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Sunday, July 29, 2007

It's Green Again


Thanks to the summer Monsoons my yard is green and I have shut off my drip system for now. The Lantana with its pink flowers is growing like crazy. I even trimmed it back once this year.

My 3 tranplanted Photinia shrubs might actually survive. Two of them look good. One of them looks like it has a few new green shoots. It just might make it.

The temperature has been around 98. That is much cooler than the 112 degrees of June. The plants are definitely loving it.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

My Pomegranate Tree


This is my Pomegranate tree. It is 2 years old. Well, I bought it as a one gallon plant two years ago so I suppose it is more than two years old really. It gave me 2 pomegranates last year. The tree cost $15. So each pomegranate was $7.50. this year the pomegranates will be free! Make sense?

Friday, July 13, 2007

Lovely Verbena


This Purple Verbena is great stuff. It blooms almost all year. It does need to be trimmed after months of blooming as the flower stalks turn brown and scraggly.

I haven't had as much luck with the Hybrid Verbena (the pink one). I don't know why. Maybe it is not as heat tolerant as the regular kind. This pink one is still holding on. It is the last of some flower plants I got for my birthday last year. A Marigold is growing up in front of it now. Maybe it will like the shade.

Monday, July 9, 2007

Oleander Blossoms


A lot of people don't like Oleanders. They send up a lot of suckers, they shed, and they can be poisonous if eaten and send out toxic smoke if burned. I happen to think their flowers are pretty and I appreciate that they are a hardy, low water, easy to grow plant in the desert. They do need some water though. They will die without any water. When I lived in Yuma, AZ the drip system next to my house broke and the Oleanders died from lack of water.

They grow easily from seed. I grew this one from seeds collected from a neighbor's plant. I especially like Oleanders when they are trained as a tree as opposed to a bush. I hope to train this one in to a tree but it takes many years for the branches to become woody enough to support the weight.

In the mean time I will enjoy the flowers of my Oleader while I wait for it to grow up and screen my neighbor's yard.

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Sad Little Photinia Transplants


Here's a picture of my Photinia that I transplanted. One is doing well, the other two are getting more and more brown everyday. I went to a nursery today to see how much baby Photinia cost. The 5 gallon pot was $15 and the 1 gallon was $5. I think I will buy one replacement if the other 2 die. They grow fast and 2 will make a better screen than one. The question is whether I should buy the big or the small container. I am leaning toward the small container. The difference in the 2 sizes only looks to be about 6 months. I have heard that smaller plants recover from tranplant shock quicker and can actually outgrow larger nursery stock.

Friday, July 6, 2007

Rain Today!

Yea! It rained today. This means I won't have to hand water my struggling plants every morning anymore. Maybe some of them will even perk up. The temperature is cooler too. Only 100 down from 112 this week.

The wind blew all the blossoms off of my Desert Willow but it has more buds. It's not finished blooming yet.

One of my transplanted Photinia has new growth. Unfortunately, the other 2 are looking more and more brown despite my watering. I guess I should be glad even one survived. Now what should I put in those spaces if the other 2 die? I wonder how much baby Photinia cost. I think I like them there. They are good screening plants. I shouldn't even be thinking about new plants right now. Just because the temperature dipped 12 degrees doesn't mean its planting weather.

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Still Alive So Far




This is my list of things that have grown despite my 'help'.
This is my Ash Tree on the left. It is about 3 years old grown from a seed. It will get really tall and I might regret planting it so close to the wall.

On the top is my baby $6 Willow Tree. It has doubled its size in a month despite the heat. In the middle is a picture of the pretty Willow blossoms. I just love them.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Rain, Rain, Please Come Today!

I am still watering my sad looking transplanted shrubs. The rain always seems to be a week away. The weather channel says it might rain on Saturday.

When I went out to water this morning I saw the first bloom on my baby Desert Willow. It is so pretty. I will take a picture tomorrow if I remember. That is one tough tree. I think I did everything wrong when I planted it. It was over 100 degrees at the time, I didn't dig the hole big enough, I pulled the tree out of the pot and the root ball broke. The leaves began to curl for the first few days. I thought it was a goner for sure. But a week later the leaves uncurled and it began to grow. Now it is twice the size and there are many blooms. I am very happy with my $6 tree.