Nearly June

For the first time in five days the sun was out. We barely got a third of an inch of rain this week, but the yard enjoyed the spike in humidity and the lower temperatures.

The first plant pictured here is a chocolate flower, which bloomed just this morning. I started this one from seed back in February. It does indeed smell strongly of chocolate when in bloom, I could smell it from the back porch when I stepped outside this morning. I'm very pleased with this plant, I've read that germinating these from seed is extremely difficult, and out of six or seven that I planted, this is the only one that survived past the sprouting stage.

Another one that's just bloomed from seed are these vincas, which I haphazardly threw into a planter box with some pepper seeds. The entire planter is now crammed full with both. The peppers seems to be outracing the vincas, but this one managed to come up through the peppers and bloom. There are maybe three or four others underneath the canopy of pepper leaves.

The yellow orchid vine that's growing on the front of the house, has transitioned from blooming to putting out these interesting seed pods. In years past, I've been lucky to get a handful of these, but this year there are dozens of them. The plant is on a drip system, so I don't know why this year is any different than last, but I hope to harvest some of these seeds when they dry up, and try starting some new vines.

Calomondins' Gone Wild

Despite our heat, now that we've picked most of the ripe fruit off the tree, it's blooming like crazy yet again.

A Different Kind Of Garden Post

Here are a few more shots taken recently from around the yard. Today was about the 200th straight day over 100. Well, at least it seems like it. Actually, in all honesty, you really get used to it after about the first week. If you get up early enough in the morning, you an catch a slight chill in the air off the back porch (it was 70 at 5:30am today, for example).

The orange jubilee are continuing their conquest of the south side of the yard. Eventually they'll grow together, and I'll have to take a machete through them to make a path. At least that's my eventual goal. The larger ones on the left are shedding something fierce, I don't know if it's because I'm watering them too much or not enough, but they've thinned out almost to the point that I'm starting to worry about them a bit.

Here's a shot from off the back porch, still facing the south side of the house.

A shot through the trees, of the back porch and pergola.

The Chilean mesquite in the setting sun. Come June I'll have to buy one of those saws on a pole to thin this thing out before the monsoon hits. Waaay too top heavy to withstand any serious wind storms, which are commonplace come July.

On the complete opposite side of the house, the Mulga continues to thrive on very little water. It hasn't formed much of a canopy, seems to be growing straight up and narrow, but hopefully it will fill out as it gets older.

And finally, another shot of a different cardinal vine blooming. This one is barely two inches tall, and yet it's started blooming, go figure.

More Blooms

Here are some more pictures from around the yard.

For starters, a blooming cardinal vine that's out in the deck planter. I have three that have come up there, one along the house, and three more under a mesquite tree. If they can survive our June heat, they'll take off during the monsoon, running to about 15 feet.



One of my dahlias has finally bloomed. I have one other one that's struggling to survive, and one other unfortunate bastard that's decided now is a good time to finally sprout. Before I leave for South Carolina in early June, I'm seriously pondering cutting these back to the ground (assuming the leaves will be dead by then from the heat), and transplanting them into a pot that can be moved to the shade. These plants don't take to our afternoon sun that well, and the mequite they're planted under isn't offering much solace.

The creeping trumpet vine on the north side of the house is covered in blooms now, here is another sampling. The blooms that receive less light are more vivid/less faded.

Here is what's called a teddy bear sunflower, from a packet of Veggie Tale seeds that we bribed Brenna with to keep going through Home Depot a few months ago. Most of these that I planted have turned black in the heat before they were able to bloom, but this one made it. Not sure why they're called teddy bear sunflowers.

And finally, our nectarine tree, which refused to leaf out when it was in the ground and in the sun all day during our mild temps, has decided to leaf out like crazy, now that it's in a pot on the porch, where it's getting shade half the day. Not condusive to any blooming or fruiting, but I'll maybe try putting it back in the ground next year once it's formed some roots (it was planted as a bareroot). Our asian pear tree isn't faring so well, using this same practice of pot planting.

Another Yard Update

A few more pictures here for you. This was our 6th day in a row over 100, and the next seven are going to be much the same. Unless something freak happens, our streak of days over 100 will probably last another 60 days until the monsoon gets here.

At any rate, I've been watering the yard relentlessly, and everything is still hanging in there. It won't be until June that things will start laying over from the heat. I cringe thinking about the water bill that's out there lurking in the shadows.

I've managed to nurse four or five cardinal vines through sprouting, and with some help of shade cloth and afternoon shade under the mesquite, they're starting to take off. The one pictured here is in my deck planter, and it's tendrils are reaching out to grab whatever they can.

Our chaste tree is blooming, and is very fragrant. After moving this poor plant all over the yard trying to find a place for it, it's found it's home in an old whiskey barrel.

Both the Li and the Lang jujubes are forming fruit, although I seriously doubt that they'll mature in our 110+ heat come June. You never know, though, I'd love to get two crops from these trees, we always have one in November, but never in the summer.

Our chinese pistache tree is also continuing to grow, which is unusual for it this far into the hotter weather. Perhaps I've finally figured out how to properly water it. I love the color of the leaves when they're first pushing out.

Pacing Myself

It's fascinating to see that some of our plants are still blooming merrily along, despite the 103 degree weather we're having. We'll see what happens when the furnace cranks up another 10 degress in June.

Here's some time lapse shots of the creeping trumpet vine blooming.

The blanket flowers continue to bloom, as long as they're watered regularly.

And finally, a shot of my ten cent pepper seeds that are now about four or five inches tall. They're doing well in the full sun, again, as long as they're soaked about every other day.

Hot Yard

As we near ongoing 100 degree weather, here are some shots of things around the yard.

Our Thompson Seedless grape has started putting out some fruit. This grape has never made it to maturity, I hung some pie pans nearby in hopes of scaring the birds away, we'll see if that helps.

Here is a new flame (puple) seedless on the same (north) side of the yard, nice cluster, if it will survive the birds. Might buy some netting.

The creeping trumpet vine is anything but creeping, taking over the north side of the house, and getting close to blooming in numerous places.

Here's a wider shot of this monster.

Underneath it, I've hidden some delicate plants that may or may not survive our summer. Come June there may not be much shade against the house, so I'm hoping this vine will offer some.

Here's an updated shot of my larger columbine, still blooming, but losing leaves in a hurry. I've harvested hundreds of seeds, so I'm ready to start over if this plant doesn't survive.

My smaller columbine, which has yet to bloom (and may not with the heat in the rise), still looks pretty good.

And finally, the ultimate expiriment in futility. This is a sprout from a pink lady apple that I ate the other day. The seed was already sprouting inside the apple when I found it, so I thought if it's hardy enough to grow inside the apple, maybe it will stand a chance if I keep it in the shade.

Calomondin Harvest

As mentioned on the Brenna blog, Brenna and I picked a good number of calomondins off our tree this morning. A number of them were still various shades of green, but I've discovered that their flavor is just a good, and waiting for them to ripen to their deep orange, in my opinion, only takes from the tree being able to produce more fruit. At any rate, here is our processing pictures, from picking, to slicing, to juicing. We have juice for two pieces and a cake at this point, with maybe another 40 fruit left on the tree.