have caused a lot of damage in the garden lately. It is always disheartening to watch them devour fresh new growth and gnawing on pretty much anything they dig their teeth into. As new growth emerges from the Gaura Lindheimeri, those rodents have it completely devoured the same day.

It’s a peaceful day, the weather is beautiful.

Happy Spring Gardening!

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By JM Perez

Flowers Shrubs & Trees Gardening High Desert

Fall CleanUp

By JM PerezNovember 22, 20172 min read2.2K views

We’ve had a couple of beautiful and warm days here in the High Desert. I am enjoying Thanksgiving break with my wonderful kids. They keep me busy, sane and entertained. They are both avid readers and can’t seem to get enough. My son is about to finish reading all of the thirteen novels of A Series of Unfortunate Events. My daughter is reading the Nancy Drew Diaries. All is well and we are very grateful.

We have been busy in the backyard cleaning, pruning, trimming, propagating and transplanting plants. Everyone is looking forward to rake some falling leaves; however, the Mulberry tree has been slow at dropping off its leaves, which are still green. The Navajo Globe Willow, Mimosa and Pomegranate trees have shed almost all of their leaves.

As you can see on the picture below, the left side of the backyard fence is completely done and we will start enclosing the back middle as early as next week. We are very excited and thankful for the hard work.
The Heavenly Bamboo are thriving and new shoots are appearing all around the mother plant. I am still debating about transplanting the runners. The foliage on those in my front yard have all turned dark red.

This Agave was planted two years ago as a pup and has thrived ever since. As of today, four pups to be exact have emerged from a distance to the mother plant, all attached by a thicker root. Three of the pups are growing in my property and the fourth one is in my neighbor’s yard.

Below is the result of a Pendula Yucca I propagated from rhizomes three years ago. Two more emerged at some point, and the third has multiple trunks. In my backyard alone, I should have over thirty adults and a few new sprouts (which I often snip off to prevent the formation of new trunks). It took me almost a day to trim the plants’ sharp and spiky leaves (for this, one needs a good pair of cut resistant sleeves with thumbhole and good pruners).

I also trimmed the Texas Sage and Scotch Broom.
I started cutting back some of my perennials, such as Gaura Lindheimeri. We pruned the Purple Leaf Cherry Plum as well as the Photinia Fraseri a while back and we will be pruning the Mulberry tree as soon as it sheds its leaves.

Yes, I am sore and it was worth it.
The garden looks a lot cleaner and the plants healthier and nicer.

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By JM Perez

Flowers Shrubs & Trees Gardening High Desert

Warm Days are Ending

By JM PerezOctober 11, 20171 min read638 views

Today I made myself happy by getting my hands dirty in the garden!

Rose Moss are popping pretty much everywhere in the backyard and I planted as many as I could in pots. They are extremely drought tolerant with vividly colored blooms.

I have a variety of Lavender, all of which are adding a burst of color to the garden and the bees are loving it.

I have a couple of Silvery Cassia which I planted a couple of years ago. They are now about 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide each. This evergreen plant with its silver, sickle-shaped foliage is extremely drought tolerant as well as cold-hardy and blooms almost all year round.

The Crimson Glory Tea Tree is still growing strong and for the past years, I’ve enjoyed having it as a shrub. Now, however, I am training it into a small tree.

I have been growing Horsetail reeds in barrels for the past five years, cutting every shoot back to ground level to keep them in bounds and from invading the yard. A couple of weeks ago I found one shoot growing outside, at the base of the barrel and I am beginning to wonder if controlling this plant might become an issue.