It has been raining a lot lately, mostly at night. It’s cold, the winds are insane and the weather is gloomy. Did I mention that it snowed quite a bit yesterday? Our weather is so unpredictable, making it hard to get used to.
Some fascinating creatures seem to emerge from hiding after a good rainfall.
(Female) Phidippus Johnsoni.
Those gray clouds are moving slowly, but surely.
Cloudy Weather.
The gray clouds are getting thicker by the hour and the beautiful snowy mountains are now completely covered. Remember our Statue Reconstruction back in 2013? We finally completed it on New Years and placed her in the center of the backyard arch. She is absolutely gorgeous an graces the space.
Happy New Year 2018, dear readers! I hope your holidays went well and you received everything on your wish list.
The previous year ended well for our family. We are healthy, happy and for the first time I have lived in the High Desert, the weather has been just wonderful. November is usually the start of the rainy season in the High Desert and last year however, ended with no rain in sight (which means no messy yards/gardens and no weeds in sight either).
We were treated to the sight of a beautiful double rainbow stretched across the sky before the rain began on Monday morning. It rained and it rained and it rained. Lightly all day Monday and heavily on Tuesday. It was quite dismal, to say the least, but the plants and soil needed it.
Double Rainbow on a cloudy day.
Today was a beautiful, chilly day and the sun came out bright. The skies were clear and blue with a stunning view of the mountains from my backyard. They were covered in snow with thick clouds floating at the bottom.
Blue skies and Snowy Mountains.
Winter always has the most beautiful sunsets.
Beautiful Sunset.
Wishing you a good start for the new year.
To new beginnings!
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.
Heavenly Bamboo new Shoots.
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.
Agave Ovatifolia ‘Frosty Blue’.
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).
Pendula Yucca.
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.
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.
Rose Moss.
I have a variety of Lavender, all of which are adding a burst of color to the garden and the bees are loving it.
Russian Sage.
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.
Silvery Cassia.
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.
Horsetail Reeds.
The weather has been great lately, but it seems the warm days are coming to an end.
Today was an absolutely beautiful day here in the High Desert. I got the kids ready and drop them off to school and head right back home to tend to my garden and spend a great time in the backyard. The weather was great, the air was fresh, nature was peaceful and plants were covered with beautiful blooms.
Texas Sage in Bloom.Aptenia Cordifolia.Gaura Lindheimeri.
Our newest addition to the garden is the Pygmy Date Palm. Last year I got rid of all the rose bushes from the right section of my front yard (view here, picture captioned “Front Yard, Right“) and planted the the Pygmy Date Palm six months ago.
Pygmy Date Palm.
I came across a young bird this morning. It seems like the little bird came out of its nest for the first time and fell down to the ground. I spotted its mother on a nearby tree, so I left the baby alone.
Young Bird.
The squirrels are keeping me quite busy this summer, particularly the little ones. Early in the Summer the Pomegranate tree was covered in fruits and just a few days later, those little critters stripped almost all the fruit from the tree. I read somewhere that squirrels do not like the scent of spicy foods, garlic, peppermint and mothballs. I will try some of these to deter them and will be looking into other ideas since they have no problems climbing fences.
By JM Perez
