Desert Garden in May

Missouri Evening Primrose

Missouri Evening Primrose blooming in rock garden.

Life’s a beach.

Of sorts.  Casa de Kirby sits in the midst of a vast sandy desert. Lots of sand and sagebrush.  No rain. No large body of water, unless you count the Rio Grande, which, nowadays, isn’t so grande.

Provided you can stand the complete absence of moisture–hasn’t rained in months–it’s not a bad place to call home.

Being an avid gardener, when I first moved out here, I was horrified by the soil.  Soil is a generous term.  It really is beach sand.  The funny thing is, it turned out to be a great growing medium, especially for drought tolerant plants that demanded “well-drained soil.”  You don’t get any more well-drained than sand.

So yes, you can grow flowers in the desert.

Veggie Garden

Veggie garden, tucked in the wildflower garden. Lettuce, spinach and teeny tomato plants

Now, in late May, stuff is starting to get blooming.  The garden won’t put on the real show until midsummer, when the wildflower garden gets going.  Most of the garden is made up of planting beds with perennials on a drip irrigation system.  I’m starting to do more container gardening with annuals.

The wildflower garden is a stretch in the center of the garden that gets watered by hand.  If it has flowers and no stickers/burrs, it’s allowed in the wildflower garden.

Rock garden

Rock garden. Dwarf sundrops and wine cups in bloom.

There’s also a rock garden that started out as a pile of dirt from a construction project. My husband added a banco (bench), rocks and a drip system, and voila, another planting space.  At the moment, it’s playing host to a quail who has built her nest under a rock and laid about a dozen little eggs.

The garden attracts loads of wildlife.  It’s the only part of the property that’s landscaped (we’re rednecks), the rest being sand and native bush.  And horse paddock for the Wonder Horse.  Along with the quail, we get regular visits from roadrunners (who eats birds and lizards, not seed), desert chipmunks, cottontail rabbits, hawks and coyotes.  During the summer, we have to dodge the hummingbirds who conduct aerial dogfights on the back porch. Occasionally, we get a visit from a gopher snake, a welcome visitor since I hate mice.

Our resident zombie

Desert zombie: Christmas present from my mother-in-law.

And, despite my best efforts–repellent, sprays, etc.–we have zombies.  They just spring up like foul smelling daisies.

Clickee any image for larger view.

But It’s a Dry Heat

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