Resilience

I found this viola growing in the unwatered, unfertilized gravel part of our yard, which is regularly treated with a pre-emergent herbicide. I didn't plant violas this year; they don't usually do very well for me, and besides this is the wrong time of the year for them. In the Phoenix area, they should be planted in late fall for early spring blooming. I don't know where it came from, or how it managed to take root in the gravel, much less bloom, but it did.

Partly because I just watched "The Pursuit of Happyness" for the first time, I started thinking about resilience. Why is it that some people, who seemingly have all the cards stacked against them, are able to overcome such incredible hardship and not only survive, but thrive? Other people, who are dealt a pretty good hand in life, crumple and fall at the first ill wind that blows their way. It's not that adversity causes resilience, or being born with a silver spoon in one's mouth causes failure. If you could graph human lives as a set of Cartesian coordinates, where the x axis denotes easy vs hard circumstances/events, and the y axis denotes success/happiness with failure/despondency, there would be plenty of people in all four quadrants. I'd expect people to be in quadrants I and III; it's the ones in quadrants II and IV that I wonder about.

There are plants I've carefully researched, planted in a well-tilled area with all the weeds removed, watered and fertilized and mulched, and they never do much. Then there are plants like the viola, growing up through the gravel, and blooming against all odds. There is much that is mysterious about life, whether it be plants or people.

Under my own vine and fig tree

It has been unusually cool today, and I have the day off, so I spent the morning pulling weeds in the gazebo area, mostly Mexican primrose that would otherwise take over the planet. I was feeling sluggish and "blah" until I did; it's amazing how a little time outdoors can lift the spirits, particularly when the temperature is pleasant and I'm actually making progress on something.

Some of the annuals (petunias, stock, nasturtiums) are beginning to look pretty scraggly, and the seedlings that will hopefully replace them are coming up. Honeysuckle and snail vine have replaced the lilac vine in blooming behind the gazebo, and it looks like the jasmine will bloom soon. I could really smell the honeysuckle while I was weeding. The Mexican primroses are beautiful now; I only wish they were more easily confined. As you can see in the picture above, they are growing into the lawn and up the hibiscus plants.

I saw one fig on the tiny tree we planted a few months ago and moved twice, and there appear to be what pass for blooms on the grapevine arbor. It made me think of Micah's vision that "they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid."

Backyard wanderings and musings

Enjoyed my backyard walk today, although I'm feeling rather morose in general about many things. Lots of zinnias coming up in the raised beds; most other things unrecognizable. Spent some time deadheading marigolds and snapdragons and scattering their seeds, in hopes that they will grow.

Roses are in full glory now; mostly Queen Elizabeth and Iceberg. The Black Cherry looks really good; Mr. Lincoln and Peace aren't doing much yet. Won't be long before the heat gets them, though.

Speaking of full glory, the invasive Mexican primroses look wonderful now. This includes the ones in the lawn and growing up the hibiscus, thevitia, and other places they do not belong. Too bad they won't (a) stay where I put them and (b) bloom for more than a few weeks in the year.

Grapevines over the arbor trellis may actually make it into an arbor this year. We're trying to prune the older ones, on the fence behind the lemon tree in hopes of actually getting edible fruit this year.

Hollyhocks are blooming; mostly yellow, some tinged with pink. No Punnet square representation here. I guess if I want red ones again I need to purchase new seed.

Romaine lettuce is still edible; everything else has gone to seed. We've picked a few strawberries, mostly from the hanging basket thing...those in the ground have been eaten by various nonvertebrate species. Peaches are golf ball size and although we aggressively thinned this year, probably too many for the tree. Apricots and nectarines are much smaller; a little more than marble sized for the most part. There are some mystery plants growing in the vegetable garden area that I haven't identified as yet.

One of the plumeria looks like it may actually put forth leaves. The other one has a dead-looking top that I cut off, hoping to inspire growth on some of the lower nodes. There are blossoms (I think) on the avocado tree that we are trying this year. The Carolina Jessamine I cut back is vigorously regrowing; that was obviously the correct thing to do and I should attack the others when I get the time and energy to do so.

Irrigation adventures and something else we wish we hadn't planted

We've spent the last couple of days working on (and being frustrated by) the irrigation system. When we first moved here, the landscape designer we consulted suggested that we run one line for trees, one line for shrubs, and one line for pots. This system would work well if we didn't also have to consider watering needs of annuals, perennials, and vegetables.
In an attempt to coordinate watering depth needs, we're trying the following this year:

Program A is for pots, and runs for 5 minutes once a day in winter, up to 3 times a day in the heat of the summer. We've found some mini-sprayers that generally work well, but need to be replaced periodically as the holes get clogged with mineral deposits.
Program B is for shrubs, including roses, and runs 2 gph drips for 2 hours, once a week in winter, increasing to 3 times a week in summer.
Program C is for vegetables and annuals/perennials, and runs for 10-15 minutes daily to weekly, depending on the temperature and whether there are new seedlings or established plants. We haven't found an ideal delivery system yet; we've tried various kinds of sprayers and soaker hose, none of which have watered as evenly as we would like. This year we're trying a couple of new things. For the raised beds, we've added a conversion kit to our existing lawn sprinklers that has a kind of mini-bubbler, and in the vegetable garden, we're trying a different kind of soaker hose.
Program D is for established trees, which need to be watered for more hours less frequently.

Once we figured out how to program this into the irrigation timer, we also needed to make changes to our existing system. We didn't get as far as we would have liked in this process, because we also had to trace down the source of several leaks in the current system which were putting large quantities of water where we did not want it...wasting water and money!

Another distraction/complication.... the water leveler in one of our ponds stopped working, and upon investigation we found that it was clogged by umbrella plant that had outgrown its pot and wrapped its tentacles around the float valve. Umbrella plant is an attractive pond plant, but is very difficult to keep in check. It outgrows its pots and puts down dense mats of roots that must be periodically trimmed. Unfortunately we did not do that as frequently as it is apparently needed, so dealing with the problem involved a wrestling the heavy pots, a power saw to cut the roots, accompanied by some mild cursing.

Garden wanderings

I find great pleasure in wandering through our backyard after work with a glass of wine, looking to see what's new. It's still relatively pleasant, although the temperature has gotten up into the 80s already, and it's pretty windy today.

I love strawberries, but we've been pretty unsuccessful with them so far. We have them planted in three new places this year that have lots of shade so hopefully they will survive the summer- under the orange tree, behind the gazebo, and in a hanging "as seen on TV" contraption on the east side of the house. The ones under the orange tree haven't done much, and I wonder if it is too shady. Dollarweed and nut sedge, unfortunately, are thriving there. The ones behind the gazebo look okay and have a few green strawberries. The problem there is the Mexican primrose that would take over if it could. The ones in the hanging basket seem to be doing the best. No competition, maybe?

The daylilies I dug up from under the orange tree, where they did nothing, and moved to one of the new raised beds, apparently survived the process, because they are putting up new shoots. There are lots of seedlings coming up in the beds at well, at yet unidentifiable. Hopefully they are the seeds I broadcast, and not more of the cursed Mexican primrose. More hollyhocks are blooming, although so far they are all yellow ones. Yellow must be dominant over pink. (I started with mixed colors several years ago) Nasturtiums still look great- some are climbing the trellises intended for vines. (as are the Mexican primroses). The roses aren't as showy this year as some years in the past, probably because we didn't prune them back in January as we usually do.

Tomato and pepper transplants aren't doing much. The grapes are taking off and we are trying to do a better job of pruning them this year, so that hopefully will have grapes larger than a match head. It looks like the two planted on an arched trellis in front of our hide-the-pool-equipment wall may actually cover the trellis this year as intended.

Things I wish I hadn't planted

There are two plants I wish I had not planted: Mexican petunia (Ruellia brittoniana) and Mexican primrose (Oenothera caespitosa) Although they are attractive (when blooming) and drought-tolerant plants, they are very invasive and difficult to eradicate from places I would prefer that they not be.

I originally planted Mexican primrose on a mound in our front yard, which is desert landscaped with gravel and scattered plants on drip irrigation. The mound had been suggested by a landscape designer we consulted when we first moved here and faced a large barren lot. I don't particularly like looking at colored gravel, and I thought the mound was boring, so I planted this pretty pink flower with the idea that it would spread and cover the mound with blooms. Big mistake.

First of all, it has been a battle to get it to cover the mound as planned. It would prefer to reseed itself in random areas of the yard where it is indistinguishable from weeds when it is not blooming. This resulted in several calls to our concerned HOA, which threatened fines if we did not remove the weeds from the gravel. It has also spread to our backyard, where it chokes out other things I'd rather have growing there. I pull it out on a daily basis and add it to the compost pile, but sometimes think it is winning the battle. It is a Hydra plant....pull up one, and several more arise to take its place.

Second, it doesn't have a particularly long blooming period. It is also susceptible to a beetle which eats holes in the leaves, leaving it alive but very tattered and weedy-looking with no blooms. Of course, the beetle prefers to attack just prior to the plant's limited flowering period so that we have the worst of both worlds: a ratty looking plant and no blooms.

Easter Sunday 2010

This is the time of the year that makes me glad to be in Arizona. I'd rather be in my backyard than any where else on Earth. It's not too hot yet, the smell of citrus blossoms is intoxicating, and it's probably the best time of the year for roses; snapdragons, petunias, stock, nasturtiums, and alyssum are also in full bloom. Water lilies have emerged from their dormancy; the ponds are covered with lily pads and blooms. Hollyhocks are already five-six feet high and a few have bloomed already. I broadcast several packets of "butterfly and hummingbird mix" in our new raised beds, which are sprouting; it will be interesting to see what comes up.

We're still enjoying oranges, pink grapefruit, and lemons from last year's flowering. The tangerines, although prolific, were disappointing. They were more sour than lemons; apparently the sour orange rootstock surreptitiously took over the tree at some point. We have dozens of walnut-sized peaches and a few marble-sized apricots. Apple, pear, and nectarine are just starting to bloom, and the grapes are starting to bud. This year, as part of the raised bed project, we planted additional fruit trees: different varieties of peach and pear; tangelo, Bears lime, mandarin orange, fig, and almond. We'll have to see how many of them make it through the first year. We also planted a couple of asparagus plants, and a blackberry and blueberry bush.

Yesterday I pulled out the last of the sugar snap peas and most of the lettuce and spinach, which was going to seed. We've put in tomato and pepper plants, but not much else in terms of hot-weather crops. I'm thinking of attempting corn this year. Hopefully the HOA will not object.