Verna and Bob's Weblog

Home & Garden

Return of the Red Bird of Paradise

Since the Red Birds are coming back to the courtyard, it won’t be long until the beautiful flowers start appearing. I posted this item exactly a year ago today explaining why I just LOVE these plants and their flowers . . .

This is probably my favorite desert shrub. The shrub is called “Red Bird of Paradise” or “The Pride of Barbados.” They are native to Central America, parts of South America and the West Indies. Desert Tropicals, a Phoenix based garden information website, has information on cultivation and care of these pretty shrubs. They recommend planting them six feet apart and after summer in November or so, to cut them almost to the ground to keep them compact. In mid-spring, they will grow quite rapidly to between six and fifteen feet high.

I took this photo today while we were in Glendale, AZ, doing some shopping. Very soon, we will be having our landscape contractor install several of these around our house. Click on the image to enlarge.

red-bird.jpg

May 3, 2012 by Arizona Home & Garden Photography Retirement

Varmint Control

trapped.jpgBefore we left for California last month, there was a white-tailed antelope squirrel burrowing under the quarter minus landscape topping in our courtyard. The burrowing would have endangered some of the shrubs in the courtyard, so I caved in the critter’s excavation, patched up the holes and covered it with a large flower pot to keep it from trying to burrow there again.

When we got home last week, there were no signs of additional burrowing, so we thought the problem had gone away. Yesterday, however, Verna saw the little critter gnawing on a decorative scarf she tied around the neck of a small statue of a coyote. So, I set the little Havahart rat trap next to the statue and baited it with a couple of dog kibbles. Sure enough, the trap sprung this afternoon with the critter inside. I took the trap over to the neighbor’s unimproved lot and let the squirrel run off into the underbrush.

I do not know if catching the squirrel will discourage it from returning to the courtyard, so I set the trap again. We’ll see what happens. Click on the image above to enlarge.

May 2, 2012 by Arizona Critters Home & Garden

Cow Tongue Prickly Pear Cactus

cow-tongue.jpg

Last spring, I rescued a single paddle that had broken off of its mother cow tongue cactus down in a wash near McClure park here in Wickenburg. I brought it home and planted it in this pot. Last year it grew two additional paddles. This year, it grew two more paddles and each of last year’s paddles have a new paddle.

Verna wants to wait until next year to transplant this into the west side of our property to start a border cactus. Over time, this stuff does spread out. Probably not for a while until it spreads a bit but there will eventually be prickly pear flowers galore in the springtime.

April 16, 2012 by Arizona Home & Garden Retirement

The Evolution of Our Desert House

Unfortunately, the aerial image of the property prior to excavation of the pad where a house could be built is missing from the archives. However, the aerial views of our property above represent three stages in the construction of our house; before, during and after.

Click on the images to advance the slideshow.

April 13, 2012 by Arizona Home & Garden Retirement

Avalon 1998

Categories

Archives