Bulb flowers are so very charming and when they appear in the yard – an enticing sign of spring. But did you know you can have bulb flowers indoors in mid-winter? It’s called “forcing” when you encourage them to flower earlier than their regular time. But very little force is […]
Want spring flowers? (Well, duh?!) Both bulbs and wildflowers need to be planted in autumn so that the plant part of them can grow now and produce showy flowers in spring. Winter annuals are a different story (read on!). Cover image: “Arranging Daffodils.” 1894 oil painting by Carl Thompson. Showers […]
Quoting myself. “Yes, you can have a lush looking yard and use little water in the desert Southwest. Sounds impossible – but it is not. All that is needed is a careful selection of plants that are already adapted to live here” and paperflower is one such plant. Cover image […]
Lush looking perennial plants but also low water use in the desert Southwest. Sounds impossible – but it is not. All that is needed is a careful selection of plants. Plants with colorful flower because who doesn’t like some bright colorful flowers?! Cover image above, hesperaloe, a native plant that […]
Passion vine, passionflower vine, passion plant. There are many names for this vine with striking flowers and tasty fruits. Passion Vine Called variously passion flower, passion fruit and just plain passion vine, the genus Passiflora has over 500 species, most with edible fruit. As with virtually all cultivated garden plants, […]
Ice Break will soon be here in the lower elevations, and that means that summer is not too far behind. For those of you new to our area, “Ice Break on the XYZ River” is the first day the temperature hits 100 degrees in your town. This event is celebrated […]
Iris are enchanting flowers and are just starting to flower now in parts of the Southwest. I appreciate iris because the plants are tough as nails, and grow well in the alkaline soils of the Southwest. They will need more water than a cactus to keep going, but they need […]
Time for some colorful heartease. Never heard of heartease? You may know it by it’s more modern names – violet or pansy. Why Heartease Now? February is upon us and Phil the groundhog has warned of 6 more weeks of winter.* February can be a dreary month, often […]
Borage is a beautiful flowering plant that likes the cooler months of Southwest winter – at least in the Low, Middle, and High Desert. On those Cool Plateau and Mountain elevations, sorry it’s too cold – but! But – this is a good cool season flower you can plant in […]
I was all set for this article to be about Veterans Day poppies. Then I discovered that, in America at least, they are generally considered Memorial Day poppies, sold to aid veterans. But I decided to post this anyway – because right now is the time to plant the […]
