Hi! Grant, I like your plant, nice flowers; I really like your cover patio. You have no idea how many times I come to this forum just to look at your plants lol. Not much is flowering here. Don't know how to post multiple pictures so I will post individual ones, tried creating an account with photo bucket but something went wrong.

Don't know the name of this one, it has 9 more bulbs to open.

Ariana

Gymnocalycium Brachii this is the third time it blooms this year.

Gymnocalycium (Spider Cactus)

Don't know this ones name

Old Lady Cactus it is almost done flowering as you can see it only has one flower.

Ariana

and the last one Crown Of Thorn. Thanks for looking. Ariana

I never heard of a stapeliad, but it looks very unique, the bloom kind of reminds me of a morning glory. Thisisme, your yard looks amazing without the weeds! Liked the blooming cactus, I have some, will post when they bloom, here is my gardenia, they are supposed to be difficult, but this is one of my easiest plants.

Thank you 1212dusti. Glad to be rid of them. I'm the only I've seen to ever post pictures like that. I guess I'm the new Poster Child for "Whats Looking Bad." lol

A friend and forum member dropped off two 4' tall sections of prickly pear cactus. Looks like I will have a blooming cactus garden soon.

Everyone else's gardens look amazing as usual.

Wow, great new pics everyone! I love your weedless garden thisisme, Everything looks so happy and healthy. Beautiful cacti blooms, Ariana, I love each and every one of them. Beautiful gardenia too--they're one of my favorite scents! I know they can be a challenge due to prefering acidic soil and water compared to what we have, but yours looks great! Thanks for the eye candy! Keep it coming all! Happy gardening!

Here's one of several hollhocks blooming in the garden. I tend to prefer the bright reds and hot pinks, but this one is still pretty. Keep the pics, posts and updates coming all! Happy gardening!

Grant,
My Hoodia Gordonii has been blooming like crazy this spring! I took your advice last year and didn't give it any water this winter, now all these flowers and new growth (and no dead Hoodia)! I never knew they were stinky flowers, I'll have to take a whiff.
I bought some praying mantis egg sacs on Ebay and the first one hatched this week, lots of little ones running around now (I hope the birds leave them alone!)

Kevin

Grant, those hollhocks are incredible, like everything else you grow. Glad to hear about the blooming cactus, thisisme, prickly pears are nice, have some around the yard. Here is a picture of Tuscan and Southwest fusion, lol. Like the look of Tuscan pots, and the blooming easter lilly cactus, go with the climate here.

GREAT about your Hoodia plant blooming too, Kevin, get up close to one of those open blooms on a warm afternoon and take a sniff. Smelly! LOL, they smell but that's part of their charm. Like kids asking each other to smell milk when they know it's gone bad, LOL. The baby mantids are cute--keep us posted! I see one or two khaki colored ones in my garden each year. I'm sure some of yours will stick around. Great pic, by the way, I wish I could take such great closeups!

Neat pots and plants 1212dusti! Keep us posted over the summer. That's a neat plant stand too. I love it!

Just for fun, here's a pic of the Hoodia still blooming (it's covered in flowers now) with three flies on it, hah!

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Here's the first of many blooms for the summer on this dwarf, variegated ruellia (Ruellia brittonia, aka "Mexican petunia"). Great, fun, generous compact plants with neat variegated leaves.

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Finally (for today, hah!) a huge, 7 foot tall Queen Anne's lace plant covered in blooms, growing among some spineless prickly pear opuntias. Wilson the tennis ball wedged in place to show relative size.

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Happy gardening all!
Grant

Here is a link that might be useful: Pics, so far, from my garden May 2013

Wow! I have never seen a larger Queen Annes lace! Rueilla are great plants, can't have them in the yard, unfortunately, a bunny favorite. Anyway, here is a new cactus I bought recently. Saw a picture of the Flying Saucer or Echinopsis cactus online and thought it was the most amazing bloom for a cactus. This morning the bloom had opened! I bought the last plant he had, so it only had this bloom, but maybe it will bloom again.

My Mexican primrose is blooming and looks great. Also my Cordia boissieri is blooming like crazy. It froze back some this winter but that seemed to stimulate the bloom this spring. Have never seen it bloom so heavily. My Bauhinia divaricata is also a bloom machine. They are great trees and are impossible to find anywhere. Don't know why they are not more commonly grown. They attract butterflies and are beautiful.

Hmm what else, my Erythrina bidwillii is full of bloom. Also a great tree here. Haven't seen it for sale anywhere but Desert Botanical Gardens sale.

1212dusti, can you tell me how you get gardenias to grow here? I would love to grow them but have not had any luck. I used to work with someone who grew them like crazy here!

Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated. Do you grow them in the ground or in pots?

Thanks!

Here's a picture of my Cordia boissieri

Great new pics and updates1 Keep them coming! I love that Texas olive (Cordia boissieri)! The Echinopsis and other flowers are all great too. Thanks for posting them.

Here's Mr. Wren, a type of geranium (Pelargonium) from the 1940's that I've been growing for many years. Like all geraniums, it does great autumn through early summer, but appreciates coming indoors for the hottest three months of the year. I love the pattern on the petals.

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Happy gardening!
Grant

My favorite tree.

Royal Blenheim Apricot

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Beautiful tree and fruit, thisisme, I love it! Thanks for sharing it with us, the fruit looks delicious!!! What is the furry/fluffy stuff along some of the branches???

Here's a little Texas bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis) from seed a friend brought back from Texas early this spring. I planted them as soon as he gave them to me but it was still a bit late in the season so they're not as large as they could be, but they're decent and they're adding some nice blue to the garden. THEIR seeds will fall to the ground soon and sprout at the perfect time for the largest plants possible next spring. In any case, here's a pic, providing a nice denim blue to the garden.

Happy gardening all!
Grant

Grant that stuff on the tree is a 50' long Tinsel Garland. Its supposed to keep the birds from eating the fruit. The fruit will be ripe soon so I will know if it works or not over the next few weeks.

The individual flowers on your Texas bluebonnet remind me of Sweet Pea flowers. Do the flowers smell good?

Please keep us posted on the effectiveness of the tinsel garland Thisisme. I am going to have bird issues myself soon.

Thanks for the information, thisisme, I *thought* it looked like either tinsel or some type of lichen (not too common on trees here, LOL). Thanks! Definitely keep us posted on how effective it is.

I haven't noticed any scent on the lupines.

Here's a neat bright yellow spider on a nigella bloom in the garden this morning. Nigella plants are great flowering winter/spring annuals that self sow nicely around the garden (they're usually blue but also come in pinks, mauves, white and in-betweens). I really do like them, plus they make neat inflated seed pods too. Let them set seed and you'll never need to replant them! Happy gardening all, keep the pics and updates coming! STILL haven't hit 100F in my garden yet.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pics from my garden so far May 2013

Here's the first dragon fruit blossom of the year, first time bloom on American Beauty, supposed to be self fertile.

Kevin

Grant, love the blue color of the Texas Bluebonnet. I am always looking for plants to intermingle among my roses. Can the seeds be purchased online or at the nurseries, do you know? Is the best time to plant in the fall? How much water and sun do they need? Lots of questions...would love to know more about growing this plant; didn't know it would grow in our hot climate in Phx area.

Thanks!

Hi jaspermplants, sorry it took so long, was out of town on vacation, just got back Friday. Have to grow my gardenia in a pot, because the rabbits would munch it to the ground if I didn't. You probably don't have that problem, so in ground should be fine. I water it about twice a week, if you drink coffee, save the grounds, and mix in with a little good quality dirt. Let it sit for a couple of weeks, and mix it with the topsoil around the plant. Also, they like miracle grow for acid loving plants. And some peat is good to mix in too. I just let the plant tell me what it needs. It usually looks perky, if it starts to droop, I'll add water, if I get busy and forget to water it, the plant will start to look scraggly. Anyway, let me know how it goes, and plant them in the shade.

i like this post too ....

after planting this box VERY early for up here (before Easter), the day lilies and especially the pansies are growing. i hope to actually see flowers on the liles eventually (they were new bulbs from walmart). it looks a bit uniform and i think i'll fill in with cosmos and more pansies in the front.

Nice bloom and plant, Bolt! Keep us posted. My Hylocereus got really cut back this past January during our cold snap. I cut off most of the branches but didn't have time to grub out the stump which is now coming back a bit. In any case, yours looks great, keep us posted!!

Thanks for the tips on your gardenia, dusti. Acidifier really seems to help keep them happy doesn't it? Yours is great!

jaspermplants, Texas bluebonnets are native to the Valley so they do really well here (I see a ton of them on the west side of Scottsdale road in early spring on my drive to work). You can usually find them at most nurseries that sell seeds here in town, or you can order "Texas bluebonnets" from a lot of seed companies. The seed is big, and is viable for awhile so you can buy some now and save it to plant in November, the best time to plant them.

I just plant seed some time in November in full sun, and they usually sprout in late winter and bloom in mid-spring. They're already starting to fade as it gets warmer and as they set seed, but they'll shoot their seeds around the garden and pop up in autumn where they're happy. Once they're above the ground I water them when they're dry. Every week or ten days when it's cool, and maybe once or twice a week now while it's warm. They'll set seed and die soon and then I'll yank them. They're easy to find and do just as well here as California and Mexican poppies, plus other fun wildflowers too. Go for it and tell us how they work out.

Nice little planting harmonize, it looks nice, especially as the local pansies are starting to fade here. Keep us posted!

Happy gardening everyone!
Grant

This large basil plant was grown from a cutting last July. Survived our hard freeze without protection and still going strong with flowers and putting out lots of seeds. I stripped some from the plant and just threw a handful of seeds in the planting hole next to it. A week later, I have some sprouted basils. I hope this will produce even stronger, hardier basil for my edible garden!

Heavenly smells ... Chocolate flowers and Arabian jasmine

Oops. Here is the Arabian jasmine

Grant, thanks for the info on Texas bluebonnets. I will definitely try them out.

1212Dusti, you have inspired me to give gardenias another try. Thanks for the info!

Hi everyone, sorry to be a tardy party in replying, LOL, but I had a work trip to Rockville, Maryland this week so didn't get online much.

Love the new pics! That basil is insanely beautiful and vigorous! So neat. I LOVE that you're doing a little localized natural selection to find some individuals that will thrive in your own garden and care. I do that too with a lot of plants that I grow from seed. I agree that it seems like we really CAN select the best performers that way. Fun!

I love chocolate daisies too. They pop up all over my garden now that I let them set SOME seed. That chocolate/floral scent is so wonderful, especially in the morning. I always lean over with a steaming hot cup of coffee and inhale the blooms deeply and make "mocha", hah! Great jasmine too. That's a plant I have no excuse for not growing! Thanks for highlighting it.

Oh, by the way, I went to the Desert Botanical Garden today, May 27th, and saw they had Texas blueblonnet seed packs for sale right by the register. I'd get them and then plant them in November or so. Just thought I'd mention them!

Here's some Godetia blooming away under a very young sapote in my garden. I'm surprised these godetias have spread as much as they have around the garden, and I'm glad they have! I'm getting a nice variety of colors this year too, always fun. Great late spring/early summer flowering annuals here. Happy gardening all!

Here is a link that might be useful: Pics from my garden May 2013

Hi everyone, sorry to be a tardy party in replying, LOL, but I had a work trip to Rockville, Maryland this week so didn't get online much.

Love the new pics! That basil is insanely beautiful and vigorous! So neat. I LOVE that you're doing a little localized natural selection to find some individuals that will thrive in your own garden and care. I do that too with a lot of plants that I grow from seed. I agree that it seems like we really CAN select the best performers that way. Fun!

I love chocolate daisies too. They pop up all over my garden now that I let them set SOME seed. That chocolate/floral scent is so wonderful, especially in the morning. I always lean over with a steaming hot cup of coffee and inhale the blooms deeply and make "mocha", hah! Great jasmine too. That's a plant I have no excuse for not growing! Thanks for highlighting it.

Oh, by the way, I went to the Desert Botanical Garden today, May 27th, and saw they had Texas blueblonnet seed packs for sale right by the register. I'd get them and then plant them in November or so. Just thought I'd mention them!

Here's some Godetia blooming away under a very young sapote in my garden. I'm surprised these godetias have spread as much as they have around the garden, and I'm glad they have! I'm getting a nice variety of colors this year too, always fun. Great late spring/early summer flowering annuals here. Happy gardening all!

Here is a link that might be useful: Pics from my garden May 2013

Look at me, hah, I posted the same message twice, and then got a spanking, hah! I had some sort of post/refresh issue it seems. Sorry about that.

One other pic for fun, a Manfreda that I grew from a friend's seed three years ago. I like how the flowers open white and then turn and almost-maroon as they begin to fade. Happy gardening!

Some of my mammoth sunflower beauties.

Squash is taking off gangbusters

As are the the tomatoes. The small tree in the upper left is a black mission fig from thisisme.

As are the the tomatoes. The small tree in the upper left is a black mission fig from thisisme.

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Fig trees along the back fence. All of these also got their start in thisisme's backyard. They're all coming back strong after a brutal winter up here. Some of my trees died back to the ground.

Centurion have not seen a post by you in a while
Good to here from you.
Where are you in the Verde Valley?
I thought this winter was pretty mild compared to some but then I am not sure where you are.
Nice looking squash

Hi CampV. We've been in Cottonwood for a couple of years now. We get cold air off Mingus, and temps can drop 30 degrees at night here in a few hours. It wasn't that one 12 degree night we had that did the damage, but the frequent sunny warmish days followed by night time frosts.

That kind of weather is hard on fig trees, especially young first year trees. So next year I may be wraping tree trunks.

Being new to the area, we are still experimenting with different varieties to see what will work best. We have 20 at present, 14 in ground, and the rest in pots.

The tree/bush below died to the ground and is coming back from the roots. You can see the four remaining dead branches that formed this tree if you look close. (Ignore the stump in the background. That's a pine tree I cut down after we moved in).

This post was edited by Centurion_ on Wed, May 29, 13 at 20:04

Great new pics, Centurion! Your garden really looks great--nice and productive too! Thanks for sharing the pics. Keep them coming!

Just for fun, here's a pic of my variegated Christmas cactus, Schlumbergera 'Madame Butterfly'. It's still young and small, but it's making great progress.

Happy gardening all!

Hi all, just for fun here's a quick (and pointless, hah) pic of the mozaic bistro table on the covered part of my back patio. It's where I sit with coffee and the newspaper (either real or via ipad) almost every morning. The red pot had geraniums in it all winter but I recently swapped it out with 'Pacifica' vincas.

Happy gardening!
Grant

Here is a link that might be useful: Pics from my garden May 2013

Centurion -We have been in Camp Verde for 8 years
Orignally from Carlsbad Calif. The growing season here is a lot shorter then there and I miss my Avocados.
I do like the change in the seasons though.
Gotta ask why so many fig trees?

CampV, I lived in LaVerne (just north of Pomona), for a couple of years. I also miss my avacado tree. And my orange trees.

There are so many varieties of figs, and I wanted to try several to get the best tasting varieties that will also do well in our climate. They are easy and fun to propagate from cuttings. Fig forum members often trade and give away cuttings for free...so the endeavor is cheap too.

We love it here also. Not just for the four seasons. Getting away from the big population centers was kind of a big deal for us.

Grant, your plants are beautiful. As are all the pics here.
It's inspireing to see what all of you are doing.

Hi,
I am new to the forum and happy to have found my fellow AZ garden nuts! So far this May (well, now we're in June) thanks to the mild weather the veggie garden and fruit trees have had a leg up and are doing quite well.

I am not sure if the fact that my squash and pumpkins are trying to jump out of the beds and head to Las Vegas is a good or a bad thing, so I'll let everyone else be the judge of that.

I do have desert plants and cacti in my front yard, but am also very into growing veggies, fruit trees, citrus and roses. Looking forward to learning and sharing on this forum!

Nice looking veggies there, gardenqueen! I think them spilling over the edge is a good thing. Keep us posted on how they do for you.

We just started a June 2013 garden thread so feel free to post tons of pics and updates there too. Welcome to the forum. Post often! :) Happy gardening, Grant

Thanks for the warm welcome, Grant! Glad you like my "runaway pumpkins". I will go check out the June 2013 thread now.