With temperatures soaring, our High Desert Plants seem to be at their best.
As I wandered around my backyard garden this morning, I noticed various shades of Yellow Flowers.
How could I miss the fragrant flower of Miniature Rose “Thanks To Sue” and its eye-catching delicate apricot petals?
Miniature Rose “Thanks To Sue.”Miniature Rose “Del Sol.”Golden Orange Miniature Rose.
The Stella D’Oro Daylilies have burst with vibrant yellow blooms.
Stella D’Oro Daylily.
With weeds out of sight and temperatures rising, I don’t spend as much time gardening as I used to. I spend time planning, designing, moving furniture and plants to new locations as well as watching the plants grow. I still have a long way to go with my gardens, but for now, I am content with .
It’s been a while since I last shared my thoughts on this blog. So much has happened around here. Mother’s day has come and gone and the weather is getting hotter here in the High Desert of California.
Things have been looking up around my gardens until last week when I started finding damaged plants around my property. I read a while back that one of the main reasons why Squirrels and other rodents are damaging the Shrubs and Trees is because they are looking for water. In this case they are targeting the moisture found in the sap of Trees. Most damages occur during drought conditions.
Squirrel damage on Pendula Yucca.
I am very thankful that the plant wasn’t completely destroyed and I can still save it. I may not find the idea of wrapping every single plant with chicken wire, but for my sanity and my plants health, it just might be the right thing to do until I have a permanent solution. Click here to learn about other Problems associated with Yucca Plants.
Full Moon over Mountains.
We enjoyed spending time outdoors today building garden Planters, conversing, transplanting seedlings, watching the Sunset and the full Moon rise over our beautiful High Desert Mountains.
All of last week I noticed a daily reduction in my Spring flowers. At first I thought the ground Squirrels were back and feeding on whatever they could find. On Monday morning to my surprise however, I came face to face with the destroyer: a Young Cottontail Rabbit. Half of my plants are gone. The little Rabbit ate most of the Gladiolus, Allium Drumstick, Heartleaf Ice Plant, some Freesia, Longiflorum-Asiatic Lily Birgi and Sparaxis.
Seeing how much damage the critter has caused in just a few minutes, I immediately wrapped the whole area with chicken wire. About thirty minutes later, I saw the young Rabbit around the plants; except this time, it couldn’t access them. Prior to exiting my property, it nibbled on a Gaura Lindheimeri seedling and attempted to eat the tender leaves of the Pendula Yucca young plants. A hungry Rabbit will eat just about anything, except highly aromatic plants such as Common Lilac, Rose Geranium, Lemon Verbena, Honeysuckle Azalea, Lavender, Marigold, Rosemary, Salvia, Sweet Mock-orange, Thyme, Myrtus, Choisya, Tulbaghia Violacea, Lantana, etc.
Yesterday while looking out my bedroom window, I saw a similar Rabbit by my kids Fairy Garden. This time however, it came into my yard with a much smaller Rabbit. As cute as they both looked, I knew it meant trouble for my plants as well as my sanity. My husband went into the backyard, chased them off our property and closed a gap between our fence and the neighbor, where the Rabbits were entering and exiting the property.
There haven’t been a Rabbit in sight today, just a couple of Squirrels attempting to make their way to the Sweet Almond Tree in the front yard. In summary it has been a beautiful day.
What a lovely week we had. Easter came and went giving way to yet another blessed week.
One of my many Pendula Yucca will soon bloom with ivory showy bell-shaped flowers on its single upright stem lasting from late Spring through Summer. There are about five young shoots growing at the base of the evergreen mother plant. The ones I transplanted last year have all survived; they are healthy and fast growing.
Yucca Pendula.
One of the self-sown Gaura Lindheimeri seedlings has flowered within its first 3 weeks. I am still finding more seedlings around the garden area, which I am immediately transplanting.
(3 weeks old) self-sown Gaura Lindheimeri.
Remember the ‘Little Pete’ Rose Sucker? Well, I found a new sucker growth last week and another one emerged. I tore it off from the rose bush after carefully removing the soil around the roots of the plant. It came off attached to a thick root, so I decided to plant the sucker somewhere in the backyard after cutting off the top by about half and surprise, surprise ! I noticed new tiny growth sprouting on the stem this morning. I know it’s still too early to celebrate, but it sure brought a smile to my face.
Rose Sucker Transplant.
After almost five years, I lost my evergreen Grevillea Noellii shrub. While pulling the dead plant out of the planter and getting poked by the needle-like leaves, I found a tender seedling in the planter.
The weather has been really warm lately in the High Desert. We are still in Spring, yet it often feels like Summer. I wake every day feeling grateful for the weather because I know in some States and Countries it is raining and/or still snowing. Yesterday I captured the moon as it was still up in the sky prior to driving my son to school.
Moon in Daylight.
A few of my miniature Hybrid Roses are blooming.
Sedona Hybrid Tea Mini Hybrid Rose.
A few of my Sunblest Hybrid Tea Rose flowers are starting to produce rose buds within the rose flower. I read somewhere that this phenomenon is called proliferation and is usually caused by pollinating insects and or temperature change. According to the website HuntingtonBotanical.org, proliferation is not a disease but caused when the apical cells are multiplying so fast that they do not stop dividing when a flower is produced, but they keep on dividing and produce a cluster of new buds in the center of the earlier flower.
Rose Buds Within a Rose.
We’ve caught a glimpse of Squirrels attempting to access the Sweet Almond Tree in the front yard in search for food as well as Cottontail Rabbits in the empty lot behind our Home.
By JM Perez
