High Desert Gardening Archives – Page 18 of 29

Insects Weather Nature Flowers Shrubs & Trees Gardening High Desert

The Wind has Settled Down

By JM PerezOctober 30, 20132 min read508 views

What a change and what a lovely day! The winds have finally settled down, the dirt has hardened a little from the little rain we had on Monday and the thick grey clouds melted away. There was no damages to the plants and structures; but a backyard covered with so many tumbleweeds. I didn’t mind as I was happy to see a beautiful blue sky, the mountains covered in snow and some of my late blooming perennials.

I was so delighted to see my Mums all in bloom. They are easy to grow, low maintenance and late bloomers. I am growing mine in containers along with other Fall perennials. They have remained green for a very, very long time and just recently burst open with bright colors ranging from red to yellow. More information here.

I love Dianthus and mine seem to surprise me every day with a new color. I love the varieties.

As I was walking around my Rose Garden, I saw a huge dried up stem which snapped as soon as I pulled on it to expose a tiny cream-colored larvae. According to the website fs.usda.gov (USDA Forest Service – US Department of Agriculture), adult flat headed wood borers are small to relatively large beetles with small antennae and a characteristic oval body shape and they are called metallic wood borers because they are iridescent or metallic looking underneath and sometimes on top. Larvae are white, legless grubs similar to bark beetle larvae, but the body shape is elongated, and the head area is different than bark beetle larvae. They attack stressed, dying, or dead trees and can also attack freshly cut timber before it is dried.
For more information, click here to download the PDF file.

Can you see the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug below? I wouldn’t have noticed it if it wasn’t for my husband. What a clever attempt to camouflage and blend into its surroundings.

Happy Gardening and discoveries in your Yards.

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By JM Perez

Flowers Shrubs & Trees Gardening High Desert

Getting Busy on a Windy Day

By JM PerezOctober 27, 20131 min read555 views

What do you do when it’s windy and the day is slow? I could watch TV, a Movie, listen to Music, read a Book and so much more. What I love to do on a windy day when gardening is not an option, is simply walk around my garden and take pictures of my beautiful flowers. This morning I went around my Rose Garden and captured a few images with my camera. There are a lot more Roses which are yet to bloom.

Happy Gardening!

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By JM Perez

Garden Improvement Primitive Repurposing DIY: Projects Flowers Shrubs & Trees

DIY: Garden Trellis

By JM PerezOctober 26, 20131 min read540 views

The weather is great today, making it is a good day to get busy in the garden.
I got to bury the legs of the Garden Trellis that my husband build a few years back. This trellis will support the young vine (Common Jasmine), as well as provide proper training and maintenance.

This simple/primitive garden trellis was built using old pieces of some baseboard we removed from the house when we were doing the upgrades, a medium size screw to hold the top together as well as some twines.

Materials/Tools Needed:

Old baseboard pieces
Jute Twine
Wood Screws, Power Drill, Drill Bits
Stain (for the Wood) or Paint/Spray Paint

Step by step:

Get your baseboard and cut them into three pieces of your desire height
Hold the three pieces and screw them together at the top
Paint/Stain the finish product (you could paint/stain the pieces of wood before or after screwing them)
Let dry
Wrap the twine around the tripod, keeping it nice and tight and it’s ready to be used.

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By JM Perez

Birds Insects Children Education Gardening High Desert

Gardening & Yard Insects

By JM PerezOctober 21, 20132 min read617 views

We had a fun weekend rich in discoveries, especially for my kids.

On Friday, while visiting Linda Marie’s Enchanted Treasures in Oro Grande, my son spotted a Paper Wasp.
According to Wikipedia, paper wasps are 0.7 to 1.0 inch (1.8 to 2.5 cm)-long wasps that gather fibers from dead wood and plant stems, which they mix with saliva, and use to construct water-resistant nests made of gray or brown papery material. Paper wasps are also sometimes called umbrella wasps, due to the distinctive design of their nests. Unlike yellowjackets and hornets, which can be very aggressive, polistine paper wasps will generally only attack if they themselves or their nest are threatened. Paper wasps feed on nectar, and other insects, including caterpillars, flies, and beetle larvae. Because they are a known pollinator and their diet of known garden pests, paper wasps are often considered to be beneficial by gardeners.

However, beneficial wasps can quickly become a nuisance to urban society. They pack a powerful, painful sting that can cause severe allergic reaction and even death in some human victims.

On Saturday, while spending time in the backyard, my little explorer of a Son found what seems to be a Beetle with a stinger or retractable ovipositor (an organ located at the end of the abdomen used by female insects to lay eggs. It could also be used as a piercing, stinging organ in many parasitic species such as Wasps).
It looks similar to the Darkling Beetle, however, it was our first time seeing one with an ovipositor. I will inquire about this insect on WhatsThatBug.com. In the mean time, any information about this insect will be greatly appreciated.

On Sunday morning, I spotted a Red-shafted Northern Flicker woodpecker on one of our next door neighbor’s tallest Pine Trees. They have red feather shafts and red on the underside of their tail feathers (as you can see on the picture below). The male and female differ in that only the male has red whisker marks. Unlike other woodpeckers, Northern Flickers prefer to hunt for insects on the ground. They eat nuts, ants, seeds, berries, beetle larvae as well as other insect larva. Click here or here to learn more about this bird.

Thanks to the awesome weather, I did some gardening and got my hands dirty. I transplanted the last four Pendula Yucca sprouts to the new designed area in the backyard and my Mint into a large planter. My husband build a primitive wood planter for the “Peach Blossom” hybrid Oleander (the only I kept from last months giveaway). I removed spent fronds from my Palm Tree.

To top it all off, we spend our night looking at the stars under a gorgeous full moon.

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By JM Perez

Flowers Shrubs & Trees Gardening High Desert

High Desert Fall Gardening

By JM PerezOctober 15, 20133 min read611 views

Fall has settled in and here in the High Desert, we have tasted its mood swings. Some of us are happy to be getting back into our warm outfits (enjoying the peaceful and cheerful atmosphere of a cozy evening by the fireplace) and others not so much. Fall is a beautiful season and I love it for everything except the shortening daylight. The kids on the other hand are excited as they look forward to falling leaves and gathering around the table for Thanksgiving. Here in the High Desert, it’s the same old; though one can’t get accustomed to it.

What about Gardening?

There is quite a lot to deal with in Fall that we often forget about gardening. Between shopping and organizing Halloween parties, Thanksgiving gatherings, finding time to rake falling leaves (and everything in between) to putting up the Christmas Tree, decorating the house/yard and buying gifts, there is very little to no time allocated for gardening. No time to start something, yet Fall is the time to find that unique spot surrounded by trees with leaves starting to change colors for that perfect engagement, maternity, family or self-portrait. What about taking a moment to plan, execute and start enchantment in your backyard with beautiful plants of your choice?

Fall is the best time for planting, transplanting and propagating pretty much everything as the soil is ideal at this time for the plant to develop roots while dormant. Fall is also a good time to find deals on plants as nurseries deeply discount them to make room for new inventories.

What Can You Do Now?

Grow your favorite plants from seed
Prune Roses, Shrubs, Trees and trim Perennials, hedges to prevent Winter damage
Plant Spring bulbs, flowering plants for Fall colors and Winter colors
Prepare gardening beds for Spring
If you had houseplants outdoors, now is the time to bring them back indoors
Plant a new Lawn or fertilize the one you have
Protect Cacti and Succulents from excessive rain and frost by wrapping them with plastic
Protect Roses and Perennial beds for Winter from drying and frost by heaving with cedar mulch, mulch of straw, pine needles, chopped leaves or wood chips
Visit garden centers for tools, seeds and plants at discounted prices

I ordered some seeds and plants last month and I planted them a few days ago. My Roses and Shrubs have been pruned for the last time until next Spring. My Pyracantha has began producing red berries (which are mildly poisonous, by the way) and the Tulbaghia ‘Silver Lace’ are still flowering. A few more from this morning:

Lindheimer’s Beeblossom – Perennial with white, light and dark pink flowers.

Gaura Lindheimeri ('Cherry Brandy). — *Gaura Lindheimeri (‘Cherry Brandy’).*

White Gaura Lindheimeri ('Whirling Butterflies'). — *Gaura Lindheimeri (‘Whirling Butterflies’).*

Texas Sage ‘Green Cloud’ – Drought resistant and blooming from early Summer through Fall. I have another variety called ‘Heavenly Cloud’ with green to gray foliage and deep purple blooms.

Red Autumn Sage – Drought resistant with long periods of bloom.

Red Autumn Sage ('Furman's Red'). — *Red Autumn Sage (‘Furman’s Red’).*

Tulbaghia ‘Silver Lace’ – Drought resistant and garlic-scented semi-evergreen hardy plant blooming from early Summer through Fall with beautiful umbels of lilac flowers.

One of my goals is to surround my garden with a lot more Native Plants as there are many benefits of growing them and going native (they are beautiful, low maintenance, save water, attract and provide habitat for birds, attract beneficial insects). Click here or here to learn about going Native.

Happy Planning and Starting your Fall Garden!

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By JM Perez