Glorious Rain...Ahhh

I'll try not to ramble on and on about the rain we received this morning, I briefly covered that on our family blog site. I was, however, fortunate enough to have a slow day at work today, and at lunch snuck out back to plant my passion flower vine on the north side of the house. I also went out front and dug up three palo verde tree's that sprouted about a month ago from neighboring trees, and put them in the back yard until I can figure out what to do with them. Also dug up a purple sage bush that went with nothing in the front yard, and planted it amongst the four I have in the back.

Other projects I have lined up for the yard:

- Digging out a sandbox area near the back porch for Brenna

- Filling in the last dirt area in the back yard with gravel to match what's

already been laid down (giving up on the idea of building a gazebo, not enough

room, time, or money to attempt such a project)

- Digging out a trench on the north side of the house for planting a row of grape

vines, for when it cools off in a few months

What Is This?

Question for the Arid Gardener group, this plant sprouted back in May and has grown about 8 feet up a post on an arbor, but I have no idea what it is. I thought at first it might be Queens Wreath, but the leaves aren't textured, they're perfectly smooth. It's hard to tell in this picture, but the vine has put out little white pods of some sort, that are kind of diamond shaped, and very small... they grow at the base of the leaves, and never seem to bloom or even drop off eventually. Any idea what this thing is?

Rain? Well, no.

The hundred thousand dollar question of the day, how did it NOT rain at our house tonight? Emily's parents, who live 10 minutes east of us, got 2 1/2 inches of rain, and we had barely enough to wet the ground.

Having grown up in the South, where it rains on a regular basis, following the weather here, especially in the summer, has become an (unfortunate) obsession. We're located on the radar image above (thank Weather Channel) right below the "n" in Phoenix, on the Maricopa/Pinal County border. How did it NOT rain here?

All I can say at this point is my yard is jealous... and still thirsty.

(Hot) Saturday In The Yard


I spent last night taking the electric hedge trimmers to our yellow orchid vine which in short of 2 years has taken over the front railing on our porch, and ran along the house to our front door. It's now approximately 40 ft in length and is growing about a foot a week, which is a little much to keep up with. Below is a close up of its blooms, the vine peaks in April and is a pain in the ass the rest of the year.










You know it hasn't rained in a while when the bouganvelia (spelling butchered) is in full "bloom". The plant's colors become more vivid the longer it goes without water. Seems a little sadistic to me, to starve it for its color, but whatever works, I suppose.

Today, because I'm a glutton for punishment, I purchased two passion vines, one that will have 5 inch wide blood red flowers and another that apparently will grow to over 50 feet in length, with up to 12 inch (edible) fruit. The former vine will have to go on the north side of the house, since it's zoned for areas other than here (thank you again Home Depot for selling plants in this area that can't survive direct Arizona sunlight), and the later I'm unsure where to plant at the moment. Until October mercifully arrives, anything that gets planted right now will have to be on the north side of the house, or under a tree. I'll ponder this further when the sun goes away in a few hours, I don't know which is worse, 108 with no humidity, or 95 with.

Now THAT'S A Thunderhead

Tis the monsoon season, and like clockwork every afternoon around 2 or 3, another storm builds over the Supersition Mountains (partially hidden in the trees at the bottom of this shot). More often than not these storms roll off to the north and we get a lot of wind and a few drops of rain at best. This past Friday, however, around 1am, we had a nice soaking rain, almost an inch. Seeing as I was too cheap to pay for an irrigation system in our backyard, I appreciate any help from upstairs I can get.

With about two, maybe three weeks left in the season, here's hoping there is more rain yet to come.

Bird On A Wire

This afternoon while sitting around the house doing absolutely nothing (which is what I do best, at least recently), I was fortunate enough to finale get a picture of one of our resident hummingbirds, or free insect control, whatever you like. We also saw one today with a black crown, and half of its upper beak missing, which led to a lengty conspiracy conversation with Emily (was the hummingbird involved in a gang fight, etc.). I was unable to get a shot of it, but hope to spend countless more hours on the couch awaiting its return. Until then...

Green Thumb

Come here to see what's growing on (hardyharhar) in the back yard at the house.