The DeVINE Design!

Hello blogger friends and anonymous desert gardeners,

Pictures taken from last summer at El Presidio.  Note that my older cameras were used. 

For my blogger friends, this post is an informational one and you may just glance or skim, but I promised myself that I would do some writing about the garden.  For you(anonymous desert gardener) who googled my website and found this place, welcome!  You'll absorb it all in and then leave in the night:) That's okay.  I've done the same thing.  I hope your garden endevours for this spring are exciting.  March has arrived and there is so much to get ready for!!! While it may be a little early yet to put things into the ground, garden centers all over town are gearing up for the big days ahead.   This month you'll find several interesting writes about xeriscape gardening and how to do it.  I'll be featuring several "top" places that had some fun with their landscaping and demonstrate to you that Tucson can be a wonderful place to landscape and garden. 

Solar lights hang from the top of the trellis and are mixed in with the Cats Claw

Today it's all about using vines in our designs.  Sometimes we want to drape a wall or building.  Sometimes we want to frame an entry. Or other times we'd like vines to just ramble around the ground and go wherever they please.  I used the Creeping Fig in such a manner and it's doing a good job on "creeping" up my palm tree and around the ground.  Vines add vertical dimension to the garden and pull the eye upwards and around your green space.   They also have the affect of softening the rough edges and make things like fences or brick walls fade into the background.

Here is our ramada at El Presidio.  We still need to add color to this structure, but there are solar lights above and A LOT of cats claw around the this area.  We placed Confederate Jasmine to climb up the sides and it is slowly doing so. 

Brighten an entry. Train woody vines like Bougainvillea, Wisteria, Trumpet Vine, or Lady Rosebanks to frame entryways or balconies.  The beautiful flowers will dress up an ordinary house.  I personally love the color of the bougainvillea bracts next to our stucco.  Gorgeous. You will need to fasten them and keep them in place with wires, eye screws, plastic ties etc to hold up the main branches.  

I use a free standing trellis to frame our small patio space.  In hot burning temps, this bougainvillea thrives and flowers.

Screens and boundaries.  For fast and quick ways to hide a fence or divide a space, use Cats Claw(considered a weed here).  The leaves stay on this vine all year round making it a popular vine to grow here in Tucson. BUT be careful as this vine can pull off paint or stucco from the building.  Other vines with fast growth are the popular Morning Glory and Passion Vine. They'll create an attractive windbreak or privacy screen in NO TIME!  It's just that in winter these guys go dormant.  I personally like something all year round.

                          Morning Glory at El Presidio.  A great vine that spreads FAST!!  Careful where you place it.

There are generally 3 ways homeowners like to use vines.  The first is by using a lightweight wooden or metal trellis(clematis, bougainvillea, etc) for plants to crawl up.  The second is by using a freestanding trellis, ramada, gazebo or arbor.  No matter what your use, vines inspire and let the eyes wander upwards. During this spring, think about ways you could use a vine or two around your place.  Last year during my garden journal series, I reported on several vines that many Tucsonans, including myself, use around our gardens. Click here to begin your fun from that series.  More tomorrow....

Wisteria

If there ever was a plant that captures the imagination of a gardener, it's wisteria. This is the 3rd write of failure.  The first was failure of region.  The second is the uncontrollable failure caused by Mother Nature.  This post is about failure to say "no more" or as I'd like to call it, "I must be dumb".  Failure comes in all forms, shapes, and sizes.  Many times it goes beyond just experimenting with a plant or a dream; it teaches us things about who we are and how resolute we are to making them work. That's where the dumb part comes in for me.  I'm as stubborn as an ox. After many journeys of seeing this plant and attempting to grow it here in Tucson, here is what I have to say.

It is said to grow in Tucson.  Where? I do not know.  Have I seen this plant here?  No. Do they sell it in Spring at the garden centers?  Yes. Have I attempted growing this plant?  Yes and many many times. Once you've seen one grow over an arbor, it's takes your breathe away. They do well in California. Did it grow for you? Yes.  I have a green thumb and can make anything grow. Did it grow well?  No.  Did you place it in different exposures?  Yes.  How much money have you spent over the years on this plant?  Too much.  Why are you so dumb? I don't know.  I like to dream big, but instead I failed big with this plant.  Will you purchase this plant again when it tempts you this spring in the garden center? I'm trying to control my plant addictions and impulses.  I am hoping my body and mind will cooperate.  The mind must say no and the hands stay low from the shelves.

This is the personal conversation that goes on in my head everytime I see the bare rooted plants in their bags for 5 bucks.  They are similiar in growth to the grape, which by the way, grows extremely well here.  I will be honest folks.  I am not giving up on this plant because I feel that once I have the right spot for it, I will be able to create something very special.  It is said to grow in Tucson but as a man of plants that has a good eye.....I've NEVER seen this plant in our city yet these guys are the first to disappear off the shelves.  There might be someone out there in town who has one like the picture above.  However, I do know this.  In winter, it will lose its' leaves here and in summer, like a strong vine, it will grow.  It does like sun, but the tricky part is making sure the desert sun doesn't burn the plant which it can do.  It also needs some water to establish.  The soil is key for this plant.  Our soil is mostly clay here.  I do not recommend planting this species at all.  For most people, it will disappoint.  If you want those beautiful purple flowers, I recommend the Mountain Laurel which is a slow growing evergreen bush here. It has intense purple flowers and a smell that will blow you away. More about that plant later. If you want a similiar type vine like wisteria, try a native grape vine or several of the varieties of grapes.....or the purple lilac vine.  I've used those plants and they've done extremely well.  Don't be too tough on yourselves....sometimes a challenge can be a good thing in the garden.  This is the expected failure.....you know you've failed many times with a plant, but you still want to keep trying because maybe the next one may succeed......and sometimes it does.  The answer to this failure is perserverance or moving on.  I have several more failures coming up for this series, until next time.....happy gardening!