My First Pumpkin Carving Attempt

I call him 'Keith Richards'...ok, well maybe not. Something tells me Keith would not be drinking a wine cooler, no? :)

Anyhow, I didn't grow this pumpkin, but I've heard that pumpkins can and do grow here in Arizona. I'll have to try it next year...I wonder if the seeds of this pumpkin will work? I absolutely love and devour anything with pumpkin flavor...including any beverage from Starbucks. Not too long now till Thanksgiving and pumpkin pie! Yum!

Brazilian Blue Cactus- Pilosocereus azureus

Spectacular! No, I don't own this but saw one earlier today at my local nursery. I am so tempted to bring one home; I didn't even realize a cactus could be blue. It was only after I came home and researched it that I found out most blue cactus are Brazilian in origin, like this one. That being the case, it's obviously destined to be somewhere in my life. They say it likes full heat and sunlight...check. But it's only frost hardy to about 40F...probably would have to keep it in a container so I can move it around as needed. Hmm... I'll have to see if anyone else in Phx has had any success with it.

Avocado- the Holy Grail of Ambitious Phoenix Gardeners

This isn't an avocado tree. It's actually an orange tree on the east side of my house. But when I look at it, like those who foolishly dream of climbing Everest, I dream of planting an avocado tree underneath its wide lateral canopy, and seeing if I can be one of the blessed few who actually get an avocado to survive in Phoenix and produce tasty fruit.
Of course, those who live in Phoenix know that it's completely illogical to wait 7-10 years to get a decent fruit from a mature avocado tree. After all, the ones that are shipped to us from California only cost $0.50-1.00 each, and taste delicious so why bother?
But ever since I heard it's impossible, it seems to entice me even more!
Seriously, though, the east side, as you see here, is pretty much a blank canvass...not lots of room, but enough for something...hmmm...what shall it be?

Same Bush: Different Shades!

Plants are such mysterious critters. For example, I've got these 2 Ilex Vomitoria (dwarf holly), side by side, seemingly with the same environment. But one is a healthy deep green, and the other looks like it's suffering from chlorosis or some other ailment! Could it be poor drainage(a block of caliche underneath)? Amount of shade versus light? Dog peed on it?

Strawberry: The Lone Survivor

Happy Birthday, Little Fella! This strawberry was actually 1 of 2 strawberries I bought last October. The other one died in July, of course, as most strawberries here in Phoenix do. The funny thing is, this one was definitely a runt! But I think this worked to his advantage because he remained sandwiched between a huge, sprawling tomato plant and a large mum. Natural shade, protection from our intense sun and heat(and yes, I realize this is not a sentence, but it's my blog and I can use poetic license, no? lol). Once I removed the dying tomato, I put a bit of white shade cloth to protect him from afternoon sun(he's on the south side of my house). As you can see, he's got a few brown-crispies, but I'll pull those off once it cools down a bit more(still in the high 90s this coming week) . Should be a great crop for next spring, since frost isn't so much a problem (I believe they're good down to about 25F). Yay, Mr, Strawberry!

Madagascar Palm with Five Branches

My Maddie had a rough year...first, we had that horrible hail storm last winter that damaged all its leaves, then we had the 2 late frosts. And if that weren't enough, I transplanted him from a container into the ground in March! Poor thing! I'd heard that when the top becomes frost-damaged, it will create offshoot branches...that's exactly what mine did. You can see the new branches sprouting from the sides. His leaves always look a bit wavy and distressed from the summer heat (I've had him for 2 years now), but there are a lot of baby leaves starting to sprout. Surrounding him are some verbena, which also survived(barely) the summer heat (I did lose one verbena, which accounts for empty space to the left). Next year I'll probably just plant some vincas around it and make life easy!

After a Long, Hot, Summer in Phoenix...

I actually tried to kill off this poor Chinese Pistache tree at the beginning of summer because it was so lopsided(nearly a 45° angle), and I didn't have the patience to wait for it to straighten itself out. At that point it was probably about 6 ft tall. All that remained was a 2 ft stump, hidden behind the now scorched (but still alive) daisies. But this thing obviously has a will to live! Out of the stump came 5 perfectly symmetrical branches, evenly spaced like a starfish's limbs. Not sure what will happen long term, since I've heard trimming trees that low (topping) can cause some issues. But it seems happy, so why not let it live for now?