We continue our series of personalized (vanity) license plates in Arizona. To maintain individual privacy, we try to show as little information about particular cars as possible as long as we can reveal the license plate.

NOTE – License plate photos may have been archived for quite some time. The years indicated on the registration stickers DO NOT necessarily reflect the current status of any given plate!

We hope you enjoy these PL8 A TUDES!

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

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  Favorite Perennials for the Garden – are these among your favorites? If not, should they be? We loved our shade-loving hostas and coneflowers when we lived in New Jersey!

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  This Pallet Crate Box Garden Grows Veggies Fits on Apartment Patios – Many people enjoy seeing projects made by recycling materials. This particular project seems easy and produces a fine result which will provide planting space on a balcony or patio.

http://lifehacker.com/this-pallet-crate-box-garden-grows-veggies-fits-on-apa-486933678

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  Are you looking for unique garden markers? Will any of these fit the bill? Another project for people who like DIY projects. I wish I had thought of some of these!

https://brightnest.com/posts/5-unique-ways-to-label-your-plants

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  This is one of the coolest (is that old fashioned word?) vertical garden projects I have seen. Apparently vertical gardens are the “in” thing nowadays. This project uses succulents which not only provide a variety of colors, but also textures. If you are inspired, why not give it a try? Send me a picture and I will post it on GOTM! –

http://www.bystephanielynn.com/2013/04/succulent-wall-planter-2.html

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  Tips for Growing Food in a Small Space

http://earth911.com/news/2013/04/08/grow-food-small-spaces/

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

Written by Jeff

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

© Jeff Ross and www.gardeningonthemoon.com, 2000-2075. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts of 50 words or less and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Jeff Ross and www.gardeningonthemoon.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

To keep our garden inspiration flowing, I will post pictures of flowers, trees and other plants that I have found pretty and/or interesting for one reason or another. Many of the pictures will be of drought-tolerant or xeriscape plants because I live and grow in the Sonoran Desert.

I hope these photographs stimulate your creativity and keep you enthusiastic about the wonderful world of horticulture. Please feel free to share your thoughts with me by leaving a comment below.

While hiking in Joshua Tree National Park earlier this spring, we saw this “pretty in pink” opuntia in bloom. Another picture of the plant is below.

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

Visit Amazon’s Garden & Patio Markdowns

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

A few weeks ago we traveled northward to the little town of Cottonwood, AZ where we lucked into a small shop filled with some unique garden ware and pottery. In the outside courtyard, we spied a raised, metal planter that would be perfect for our pest-ridden (javelinas, rabbits & ground squirrels) yard. Nearby, a raised planter atop a “half-bike” also beckoned; and my husband successfully negotiated for that item also!!

Above is a picture of the bicycle planter. The wooden box insert of this “bike” fitted snugly inside the holder; but we were able to loosen it and drilled several holes in the bottom for drainage.

We tried to remove the wooden structure in its entirety, but the central plank was firmly attached to the metal so we settled for removing most of it. You have to look hard to see the holes. Then two coats of polyurethane sealer were applied. To minimize “wood rot” that accompanies the requisite watering of soil; we purchased two inexpensive plastic “shoe boxers” that we cut carefully to create one larger box.

Note: it was necessary to also create a few drainage holes in this reconfigured plastic box; although we did not take pains to match the holes.

Small pieces of fine mesh gutter guard were placed over these holes to slow drainage.

We then filled the new liner with our homemade potting mix.

Some multicolored petunias were selected as our first inhabitants; and they appear to thrive in this setting. As the desert temps rise this summer it is likely we will need to substitute hardier fare.

We placed our new planter outside our courtyard gate; safely and smugly elevated from ground critters! Our one acquiescence to security was to insert two large U-bolts through the narrow bottom rim of the metal “wheel” in event high winds or roving javelinas jostle our new planter!! Here is a picture soon after it was placed outside our courtyard.

Below is a picture of the planter approximately ten days later.

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

Visit Amazon’s Garden & Patio Markdowns

Find a Good Home for Your Website at

We continue our series of personalized (vanity) license plates in Arizona. To maintain individual privacy, we try to show as little information about particular cars as possible as long as we can reveal the license plate.

NOTE – License plate photos may have been archived for quite some time. The years indicated on the registration stickers DO NOT necessarily reflect the current status of any given plate!

We hope you enjoy these PL8 A TUDES!

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

Visit Amazon’s Garden & Patio Markdowns

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

• 
  
  

  

  Do you know the top six invasive plants in the United States? Do you grow any? Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) is very pretty, but it just takes over. In Arizona we have a native plant, Desert Broom, that is classified as invasive because it tends to colonize areas and it is a fire hazard!

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  This is a post about Bleeding Hearts which are very lovely shade plants, but it also includes a picture of “Jack Frost” Brunnera. We grew Brunnera in New Jersey and we found that it was not a plant that the deer and rabbits liked. We especially love the beautiful foliage. Flowers are just a bonus when they occur.

http://lonadawn.blogspot.com/2013/04/dicentra-spectabilis-bleeding-hearts.html

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  Soften garden borders with appropriate plant selection. The author apparently wants to soften the harsh lines created by hardscape with a selection of vegetation that can lead the eye gracefully to the plants beyond the borders. There are some interesting ideas to be gained from the photographs.

http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/9320051/list/Define-Your-Garden-Softly-With-Planted-Borders/

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  The World’s Most Bizarre Plants – For some reason, people tend to be attracted to plants that are strange. Youngsters love the Venus Fly Trap because it “eats” insects. Others enjoy scented geraniums because they smell like something else such as mint or chocolate. The link below provides a tour of some unusual plants which probably are not grown by many home gardeners. [ Click the Next arrow to go to the next picture. ]

http://www.weather.com/home-garden/backyard/weird-plants-20130416

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  For those with rocks in their head (ideas for rocks that is) – Let me just say that rocks are great for garden borders. In New Jersey, we had a three-acre lot with the middle acre carved out for our house and gardens. We made extensive use of rocks as borders since there was an abundant supply in the woods. (I also built many free standing walls with large rocks).

  One very important tip I can pass along if you plant to mow close to the wall, is to leave a six-inch border of mulch for the mower’s wheels. I did this in some areas, but in others I used a string trimmer to keep things tidy, but close to he wall!

http://www.growingthehomegarden.com/2013/04/natural-rocks-for-stone-garden-borders.html

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

Written by Jeff

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

© Jeff Ross and www.gardeningonthemoon.com, 2000-2075. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts of 50 words or less and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Jeff Ross and www.gardeningonthemoon.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

To keep our garden inspiration flowing, I will post pictures of flowers, trees and other plants that I have found pretty and/or interesting for one reason or another. Many of the pictures will be of drought-tolerant or xeriscape plants because I live and grow in the Sonoran Desert.

I hope these photographs stimulate your creativity and keep you enthusiastic about the wonderful world of horticulture. Please feel free to share your thoughts with me by leaving a comment below.

There are several times a year when Russelia equisetiformis, R. juncea, more commonly called Coral Fountain, puts on quite a show and this is one of those times. The hummingbirds are attracted to it and it really does brighten a spot in our courtyard garden that often has shade because of the walls of the house.

We transplanted and fertilized it early this spring. I think the rejuvenated soil and care has really given it a boost.

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

Visit Amazon’s Garden & Patio Markdowns

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

Those who have followed GOTM for a while have read about our efforts to keep the critters away from our plants, especially the rabbits. We have gone through the trouble of installing a courtyard gate to keep vermin out and raised most of our pots high and used individual planters that were fairly tall. You can imagine my surprise when I walked into the courtyard one morning and saw the following:

In the first couple of shots, I use yellow arrows to highlight the damage, but once you get the hang of how the damage is administered, it is easy to spot in the other shots.

Since we know that rabbits can’t navigate our gate, we assumed it was most likely a squirrel, chipmunk or pack rat. Of those choices, the most likely critter, based on obvious evidence, was the pack rat.

Now I was faced with the decision whether to “hurt” that no-gooder or try to catch it and release it elsewhere. Of course I chose to catch and release.

My first trip to the hardware store was to purchase a Havahart trap model 1025 which was recommended at the local store (not a big box store). When I brought it home and read the reviews (something I should have done first) there were a couple of issues noted, but there were also many positive reviews. I called the Havahart company and spoke to one of the “consultants” and that is when I knew we had a problem. They couldn’t find that model in their database.

That evening I set out the trap baited with bread and peanut butter. I had difficulty adjusting the tension on the spring lever that released the door. It would sometimes trigger and sometimes not. This was one of the issues noted although many had no problem whatsoever.

I was sad the next morning when I awoke with great expectation to discover that I had provided a gratis fast-food breakfast for our culprit. Not a lick of the peanut buttered bread was to be seen. I suppose if I left a napkin, it would have wiped its mouth and hands prior to leaving.

Off I was to the store to get a different Havhart trap more suited to my trapping skills. I finally found a single-door model which had a newer, easy set/easy release mechanism (Easy Set Model 1082).

We also purchased a plastic box to use as a transport container so no bodily fluids, parasites, etc. from the critter would actually get into the car. We then placed some paper on the bottom of that container to collect/contain stated unpleasantness.

We decided that the peanut butter was a bit too messy so we defaulted to using salted peanuts in the shell. The excitement built as the next evening I prepared the trap with the shelled delicacies and placed it in the probable dining area. I cracked one peanut to release any enticing odor it would emit. (I couldn’t detect any, but then again, I am a well-fed human.) Well, well look at what I found the next morning.

Kind of cute, huh?

Here I am showing the pack rat to his assigned seat. I used a long-sleeved shirt and gloves to protect myself as much as possible.

Here it is nicely contained.

The box was placed in the back of the CRV for safe transport.

A few miles down the road we arrived at the new desert neighborhood where the rat’s new residence was awaiting.

I must say that the pack rat wasn’t too nervous or jittery as I lifted the container to place it on the ground. I think he was subdued after a night of confinement.

One nicety of the new trap was the quick and easy release which allows for a more remote and quick opening of the trap door. I am getting ready to let it go as

my wife Mary brings home the money shot!

The animal’s first reaction was to run and hide. Here it is heading for a nearby bush.

One last look as we got ready to leave. Can you see the eye?

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

We continue our series of personalized (vanity) license plates in Arizona. To maintain individual privacy, we try to show as little information about particular cars as possible as long as we can reveal the license plate.

NOTE – License plate photos may have been archived for quite some time. The years indicated on the registration stickers DO NOT necessarily reflect the current status of any given plate!

We hope you enjoy these PL8 A TUDES!

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

• 
  
  

  

  
  Arizonensis – If you are interested (as I am) about the natural history of Arizona, then this site may be just “up your alley,” so to speak.

http://www.arizonensis.org/index.html

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  Some plants in the Scutellaria genus might be just the ticket for a garden hot spot. Here is a post that highlights three possibilities with a variety of colors!

http://www.waterwisegardening.com/archives/1976

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  Is Neem oil the “miracle drug” for gardeners? Read about the uses for this product along with other ways to keep the “Beasties” at bay.

http://www.loghouseplants.com/blogs/greengardening/2013/03/safe-ways-to-deal-with-garden-pests/

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  For my money, Dahlias are the best garden flowers to grow. There are so many shapes, sizes and colors from which to select. I love them, but they don’t necessarily like the Sonoran Desert. I grew them one year and the rabbits ate them to a nub. One of these days, I may try again. Here are some hints and tips about growing them (tailored to Oklahoma, but good advice in general).

http://reddirtramblings.com/flowers/growing-dahlias-and-other-summer-bulbs-in-oklahoma

Giant Hyssop for Butterflies and Hummingbirds. Apparently this species has something to offer for nearly everyone. Perhaps there is even one that will do well in my Sonoran Desert garden.

http://birdsandbloomsblog.com/2013/03/30/giant-hyssop-for-butterflies-and-hummingbirds/

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

Visit Amazon’s Garden & Patio Markdowns

Written by Jeff

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

© Jeff Ross and www.gardeningonthemoon.com, 2000-2075. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts of 50 words or less and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Jeff Ross and www.gardeningonthemoon.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

To keep our garden inspiration flowing, I will post pictures of flowers, trees and other plants that I have found pretty and/or interesting for one reason or another. Many of the pictures will be of drought-tolerant or xeriscape plants because I live and grow in the Sonoran Desert.

I hope these photographs stimulate your creativity and keep you enthusiastic about the wonderful world of horticulture. Please feel free to share your thoughts with me by leaving a comment below.

While visiting the Maricopa County Extension Center’s demonstration garden about ten days ago, I was anxious to see how their Queen’s Wreath vine was doing since our Queen’s Wreath was showing very little growth at this point.

I was glad to see that their very large specimen was in about the same state. This is especially promising since the Extension Center is usually a couple of week’s ahead of us because they are “in the city” and a bit further south. I left hopeful that our Queen’s Wreath would survive our somewhat cold winter months.

While I was at the garden, I saw this striking calendula that reminds me of a straw flower.

This is another nearby specimen!

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

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

A few weeks ago I participated in our quilt group’s annual rummage sale, where members donate fabric, sewing supplies, patterns and assorted miscellaneous items for sale to other members. (One person’s trash is another person’s treasure). Proceeds benefit many of the quilt group’s charitable endeavors!!

One of the elderly members of the group recently died, and her family kindly donated many of her possessions to this sale. I was lucky enough to spy a small wheeled metal cart among these items at the sale, and quickly took it in hand while I completed my shopping. I had an immediate vision of it as an outside whimsical piece; filled with plants!

After getting my prized possession home, I realized that the cart was not quite as large as I had initially thought. At 14 inches long, 7 inches wide & 6 inches deep, the carriage was not geared to carry the bountiful cargo I had imagined. In addition; the rattan rectangular insert took up additional space and was not especially conducive to the requisite watering……so the basket was removed and will be re-purposed!!

Now…what to put in my cart??? As it would sit on the edge of the patio at ground level…..any plant must be able to withstand only filtered sunlight…….and be unattractive to rabbits and javelinas!! We finally decided on two pots of mammillarias that we had harvested from our backyard a few years ago.

We couldn’t decide whether to place it on the patio….

Or on the landscape stones near the patio?

We finally decided that angled on the patio gave it just the whimsical touch to accent a small corner of the patio.

I especially like the use of different sized pots, and anticipate the bloom of the tiny pink halo of flowers within the next few months! (see link here for article with picture of flowers) A stretch of the imagination can “see” a mother and child relationship between the larger and smaller cactus!

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

We continue our series of personalized (vanity) license plates in Arizona. To maintain individual privacy, we try to show as little information about particular cars as possible as long as we can reveal the license plate.

NOTE – License plate photos may have been archived for quite some time. The years indicated on the registration stickers DO NOT necessarily reflect the current status of any given plate!

We hope you enjoy these PL8 A TUDES!

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

I thought GOTM readers might enjoy a birds eye view of some of the work I/we do in the Desert Botanical Garden seed room. I volunteer there two days a month and it is very rewarding.

On this day, I was separating seeds of Yucca elata var. elata. Let’s just call them Yucca seeds.

Here (above) are some of the tools we use. Strainers of various screen size allow the chaff and other small residues to be gently removed from the seeds themselves prior to the final hand selection. A somewhat dull kitchen knife is used as a separating tool much like a pharmacist moves pills into a container after counting them out in the tray. I tried using a plastic card once, but the static electricity built up would not release the seeds. The knife works well.

Notice the light colored seeds in this picture. These are seeds that have not matured properly and will probably not yield a viable plant. The seeds should be dark like the others in the picture.

The photo above shows the technique used. The bulk seeds are on the left-top. As seeds are separated, the choice, viable seeds are moved slightly to the right and when enough have gathered, they are scooted over to the sheet of paper on the far right-hand side. The other seeds and debris are collected at the bottom-left paper and discarded as space requires.

We generally use white paper to get as much contrast as possible between the seeds and other items.

In the above picture, you can find the dark, solid good seeds (right and left), the light colored immature (not viable) seeds and those seeds that have been eaten by animals or insects. Obviously the eaten seeds are of no use either so they become discards as well.

After the seeds have been cleaned and are ready to be stored, they are moved in to an envelope that has the name of the seed, the date collected, the location, etc.

When available, a complete label is placed on the seed packet as shown below. Those seeds destined for longer term storage or those that are more delicate are often sealed in an air tight foil packet and placed in the refrigerated area!

As you can see, great care is taken to keep the seed collection fresh and well organized!

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

Written by Jeff

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

© Jeff Ross and www.gardeningonthemoon.com, 2000-2075. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts of 50 words or less and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Jeff Ross and www.gardeningonthemoon.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

To keep our garden inspiration flowing, I will post pictures of flowers, trees and other plants that I have found pretty and/or interesting for one reason or another. Many of the pictures will be of drought-tolerant or xeriscape plants because I live and grow in the Sonoran Desert.

I hope these photographs stimulate your creativity and keep you enthusiastic about the wonderful world of horticulture. Please feel free to share your thoughts with me by leaving a comment below.

A slight digression to start!

Wow! Where did February go? This was a cold, wet month. As I mentioned in a previous post, it is the coldest winter we’ve had during our brief, six-year residence in the Phoenix area.

I recently had the opportunity to take a four-day, beginning birdwatching class. I have always been interested in birds. I am not a fanatic, but I do like to identify them when I am able to do so.

We took two field trips as part of the class. One was a two plus hour walk around the Desert Botanical Garden. We saw some interesting birds and although I have been to the garden many, many times, I never really paid too much attention to the birds.

The next day we went to the Gilbert Water Park which is a great stopover place for a good many birds. The combined number of different birds seen on those two days was 59+. It was very interesting and most interesting was identifying a bird that is RARE for our area, the Common Moorhen (above). It isn’t the most attractive bird, but the candy corn-like beak makes it distinctive.

The class instructor was trying to make a joke when he said: “The only people who walk more slowly than birdwatchers are plant people.” Hey! Wait a minute! I’m a plant person. I suppose I am a plant and a bird person. I must be very s-l-o-w.

Anyway, I did notice that at the water park they had globe mallows that wintered very well and some were in bloom. I like the silvery, fuzzy leaves of the globe mallow which make a good foil for the colorful blooms.

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

Visit Amazon’s Garden & Patio Markdowns

• 
  
  

  42 Top Seeds for 2013 ~ From Some Favorite Gardeners and Seed Sources. Remember, if you have one Amaranth, you will probably have many more!

http://www.gardeninggonewild.com/?p=23162

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  If you like showy flowers on your patio or indoors, then perhaps these pericallis hybrids that are part of the Senetti® collection are right up your alley. They are white daisy-like flowers with tips that look as though they were dipped in colorful paint.

https://sites.aces.edu/group/homegrounds/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=263

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  Microgreens - Have you ever wondered what they are and why people might want to grow and eat them? Well…look no farther. Here is some clarifying information. Perhaps you will be moved to grow your own (and eat them too!).

http://allthedirtongardening.blogspot.com/2013/02/microgreens-grow-them-at-home.html

Bonnie Plants resource page – A wealth of information especially for new gardeners, but even experienced gardeners can find some valuable information there as well. You might want to bookmark the page as they have a frost date map, a garden glossary, etc.

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

We continue our series of personalized (vanity) license plates in Arizona. To maintain individual privacy, we try to show as little information about particular cars as possible as long as we can reveal the license plate.

NOTE – License plate photos may have been archived for quite some time. The years indicated on the registration stickers DO NOT necessarily reflect the current status of any given plate!

We hope you enjoy these PL8 A TUDES!

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

Guess what we’ve been doing the last couple of days… Take a look at the picture below and see if you can guess.

That’s right, we have been using our frost cloths again. This is a new concept for me. Well, new over the last five years. When we lived in NJ, we didn’t worry about protecting our outdoor plants. Perennials returned yearly and annuals died each year. Once, on rare occasion, we might have brought a couple of plants into the garage for a day here and there, but nothing like this.

Full disclosure, the last frost dates, for the Phoenix area are somewhere between February 10th and February 24th depending on which source one considers. You can check here and here. It was 70 degrees last week. I thought we were hone free!

This is what else we do when a frost is threatened…

We bring some plants into the garage for safe keeping. You might be looking at the picture above and saying: “Look at all that junk in that garage!” You know, I wouldn’t blame you. We normally don’t have that much “stuff” in our garage, but we have friends who are in transition and we are storing some of their things. Sure, sure you are probably saying, but that IS the truth!

These plants (above) are a select group that we are nursing along because we have company arriving in March and we place them strategically around the patio and landscape to enhance our vegetative impact. I feel a bit like Solomon when I choose this plant or that plant and leave another outside.

Below is my Madagascar Palm. I have had this plant since it was a wee thing. I wrote about it here. It is “normal” for it to lose its leaves in the cold weather and they will come back in the spring and throughout the summer (at least they always have).

There are some of our landscape plant charges that don’t react well to cold at all and even with a frost cloth covering, they suffer damage. The Natal Plum below is too cold sensitive for my liking, but we hate to abandon it so we cover it and trim it back.

We have only lived in the Sonoran Desert for a brief period of time, but this is the coldest winter we have had. Now I know this might sound silly to those living in Minnesota, Maine, etc., but honestly when one is accustomed to temperatures between the mid 60s through the 100s, anything below 40 feels very cold.

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

Written by Jeff

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

© Jeff Ross and www.gardeningonthemoon.com, 2000-2075. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts of 50 words or less and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Jeff Ross and www.gardeningonthemoon.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

To keep our garden inspiration flowing, I will post pictures of flowers, trees and other plants that I have found pretty and/or interesting for one reason or another. Many of the pictures will be of drought-tolerant or xeriscape plants because I live and grow in the Sonoran Desert.

I hope these photographs stimulate your creativity and keep you enthusiastic about the wonderful world of horticulture. Please feel free to share your thoughts with me by leaving a comment below.

This is the first year we tried trailing pansies. In general, pansies do very well in the Sonoran Desert during our winter season. We generally don’t have many very cold or freezing days, but this year we have had our share, especially on the north side of the house where these plants live. They have done well and provide a burst of color when blooms and thriving plants are at a minimum!

Above is a second photo of the same grouping of the trailing pansies. While they haven’t trailed much yet, they have been stalwarts in a colder than usual Sonoran Desert winter!

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

Visit Amazon’s Garden & Patio Markdowns

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

• 
  
  

  

  One concern or problem that many gardeners have when spring arrives is “How to test those seeds to determine whether they are still viable?” Here is an article that provides some hints and ideas!

• 
  
  

  Is Corydalis lutea the perfect plant for dry shade? Some gardeners suggest that this plant is “deer resistant,” but I would suggest just trying one to see if it is true if you have deer problems. Culture is described as easy and it has a long blooming time.

http://blogs.post-gazette.com/living/gardening-with-doug/36744-perennial-plant-of-the-week-corydalis-lutea-blooms-all-season-in-dry-shade

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  From kitchen scraps to full-fledged plants. Recycle with nature. This is a great project for children! Not every try will be successful as the article explains.

http://birdsandbloomsblog.com/2013/01/29/indoor-plants-from-kitchen-scraps-success/

• 
  
  

  FREE Urban Gardening Handbook (PDF) for you to download

http://www.phoenixpermaculture.org/profiles/blogs/urban-farming-guidebook-enjoy

Mid-to-late winter is a very good time to look for cutworms. Get those cutworms before they get your plants!

http://allthedirtongardening.blogspot.com/2013/01/cutworms-spend-winter-in-gardens.html

We continue our series of personalized (vanity) license plates in Arizona. To maintain individual privacy, we try to show as little information about particular cars as possible as long as we can reveal the license plate.

NOTE – License plate photos may have been archived for quite some time. The years indicated on the registration stickers DO NOT necessarily reflect the current status of any given plate!

We hope you enjoy these PL8 A TUDES!

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

Visit Amazon’s Garden & Patio Markdowns

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” – Chinese Proverb

When we purchased our home in north Phoenix over five years ago, there were several horse trailers parked across from our front yard as our home is adjacent to a large horse ranch. Over the years, these trailers have become a source of increasing displeasure to me….

while the northern view from our home frames lovely saguaros and Black Mountain in the distance;

the boxy white trailers in the southern vista are decidedly unattractive (IMHO).

I recently sought permission from the ranch to plant trees on the edge of the property line as an attempt to camouflage (somewhat) the trailers; with the understandable caveat that no plant be toxic to horses.

The project initially was to be a few Palo Verde trees that we’d plant ourselves (Sonoran Emerald was the plant we’d selected ) …. And that we’d water occasionally during the hot summer months. Then we decided to visit a local nursery to price out the project, and soon opted to have the nursery plant them.

Mary and the landscaper surveying the area where the trees and shrubs will be planted.

The landscaper used surveying “flags” to mark ares where either trees or shrubs would be planted.

The nursery rep visited the property and recommended eight trees and the use of approximately 18 Hop Seed bushes (Dodonaea viscosa) to provide more immediate screening over the next few years before the Palo Verde trees matured. He also recommended that irrigation be installed to eliminate the time-consuming watering of both the bushes and trees.

The day of planting arrived and the nursery workers quickly went to work; the project (including irrigation) took an entire day. As we watched the planting, we realized that the package will require irrigation every three days now (in the winter); more frequently in the hotter months. As we must manually hook up a hose and cross the street to attach it to the new line; the reality of this obligation hit home. Over the next few months we must now explore an alternate option to connect this area into our main irrigation line.

After a long day, the workers put the finishing touches on the project and shifted the care to us!

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

Written by Jeff

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To keep our garden inspiration flowing, I will post pictures of flowers, trees and other plants that I have found pretty and/or interesting for one reason or another. Many of the pictures will be of drought-tolerant or xeriscape plants because I live and grow in the Sonoran Desert.

I hope these photographs stimulate your creativity and keep you enthusiastic about the wonderful world of horticulture. Please feel free to share your thoughts with me by leaving a comment below.

We have been having some relatively cold days for our area, but despite evening temps in the low-to-mid 30′s some of the plants are still producing flowers and thriving even if they have slowed down a bit.

While walking around the house, I noticed that our Bottle Bush ‘Little John’ looked as though it was designed for the holidays. I have included several pictures below. I think it has a pine tree-like look and the green and red really are in tune with the winter holiday season!

Bottle Brush ‘Little John’ looking fit for the holiday season.

Notice the bee in the bottom-right corner of the picture above. This time of the year, bees don’t have a lot of choice, but they really do seem to relish the ‘Little John’ flowers.

While I was watering the courtyard plants I had a visitor. Can you see it in the bottom-right of the picture on the tip of the agave “leaf?”

If you can’t discern the critter, here it is perched on top of a structure that supports the Queen’s Wreath which is dying back for the winter.

The picture above was the best shot of the hummingbird I was able to manage while taking care of the courtyard plants. When the sun hits the dark neck band, it is a luminescent purple. You can get a hint of it in these pictures, but I was not able to snap a “full flush” of the color which is stunning!

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

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  Hardy perennial geraniums? Not your grandmother’s geranium! There are some plants that become “standards” in a garden. Those that can be relied upon to show up and deliver year after year. I tried hardy geraniums when I lived in the northeast and they never performed well for me which I attributed to location. I have heard their virtues extolled by many gardeners. Perhaps they would be suitable for your garden too!

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  Easy care plants for the garden. This is not an oxymoron as one might expect. There are some plants that practically grow themselves as long as they have an appropriate amount of water. In our desert garden that would include Vinca, Agaves, Snail Vine, etc. These are real troopers that deliver year-after-year. Some of the plants in the referenced article might become your stand-by plants.

http://www.growingthehomegarden.com/2012/12/Easy-Grow-Low-Maintenance-Plants-for-Garden.html

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  DIY Starter Raised Bed For Kids – When I read this article I thought: “For kids? I would like this for myself.” This relatively easy to build raised bed will be suitable for many gardeners needs. I would try to modify the plan somewhat to try to waterproof the bottom by using a different material such as hardware cloth lined with a couple of layers of burlap. This, of course, would have to be renewed every two years or so. See what enhancements you could make.[ NOTE - picture above is NOT the planter described in the text of the article! ]

http://www.vegetablegardener.com/item/13094/diy-starter-raised-bed-for-kids

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  Debra Lee Baldwin writes about “Why I Love Ghost Plant (Graptopetalum paraguayense)” on her Gardening Gone Wild blog. This family of plants is very versatile, and as she points out, forgiving. I might be inspired to add some of these to my collection if I can keep the critters away from them!

http://www.gardeninggonewild.com/?p=22817

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

We continue our series of personalized (vanity) license plates in Arizona. To maintain individual privacy, we try to show as little information about particular cars as possible as long as we can reveal the license plate.

NOTE – License plate photos may have been archived for quite some time. The years indicated on the registration stickers DO NOT necessarily reflect the current status of any given plate!

We hope you enjoy these PL8 A TUDES!