Category Archives: Challenges of Gardening

04/14/07

Death and Rebirth in the Desert

The desert and the native plants growing there never cease to amaze me.

Prickly pear cactus is a native plant used in a lot of landscaping in Tucson and the Sonoran Desert in general.

Yesterday I saw this large piece of prickly pear that had been broken off its main stem and roots by a late freeze followed by high winds (click to enlarge the picture):

Broken Prickly Pear

“Oh, well, that’s the way it goes,” I thought. But closer inspection showed something rather amazing: the dying plant was giving birth to new prickly pear cacti:

New plants arising from dying prickly pear

This is just another example of why hope springs eternal among gardeners (and plant lovers) in the Southwest Desert.

04/14/07

Another Challenge: Late Hard Freezes

This weekend I am in Tucson, located in the Sonoran Desert of the southwest, rather than the high Chihuahuan Desert in which Albuquerque is located. Many years ago I lived here for seven years, and although many things about the city have changed, the plants have remained pretty much the same. Palm trees, which do not grow in the Albuquerque area, are pretty much a staple of cities in the Sonoran Desert.

The first thing I noticed when I arrived yesterday was that the palm trees looked very strange: the centers were green, but the outer fronds were brown and looked dead. I did not recall ever seeing all of them look like that before (click to enlarge image).

Palm trees, Tucson 4/13/07

“What happened to the palm trees?” I asked.

“All the palms had been trimmed up this spring, but after that there was a late freeze that lasted several days.”

In all the years I lived in Tucson that had never happened. Fortunately, the palms seem to be recovering well.

I have certainly seen that happen to roses in Albuquerque, and I hope I have no pictures of that to show you later this season.

(There are some photos of roses with this type of damage, however, and an excellent discussion here.)

04/12/07

Wind: Another Challenge in the Desert Southwest

New Mexico is the only place I have ever lived where Spring is not my favorite season.  And that is because of the high winds that are a staple of Spring in the high desert.

Gardeners here learn very quickly to keep their plants well-hydrated, at this time of the year as much for the winds as for the temperatures.  Nothing can dry a plant out as quickly as the wind!

For the last several days we have had very windy weather.  On April 10, we had gusts up to 40 mph, but steady winds around 25 mph.  Not good for plants, especially tender young shoots on roses.  A lot of new leaves on my roses are looking a little ragged now, but the worst damage was to a new cane, which was snapped completely off:

(Click on thumbnails for larger view)

Cane snapped by high wind 4/10/07

The rose looked pretty bedraggled with the shoot just hanging there:

Wind damage 4/10/07

Fortunately, this is not the kind of damage that kills a rose. It can be frustrating to see promising shoots damaged so that they have to be removed, but the rest of the plant is fine.

Wind – just another challenge in the desert Southwest.

[ETA 4/14/07: Apparently wind was widespread across the entire Southwest, including California, at about this same time. For photos and discussion of damage in the high desert of California, there is an excellent link here.]

04/5/07

Why Hope Springs Eternal for Gardeners

In the first post of this blog, I bemoaned the effects of the freak snow storm in late December on Mermaid, the climbing hybrid bracteata that was the largest rose in my yard.

Spring 2006:

Mermaid

Mermaid

Mermaid

After The Big Snow of December 2006:

Mermaid After The Big Snow

The cleanup was not completed until early March, and Mermaid had to be sawed off at ground level. I expected her to come back, but I was not sure that she would.

Today, much to my surprise, she is showing several shoots:

Mermaid Coming Out

Mermaid has indeed survived the Winter of The Big Snow. I don’t know how long it will be before she is back to her full glory, but I have no doubt she will reach it!  Photos of her progress will be posted here throughout the growing season.

04/1/07

Early Spring in the High Desert: Fruit Trees

Here in Albuquerque, the first things to bloom in my yard in the spring are bulbs and the dwarf peach, Bonanza. I have grown this peach tree in a 3/4 whiskey barrel since the late 1980’s. No matter how cold or how warm the winter, it has never failed to bloom. This year, after the very heavy snows but relatively mild winter temperatures, the blooms were spectacular.

‘Bonanza’ bloom Continue reading →

03/17/07

The Winter of the Big Snow!

Those of us who live in the Desert Southwest know how lucky we are. Those of us who live in New Mexico, “Land of Enchantment,” know that more people come here to vacation and to ski than actually live here. They come not only for the recreation, but for the clear blue skies and brilliance and intensity of the light. You will see colors here like nowhere else.

Look at the sky at sunrise on Christmas Eve 2006. This is not unusual here; this is very typical of sunrises and sunsets in the Desert Southwest (does this remind you of a Wilson Hurley painting?).

Christmas Eve Sunrise 2006

While the natural landscape is gorgeous, some of us do like to do a little gardening to grow some of our favorite plants, a decision that is not without some controversy. Some of those controversies will be discussed here over time.

Nature itself can be pretty cooperative for the most part, and if the plants are watered and fed appropriately can do quite well here. But every now and then Nature can toss a real ringer at gardeners here. Continue reading →