MrsGreenThumb

I am a lover of horticulture, gardening and the environment. At age 8, I sent away for a package of Zinnia seeds for 10 cents and I've been hooked ever since. After 25 years of being self-employed, I retired. That only lasted 4 years and I now work in a water conservation program: I buy grass from homeowners who are willing to convert to desert landscaping and lose that thirsty green stuff. I pursue what interests me and you can blame my sister for getting me into this blogging thing.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Welcome Spring











This has to be my favorite time of the year. The yard is wonderful. The beavertail cactus are blooming, there is nothing like those magenta flowers. All sorts of plants are vigorously pushing blossoms, the dissodia is rampant through the yard. Those are those small yellow mounds. It is commonly called dogweed, I have no clue why.


The lovely purple shrub is called desert sage. Sages (salvias) are one of the largest groups of plants. Their main characteristic is their fragrant foliage. You tear off a leaf and crush it to see if it has an odor. There are another group of shrubs called Texas Rangers that some people call sage but they really aren't.

These lovely small flowers greet visitors near my front door, they are angelita daisies and freesias. The freesias have a fragrance that compliments the purple stock on the other side of the walkway to the front door. A few years ago I went to Death Valley and saw fields of spring flowers that were purple, yellow and white. They say Mother Nature is the best designer and that combination of colors is prominent in my garden's color scheme.


I really like native plants in my landscape. The grasses are so graceful blowing in the wind, this is purple three awn grass. Looks beautiful but very invasive. I'm constantly hoeing up volunteer plants. Thats what you get when you use native plants, some are more opportunistic than other. Last but not least is one of our native penstemons, Eatons or firecracker penstemon. It's been a good spring here in the desert.

3 Comments:

Blogger Motherkitty said...

Your yard looks gorgeous. See, all that hard work has really paid off. You have a landscape that's worthy of HGTV. Love it.

April 23, 2007 4:38 AM  
Blogger Gary said...

Wonderful photos. People who have never been to the desert during a wet spring really don't know what they are missing. Everything is lovely.

April 25, 2007 7:47 PM  
Blogger Alipurr said...

your flowers are beautiful!!!
happy mother's day!
love you

May 13, 2007 3:54 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home