Gardening on the Moon ( GOTM )

Written by Jeff

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NOTE – Because these spaces are public plantings, I cannot be sure of specific cultivars and indeed may even mistake a particular plant. If you notice an error, kindly let me know so I can correct the public record.

Our first place of beauty will be Tatum Blvd in N. Phoenix, between Dynamite Blvd and Cave Creek Road (see the Google Map below.)

As we continue our stroll down Tatum Blvd., we come to a nicely landscaped section of the median with a Compass Barrel Cactus nestled among the rocks. This plant often leans to the south when unrestricted hence the name “compass.”

The flowers last a short time and are not exceptional, but the long-lasting, yellow fruit left after the flower has been pollinated add interest and beauty all their own.

A somewhat unusual find is this yellow hesperaloe. Hesperaloes are generally red as indicated in the first Tatum Blvd. post. This specimen offers a nice pale yellow to the early spring palette.

There are many varieties of prickly pear cactus (opuntias), but a favorite is Opuntia Santa Rita which provides a reddish blush to any landscape. The interesting color combinations of red, green and silver provide areas a range of garden hues.

Often it is easy to overlook the smaller plants even when they are showy in their own right. One example is the Angelita Daisy below

and the Blackfoot daisy.

Brittlebush is an interesting plant. When water decreases during the warmer days of spring and summer, the plant dries up to preserve its life and often looks dead. When the rains return, the plant starts to grow again. The silvery leaves of the plant along with the show of yellow flowers makes it a good candidate for arid landscapes. This specimen is past prime, but will give our readers some idea of why this plant is attractive.

The Palo Verdes where near full-bloom when I was taking this walk. Notice the yellow flowers. There is often a carpet of yellow petals on the ground mimicking an effect often seen when snow flurries begin to gather in colder regions.

An often unsung floral desert denizen is the Creosote bush. Gardeners seem to either love or hate this plant. After a desert rain, the air is often filled with the pungent smell of the Creosote bush. It can grow wild and become unsightly, but it has yellow flowers which are followed by little “cotton ball-like” puffs. I like them because of the variety they add to the natural landscape.

A closer look at the Creosote flowers and “puff balls.”

Our last specimen on today’s walk is the Teddy Bear Cholla. This is quite a misnomer as nobody would want to hug this prickly cactus. It is easy to get stuck by the needles which seem to jump out at passersby. One light touch and you and the sticker will most likely become one. They do look very pretty when grouped, but don’t be lulled into touching–ouch!

We will wrap up our stroll down Tatum Blvd. in the third installment. As you can see, the boulevard is quite a nice place to view arid plants during the gorgeous spring weather! If you missed the first installment, you can read it HERE:

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

Written by Jeff

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

There were so many times that I found myself rushing past places hardly ever taking notice of the beauty that was around me. Once I started GOTM and began paying more attention to my surroundings, I became more appreciative of the wonders we pass on a regular basis, but may be too busy or in too much of a hurry to notice. In the I Have Often Walked (down this street before) series of posts, I will highlight some of those areas in the Phoenix/AZ area for your appreciation as well. Please feel free to comment.

NOTE – Because these spaces are public plantings, I cannot be sure of specific cultivars and indeed may even mistake a particular plant. If you notice an error, kindly let me know so I can correct the public record.

Our first place of beauty will be Tatum Blvd in N. Phoenix, between Dynamite Blvd and Cave Creek Road (see the Google Map below.)

We start by highlighting a plant which is in near full-bloom this time of the year, the Red Yucca. This is actually Hesperaloe parviflora and not a yucca at all. The swath of red is actually the unopened flower (bud stage). When this is planted en masse, it is grand and provides quite a view.

Here is a closer look at the flower buds…

and yet a closer view with a few of the flowers opened…

You can see how they look in the landscape in the middle of this shot

with an even better look here (looking southwest)

Another stunning plant is the Baja Fairy Duster( Calliandra californica)

Full view of the Fairy Duster

Along the boulevard there are ample plantings of Ocotillos ( Fouquieria splendens), which are very slow growing and resting most of the year. Some even go into a dormant stage and drop their leaves during the most arid months leading many passersby to think they are dead. After the spring rains, however, they are very showy. Here are two views of this major desert landscape star.

Walking the median, I was impressed to see that the workers took the time to rake the sand. Hardly anyone ever gets to see it, but they did it with care. Can you see the rake lines in the picture?

We will leave Tatum Blvd this time with one last photo of a very nicely landscaped area of the median with the sentinel of the desert, the Saguaro!

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

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

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Over twenty years ago,when we visited the Sonoran Desert and specifically the Phoenix area, several people were all too happy to explain to us that things didn’t rust in the desert because it was DRY.

Since moving to Maricopa County four years ago, I have discovered that isn’t true. As a matter of fact quite surprisingly, I am convinced that rust is a design element. They love rust out here. Every time I turn around, I see something left to deliberately rust and allowed to add its natural tone to the surrounding architecture, garden, etc.

Leaving Phoenix and taking Shea Blvd. eastward, one comes across a bus waiting area artistically garbed with rust.

Further along, we find a screen to hide a utility box with that same patina. In many areas of town, the utility boxes are hidden behind or within these artsy design elements. It adds a nice touch and makes them more sightly.

Buildings make good use of rust as well. Desert Broom Library along Cave Creek Road proudly boasts it’s rusted flank. Here is a long shot of the library. Notice there are other rusted elements as well.

A closeup of the rusted wall is below.

Private dwellings are also proud to showcase their rusted touches. Here is a residential gate,

a residential address sign,

a cat or coyote (take your pick although I think I see whiskers),

and a horse’s head hanging on a stucco wall. Notice how some of these items don’t start out rusted, but are deliberately allowed to rust to achieve the desired effect.

The one place that I have found, however, that uses rust to the finest degree of the art is the Desert Botanical Garden ( http://www.dbg.org/ ).

Driving slowly along the road into the main part of the garden, one quickly sees signs hoisted by their rusted braces.

Above the tranquility fountain at the main entrance is a wonderful, skeletal rusted gazebo which has plants growing up the posts during the appropriate seasons.

Here is a Podranea growing aside one of the posts.

Even utilities are given the same rust-ic treatment.

And of course what better quality for a garden gate than some rust?

While cars housed primarily in garages won’t rust and perhaps some left to decay in the desert may rust more slowly, things actually do rust in the southwest desert of Arizona.

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

Written by Jeff

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

I have always loved natural things and exploring the outdoors. Hiking, gardening, bird watching (not fanatical), etc. are included among my hobbies.

I don’t like using glue traps for insects because every so often a non-pest gets caught. I try to remove and release these animals and I posted about it in the article:

The Lizard Dilemma:
Managing Desert Wildlife Around the Home

Understand however that there are harmful critters out and about in the Sonoran Desert. My primary concern is scorpions. They love crickets and the desert has many crickets. They find their way into the garage and the scorpions enter the garage to get them. (Nothing like a ready supply of groceries)!

When we first moved into our new house, I found a live scorpion in the master bedroom. I quickly sucked it up in the vacuum cleaner. I am not one for squishing things if I can help it. It wasn’t a large specimen, but if stepped on with bare feet, it could inflict pain. There have been a number of small scorpions caught in the glue traps deployed in the garage since then.

The other day, I found a larger relative in one of the glue traps just outside the door that leads to the garage entrance into the house. This was a good-sized specimen. This is why I use glue traps even though I would rather not have them deployed.

That stinger can do some harm.

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

Written by Jeff

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

Elsewhere on this blog I have made note of the weather contradiction that is the desert. While we don’t have much rainfall, there are times when we get a deluge of water. The desert isn’t “designed” to handle these buckets of water especially with all the building and pavement that has been introduced.

Once in a while we not only get rain, but we get wind and hail as well. Last Tuesday, October 5, 2010 we had a doozy of a storm. We had significant rain, over 1.25 inches, in just a few hours. Hail was hitting the windows so hard that I thought the glass would break.

I guess we can consider ourselves lucky because we had no damage to our house and the windows remained intact. The landscape wasn’t as lucky. We had a Palo Verde that was planted in front of our garage window and served as a focal point. In the picture below you can see the tree to the left of the shot; in front of the garage window.

It was quite a presence as you arrived at our house. Now it was uprooted and rested completely upside down only fifteen feet from where it was planted.

Below is a picture I took of the tree during a lull in the storm. Notice the dark sky! The orange arrow shows where the tree was originally planted.

Here is a picture taken after the storm with the tree sitting directly in the center of the landscape and aligned with the sidewalk of our courtyard.

You can see it from the driveway as well. It landed on a group of other plants, but didn’t significantly injure any of them (I guess we were lucky with that too).

This is the garage picture window where the tree was planted almost directly in alignment with the center of the window. Now it is gone. The orange-red arrow in the picture below shows where the tree was planted.

My wife and I decided to tackle the dismantling process and here is how the tree appeared after it was cut into pieces and laid out in our side yard to dry. It made more of a spread than I originally thought!

Once we cut the tree and looked at the part of the trunk where the break occurred, we realized why the tree was doomed. The trunk had rotted (at least that is my diagnosis) from the inside out. Notice how the pith of the tree is dead and brown. There was no wetness to the wood. It was dry.

Palo Verdes should have green bark and you can see how brown and shriveled the bark toward the bottom of the tree trunk (left) appears. I don’t think this was a healthy tree.

This is a picture of healthy Palo Verde bark.

Another picture of the rotted trunk that was weakened.

Now we have the chore of selecting another tree to replace the Palo Verde. We still have to dig up some roots and move some perennials that relied on the shade of the Palo Verde. Yes, it is a lot of work, but to be a gardener is to accept this work as the natural course of the garden’s life cycle!

Have you had any similar storm experiences? Share them in the comments section.

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