Merry Whatever-You-Celebrate and Happy New Year!
I’ll be back to my regular posting after the New Year but just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas (or whatever you celebrate) and a Happy New Year!! xoxo
First You Account for the Sky: Negative Space and Desert Landscaping
Balancing precariously on a rock, I held both hands in front of me, fingers forming a box. In the universal sign of film directors and photographers everywhere, I panned slowly across the sky in front of me. “Hmm.” Dropping my hands, I contemplated the sprawling vista before me, then adjusted my stance. Bringing…
November Gardener’s Bloom Day
Like most Phoenicians, I consider November to be my personal reward. It’s like the desert itself is saying: “Remember that time this summer when you stood on a pothole in your brand new sneakers and the rubber soles literally started melting? And you didn’t run screaming, even though no one would have blamed you?…
Lawn Gone Book Review** 4.5/5 Stars**
I have been a fan of Pam Penick’s blog, Digging, for some time now. So when I heard she had a book out, my first thought was, about time! Followed by, where the heck did I put my wallet? I was not disappointed. Ms. Penick disdains overly manicured, high maintenance gardens in favor of the…
Musings on Tomatoes
The first tomatoes I ever grew I grew in the desert. The plant was on sale for $5.99 at Wal-Mart. It had thick green stems with small yellow flowers curling from thick stems. It was too late in the year to plant tomatoes, heat already winding its way inexorably around the valley.. The heat was…
Wordless Wednesday
Where Heaven Meets Earth: Sky Islands in Southern Arizona
The beady yellow eyes glaring across the clearing at me, were a surprise. “Ah-ha,” I crowed with the slightly deranged fervor of a satisfied birder. “Hello, sky island biodiversity.” The bird, a yellow eyed junco, paused in its nest gathering long enough to spare me another piercing glance before taking off into the trees like…
Agaves and Sprinklers
Water wise caveat: Above ground sprinklers are a very inefficient way to water plants especially in the Southwest, where 50 percent of the water can be lost due to evaporation. Drip irrigation is a lot more efficient and reduces evaporation loss. If you must have above ground sprinklers, water at night once the temperature cools…
The Truth Behind the Label: Drought Tolerance, Heat Loving, Garden Zones, and the ever-popular “Sturdy Perennial”
If summer in the desert is a breath held sharply in anticipation of rain, then fall is the first sigh of relief as the temperatures slowly inch below 100 degrees. As we revel in the cool mornings and evenings, the endless stretch of sunny days begins to feel like a blessing instead of a curse.…
Seductive Strangers: 6 Exotic Plants for Southwestern Gardens
Today, I want to write about how I never understood why bees become drunk on pollen until I smelled jasmine for the first time. Today I want to write about the cool burst of lime and coconut after the first bite of Thai food; how the moon rising of the Nile River presses so close…