Spring is in the air

Posted on March 30, 2023 by E.A. Wickham

Sitting in our backyard, I’ve noticed a change. Flowers are beginning to bloom!

Leaves are beginning to sprout on once bare branches. Color catches my eye as I rest in the backyard, enjoying the sun and soft breeze.

Springs is officially here. Time to get rid of the styrofoam cups protecting our cacti from freezing.

Here are a few photos of flowers in my backyard:

I love the honeysuckle climbing our wall.

I used my plant app and it said this is an aloe vera. It’s wrong about 50% of the time, so I’m not sure.

I’m working on identifying the flowers and plants, but I had very little luck! I have a wildflower guide from the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, but I bet the plants in my yard aren’t wildflowers found in nature, but plants bought in nurseries.

If you have any idea what these plants are, please let me know!

What is in bloom in your neck of the woods?

Family time

Posted on June 6, 2022 by E.A. Wickham

We had a lovely visit with our daughter. We packed in as much as we could during her short trip. I especially loved our visit to the Desert Botanical Garden to show her the Chihuly Installation. Because it’s more than one hundred degrees outside, we opted to go for the last hour it’s open — from 7 to 8 p.m. It was gorgeous.

I’m so glad we became members because we are learning so much about desert plants like the many species of cacti, aloe and agave. There’s a butterfly garden, wildflower garden, bee garden and my favorite — a shade garden.

Tomorrow our son comes to visit. It’s wonderful to spend time with our kids, even if their trips are short! Just having them under our roof and hanging out together is blissful.

Here are a few pictures from the botanical garden:

Chihuly exhibit at Desert Botanical Garden. — My favorite Chihuly installation at the Desert Botanical Garden.

mountain view Desert Botanical Garden — A view of a nearby mountain.

Chihuly at the Desert Botanical Garden. — More Chihuly. This one was too big to fit in one photo.

bonsai elephant food. — Elephant food bonsai. We have a lot of these plants in our yard. I didn’t know the name before.

Chihuly at night. — Chihuly glass lit up at the entrance to the botanical garden.

What are your favorite things to do when your kids or friends and family visit?

A bit of sadness

Posted on April 12, 2022 by E.A. Wickham

I’ve been waiting to see this Century plant in bloom. This photo was taken two weeks ago.

Fast growing Century Plant. — Still waiting for the blossoms….Look how much it grew. This photo was taken a couple days ago. My husband said he thought he could watch it growing taller right before his eyes.

I’m enjoying the blossoms on cactus, but they are very short lived. One day there are furious blooms and the next day, they’ve expired.

I’ve been keeping my eye on the neighbor’s Century plant and wanted to make sure I wouldn’t miss the flowers.

You can imagine how sad we felt when we went on our morning walk today and saw this:

Fallen Century Plant before it bloomed — We will never get to enjoy the blooms. We felt like we lost a friend. It also reminded me of our saguaros we lost.

The desert in bloom

Posted on April 6, 2022 by E.A. Wickham

We went away for the weekend to Puerto Penasco and came back home to warm weather and the desert busting out in bloom. What I’ve discovered is the blooms don’t last long. One day a cactus may have a gorgeous flower — the next day it’s gone.

I’m amazed at how many flowers are in blossom in the Sonoran Desert.

I have a little plant guide from the McDowell Sonoran Preserve called “Wildflowers” that categories native blossoms by color. I’m doing my best to use the book to identify the plants.

Here are blooms I saw during my morning walk: