Spring in the Garden

The front garden at the Painted Pony Resort is one of the first things guests see when they arrive so it is an important visual component in the presentation of the estate.  The goal is that when arriving guests round the corner of the driveway and catch their first close up view of the main estate buildings they ask themselves "what is this doing out here?".  A nice presentation is the first reward for those driving into the bubble and as a consequence a good deal of time is spent working in garden to insure it is visually pleasing and inviting.  Currently, the Ocotillo are in bloom and with their large red clusters of flowers they are particularly enticing.  Commonly used as living fences in the desert, Ocotillo are visually unique succulents. The local hummingbirds also find the flowers enticing and they can be seen gathering nectar from the individual flowers.  Note, that the Yucca are also starting to bloom (in the background in the first photograph below) and should soon be filling the garden with large white flowers which should attract the yucca moths.

A 10 -12' high specimen of Ocotillo

Ocotillo flowers

Another grouping of bright red Ocotillo flowers