I absolutely LOVE the cottage gardens with really green grass and lots and lots of flowers sitting amongst a forest of evergreens and conifers mixed in with beautiful decidous trees for blazing fall colors! But of course, in reality I am surrounded by creosote bushes and tumbleweeds and blowing sand with scorchingly BRIGHT skies.

For part of the year it is easy for me to believe I could possibly have the cottage garden and it would be okay here except need more watering. In the bright summer sun though black manure mulch doesnt look right and pastel flowers look wrong and white picket fences just seem so out of place.

I then begin to move into "zone acceptance" and look at pictures of desert landscaping like this http://desertcrestllc.com/wp-content/gallery/header/01.jpg but know that weeding in rocks is a nightmare and rocks trap weed seeds which blow in the wind and they sink in the sand and a %$#* to remove. Plus all the really nice landscaping pictures seem to have clay roof or mission style homes, not a mobile home with a painted white roof and swamp cooler on top to keep the heat manageable in the summer time.

Then there are pictures of really lush mediterain style gardens with billowing large ornamental grasses and rows of lush lavender mixed with wild flowers! The problems with them are any close quarter lush plantings are snake breeding grounds in this part of the world.

Im ready for fall!