Some people think the fall bloom in the desert is even prettier than the spring bloom!

The canna lily provides tropical-appearing foliage and clusters of bright flowers that attract hummingbirds.

Canna lilies also make interesting seed pods.

Just waiting for its next meal. . .

This Griffith Buck shrub rose is both hardy and rapidly repeating.

What, you ask, is the Greater Roadrunner, the State Bird of New Mexico, doing sitting on a fence?

It is hanging out, waiting for what it hopes will be its next meal to come to a bird feeder! I was unaware that roadrunners ate other birds until a couple of weeks ago. A roadrunner was sitting by a hummingbird feeder, and it jumped up and tried to snatch a hummingbird in mid-flight. Look at that beak! Look at that claw! I moved the hummingbird feeder that day. I’m in the process now of moving all the bird feeders away from the block wall.

The roadrunner can eat all the lizards in the woodpile it wants!

‘Gemini’ is a great rose for the desert southwest. This photo was shot on August 15, 2008. You can see that the rose does not lose its size, form, or color even in the heat of summer. Flowers generally appear singly, one-bloom-to-a-stem, but ‘Gemini’ is capable of making very large sprays. One year I had a spray with 13 florets; this spray has “only” five.

If you want to grow only one hybrid tea in the desert southwest, ‘Gemini’ is a great choice!

August is the best time of the year for hummingbirds in the Albuquerque region.

The wonderful little black-chinned hummers come in the spring, and are the last to leave in the fall.

But in August, we can also expect the rufous hummers and broad-tailed hummers to pass through on their migrations south for the winter. Both are here in abundance now.

The little Calliope makes an occassional appearance; I have not seen one yet this year, but I am still hoping. . . And, in the meantime, I’m enjoying the abundance of other hummers here now.

This “little” guy has really grown! He’s not quite an adult, and he still has a few downy baby feathers, but the transformation in such a short period of time is amazing!