The Desert Southwest

I started having visions back in December of a desert rockery on the Southwest corner of the yard.  I've come to realize this small corner has an amazingly desert-like microclimate: it's in full sun most of the day, it's right next to the road which soaks up heat during the day, and it gets some frost & rain protection underneath the canopy of a tall deodar cedar (Cedrus deodara).  

December 28th, 2012

There was a Japanese maple, an umbrella pine, a barberry, a small hardy banana cutting, and a fairly ugly patch of candy tuft that all had to be transplanted somewhere else (by the way, the picture below was taken on Dec. 28th, 2012 - pretty amazing the banana leaves were still in tact that late into the season).

December 28th, 2012

There was only one thing left to do to make this the best possible spot for growing opuntias, agaves, aloes, dyckias, and other heat-loving plants outdoors....Add lots and lots of sand...

Six 100-pound bags to be exact.  This sand was so pristine and white, I almost felt guilty burying it all.  I hand-mixed it with garden soil to create a "dirty sand" mix of about 60% sand and 40% soil.  This pindo palm (Butia capitata) that has been growing in a pot for the past few years finally has a permanent home.

March 3rd

I started taking cuttings of some plants growing in other places.  The plant with the silvery-green leaves is Astelia chathamica 'Silver Spear'.  Of course I had to borrow (permanently) some big rocks from other places in the garden to make a sort of skeleton to keep all that well-draining sand in place.  It's hard to tell in the picture, but this hill is about 3' tall, with pretty steep slopes.

March 3rd

The little plant in the lower left corner in the picture above is Opuntia humifusa.  I saw this growing as a groundcover outside the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.  I wasn't about to let Chicago grow a cactus outside that I didn't have in my garden.  Luckily Far Reaches Farm came to the rescue and had the plant in stock.

March 16th

I used pea gravel as a mulch.

March 23rd

It will help keep the sand from blowing away and hopefully keep dogs and cats and kids from digging in it (it's basically a giant sandbox after all).

March 31st

Here are a couple before & after shots (Dec. 2012 Vs. April 2013):

What started back in January as Project #1 for the year is now 99% complete...which is about as complete as it's going to get!

 

Mother Nature's April Fools Joke: Sunshine!

It was so sunny and warm this weekend, I felt compelled to take some of the subtropical plants (including the tomatoes, eggplants, and lime tree in this photo) out of the greenhouse and into the full-on blazing sunshine.  I put them back in, but what a weekend this has been - upper 60s to low 70s for four days in a row with crystal clear blue skies.

Although it feels like summer, the birch and cottonwood trees still cry winter...

While Japanese maples are beginning to shine through in their brilliant coats of spring color.

The way this rhubarb picks up the late afternoon sunlight is almost surreal.

These tomatillo seedlings were sprouted from a single $1.29 packet (same price as a song on iTunes).  With the price of the peat pots & potting mix added in, it's still under $6 for three trays of seedlings.

Speaking of edible plants, the peas are all doing fantastic.  And the spinach planted around the perimeter has finally germinated.  I am sure the neighbors think I am crazy when they see me out watering this time of year, but I can't let that soil dry out!

I'm trying hard not to brag, but look at all these beautiful strawberry plants!  This is the June-bearing patch.  I have an ever-bearing patch on the other side of the house.  Blueberries & strawberries go great together - not just on waffles, but in the garden too.

Ah yes, there is most definitely a light at the end of the cobblestone pathway....