But It's a Dry Heat

Archive for the ‘Chocolate’ Category

Plants for the Desert Southwest

This Sunday, June 10, is the Corrales (New Mexico) Garden Tour, which runs from 9 am to 4 pm. Come on out to the historic village for a great opportunity to see what can be grown in our dry desert landscape.

With that in mind, I thought I’d show you a few of the star performers in my little slice of hot, dry hell. Here in the Albuquerque metro area we get less than eight inches of rain a year (much less, lately), the summer temperatures rise into the 90s, with the occasional span of 100s; the winter lows can dip into the single digits (recently going as low as -10), with very little snow. Operative word is “dry.” The added complication in my yard is the soil, which is better described as beach sand.

In my garden, most of the plants below do so well that they are downright invasive, reseeding themselves everywhere. Probably not good plants for fussy gardeners who want crisply maintained beds and well-behaved plants, but great in a more rustic, relaxed setting.

Phlox or sand penstemon (Penstemon ambiguus) is a workhorse in sand. In fact, I’m not (more…)

Whot I Lurnt at Pubic Shool

‎”Who was Stephen F Austin??? Why are shool is named after him”

That’s the title of a posting at my high school’s reunion page over at Facebook. It’s just a cavalcade of sad. A little misspelled monument to the inadequacy of a Texas public school education. See? Ah canz spel “school.”

Although I’ve professed a disinterest in these people, I nevertheless “liked” the reunion page, engaging in a combination of Schadenfreude and bewilderment. I really don’t remember any of these people. And most of the postings and comments left there contain more typos than, uh, my spam box has ads for cheap Rolexes and male enhancement meds. “Typo” is generous, since most of the errors are probably unintentionally intentional.

Given the quality of discourse at the site, I’d say I’m sticking by my plan not to attend.  As I noted before, my money is better spent on my favorite charity.  Like, say, my Oreo Blizzards for Me fund.