The Story of Three Cactus

Today is the first day since our move that I felt like a REAL Arizona gardener -- I planted 3 different Cactus species in our from yard. Until a few days ago, our front yard had a couple of Rosemary plants, a couple of Lantana (the butterflies have really enjoyed these!), two Canary Island palms, a needle-leaved Agave, and a humongous amount of ground cover. Now, let me reiterate again that I do not like ground cover 'cause that's just what they do -- cover all the ground anywhere within reason (and sometimes beyond reason). The ground cover was pulled out by our landscapers last week, so off to Avocado Nursery in Casa Grande we headed on Saturday afternoon in quest of the "perfect" cacti for our front yard!!
This morning I pulled on my pruning gloves and headed out to garden! Here is the cutest little Rainbow cactus. It is only about 6" tall, but within a few years will reach its full potential of 12"!! It is the beginning of my mini cactus garden and is located at the beginning of the sidewalk to our front door. I am so excited about adding to this little cactus garden and my vision is that it will happily greet the guests to our desert home:-)

Don't you absolutely love this little "fellow" -- a purple Prickly Pear cactus that goes by the cultivar name of Santa Rita. Doesn't it just remind you of a Mickey Mouse hat with one "ear" askew?!! I knew I wanted one of these because the fruits are favored by the Desert tortoise. I will glad share with any hungry tortoise that visits my front yard! It will be the larges of the three that I planted today, growing many more sections with time. I am looking forward to its beautiful flowers gracing my front yard each spring.
I love the Barrel cacti, and the Golden is native to the Sonoran desert. In the Mojave desert you mainly see the Red barrels. I am hoping it sets lots of "pups" while we live in our home, so that we have a large mound of this glowing cactus. It will reach a mature height of about 24". So it isn't large, but still makes a statement in spite of its diminutive size. This one was the most challenging to plant because of the needles. Again, I was thankful for the protection of my pruning gloves!
Here is a view of our front yard with the Santa Rita and Golden barrel, with a purple Lantana beyond. As you can see, there is plenty of room for them to grow and mature as the years go by. Hope many of you reading my blog can pay us a visit here in our desert home and see these desert delights for yourself!

Our First Resident Hummingbird

One of the most exciting aspects of living in Arizona is the number of bird species one can see, especially hummingbirds. It is possible to see at least 15 hummingbird species in Arizona. Of that number, I have seen about half, that latest of which was the Plain-capped Starthroat. More about that experience in another blog, for now I want to tell you about our first resident hummer!
I waited until this past Tuesday to put out my first hummingbird feeders. It has been very hot in the desert, and I was understandably busy getting a bit settled in our new home. Now that the cool (well, that's a relative term) fall weather has arrived, I felt it was the appropriate time to put out a couple of window feeders. It wasn't long before the little fellow pictured above arrived and claimed our feeders as his own! As near as I can tell, he is an immature Anna's hummingbird. I surmise that time will confirm my initial identification.
He has taken up residence in the Mesquite right outside our bedroom window. He voraciously defends the feeder pictured below as well as one about 15 feet west along the back wall of our house. It is hilarious to watch him defending both feeders from potential intruders! The acrobatics he displays in his defense flights are enough to make one dizzy!!
I am hoping you are intrigued enough by this blog and the photographs (though they would never win any contests) that accompany it to pay us a visit. Some of these beautiful "flying jewels" are 12 month residents of Arizona. The summer temps find many of them in the higher elevations, and others migrate south for the winter. Just let me know when you are coming, and I will look forward to introducing you to our little fellow, who I expect will be here all winter, as well as the many other birds that live around us.