El Presidio Spring 2012

This year I lost 2 plum trees and a barrel cactus.  However the garden is looking great.  Like every gardener, we experiment some with different plants, place what we know to perform, and put in a couple that need a little extra care:)  But El Presidio is on year 3 and we're on track.  There are lots of things that are working and it's making a difference.   A special thank you to everyone for coming and helping out around the property.  It helps both Donnie and myself focus on watering and jump start our hot summer.  The oak trees really get me down with the acorns, leaves, and pollen.  I love these trees but when most gardeners are prepping up their yards for spring and summer, we're going through fall here!  It can be frustrating.  And the pollen gets everywhere and makes my eyes itchy.

Bougainvillea

Sitting out during our HOA meeting, I really LOVED what was going on around our gardens.  The plants looked great and this year, we've added birds....lots of them!  Just by adding the sounds of birds chirping to our property has created a very unique atmosphere.....and an oasis. I want color, sound, and purpose.  I've written this before but I'll write it again.  The goal is to have our gardens provide shade, fruit, and fun while being xeric and wildlife friendly.  Just no mice. 

Aloe Bloom

I sat back and really loved watching the birds nesting and flying from tree to tree.   My focus will be side planters yet again.....the citrus garden on the east side and the bamboo on the south side.  The north side is nearly complete with the Nandina and Cacti Gardens placed.

House Finches get crazy

These are the beginnings of spring.  While a lot is flowering, there are more trees and bushes that will begin next month.

Mexican Bird of Paradise(the yellow variety)

So as temps warm up, stop and smell a rose from the CC Rose Garden near the palm tree.  Check the Mulberry tree for fruit.  The fig tree may have some treats hiding under the leaves.  We will have lots of peaches in July and plenty of persimmons in November.  And the citrus trees have lots of flowers:)

Lantana

But for now, enjoy the reds, yellows, purples and oranges around our place. It has taken us 3 years to get here and I have much more planned.  The fountain will have to wait for a bit until all the rotten wood is replaced around our homes.  Wood is fine for some things but shouldn't be used as a main feature in the desert.  The beams we have now are full of termites and dry rot.

Red Oleander

Hopefully the plants will distract:)

While pruning near the west wall, we were noticing the palo verdes from our neighbors property encroaching upon the parking area......and then we noticed something else......

...this little hummingbird nest on one of the branches.  I knew we had two families for sure, but I didn't know where the second nest was.  Now I do:)  Love natures best kept secrets.  They are such intelligent little birds who have lately been doing some serious drinking.  Maybe it's the 100 degree weather we've been having!

Again thank you all for your help around our gardens at El Presidio.

Mexican Bird of Paradise

Ladies and gentelmen.....I present one of my absolute favorite shrubs in the Tucson area. Easy to grow. Drought tolerant. Beautiful. Ferny. Lush. And extremely sun friendly. When I first moved to Tucson in the 90's, I fell in love with this plant and today it's still one of my favorites. Two things to remember with the MBOP......it needs full sun or you won't get the brilliant blooms and secondly, it will look scraggly in the winter. Other than that, this plant is extremely easy to grow and can handle a bit of neglect. I added this plant to our fern garden at El Presidio and it makes a nice cluster around a desert fern. This is a fantastic plant for your landscape. There are 3 varieties....the orange and shorter variety, the taller,skinnier and yellow bloomed variety, and the very ferny taller and bushier with unique yellow and orange  blooms variety. Don't worry...the latin names are coming. Again, here is Cathy Biship about this group of plants.

Taken at El Presidio in the Fern Garden

"Visitors and natives alike are always impressed by the profusion of blooms produced by the numerous types of Caesalpinia in the Tucson area. Better known as Red Birds and Mexican Birds to name a couple, it is impossible to go a block without seeing their beautiful blooms. Though we get used to seeing them, visitors to the area seem to be quite in awe, and I’m not surprised. These plants may be one of our very best plants for Tucson landscapes. Though some of the species are a bit frost sensitive, others are not and even the most sensitive pop back up after being knocked back by the worst winter weather. Their best attributes include being very drought tolerant, having an extremely long and brilliant bloom period, they are totally happy in our alkaline soil and they get by on minimal care.  The best spot for these wonderful plants is in full, all day, bright, hot sun. They thrive on heat, truly coming on strong only after the temperatures have reached at least into the 90s and more. Though some believe that they need to be pruned every year, it is actually optional. There are some gorgeous shrubs in medians that rarely get pruned and the result is very large plants with extremely exuberant growth that start blooming as much as two months before their severely pruned counterparts. The reason one would want to prune back their Red Birds, would be to control size. If you need for the plant to remain no more than 4 feet high and wide, then yearly pruning will achieve that end. The best known of these plants is probably Red Bird (Caesalpinia pulcherrima). Sometimes it is mistakenly called Mexican Bird, though this common name rightly belongs to Caesalpinia mexicana, which can grow larger, can handle more cold, is more reliably evergreen in cold weather and is suitable for training into a small tree rather than just a shrub. The flowers of this bird of paradise are a bit smaller, but they are very bright golden yellow which shows up beautifully against the bright green leaves.
There is a gorgeous golden hybrid called the Phoenix Bird (Caesalpinia pulcherrima ‘Phoenix’) that has the exact same characteristics as the Red Bird but with golden flowers. Another yellow species is the Desert Bird (Caesalpinia gillesii) that has soft yellow flower petals with long red stamens that look like floral eyelashes. In addition to these species and hybrids there are also seedling crosses that show just how much genetic diversity can be made from two colors! In the tropics, these seedling plants are very common and give rise to many colors from peach and apricot shades to pinks and corals and even white. No matter which variety you opt for, you can be sure that even with the smallest care, the “Bird” of your choice will bloom and bloom and bloom from the time the weather heats up until the first frosty nights insist that it rest for the winter.
Cathy Bishop, co-owner of Mesquite Valley Growers Nursery, has more than 30 years of gardening experience. E-mail her at weekendplus@tucsoncitizen.com." End of article.  Source: http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue/2008/07/18/91268-cathy-bishop-red-birds-thrive-in-tucson-s-alkaline-soil-with-minimal-care/