Shoes to Shiraz | Two Teens and their Mama | The Blondissima
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Welcome, dear friends, to my home,
Today I am linking up with the Style Me Bloggers for a chat on how our gardens grow.
Let me start by saying I really don’t have a garden!
Somehow that didn’t stop me from posting today, but maybe it should have?
Any other time than right this minute, at least my rose bush would be full of blooms.
But not this week. My trees are weeping, my hibiscus is waning.
So I am going to share what I do have…grass, trees, and desert landscaping which=lots of rock.
This is my front yard and the west side of my house.
Across the front of the house on the left, we have a rose of Sharon, two Texas purple sage bushes, two Indian hawthornes, a lantana and a lilac that, having been transplanted this spring, is struggling. Our rose of Sharon and lantana have gone bananas with blooms. This is the r of S’s third or fourth year, and it is thriving. The hawthornes are lovely in April with soft pink flowers but not so much now. The sage are trying hard to be pretty with their purple blooms but it is really too hot for even the most desert-friendly evergreen.
Purple lantana, yellow-red lantana, purple lantana otra vez, r of S.
At the entryway, I have two medium-sized pots with gazania flowers and a large pot with a sago palm. I can’t seem to grow potted flowers to save my soul. These aren’t dead…YET. Come back next week.
On the west, left side of the front yard, there is an evergreen Mexican elder tree. It grows with gnarled branches kind of like a large bonsai. Or an arthritic grandpa. In the spring, the elder has lacy pale yellow flowers that would have made for a pretty picture today if it wasn’t 105 degrees and late summer.
We have a nice-sized side yard (by E.P. standards) on west of the house. Toward the front (of the side) there is a Texas ash tree that has been gorgeous until this year. Poor tree looks so pitiful now. I made sure to just take a picture of just the trunk so as not to inflict on you the unsightliness of the leaves.
Going toward the backyard, we have a little, baby peach tree that we planted this spring after losing one last year, and an oleander. I should probably just plant nothing but oleanders and roses and lantanas because they seem to live in spite of me.
We step through the second wrought iron gate to the back yard. Somehow, I had the presence of mind to take pictures of the back yard earlier in the summer because everything is just about dead back there now. Or not dead exactly but certainly not blooming.
Here are the pictures from early July.
Butterfly bush, check; tiger lilies, check; hibiscus, check; magnolia, check – in two little gardens on either side of the patio.
Desert landscaping (rocks and more rocks), check.
These next three pictures are across the back yard. We have a hot tub kind of in the middle, and I am hoping this fall we can put a pergola to add some shade. We planted rosemary and blue-tip fir beside the hot tub in hopes of creating a fragrant wind block but both are floundering.
How ’bout that lawn, though?
While everything else is going south in a hurry, our grass is really showing off its bad-self this summer. I love it! I have crawled on my hands and knees pulling clover, I have weed and feed-ed, watered, and mowed each blade of Bermuda.
And here’s our patio. I love being out here in the morning. So do my kitties. They share my opinion that the view of our mountains is breath-taking. The sunrises and sunsets are as beautiful in our corner of the world as they are anywhere.
I love my home.
I love my El Paso.
Before I sign off, I want to share something I am excited about for my yard next year. Back in July, when my flowers were still in bloom, I read a post by Carrie at Curly, Crafty Mom about reinCARDnation, plantable greeting cards. All reinCARDnation cards are prints of original artwork made from colorful plantable paper and created by Katherine Gifford, an artist living in Falmouth, Maine. [source] Here is the link to the reinCARDnation website. Carrie had a giveaway for a plantable card and I won! My card arrived this week and I haven’t opened it until I could it do with you.
Here it is, in the pretty envelope.
I selected a card that reminded me of cooler days. It features a winter scene in the mountains, pines on a snowy landscape with a cold-water creek trickling in the foreground. Sounds so cool and fresh after our triple digit temps this week.
Isn’t that refreshing? Almost too pretty to plant. But come next spring, I am going to follow the directions (carefully) and hope that this card brings color to my March, April and May. Thank you, Carrie.
Thank you for spending this time with me. Wish you could come over for a cup of coffee out on the patio. It sure is nice out there til the sun gets high. What’s your favorite part of your yard or garden space? Send me a pic and I will feature it on the blog Facebook page or link-up with us below. And be sure to tip-toe through the tulips in the gardens of my Style Me Bloggers buddies.
Came across this quote and it resonates with me.
Hugs and kisses,
Anna
Everything looks perfectly manicured! Pretty house!
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Hey there! So glad you stopped by. Thank you so much for the sweet compliments. I love being home, being in my yard or just sitting on the porch. Loved your post featuring your succulents. I really want to try growing them or perhaps a terrarium. XO
deena
I love seeing the flora from different areas; it’s so different from waaaay up here!
Leslie Roberts Clingan
I am envious of the dark, rich-looking soil you guys have waaaaay up there. Ours is so terrible rocky and dry and whatever the opposite of rich would be, POOR? You have mountains near you, right? Do you have problems with rocks? We think the sod in our backyard must have been laid right on top of all the debris and rocks dug up when the house was built. Makes growing grass kinda tough. XO
Denise Z
Yours may be the only GREEN grass I see all summer…everything here is dead and brown.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Oh, Denise, I know you guys have had a terribly difficult, dry summer out there. Have the fires been anywhere near you? We can often see the smoke here from fires burning further west. Hope you get some relief soon and have a greener, wetter Indian summer. Thank you so much for stopping by. XO
Susan
Your yard looks beautiful. Only another El Pasoan knows how hard it is to get potted flowers to stay alive in the summer heat.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Hey there!!! So glad you came by! Have drooled over the pics I snapped of your lovely yard since I was there. Went to bed last night doing the math for a pergola like yours. Hope we can tackle that project this spring. You and your husband have created such a retreat. Thank you for sharing it with me. XO
Carrie @ Curly Crafty Mom
You got your card! 🙂 I love this series, not only do I get to see everyones gardens, but their homes, too! Its fun to see a little into everyones lives!
Carrie
curlycraftymom.com
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Love my card so much, I don’t want to plant it. Will enjoy it this fall and winter as a card and then plant it in the spring! Thank you. XO
Lana
I’m so glad you shared your house and yard today – it’s absolutely lovely! What a beautiful place to live. I hope you have a wonderful weekend, my friend!
Leslie Roberts Clingan
You are so sweet. Thank you, dear one. We are enjoying rain in the evenings this week, so everything is so unnaturally green. The mountains are lovely. Amazing what just a little water can do. Lauren and I have been outside every opportunity we get. So glad to have her home. XO
Christy
Sounds like there are many black thumbs in our group!!!
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Yup! My black thumb was slightly greener when I lived in the rain forest of Panama. But could even kill a plant down there where everything thrives! XO
Shaunacey
your home is beautiful and I love your landscaping, the grass included (it counts).
Leslie Roberts Clingan
LOL! Glad the grass counts. It is probably even easier to kill around here than plants and harder to maintain! XO
Alison @ Puppies & Pretties
Your backyard looks great even if it is crazy hot. Way better than our yard. I’m pretty sure there are more weeds out there than grass. I have to be very selective where I take my blog photos so there isn’t too much crazy behind me 🙂 You wouldn’t have that problem because every corner looks wonderful, even if it is a bit wilty 🙂
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Aww, sweet girl, thank you! I walked around talking to my trees and bushes yesterday morning as suggested by the author of the Tidying Up book that is all the rage. She suggests talking to everything, panties, tee shirts, socks. So I am trying it. Maybe it will help them to beat whatever issues they are having…fungus, aphids, lack of water, over-watering. Hope they let me blog from the loony bin! XO
Sharon
Beautiful yard friend! I know how hard you work to make it look so nice. Those Zanias did not do well for me either! Don’t think they like pots and a guy told me they don’t like their leaves wet! This time of year I start redoing a few of my pots because of the heat. The lantana and periwinkles love the heat and so does blue daze, Have you ever tried that? It will grow here until it frosts! I’ll email you the official name of that along with a few other things I think might survive the desert temps.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Oh, thank you, BFF! I need to look into blue daze. I am not familiar with it. I had no idea the zanias don’t like water on their leaves! Ha! That explains a lot. So many people here have artificial flowers in their pots but I am not ready to take those drastic measures yet. Your yard is like a park, a beautiful space. And it feels so cool and quiet. I appreciate all the hard work you guys do, and the creative ways you change things up with the seasons. XO