One of the things that has amazed me about living in Phoenix (speaking, of course, as a Midwesterner) is the variety of plants that can be grown outside in gardens as perennials that you cannot grow "out east." I think I have mentioned before that I love how you can grow rosemary as a garden perennial in Phoenix, and that I love the scent of rosemary after a good rain. Above is a close-up photo of the aromatic rosemary bush. I love its tiny powder-blue flowers.
Yesterday was a lazy day for me. The weather was a weird divide, between one side of the sky displaying a surreal shade of blue and clouds and the other side heavy with a dirty gray gloom. I am a great lover of rain and thunderstorms, especially in the desert, as I find them to be beautifully dramatic. However, on days when gray overcast looms overhead in a lingering aerial squat, I tend to get lethargic. Being a little impatient, I just want the weather to do something. And so, yesterday, wanting to contribute to my blog but feeling unambitious, I decided to take a stroll around the South Mountain community to showcase types of flowers that we grow in Phoenix throughout the year that I have never seen grown as perennials back in Chicago. Here are the fruits of that endeavor.
The first time I encountered ruella was when I first moved to Phoenix. To be sure, when I moved back to Chicago, I did see ruella on sale at Gethsemane Gardens, a plant nursery in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood, but it was in the annual section. Here in Phoenix, ruella plants grow and bloom in gardens throughout the year. I really love these purple-flowering plants, especially because so many of the flowering plants in the Valley bloom some shade of either pink or yellow. There is very little blue or purple represented on the garden palette here, and so ruella offsets that limited palette and provides a little variety.
There are many types of agave grown in the Valley. This one is growing its flowering stalk. I am always amazed by how tall these flowering stalks can grow and wonder how such a small plant can manage such a high-rising vertical feat.
Anyone following this blog knows that I love the red bird. Here, the yellow at the edges of the flowers are seeping into the red centers, blending to create the bright, fiery orange that I really love. There is even a touch of autumn here, as the red bird's leaves tend towards a burnt red color in the fall, as seen above.
Yes, the Valley enjoys its share of citrus groves, including both orange trees and grapefruit trees. Their white blossoms, which come with the spring, release a beautiful light and sweet scent.
Yes, bougainvillea grow throughout the Valley. In fact, talking about the overrepresentation of pink in Valley gardens, bougainvillea is one of the culprits in this color monopoly. To be sure, bougainvillea come in other flowering shades--I have seen specimens blooming in shades of peach, salmon, and white, for example--but this hot pink variety is by far the most popular.
Oleander. Yes, we have oleander, too. They grow to become ENORMOUS. (Of course, you wouldn't have gotten a sense of their large scale growth if I hadn't typed the word "enormous" with all-caps!) This specimen blooms in baby-pink, as you can see, but I think I prefer the deep red and the white blooming varieties.
I have heard these plants referred to as red poker plants, but I am not sure if this is correct, especially since there is a yellow-blooming variety of this plant. At any rate, hummingbirds love to feed from their flowers. In fact, when I first spotted this specimen yesterday, turning on my camera to take a photo, I saw a beautiful red-throated hummingbird feeding from one of its blooms. I tiptoed quietly to the plant, hoping to get a close-up of the feasting fowl, but, alas!, it was too quick for me and flew away. Next time.
The variegated agaves, like the one above, are my personal favorites. Their variation in leaf color adds a lot of drama to a garden. This is actually a surprise to me, as in the case of houseplants, such as the jade plant, I am usually not drawn to the variegated variety. There is a similar variegated type of agave that I have seen and really love, its only difference from this one is its huge, floppy-ear style of leafery. Very beautiful.
No comments:
Post a Comment