[Monday – Liza’s Plants] Fall in New Mexico

I’m not trying to make you jealous or anything, but this is what our New Mexico sky looked like yesterday:

Stunning, right? I didn’t alter the photo in any way – that’s really how blue it is here, particularly in the fall.

I’ve lived in this state for 15 years now, and every time I see that sky, it still takes my breath away. It’s probably my favorite part of living here.

I also enjoy watching the lighting change at different times of the day. Like how the late afternoon sun changes how my container garden looks:

It looks a lot nicer in the photo than in reality. (My “E” got damaged in the heavy rains a few weeks ago.) In person, it looks like a fall garden – the tomatoes have fallen over, the basil is blooming, the flowers are a little scraggly and so on. But in the light of the afternoon sun, it still looks pretty good.

Ok, the Thunbergia still looks good no matter what time of day it is. That was definitely the right choice for that container. *Pats self on the back.*

Also a great addition to the garden was the Zauschneria or ‘California Fuchsia.’ I absolutely love the adorable fall blooms:

As I was standing by the container taking photos of the blooms, a stray hummingbird came over to sample the goods. She didn’t stay long enough for me to snap a photo – because I was startled and could only stand there and watch.

You see, my “regular” hummingbirds left a few weeks ago. And once again, they didn’t say goodbye. No thanks for feeding us all summer. They simply vanished. I knew it would be like that but it still stings a little.

So for the strays, the lingerers, the travelers, I have one feeder full of fresh nectar:

I’ll keep it up for about another week or so. I don’t want to encourage the birds to stay longer than they should, but I want to make sure there is sustenance for those who happen to wander by. Not they really need it – there’s plenty of other options in the yard. Like the zillions of Cosmos:

I take back everything I said about my front yard being terrible looking. Because now it’s overflowing with Cosmos blooms.

Here’s my view from the front door:

There’s a bit of a balance when I take photos of the Cosmos. For one thing, the neighbors across the street have no less than eight cars parked in front of their house at any given moment. So trying to capture the beauty of the flowers without cars in the background is challenging. Also challenging is avoiding shots with house numbers in them or obvious landmarks.

So you’ll have to take my word for it when I tell you how gorgeous the flowers look. And now you know why I take so many closeups.

I just love how they look in the late afternoon!

In other news, the cane is blooming, which I think looks very cool:

Anything that is taller than a house is ok in my book. I didn’t plant the cane, and I’m not a big fan of it usually, but I have to give it credit for its enthusiasm for life. Those plants were cut down to the ground in the spring and now they are as tall as the house and blooming. Well done, plants!

Ok, that’s about it for my little stroll around the garden. Thank you for coming along with me!

I’ll be back tomorrow, I hope to see you back here.