Tuesday, January 08, 2013
CLEAR AND WARMER
While the rest of the US contemplates the news that we have had the warmest year on record (make that "hottest"), here in PS, we have been doing our best to counter the trend.
It has been unseasonably cold for three weeks.
Today, a break.
Up to the 70s and shirtsleeves on the walk with Booker.
Me not him.
Similar tomorrow and then back into the 50s with frost at night.
This is all jet stream effect getting over the mountains.
We have had more frost damage so far than any other year. Tinges here and there.
The red blossom bush, no one knows its name, got brushed the other night and now displays dead leaves.
The beautiful trumpet vine up the stucco and on to the roof, courtyard wall, is blooming though. It took today's warmth as a cue to go on the spring bounce. It will have another season before the hot summer. Then dormant until a year from now.
I hope that it is not touched with the freeze while it is doing its part to give us spring.
Labels: garden, spring, weather
Monday, April 02, 2007
HAIRCUT
We are getting pruned, as I type.
The orchid tree has been shaped, the tangerines are off the newly trimmed tree, the grapefruit looks like an umbrella, the palo verde outside the wall has been brought back to encourage density, the bougainvillea that is dead from the frost is now gone (the only way to tell is to give it a couple of months to come back and if it doesn't, hack it), and now the olive is getting pruned down.
The olive is in bloom so we are anxious to get as many of the branches off as we can because we do not want baby olives.
We will even spray the tree to neuter the little buds.
Olives may go well as an appetizer but they are a black greasy mess when stepped on.
This is an annual rite of spring around here.
It is still a bit hard on eastern boys to see the radical cuts that need to be made. Things grow so fast.
But we are getting used to it.
But not the mess.
Franklin is housebound as the guys do their work. They sprawl.
It will soon be over.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
RECOVERY
The warm days and increased sunlight are having their effect.
Almost all the frost-burned plants have a definite green cast and are beginning to recover just as predicted.
Some neighbors cut a lot of their shrubs down.
We stuck with the gardeners' conventional wisdom that they would return.
Our Paul is in charge anyway and we do what he says but I did ask around. Very few pros did cutting except where there was obvious kill.
Now, we are being rewarded.
We have not seen a 'spring' since we moved out here. No leaf-less trees. No spring greens.
Now, we have it all again. It is just like the old back east days.
CURTAINS
I went out back and saw that John had pulled our 'sun curtains' closed.
We are mostly glass across the back of the house. We see desert and mountains. The pool and our yard.
But in summer we black them out for part of the day to keep it cool.
When we moved here we laughed at some of the houses that had outside drapes; heavy canvas things.
Pulled back from the windows on the outside.
It didn't take us long to laugh on the other side of our faces.
The radiation heat on the back of the house was intense. Vertical blinds did not begin to do the trick because they were inside the house. The glass was as hot as a stove top.
So we got the outdoor drapes! Heavy canvas ones. Vertical awnings.
They are now 9 years old and look as good as they did the first day. Almost.
So today they are drawn; first time since October maybe.
It has been in the 90s all week and that is part of it but the most of it is that the sun is now up to the Spring level (next week) and it is hitting us longer each day.
The drapes are only up for a few hours in the afternoon.
They are doing their job. It is famously cool in the bedroom.
