Gardening on the Moon ( GOTM )

Written by Jeff
Non-GOTM pictures credited by hover notes – move cursor over image

The desert herb garden comes alive once again in the fall months of October and November. During the tour of the herb garden, we were treated to a wide variety of shapes, sizes and colors.

Read Part I of the Desert Herb Garden Tour, November 4, 2009

The colorful red-orange Ornamental Pomegranate flower.

One of the surprises was the Ornamental Pomegranate. While I wouldn’t want to deal with the falling fruit, in an appropriate area it would be very attractive. The bright orange-red flowers are quite striking.

The amazing large Purple Hyacinth Bean.

The Purple Hyacinth Bean was perhaps the most striking plant in the herb garden. It was huge! Between the bean pods and the flowers, the amount of purple on display was significant. This plant would be an attention-getter in any setting. One caveat, however, is that the seed pods (beans) are poisonous! The dark green leaves and purple highlights make this a very attractive plant.

A close up of the Purple Hyacinth Bean.

Another outstanding performer this time of year (as well as most of the spring and summer) is the Queen’s Wreath vine. This plant was sprawling across a large section of the garden using neighbors as a foil for its pink display. The bounty of small pink flowers put on quite a show.

Queen’s Wreath enveloped in a blanket of pink flowers!

Of course this is the desert and no desert herb garden would be complete without a mix of a few aloes. The purple Russian Sage along side the Aloe make a fine contrasting display and keep the bees very happy!

Russian Sage with contrasting silver-green Aloe.

Interestingly, the garden had Sesame plants which provided a bounty of seeds for birds and people alike. In the desert, one needs to be fast to beat the animals to the bounty or at least use some intervention to save the “pay off.”

The Sesame plant.

A close up of the Sesame seed pod.

This day the Tacoma stans ‘Orange Jubilee’ was one of the showiest specimens of this particular plant that I have seen. The beautiful, trumpet-shaped flowers against the dark green leaves and blue sky was a knock out!

A beautiful orange display of the Tacoma sans ‘Orange Jubilee.’

Another occupant of the herb garden space was a white hollyhock that was experiencing a rejuvenation and putting on its display of white! October, November and early December are wonderful days in the desert herb garden.

An elegant white Hollyhock strutting its stuff!

Gardening on the Moon, www.gardeningonthemoon.com, originally published this post