The arrival of the monsoons has certainly helped the front garden. The butterfly bushes have bloomed as well as a number of other plants and the garden is full of honey bees, butterflies, and the occasional hummingbird all competing for nectar. The recently planted perennials have taken hold and a transplanted
lantana has new growth. There are 3 species/varieties of
lantana in the front garden, a yellow flowering species, a purple, and a multicolored flowering species. The lantana are very hardy plants and have been cut back to the roots several times and they always recover nicely. The blooms attract butterflies and many plants constantly bloom throughout the summer. One of the recently planted perennials,
Sacred Datura, is already producing flowers.
Datura wrightii may be found along the road side in Arizona and New Mexico and seemed like a hardy addition to the garden, low growing it will make a nice addition to offset some of the tall yuccas and ocotillo and add a new color to blooms in the garden.
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| The view east in the front garden |
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| The view west in the front garden |
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| Sacred Datura in the garden |
Your pictures are specular! I was at the PPR the other day and it is even more beautiful in person!
ReplyDeleteThank you. Lots of work in the garden this season and it is always nice to see positive results.
ReplyDeleteI've missed some great photo opportunities of Sacred Datura blooming with the Chiricahua Mts in the background [saw this at the Tucson Airport, beautiful photograph displays there] but I don't think I'd plant them here on purpose!
ReplyDeleteI bought this specimen at the Friends of Cave Creek Canyon garden party. I was specifically looking for hardy perennials which would stay low to the ground and had bloom colors that differed from the purples and reds that are already present in the garden. I like hardy plants for the front garden since it is full sun and if the irrigation has problems everything comes back with watering.
ReplyDeleteI should also point out that if it does well I can move newly sprouted datura to bare areas which have lost all the topsoil due to past overgrazing to help re-establish a layer of topsoil and encourage regrowth of native grasses.
ReplyDeleteIt looks beautiful! I planted a Datura too, and it's VERY relieved to have rain.
ReplyDeleteThank you. PPR has received a little less than 3" so far, I have reports from those closer to the mountains that they have received 5" or more. It seems there is a rain gradient across the valley, with those closer receiving more rain. While a somewhat discouraging observation any rain is good rain.
ReplyDeleteI should mention my friend George is allergic to Sacred Datura. That's my main reason I don't cultivate them here. Hubbie has many allergies so I don't want to find out that S.D. is one of them.
ReplyDeleteI would like to photograph one in bloom, though.
I'll try and post one once all the blooms come out.
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