Category Archives: Desert Southwest

2007′s First Hybrid Tea

Posted on May 4, 2007 by Susan

The first hybrid tea bloom of the year is always exciting in the high desert. One never knows exactly when to expect it, nor what it will look like. What have the late cold spells and especially the prolonged high winds done to the buds? Have thrips already damaged the bloom (for those of us [...]

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Death and Rebirth in the Desert

Posted on April 14, 2007 by Susan

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 [...]

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Another Challenge: Late Hard Freezes

Posted on April 14, 2007 by Susan

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 [...]

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Wind: Another Challenge in the Desert Southwest

Posted on April 12, 2007 by Susan

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 [...]

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My First Hummingbird of the Year!

Posted on April 10, 2007 by Susan

Less than 48 hours after posting “Attention, Hummingbird Lovers” and getting my hummingbird feeders up (three weeks late!), I saw my first hummingbird of the year feeding at one of the feeders.  This is the earliest I have seen a hummer in my garden any year.  It was a Black Chin male, and I hope he [...]

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Attention, Hummingbird Lovers

Posted on April 8, 2007 by Susan

The Desert Southwest is fortunate to be home, at least part of the year, to an amazing variety of birds. The low desert, especially southeastern Arizona and around Tucson, have hummers during the winter months. Here in the high desert we have them only during the warmer part of the year.
I generally put up the [...]

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Why Hope Springs Eternal for Gardeners

Posted on April 5, 2007 by Susan

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:

After The Big Snow of December 2006:

The cleanup was not completed until early March, and Mermaid had to be sawed off at [...]

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Early Spring in the High Desert: Fruit Trees

Posted on April 1, 2007 by Susan

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 [...]

Posted in Challenges of Gardening, Desert Southwest, Fruit Trees, General, Peach Trees, Pear Trees | Leave a comment

The Winter of the Big Snow!

Posted on March 17, 2007 by Susan

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 [...]

Posted in Challenges of Gardening, Desert Southwest, General, Roses | 1 Comment