11/26/10

Amazing Micro-Environments in the High Desert

'Gentle Giant' in the garden of Lois Brandt

Yesterday I posted a photo of a rose in my yard, covered with snow from the night before.

My mom lives less than a mile from me, but her yard is much warmer than mine. I was quite surprised to see that she still had hybrid teas blooming on Thanksgiving Day.

Last night was very cold, and the skies were clear, so I imagine that today even her roses will be done. But what a beautiful little surprise her roses on Thanksgiving were.

10/6/10

Fall Thunderstorm Moving In at Sunset

Thunderstorm arriving at sunset

Summer monsoon storms usually arrive from the west. This fall thunderstorm (dark cloud overhead) came in from the northeast, leaving a beautiful sunset followed by a LOUD thunderstorm and not too much rain.

07/25/09

Sunset during Monsoon Season

Sunset during monsoon season

Sunsets in the Desert Southwest are nearly always spectacular. Storms during monsoon season can be visually impressive. This is a storm rolling in over the Sandia Mountains last night around sunset; the thunder and rain arrived shortly after dark.

05/4/07

One Albuquerque Garden: A Private Oasis

Thanks to the owner of this garden for allowing me to photograph it and use the photos here. All photographs were taken May 4, 2007. Click on the thumbnails for a larger view.

This is a very small city garden, but is artfully arranged to utilize a variety of plants. Roses are the featured plant throughout the garden, but are just beginning to bloom in early May. At the time of our visit, the brightest spots in the garden came from clematis. The clematis was truly spectacular.

‘The President’

‘The President’ with rose ‘Gold Medal’

‘Ernest Markham’

‘Ernest Markham”

As soon as walked into the garden, I was hit by the sweet scent of an Oriental lily. The flower was as lovely as the scent:

Oriental Lily

Here is a sampling of roses in this garden. There will be many more in bloom later this month. Continue reading →

05/4/07

2007’s First Hybrid Tea

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 who don’t like to spray, or spray very little)?

My first hybrid tea bloom this year was Gemini, one of my very favorite hybrid teas that thrives in the Desert Southwest. Someone once asked me how I could love a rose that did not have much of a scent. Take a look:

(Gemini, Keith Zary hybridizer, AARS 2000)

What is not to love? This rose blooms prolifically from first bloom to frost, has essentially disease-free foliage, and perfectly formed blooms.

According to Bob Martin, well-known rosarian, it was the top exhibition hybrid tea in 2005 (the 2006 data has not yet been provided). Also check here.

The fact that it is a top exhibition hybrid tea should not frighten away desert gardeners who just want a nice rose for the garden. This is a rose that thrives in the Southwest, is relatively disease-free, has many beautiful blooms that hold their size even in the heat, and can provide a lot of pleasure with routine care.

It is a hybrid tea that I can recommend for anyone in the Southwest who wants to grow a great rose!

04/15/07

Mother-Daughter Clerking Team at the Tucson Rose Show

Yesterday I had the privilege to judge at the Tucson Rose Show. Judging roses is always fun, but the Tucson show was especially enjoyable this year.

One of the things that made it so enjoyable was meeting new clerks, Cathy and Lena Rose, a mother-daughter team. Lena is eight years old, and not only clerked, but also did the art work for the cover of the printed schedule! As if that were not enough, she also entered an arrangement, and won the Novice Arranger Award! Way to go, Lena!

Mom didn’t do too badly either. Cathy won the Mini Royalty and Mini Silver Certificate in arrangements.

It was really wonderful to see this mother-daughter team involved in such a wonderful hobby together!

Lena and Cathy Rose, clerking team at the Tucson Rose Show

Lena’s winning arrangement in the Novice category

Mom Cathy’s Mini Royalty and Mini Silver winning arrangement

(More arrangements from the Tucson Rose Show here.)

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):

“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:

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

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.Â 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, atÂ this time of the year as much for the winds as for the temperatures.Â Nothing can dry a plant out as quickly as the wind!

For the last several days we have had very windy weather.Â On April 10, we had gusts up to 40Â mph, but steady winds around 25 mph.Â Not good for plants, especially tender young shoots on roses.Â A lot ofÂ 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)

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

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.]

04/10/07

My First Hummingbird of the Year!

Less than 48 hours after posting “Attention,Â 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.Â This is the earliest I have seen a hummer in my garden any year.Â It was a Black Chin male, and I hope he likes the looks of the place for a home for the season!

04/9/07

Mesa Community College Rose Garden

Friday, April 6, I had the good fortune to visit the Mesa Community College Rose Garden.Â The Garden is sponsored by the Mesa-East Valley Rose Society, and was designed by LeRoy Brady, who has done much of the fabulous landscaping along Arizona highways.Â A full history of the Garden can be found here.

In spite of the 95 F degree temperature, the roses looked fresh and beautiful. In the High Desert roses won’t be blooming for at least another month, but in Phoenix, “The Valley of the Sun,” they were in full bloom. The Garden was an oasis on a very warm day.

Click on thumbnails for a larger view.

Overview of general area