Fall/Winter Garden 2020

This past summer has been brutal in Phoenix! It shows in my patio garden. Here are a few photos of the carnage:

What a mess! Overgrown yellow bells. Almost dead Morning Glories. Summer annuals limping along.

I could gloss over the ugly garden and pretend like it doesn’t exist. But this isn’t Instagram. I think it’s important for people to know that no matter what your skill level is, gardens sometimes look like this. Especially at the end of a very hot, very dry summer. There’s no shame in that.

Still, it’s time to clean it up and plant for the new season. The weather is finally beginning to cool down. I can be outside for more than two minutes without being overcome by the oppressive heat. In the evenings, it’s lovely! My first task was to clear out the summer growth to make room for my fall plantings.

I cleared away the remains of the Morning Glories, and cut the Tecoma bells way back. Then I added a layer of soil to the bed.

I also cleared the summer annuals:

(I left the sunflower because I want to collect the seeds.)

Once the beds were cleared, the plan shifted to veggies. I decided to dedicate the big bed on the patio to only vegetables, with the side ones having both herbs and flowers. In a few weeks, I’ll add new annuals to my containers in front of the house.

For now, it’s beets, carrots and radishes, all from seeds. I’m also trying red onions, which may not have time to mature before it gets cold, but I’m giving it a shot.

I like to use string to help me “stay in the lines.” It’s not an exact science, haha! Besides the seeds, I also added one small tomato plant, an early ripening variety, and a strawberry plant.

It’s not much, but this garden makes me very happy.

What about you? Have you planted a fall/winter garden yet?

Update on Dottie, Our Very Own National Treasure

Heyyyyyy, look who it is!

This is Dottie and me on her 93rd birthday last August. She looks amazing, doesn’t she?

Today, she’s doing ok but not great. She’s been in and out of the hospital the last few months. She’s struggling to keep her body in shape – it’s hard to make it cooperate at her age. Her mind is still sharp as a chef’s knife, and her sense of humor is unrivaled. But dang, that old body of hers is giving her fits.

I thought now would be a great opportunity for you to send her well wishes and hellos. Leave a comment for her, and I’ll pass it along. I’m sure she would appreciate knowing what she’s meant to you.

Let’s review a few key aspects: She volunteered for the Red Cross Disaster Services for 50 years. 50 years! They don’t even have a pin for that, because no one has ever served that long. She grew victory gardens during WW2, and learned to weld to make up for the shortage of available men during that time. She worked her whole adult life. She gave birth to six children. She’s proudly Irish and unmistakably charismatic. She makes people laugh so hard that they almost pee their pants. She’s smart, and has been taking classes her whole life to be even smarter. And she’s kind. She told me that everyone deserves respect, and she’s absolutely correct about that. She also served as one of our favorite Experts in my “Ask the Experts” column on this blog every Friday for years.

This lady is one of a kind. Let’s let her know how much we love her. She’ll say thanks back, so I’ll say it now for her: Thank you!

I love you, Dottie!

Dottie, A National Treasure

Hey, look who’s alive and kicking, and definitely hasn’t croaked yet, haha. It’s our beloved National Treasure, Dottie.

92. Can you believe it? She barely can! Still wearing purple, because it’s an awesome color.

We both live in Arizona, and during her birthday party yesterday (her birthday was Tuesday), we learned that Arizona Senator John McCain passed.

I didn’t agree politically with McCain on most subjects. But he was an honorable man in the sense that he was American first and foremost.  A veteran, a war hero, a father, a brother, a Patriot, he fought for our freedom. He mentored newcomers in Washington despite differences of opinions. He could agree to disagree with people without hating them. He seems to be the last of that breed, and that is heartbreaking to me.

I’ve been very upset about the divisiveness in America. It’s frustrating. It’s not helpful. It’s distracting from the genuine problems we face as a country and as humans.

We’re Americans. We should hold ourselves to a higher standard than everyone else. McCain did that. Dottie continues to do that. It’s all about doing what’s right.

What’s right? Making sure everyone has clean water to drink and clean air to breathe. Clean oceans to enjoy. National parks to marvel. Not treating women as property. A living wage, food on the table. A fulfilling job. An honest wage for an honest day’s work. Not going bankrupt because of medical costs. Not being homeless. Kindness. Compassion. Family. Friends. Fun and playfulness. Appreciation and awe for Nature and this planet. Love of animals and birds and the stars and sky. Sunrises and sunsets.

We are so lucky!

But sometimes it’s hard to feel lucky. When we’re stressed, when we’re depressed, when we’re emotional. When we’re pushed down again and again. When we’re human. When we work so hard for seemingly nothing.

And when we have people addicted to power trying to strip all of those qualities from us to pad their own wallets and egos. I’m sick of it.

You folks, my friends, my dear people, I want to reach out to every single one of you and ask, what do we do to fix these problems we face? I personally have no idea. It’s complex and befuddling. I’m just one person, a white girl from Indiana – what can I possibly do to make the world a better place?

I think the answer is to showcase people like Dottie and others who are much smarter than I am.

Dottie has dedicated her entire life to making the world a better place. I want to be just like her.

There are others on the same mission. It’s Sunday. Football day. And there will be controversies. Here is one man’s response to a valid concern that many Americans have about black athletes taking a knee during the National Anthem.

This is Beto O’Rourke of Texas:

Sorry for the ads, I don’t know how to avoid them.

He is thoughtful and considerate. I respect that.

I’m privileged by being born in America with the correct color skin. Many of my friends don’t understand the plight of everyone else, or care, or think about it. Some of them do care and they are as frustrated as I am.

One man cannot solve these complex problems. It’s going to take all of us, voicing our opinions without fear of hatred and death threats.

Don’t believe the hype, don’t believe the lies. We are Americans. And we are good. There is no need to make America great again. We’re already great.

We can do better and we will. I believe that.

Thank you.

 

Cheerful Gazania

I planted this little cutie at work today and it made me happy for multiple reasons.

For one, I’m planting flowers in late October, because that’s life in Phoenix, Arizona. Another reason is that it’s such a cheerful flower – I love Gazanias! So cute!

Also, most importantly, Gazanias remind me of mr_subjunctive at Plants Are the Strangest People, because they are the official celebratory flower of that blog. I like thinking about mr_s, and I realized it’s been too long since I blogged myself or read other people’s blogs.

So thanks, little flower, for reminding me that it feels good to share the plant love.

Let’s…

…hear it for baby leaves. They’re amazing, right?

Grow, baby, grow!

You’re the most adorable thing I’ve seen all day! (Even cuter than the baby quails I saw today. Although it was close – baby quails are super sweet.)

Happy Birthday Dottie!

Please say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our beloved Expert Dottie, who officially became a nonagenarian today.

90 years old is an impressive feat. To do it with style and grace is extraordinary. Happy birthday Dottie! We love you!

(photos courtesy of Cindy Correll)

 

Before You Plant…

…certain plants in the garden, you should know their reproductive habits. Take Sage for example. Before you plant, you should find out how much Sage throws itself around the yard.

When I moved into this house, there was one Sage plant that a previous resident had planted. Since then, that one plant has multiplied. Quite a bit. Now that it is blooming, it’s easy to spot the babies.

Look at how many there are!

Here’s a Sage:

There’s a Sage:

Everywhere a Sage, Sage:

I voted to pull them, my landlady voted to keep them. And so, this is one large family of Sage.

I guess I should be grateful it’s not Chamisa.

Do you have plants in your garden that are as prolific as my Sage? If you feel like sharing your experiences, please do so in the comments section.

Starting tomorrow, I’ll be taking a break from the blog as I’m going to be traveling. I’ve taken some random photos around Albuquerque and I’ve scheduled to post one per day while I’m gone. Another blogcation. Feel free to comment on the photos – I’ll still be connected while I’m away from the Duke City. I’ll catch you on the flipside!

[Monday] Island Life

At the risk of making my readers on the East Coast unhappy, I’m going to show off photos from my recent trip to Puerto Rico. It was snowing in Albuquerque while I was on the island, so I understand if some of you want to punch me right now.

We started the trip in Old San Juan, exploring adorable streets like this one:

Buildings were colorful, the people very laid back.

Another typical street:

We made our way to El Morro, an old fort on the tip of the island. There was a cool cemetery there.

This is the view from the fort:

And looking the other direction:

Strangely, this is the only photo I got of the actual fort:

I guess you’ll just have to use your imagination.

After exploring San Juan for a day, we boarded a tiny plane for two days on Culebra Island. It was a 30 minute flight. The pilot flew along the shore so I could take photos.

This is the island of Culebra:

Coming in for a landing!

It was a little dicey there at the end, but overall I loved that little plane ride.

Our hotel:

The view from the hotel was lovely, a nice little bay:

I didn’t take a lot of photos those couple of days…mostly because we were doing island things, like snorkeling and swimming with sea turtles.

But on our last day there, before boarding our flight, we drove the golf cart all over (the island is only seven miles long), and I brought my camera along for that.

This was my favorite beach, Zoni – it was so beautiful, and a sea turtle nesting site:

This was a view from the golf cart as we were leaving Zoni Beach:

Check out this incredible Bougainvillea hedge:

It went on forever:

Oh wait, I did get a photo of the fort, from the air on the way back to the main island:

And now the plant portion of this blog post.

As you can imagine, there were lots of plants that I was unfamiliar with, and lots of plants that I recognized but couldn’t believe they were growing the way they were growing.

Like I’d never seen Fiddle Leaf Figs (Ficus lyrata) growing in the wild (I’ve only ever seen them as houseplants):

I saw lots of plants growing outdoors that I’d only previously seen as indoor plants. Like these Tradescantia plants:

And this Dracaena marginata:

Is this a Pothos (Epipremnum) growing outside?

So cool!

I wouldn’t have guessed these Dracaena reflexa ‘Song of India’ plants would be fine growing outdoors either, but there they were, happy as anything:

And now, a few random island pics that I just found on my phone:

And finally, before I go, a quick story. Before leaving the island of Culebra, we were eating lunch at Zaco’s Tacos. They had an upper patio, and a lower one – we were sitting on the upper patio. We were minding our own business, when suddenly we heard a big ruckus, followed by a waitress’s bloodcurdling scream.

Turned out, an iguana fell out of a tree, landed on the slanted roof, then slid off and landed with a thud on the lower patio, a couple of feet from the terrified waitress.

Lemme tell ya, nothing brings an entire restaurant together like an iguana falling from the sky.

He was quickly surrounded by cell phone cameras.

He was unharmed, but no one could give him his dignity back.

[Thursday] Plant Pride! Plant Pride!

[Wednesday] Sidewalk Decor

I hereby decree Damianita daisy to be the Unconquerable Queen of All Downtrodden Places Forever and Always.

Your Honor, I salute you!