I haven't entered anything into this blog in a while. Two years, in fact. But now spring is back and I've got my eyes on my garden again. It demands a lot, in part because I ask a lot. I'm not content with an empty yard, perfectly mown and fertilized. I need life and energy in my garden, a small oasis of nature. But I still want it to look nice too. In short, I want it all, and that's a lot of work. Happily, it's the kind of work I can do all day and feel a sense of accomplishment, along with the ache in my hands and legs.

So, one must start with cleaning up after the winter. A whole bunch of weeds grew up in the grass in the backyard, so I took my weed remover and dug and dug and dug and dug. When I removed a dandelion with roots intact... Victory! A sense of jubilation washed over me. I only managed it about 1 in 3-4 times, so I imagine many of those bastards will be back.


Every once in a while you get a weed you love, if you can call it that. A weed by any other name... a weed is in the eye of the beholder. I found this volunteer as I was mowing:

Spiderwort

It is a stunner. I wonder whether I should plant even more next to this one, so he won't be lonely. I would say I'd try to collect and plant seed, but I don't see very skilled at that. I spread a bunch of wildflower seeds last fall, but I haven't seen any plants emerge from the ground this spring. Are they waiting? Will they pop up when I'm least expecting it? Or did they get washed/blown away during the winter? What did I do wrong (**shaking my head sadly**)???

bed sans stickywilly

This morning I tackled the sticky weed, aka Stickywilly. Two hours and scratched arms later, I removed almost all of it from my backyard woodland area.

















And as I was cleaning up, look at the beginnings of spring I have discovered: Columbine beginning to bloom and the first little flowers on the Mexican Buckeye.

Yellow Columbine

Mexican Buckeye 

I'm also going to start a new garden bed in the front. Whenever I start a new bed, I've found it most effective to lay cardboard with about 3 inches of mulch on top. I've tried solarizing with clear plastic, but that took months and didn't seem to kill the grass completely. Cardboard works like a charm, then I might squirt some grass killer on the few blades of grass that attempt to push through.
 

The other joys of gardening in the spring - I love this view of the xeriscape I created a few years ago. All these plants used to be so small! Look at the damianita starting to come into bloom. I love the colors and textures at play - the spiky sotol and agave, wispy Mexican feathergrass, sturdy prickly pear and the burst of yellow damianita. Couldn't have planned it better if I tried. And the coral honeysuckle is blooming like gangbusters, with lots of small bees and flies busily enjoying its offerings. 

 

 Another stunning bloomer - desert globemallow. I have two of these, the one closest to the driveway (pictured) has done the best, the other has struggled. They're native to Mexico and southwestern deserts (duh), so I don't give this any supplemental water and I planted it in the xeriscaped patch of the garden. You can see the flame acanthus behind it, beginning to put out new leaves.

Desert globemallow