Posts
Today I write my first blog post ever and this is exciting. I love gardening and I really love plants. It has always been this way, but it was never as obvious to me as a child. My grandparents and mother loved to work on their gardens. One set of grandparents loved geraniums, rhubarbs, and strawberries while the other set loved growing all varieties of tomatoes. I was never crazy about the whole experience until later on in life when I was handed my first spider plant. It was at college and in the dorms. I started with a spider plant and then moved onto the easy to grow pothos and swedish ivy forms.....so here I am today, landscaper at my home and for my community of 16 condos in Tucson, AZ. I've come a long ways from my hometown of Two Rivers, WI.
Why this blog? I spend soooo much time in the garden outside and am faced with the daily challenges of keeping everything happy. Thank goodness I love this stuff or it could be a real chore! I know a lot about the plants for the southwestern desert....specifically the Sonoran desert. I love all plants and I plant appropriate plants in the right spots....but as gardeners, I think we all get a bit bored and would like to try our hands at something challenging...such is the case with gunnera or what many would call "Dinosaur food". I know I know...it grows in the cloud forests and loves the Pacific Northwest, Canada, Costa Rica, The Andes in Chile....I've been to all those places and have seen it grown. So my challenge for today besides trimming Heavenly Bamboo(nandina) and ripping out that weedy orange jubilee plant that decided to get between electrical wires(yikes!) and "forming" bouganvillia bushes so that they make beautiful structural pieces........my task today was to figure out what to do with my gunnera seeds. These large and amazing plants are quite astonishing in appearance.....but the question is, "Will they grow in Tucson?" My instinct says plant them in shade from the intense heat....create a faux bog to trap moisture.....but then doubt settles into my mind....should I put it in a pot first? Or should I go for the ground? No matter how much research I do on this plant.....not a single place has told me if anyone in Arizona has tried growing it and if they were or weren't successful....so I end today with....Is it possible?
Las Aventuras is about the pursuit of all things relating to nature. It will focus on birds, plants, mammals and of course, the garden and photography. This blog is based out of Tucson, Arizona.
Why this blog? I spend soooo much time in the garden outside and am faced with the daily challenges of keeping everything happy. Thank goodness I love this stuff or it could be a real chore! I know a lot about the plants for the southwestern desert....specifically the Sonoran desert. I love all plants and I plant appropriate plants in the right spots....but as gardeners, I think we all get a bit bored and would like to try our hands at something challenging...such is the case with gunnera or what many would call "Dinosaur food". I know I know...it grows in the cloud forests and loves the Pacific Northwest, Canada, Costa Rica, The Andes in Chile....I've been to all those places and have seen it grown. So my challenge for today besides trimming Heavenly Bamboo(nandina) and ripping out that weedy orange jubilee plant that decided to get between electrical wires(yikes!) and "forming" bouganvillia bushes so that they make beautiful structural pieces........my task today was to figure out what to do with my gunnera seeds. These large and amazing plants are quite astonishing in appearance.....but the question is, "Will they grow in Tucson?" My instinct says plant them in shade from the intense heat....create a faux bog to trap moisture.....but then doubt settles into my mind....should I put it in a pot first? Or should I go for the ground? No matter how much research I do on this plant.....not a single place has told me if anyone in Arizona has tried growing it and if they were or weren't successful....so I end today with....Is it possible?
Las Aventuras is about the pursuit of all things relating to nature. It will focus on birds, plants, mammals and of course, the garden and photography. This blog is based out of Tucson, Arizona.
As for the gunnera....it never grew:) But it was worth the try.
ReplyDeleteGunnera terrifies me. We were walking thru an English garden together, I was ahead, he was probably taking photos ... And I was ambushed by a humungous Gunnera. Now I can be blase, but then I felt as if I'd stepped off world.
ReplyDelete