Grant-The garden has been a little slow this year but it has finally woke up. I got egg plant coming out of my ears. The 6 or so plants are loaded and we are eating them now. I started some from last years eggplant seeds (mama) and I also included a new "thrives in very hot weather" eggplant seed. Its white w/purple stripes. We will eat those starting this week. The tomatoes are coming in now but slowly. The red peppers are on the bushes but still green. The jalapenos plants are about 3' tall and I have started to get some. The zuc's are starting to slow down but I have enough bread to last the rest of the year and I cut blanched and froze a lot. The cuc's are just starting do their stuff. It just seems like everything is late this year. The roses are waiting for cooler weather(as am I) they look a little sad. The sun flowers look worn out and the jazmine is a little burnt. Lost all the asian pear fruit the high winds did them in. Once they drop on the ground thats about it. Still have apples and some satsuma plums. The rest of my onions are ready to dry along with the basil and after that I think I am ready for a brief rest. Camp Verde

Rosa Bianca eggplant doing very well in its second year. I have an okra forest it seems. Most tomato plants and artichoke dead. Yard Long beans hanging on. Passiflora and sweet potato vine, and citrus, guava, fig, pomegranate trees doing great. Planted lots of squash and none yet, but lots of flowers. Cantaloupe producing tons of flowers and fruits are forming. Forgot what variety it was, but I picked off an immature green one thinking it might be a zucchini, and it was already a little sweet.

toucan, when did you plant your okra seeds? I sowed (twice) in May/June and nary one seed germinated. I'm thinking I waited too long (thinking they like to grow in the heat)but maybe will not germinate in soil above a certain temp?

Grant, love the spiny stuff you grow!

Here's a couple of transplants I just put in the garden after adding lots of compost and giving them some shade.

First is a trade from tomatofreak for a passion vine from my yard. She lost the tag and tells me it's either a birdhouse gourd or a loofah. Either is fine with me.

and two pickling cuke plants that I started in early June. 58 DTM so I'm hoping I can get some fruit before summer ends.

Wow, you have "tons" of Nicotiana alata? What's your secret? I planted 2 in the spring (from Annie's Annuals) and they're disappointing; few blooms and little growth. They're in part shade, ordinary desert soil, daily water. Are yours in pots? Are they fragrant? Do tell!

Anyhow, right now the best-looking thing in my yard is the buffalo grass/blue grama lawn. With all the rain it's so green it almost hurts! I'm mowing 2" off every Sunday just to keep it under control. Also looking great are the 'blue ice' AZ cypress and a 'powis castle' artemesia that is thriving on neglect.

My roughest-looking plants (since late May actually) are 2 forlorn wild sunflowers with crinkled, burnt, sparse foliage. But the goldfinches and doves are always hanging around them foraging, so they must be producing edible seeds despite their ghastly appearance. I can't figure out why mine - watered - look so unhealthy compared to the sunflowers growing wild on the side of the highway.

Just a quick update since I need to go outside and mow the lawn, pull weeds, etc.

I went to Baker's last week and bought a couple of pumpkin plants and red bell peppers. (as well as a gorgeous new burgundy-colored vinca. Anyhow, here's a pic of one of the pumpkins, hopefully ready by Halloween:

One more thing, unfortunately, my apple tree is looking very fragile. He's not completely dead yet, but every day it seems more leaves are folding up and shriveling. I can't help but think that the draining is poor, due to the muddy soil (which I did try to amend with some outdoor all-purpose soil, for better drainage).

I wonder if I should try digging down and seeing if water is getting to the roots? Or maybe the poor thing isn't getting enough oxygen? Or maybe the apples struggle during the Summer and that's natural? Hmmm....here's a pic:

Fun pics and updates! Thanks for sharing them with everyone. It really IS fun to hear and see who is growing what. Those baby gourds and pumpkins are so cute and full of promise. Love them, and I'm envious of folks with tons of okra and eggplant harvests. Yum!

Juttah, LOL about your "ghastly" sunflowers, too funny. I'm sure the birds appreciate them! Mine always look awful once a lot of seed is setting. Yes, I do have a lot of N. alata plants around the garden. I don't really have a secret other than if I buy or transplant plants, I do amend the soil a bit with 50% compost, or even potting soil if I'm in a rush, and give them afternoon shade and water a couple of times a week. They're all in the ground and half of them are self sown, growing where they popped up (the other half are self-sown but I've transplanted). The plants themselves don't look AWESOME at this time of year, but they do bloom. They perk up a lot in autumn. Their finest months are late spring/early summer. Mine are quite fragrant and I love them. Whenever I see a seed pod, I crush it and sprinkle the seed around the garden. A few are in full hot sun in unimproved soil and look great. If you can keep yours going through the rest of this month, I'm sure they'll look great again soon, AND give you lots of babies.

Xica, you're instincts seem right to me--that soil around the apple looks very, very heavy. I don't think there's much to do this time of year other than make sure it gets a good soaking a couple of times a week. Even the happiest of apples looks pretty pitiful in the Valley at this time of the year, if you ask me.

Here are a couple of other things blooming/growing in my little garden right now.

"Arizona poinsettia" or "rainbow spurge" (Euphorbia heterophylla) just starting to flower and have colored bracts:

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Hand of Buddha citron fruit starting to swell up. Definitely a novelty plant for me (ambitious chefs use the rind in marmalade). A single fruit, when yellow and ripe, has a wonderful, STRONG truly floral fragrance:

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Dwarf, variegated Ruellia brittonia ("Mexican petunia" although it's not a petunia at all, of course) on the east side of the house, started from seed from a seed swap a couple of years ago with a friend in Texas.

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The painfully common red bird of paradise (Caesalpinia pulcherrima), close up and personal:

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And an updated pic of my Hibiscus mutabilis plants started from cuttings this past winter:

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Okay, and one non-pic, a lizard that's been keeping me company all summer long. He's not shy at all, and definitely a gardener's friend, even though his quick, SUDDEN movements often startle me, LOL:

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Take care, keep the updates coming, happy gardening, and chin-up, the loooooong pleasant growing season is just around the corner!
Grant

Grant, great pictures as usual, that Hoodia is spectacular.

Does that Hibiscus propagate well from cuttings?

I have that same Euphorbia pop up all over the place, it too is showin' some red, very cool litte plant.

xica, I agree with Grant. That soil looks too muddy and heavy. I would wait until this winter to do anything with it.

I finally had my first dragon fruit of the year bloom last night....it's 9S/dark star. Supposed to be self fertile ...we'll see! Hmmmm...pic doesn't seem to want to attach from my phone....
Kevin

One more: Our Chilean mesquite (aka The Messmaker) started looking bad late Sunday afternoon - shedding leaves, waving its arms wildly about, making odd whistling/cracking noises. Then it laid down and stayed there. We're going to "cure" it Thursday morning by turning it into firewood.

OK here's pic of the dragon fruit flower....

Fascinating new updates everyone, thanks for sharing what's going on in your gardens! Juttah, sorry to hear about your mesquite tree! Hopefully it didn't damage your house at all. Did it blow over in a wind storm? Your description of the "cure" made me laugh, thanks for the chuckle. Definitely take some before/during/after pics and let us watch along. Good luck and be careful!

Great looking flower on your dragon fruit, Bolt, let us know if you get fruit. Great stuff!

Thanks for the compliments on the pics, Azant, I appreciate it. YES, those "confederate roses" were easy to root. I just plopped pencil-sized cuttings in water and kept in a sunny window. I changed the water every single day (using water that I let sit out overnight from the day before to let chlorine evaporate). All but one of the cuttings rooted and have become nice plants. I'm eager for some blooms!

Here's one of several Matucana madioniorum plants that have been blooming off and on all summer. I have really grown to love these cute, round little guys. They get water once a week when it's hot and once a month when it's not, and just a bit of afternoon shade. So easy, and so fun. Wilson the tennis ball staying out of focus in the background to provide a relative size comparison.

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Here's that darn lizard moving in to a bonsai pot planted with Euphorbia capsaintmariensis. He started ejecting the small ceramic pagodas and "go" players (board game) and now is making himself at home, LOL. I don't mind at all and I was able to grab the figurines before he tossed them over the edge. It was close, LOL. This is pretty high up on a plant shelf on the covered patio.

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T

Finally, a Schick hybrid Echinopsis 'Sorceress' in bloom (Schick 1255-30). I love the colors. I've accidentally built up quite a collection of Echinopsis plants, but really, who can blame me? They're so easy to keep happy (afternoon shade and water only when quite dry) keep them happy and blooming off and on all summer long. Easy!

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T

Happy gardening!
Take care,
Grant

Here is a link that might be useful: Pics, so far, from my garden August 2012

Bolt: I would running for the hills if I saw that lizard in my garden.

Marymcp: I think I planted the okra in either April or May. The love to sprout in warm soil. I have mine in a square foot garden and also a two floor tall sun irrigated raised bed. They are doing quite well in both. Last year, I started late but had okra until December.

Grant: cool Buddha's Hand.

Xica de silva: I don't think apple trees do well here. Also, it doesn't look like your soil is amended with anything. Better to buy fruit trees that do well in desert.

Xica, the only help I can offer is I would mulch the heck out of that puppy and perhaps give it a bit more shade, be it a sheet or whatever. If you need some horse manure for mulch, let me know, lol!

Love that Lizard! I think he's starting to pose for you. Have you named him yet? Looks like he's permanent.

Thanks, guys, for the suggestions regarding my apple tree. Unfortunately, I think this current wave of heat has already taken my poor tree to 'greener pastures', so to speak! The branches break when I try to bend- like rigor mortis. :(

On the bright side, my peach trees are both doing well, planted in that same muddy soil in the same area. I guess they aren't as fussy.

OMG, all the amazing pictures! That Schick hybrid Echinopsis 'Sorceress' is mesmerizing. I can't stop staring at it...if the aliens(like E.T.) ever wanted to subdue humanity, they might try using something like that! Truly hypnotic! lol

That lizard looks a bit fierce, as if his scales might scratch you if you try to pick him up (my brother and I used to play with lizards growing up in South Florida, so the thought of picking him up seems quite natural to me!) :)

Grant, great pic of the lizard, hopefully he will protect that Euphorbia of yours which by the way is a gorgeous and fun Euphorbia to grow. Thank you as well for the propagation tips on your Hibiscus!

Here are a few of many things starting to wake up a little and do something...

Begonia ruhlandiana, a xeric begonia. I hope to have this in the ground in the front yard in full south south sun.
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Sarcocaulon crassicaule (Geraniaceae). Pelargonium alternans and P. carnosum are blooming as well. I guess a little overspray of water doesn't hurt in the summer, quite the opportunistic succulents. I hope to get some seed of these guys soon!
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Tylosema fassoglensis. This guy decided to show its face this last week. Very Bauhinia-ish. The flowers are pretty familiar as well if you do a search on them, similar color to Bauhinia tomentosa. I am anxious to see if this performs better than Bauhinia blakeana.
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Wow, lots of great pics and some good reports, you guys! Love the lizard and echinopsis - I must get one of those (echinopsis), so pretty. I already have a few collared lizards like yours, Grant. We have one that I swear is as big as an antelope squirrel but not as fast. He is so big he has to lumber away when disturbed!

So what's doing good:

EGGPLANT, plain old Globe, huge happy plants (in containers!) giving 3-7 fruits per plant so far and still blooming.

Large CHERRY TOMATO (that was the name on the Walmart plant, I thought I was buying a Sweet 100 until I got it home) has not wilted, continues to grow and has have given a few fruit every other week all summer with more coming. I think this is due to it being in a half barrel (no drainage holes, yes I know I live dangerously :) and with a big olla.

I still have big beautiful RED CHARD but it is extremely salty (inedible) and I learned this summer that some plants actually "clean" the soil of salts and minerals. Beets (and chard, also in the beet family) do that!

BURGUNDY OKRA is about 3' now in a big container and just beginning to fruit. I was late getting it in due to disability this spring and BIRDS chomping the seedlings. This was the 3rd sowing.

HERBS: BIG basil plants in very small window box and lots of starts I rooted every which where when I put a bunch of pinched blossom ends in a vase for a little bouquet on the kitchen counter. They grew roots in two days so I planted those under other "nurse" plants and now I have lots more coming along as well as more I sowed the past several weeks. French Sorrel, mint, rosemary, marjoram, thyme and variegated society garlic all doing well. The society garlic has been blooming for over 2 months and more coming. Beautiful lavender blooms on this that taste like garlic!

My 2 ARMENIAN CUCUMBERS have climbed up and all around the lower limbs of the big lysiloma and given a half dozen big fruit with another half dozen growing now, flowers continue.

YARDLONG BEANS went in this June beside the society garlic and are giving yard long beans! Yup, they are really long and the flowers are just beautiful - 1" purple that look a bit like sweet peas or snapdragons. I will definitely grow these a lot more in the future, easy, pretty and delicious!

I have some UZBEKISTAN MELON (like a super sweet cantaloupe) I put in from seed from Roadrunner farmers market. I put some in ground, some in a big pot with an olla. The 2 ground plants are like MONSTERS, have overtaken an 8x10' fenced area around a few big containers, growing completely over the fence, up the containers, up the neighboring totem pole cactus, just wild growing vines and lately I found fruit (hard to see in all that mass though!). But the 2 container melons are small in comparison (leaf size and vine length, although trellised and not exactly demure!) but they gave the first fruit which should be ready very soon.

SAN PEDRO (and other large columnar) CACTUS blooming and doing well in the 1,5,10 gallon pots all over the place

POMEGRANATE Wonderful planted in May is doing great. Thankful as that was late for planting.

PURPLE LANTANA lush and a few blooms, only because it is getting so much water and good afternoon shade!

NAKED LADIES AMARYLLIS are in bloom right now - gorgeous ice pink blossoms come up on tall stalks from naked bulbs in my north rock garden each year for monsoon season.

Potted HEARTS AND FLOWERS, you can't knock these down, they just grow and grow, always flowering.

NOT SO GOOD:

ITALIAN POLE BEANS I sowed this spring in a big cardboard appliance box with 2 big ollas. They've covered the big mesquite trellis sticks I put in for them and flowered (piddly little bitty peanut size white blooms compared to the yardlong) but no beans. 10% of the leaves wilting and browning. I'm told if I can keep them going until cooler weather in the fall, I should get a crop out of them then, so they continue to be watered. They are still green and pretty even if a bit crispy around the edges!

HALL'S HONEYSUCKLE looks ragged and need to prune about half of it off. Soon, when the weather lifts a bit in Sept.

CLEVELAND SAGE hanging on, very dried up looking but some leaf area remains normal. Hurry up fall!

BAY LAUREL shows either salt sensitivity or lack of enough deep water (some leaves have brown tips/edges, a few a bit chlorotic). Need to ironite and fertilze again but so HOT out there, ugh.

That's about it for the "cultivated" stuff around here. Trying to keep cool and stay indoors as much as possible until the fall gets here. Wishing you all as COOL August as possible.

Nice Mex petunia - I have a bunch of those, in white, pink and purple. They are planted in a little island in my garden, surrounded by pavers. I let them seed themselves all over the island and I went from three plants to about 20 in a number of years. They really pop with flowers when the humidity inches up. The palms are thriving of course, my b. palmetto is growing like crazy and everything seems to be ok. I have a big rat or something in the backyard that ate my entire 3 foot tall blue agave, a smooth agave, an octopus agave and just about every other agave I had.

Sheesh, really? I wonder what it was - I've never heard of anything eating agaves other than the snout weevils .... . And I certainly have a lot of ground squirrels, etc. Are they going to eat all my plants when I get them in?

Fun updates everyone, keep them coming!

Azant, you have some awesome, unusual plants there, thanks for sharing them with us. It's neat to have some of them waking up/performing at this time of year. Love 'em!

Kathleen, it sounds like you've got a ton going and growing too, great stuff! My honeysuckle (just plain ol' Lonicera japonica) looks tired, but not too bad right now. It'll perk up soon though and make a nice autumn flush of blooms.

Sherizona, sorry to hear about your agaves getting eaten. Javelina make raids on soft agaves in my neighborhood (octopus and squid agaves mostly, but sometimes others), but it sounds like yours are inaccessible to javies. I get some sort of desert rodents in my back garden now and then and they munch on tender cactus shoots or seedlings. Could yours be from rabbits/hares?? Sorry for the damage to your agaves, I'm sure it's a real disappointment! Boo.

I have had a couple of Sudden Plant Deaths in the garden, LOL. I think this week has been the most challenging of the year so far. Some of the youngish hollyhock plants that looked fine all summer were suddenly DEAD in the morning, LOL. Not all, but some. Same for a couple of suculents too. I finally ripped out the pitiful Euphorbia rigida in the front garden. Its two friends and neighbors look great, as do several seedlings so it's just one of those things. I'll scoot a seedlinging into its old spot once it cools off a bit.

Things that still look great: lantanas, vincas, Alamo vine, and lots of cacti and succulents, including this fun Stapelia grandiflora in bloom this week--it's a nice early surprise as their main autumn bloom season is usually a month or two later than now. The scent is putrid, which makes me chuckle. I hand pollinated it with some S. gigantea and some S. hirsuta last summer and have several seedlings from it that might start blooming soon. I can't wait to see the variation in flower shape, size, furriness, and stench. I'm hoping for a range of aromas from roadkill through dumpster, through dirty socks. Who says succulents can't be fun?! Happy gardening all. Let's get through these next hot couple of weeks and then look forward to preparations for the long gentle growing season. Take care, Grant

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Here is a link that might be useful: Pics, so far, from my garden August 2012

Wow, that pic is just stunning, Grant!

Too bad the smell of that plant isn't stunning lol... Gorgeous flower though, stapeliads have some of the most gorgeous flowers as far as succulents go.

Too bad the smell of that plant isn't stunning lol... Gorgeous flower though, stapeliads have some of the most gorgeous flowers as far as succulents go.

Kathleen10:

Great info about the red chard and beets. I was wondering why my beets were soooo salty. I won't be growing either anymore. I though it was the variety I got buy tried 3 different varieties and all were salty.

I have okra, eggplants, jalapeno peppers, and believe it or not, tomatoes that are looking healthy and green. I won't show the rest of my yard though :)

plstqd - what a jungle!!

Grant, love the stapelia pics - that's a nice flower to view from afar. [grin]

What's Looking Good in my 'garden' is 'maters and these babies are very healthy although a bit leggy. They are *so* ready to go in the ground. Hopefully by mid-Sept the soil will have cooled enough.

Most of these are for sale and I cannot advertise on this board so am burying the posts in other threads [thanks Grant] so it will hopefully go unnoticed. Contact me through the email addy on My Page if you are interested in taking home one or more of these babies. I'm *down to* a mere 90 plants today. Pagancat, notice the nice new LARGE PRINT labels? [she came by yesterday and we had a devil of a time reading tiny little tags stuck in the soil {{gwi:2100778}}{{gwi:2100779}}
Happy Gardening all - I'm looking forward to the temps coming down to just the low 100's the next few days.

Taking them yesterday was just perfect timing - they're out in the yard getting what UV sifts through the clouds.

So far, they're the only thing that looks good in my yard!

I think McP is gone for the weekend. Do you remember what varieties she has, PC?

Fun new updates everyone. Thanks for the nice comments on my little quick and casual pics, I sure appreciate them.

GREAT looking plants, plstqd and Mary, just great! My little garden finally got a nice gentle soaking on Friday. Even though it's still hot today, it sure feels better than a week ago. Talk about blast furnace, LOL. And I'm a heat lover! Glad the temps are a little milder again--it was 79 F in the garden when I got up this morning so I'm a happy camper again.

Here are a few things looking good in the garden right now. Yup, that Stapelia grandiflora just keeps on blooming with those big, stinky starfish-shaped flowers. And yes, I get on my hands and knees each day to (briefly!) smell how disgusting they are. They make me chuckle. So gross, yet so fun.

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My little bistro set still has the usual suspects on it for summer: my ten year old rosemary topiary that I've carted from garden to garden to garden (I'm on #5), a cascading variety of vinca, and a "Hawaiian" spider plant (new growth is highly variegated and then fades to green as it matures). All of them are really easy and don't seem to mind summer here at all, yes, even when I leave town. What's not to love???

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The little Matucana madisoniorum cacti out on the patio have been blooming off and on all summer in red, orange, white, and in-between. I've really grown to love them. Here's a white one in bloom this weekend. Easy, fun little round guys for partial shade.

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Finally a couple of pics of an "Arizona rainbow cactus" (Echinocereus rigidissimus).

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Speaking of garden flower pics, I was pleased to see a few flowers from my garden in Ken Druse's new garden book (Natural Companions: The Garden Lover's Guide to Plant Combinations). How fun is that? It's nice to see our wonderful gardening climate represented with some of the durable flowers from my little garden right there with those from England, France, and other parts of the US and Canada. He had asked me to ship him a few boxes of blooms from my little garden here, so I did, and he photographed them for the book. Of course, he accidentally said I lived in Flagstaff instead of Phoenix, but at least the pics are in there, LOL, and they do highlight some of the diversity of plants we grow in our wonderful, goofy, climate.

I don't know about you, but August always seems SO LONG to me. Maybe it's the heat, or just the fact that it IS long, but I'm ready for the very warm but not insanely hot temperatures of autumn here. Love it.

Happy gardening, and keep that sunscreen handy!
Grant

Here is a link that might be useful: Natural Companions: The Garden Lover's Guide to Plant Combinations

Shoot.... I have her list around here somewhere, Tommy. I know she has 'Sungold', a yellow cherry and a red one.... 'Stupice' and that's where my memory completely goes. If I get the list I'll post more.

Kudo's Grant in 'getting published', that's exciting.

tf, you have email...I sent a pdf of tomato varieties. Lots of Sun Gold and several others still doing well.

Thanks for the nice words on my little garden flowers being published, Mary, I appreciate it. I didn't write the book of course, LOL, just grew and shipped some flowers, but it's fun to see our climate represented in some of the more well known ones.

Love all of the tomato plants you grow and sell, thanks for helping everyone have the best tomato harvest possible! 'Sungold' in my all-time favorite tomato variety for taste, EVER, LOL.

We've had two nights of good, heavy rain here in my little garden, so several plants look GREAT today. What about in your gardens, everyone?

A rain-soaked Aloe dorothea flower stalk loaded with buds. This is an aloe I grow primarily for its burnt orange winter foliage, but the blooms are also quite respectable. It usually blooms for me in late winter, so this is a nice off-season surprise.

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Here's one of SEVERAL fast-growing Euphorbia royleana plants in the garden. I purchased most of them at the awesome Arizona Cactus Sales nursery down in Chandler and reall like these plants. The new growth has leaves which fall off as the growth slows down for winter. Neat, fast-growing plants. This one was a single rooted piece about 24 inches tall four years ago. Wilson the tennis ball included for scale:

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Finally, a quick-pic of a hummingbird taking a rest on a massive Agave americana in the back garden. I love how you can see the imprints of other leaves on the backs of the agave leaves. Such a fun aspect of these plants!

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Here is a link that might be useful: My monthly blog: loving the plants you don't love!

What a fat little hummer! Grant I still have some Sun Gold left, come and get one.

Great pics, lovely specimens. Mr. Lincoln looks terrible but he's holding on. Lots of things look good though, especially after the rain.

More rain, please? :)

My one little unlabeled pepper plant that I picked up at Baker Nursery has been producing loads of sweet/hot bright red chili peppers through the heat of summer. They're so good. Heat up a little oil in a pan over moderate heat, toss in a few of these little hot chilies and some fresh cut okra. Don't overcrowd the pan, if you prefer 'dry' okra. They should all fit the pan in one layer with a little room to spare. Saute, tossing frequently, until the okra gets some nice browning. Season with a little salt and pepper. Yum. Okra and chilies have done well in the heat and go well together on the plate.

Stuff that looks good: Chilopsis and snail vine, both planted in June! Here's a (not so great) pic of the chilopsis. You can see that the tips of some leaves are a little burned, but other than that, the plant has done well in spite of my torturing it by planting in a terrible spot in June. I hope next year I can give a glowing update. The only plants that I bought in late spring that didn't make it are the Pavonia praemorsas.

Just bought a deal that some of you might be interested in, especially if you're in the north area of Phoenix. This is a nursery I hadn't heard of before but it looks promising. Going to visit there shortly. http://www.desertgardensnursery.com/our_nursery
The Living Social deal is still good for 2 more days, link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Living Social Deal

Holy Basil, Batman! What in blazes happened? This was looking good till a day or two ago when I noticed some leaves had been nibbled. Now look at this poor plant! I can't find a bug or cat on it. Anyone have any idea what's eating the basil? Whatever it is, today it's starting in on the Thai basil. I'm going to have to pick most of it and dry it or use it up before it's all gone. :(

My vote would be grasshoppers. I hate those buggers. Spray a bit of water and see if anyone jumps. Then squash 'em.

Mary, I examined every stem, thinking there must be a little green worm hiding. Nothing. In fact, of the few 'bugs' I've found this year, not one has been a grasshopper. I'm going out tonight with a flashlight. Somebody has the nighttime munchies.

C'mon, September!

Yikes, tomato, that's quite some damage! :( Sorry to hear about it, but thanks for sharing it. Might it be birds? I know quail will nibble leafy plants in my garden now and then? If so, you could put a wire basket or some other similar structure to see if the plants recover? It will be fun to see what people say, what you do, and how it works out. I'd be annoyed too!

Take care all and happy gardening!
Grant

The month is almost over, and I don't know about you, but I'm ready for some cooler temperatures for sure! We had a couple of decent days last week, and my garden had three nights in a row of HEAVY rain this week, but I'm ready for autumn now. What about you and your garden??

Here are two things looking really good right now: a clump of the common pink "rain lily" (Zephyranthes rosea) bursting into bloom after the recent rains, and a hybrid Tavaresia succulent blooming in a pot on the patio.

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The rain lilies are in full, hot sun all year and get watered maybe once a month (by me) in summer and then they survive on rainfall other than that. They have several flushes of bloom a year, and often completely disappear for a month or three too. The Tavaresia gets afternoon sunshine and water once a week in summer and once a month in winter. It's a Stapelia relative, so yes, the blooms STINK to attract pollinating flies and ants, but you can only really smell it if you get close.

Take care and happy gardening!
Grant

I love the rain lillies Grant. I need some of those!

Tomatofreak, I had the same problem with my basil last year so can sympathize- I do not like to share my basil with anyone- critter or human being! lol

I never did figure out what was eating my basil, but since I went outside with a flashlight and found crickets munching my strawberries, I just figured it was the same culprit. Who knows?! Please let us know who or what the culprit is once you find out- very curious!

And great pix as usual, Grant! Btw, love the blog! It made me wonder- is it time to plant seeds for those ummm...blue flowers (desert bluebells is it?)? I have the perfect spot if the timing's right!

As for me, I'm happy to report I got my very first pumpkin bloom ever! I hope it's not too hot for the insects to pollinate and all that? I guess I'm a total city-slicker because I never knew the blooms were so pretty! Anyhow, here's a pic:

We finally received rain in Tempe and it looks like some of my plants are going to make it.
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Is that "Lipstick" salvia? Whatever it is, it's beautiful. Lovely plants, all.

Awesome new pics and updates everyone! I'm glad lots of folks got some good, soaking rains too. Last Thursday afternoon I was caught in the heaviest downpour I've ever seen here in over 12 years. Amazing! Tons of rain water in my rain barrel right now, and it only collects from about 20% of the roof surface!

Mary, you should definitely get some rain lilies, they're just so easy and they absolutely do not need to be on life support (automatic irrigation)! Just plant them, water them once every ten days or so when they seem active, and forget them. They're great, and so easy!

Congrats on your pumpkin bloom, Xica, so nice! Keep us posted! Thanks for the nice comments on my little blog, it's a fun little outlet for me. Oh, you can plant those desert bluebells (Phacelia campanularia) any time, but when I am introducing them into a garden for the first time I wait until November to sprinkle them around the garden. They'll pop up in late winter and bloom in spring. Once you let some go to seed, you'll never need to plant them again, LOL.

Awesome pics and plants as always, dlg421! I love your garden! Great that it got a nice rain too. I noticed a few mushrooms popping up in my garden too, LOL. Fun!

Okay, it's September now, so I'll see everyone in the September thread! Thanks for sharing your gardens with everyone, it's wonderful to see/hear what's going on in your gardens!

Take care and happy gardening,
Grant

Here is a link that might be useful: Happy September 2012 what looks good/bad in your garden?