Plants at the Golf Course....

Recently, I posted about our trip to the desert,
and Golfing in a Garden.

I thought I'd show you a little of the Flora and Fauna there.

Some, I've not seen before.

This Bougainvillea is one I don't know.

From a distance, I thought it was a Crepe Myrtle.
Very upright....almost like it could be a tree.

But closer, I could see it was a Bougainvillea.
Smaller leaves....

And, clusters of smaller blooms.

Here's the Bougainvillea I'm used to.

And, this bush.  It gets quite large.

That's one, just ahead and to the left of these carts.  I saw some even larger ones.

It has these pretty yellow blooms.
Sorry for the photo.  My camera does NOT like to take pix of yellow flowers.

And, this silver shrub.  I think it's some kind of Sage.  I like it.

 There were lots of nice grasses....

And, the ever present Lantana...

The Palm Springs area uses Lantana a lot.  It's a good hot weather, drought resistant plant.

The landscaping at the villas at the Hyatt Indian Wells, is pretty good, too.

And, there were pink and white water lilies blooming in the water hazards.

With the water, and all those blooming things, there were lots of birds.

This little hummer...I think maybe a Black Chin Hummingbird...posed for me several times.

And, this little red bird took a lot of work to get a shot or two.

I think he's a Flame-colored Western Tanager.

This little guy...a Black Phoebe?...just came right up and posed on the handle of the rake in a sand trap.

And, this American Loon was swimming around with his friends, diving under water for whatever was on the bottom.

view from our balcony

I had a busy day, even though I didn't golf.

If you know the names of those plants I showed you, please let me know.
Hmmm....wonder if deer like them.

*******

The Longhorns have a big game this weekend, up in Dallas.
We play our arch rivals, Oklahoma.

Hook 'em Horns!

*******

Have a great weekend...
~~Linda~~

Garden Bloggers Bloomday...August, 2011...

Well...here we are...the 15th of the month.  The day when gardeners all over join Carol at May Dreams Garden,  to see what is blooming in the garden.

It's been very hot and very dry, here in Central Texas.  So, there's not a lot of blooming going on here.

I was a bit surprised, though, when I went out to take photos.  There's more than I thought.

Our view out the back, and across the deck, is the Deer Grove.  It's pretty dried up.

If you look closely, you see some green.  This Prickly Pear is still green, even though it's had NO extra water....

Just over the edge is the creek.  The Euphorbia 'Snow on the Mountain' is blooming there.

Despite it's pretty face, this is one tough plant.  Like most euphorbias, the deer won't touch it.  That white latex sap is dangerous...to people, as well as animals.

And, it can thrive in this....almost solid rock and NO RAIN.  That's tough.

Over in the veggie garden, there are more blooms than veggies.  This narrow leaf zinnia has been pretty happy there.  I'm letting it set some seeds to save for next year.

The same with some of the regular zinnias that came up from last year. 

This cosmos reseeded itself.  The 'mother' plant has long died, but the babies are happily blooming.

I think I'll probably have zinnias and cosmos in the veggie garden for a long time.

One veggie is hanging in there....Okra.  It likes the heat, but hasn't grown as tall as usual.

And, I'm just letting the basil go ahead and bloom, too.  It's pretty, and we need some pretty.

Over in the fenced yard the Esperanza is finally putting on some small blooms.  It probably doesn't get enough sun.  But, at least it made it through the freezes of last winter.  Hope it lasts out the heat.

Mexican Petunia, ruellia, is holding strong.  I actually like this plant for the foliage, more than the flowers.  The blooms last one day and leave a mess.  But, I like it. 

A purslane in a container likes the heat.

And, in the same container, the Plumbago likes sun and heat, too.

And, Periwinkles are tough heat loving plants, too.  These in the front haven't been chomped, either...yet.

But, the big show is the Bougainvillea.  It got a bigger pot this year, and it seems to be really happy.

It makes us happy, too.

So, what's blooming in your garden? 

Stay cool....Pray for rain.

Happy Gardening...

~~Linda~~

You Can't Always Get What You Want.....

It's really hot here.  As I write this, our thermometers here at Patchwork Garden read 108F...actual temperature.  The heat index has to be more.  We won't think about that.

And, NO rain......

We've moved up to stage 3 water restrictions.  

That means no watering with automatic irrigation systems or hose-end sprinklers.  We can still use hose-end watering and "hose filled buckets", but only on designated days, at designated times.  Our days are Tuesdays and Fridays, up to 8:00 am, and after 8:00 pm.  

Luckily, we can use soaker hoses any day...but, only at certain times.  And, there is still a small amount left in the rain barrels.

If you look in the right place, things don't look so bad.  The golf course waters every night.  They have an exemption, because they have a business that requires it.  

But, turn to the right, and this is what reality looks like.  

The only thing alive in the creek is the Euphorbia 'Snow on the Mountain' (what a great sounding name.)

The deer gather in Elli's Meadow, looking for whatever they can find.

That is last year's grass.  And, turns out grass is something deer don't really eat.  That was a surprise to me.  I thought living on a golf course would mean they'd have plenty to eat and would not bother the landscaping quite as much.  Boy, was I wrong.

The deer wander into our yard.  Note the lovely lawn....dead grass, trampled by deer hoofs.

We make sure the birdbaths are filled.  

And, a bucket filled, for the babies, too short to reach the water in the bowl.  

This is i-Lean.  Notice her right front leg.  It was broken last year.  Mr. P named her.  He's a funny guy.

This photo is not zoomed.  She really does come that close.  And, she's looking pretty bad.

There's nothing much we can do for the deer.  Even if it wasn't a stiff fine to feed them, there are so many.  We'd never be able to feed them all.  

We're worried what the winter will bring for them.

On a brighter note....the few containers I have are loving the heat.

Thankfully, they don't require much water.

I think this little guy has the right idea. 

He lives on the porch...which isn't that easy, with Willow (who thinks this is his house), and Maggie chasing after him when he hops out of his hiding place.

Mr P filled the porch water bowl last night, with cool, fresh water...as soon as he set it down, this little frog jumped right in....dirt and all.

Too bad we don't have a bowl big enough for us.

Stay cool...pray for rain.

Happy Gardening...

~~Linda~~