Home & Garden

Return of the Red Bird of Paradise

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

Yellow Prickly Pear Cactus Flower

yellow-ppear.jpg

There are several of these yellow prickly pear cactus flowers in bloom along the road near our house. This one was about three inches across which is a little larger than most we see. The Sonora and her flowers is very beautiful from March through November. Click on the image to enlarge.

View From the Hill

uphill.jpgDamsel and I hiked up the hill behind our house today to look for any cactus flowers up there. We can’t see all of the vegetation on the hill from the patio, so we had to go up to look around. We also wanted to collect a few rocks for the expanded rock and cactus garden on the west side of the lot.

Image – view from the hill – click to enlarge.

While we were up there, Damsel took this photo looking toward the southeast. In the distance, above the garage vent, you can see Vulture Peak, which is one of the Hassayampa River Valley’s most recognizable landmarks. In the foreground,you can see our native desert vegetation which includes creosote, mesquite, cat’s-paw, cholla and palo verde. We have no plans to clear any of this since it is home to our desert critters that we enjoy watching.

Great Room Area Rug

area-rug.jpg

We finished a lot of pending chores today, including installing our new area rug in the great room. We moved the furniture out of the way, laid down the carpet and moved the furniture back (whew). But it’s now done and looks great.

We also picked up our custom mirrors for the bathrooms to be installed next week. It’s all coming together. Click on the image to enlarge, but do it quietly so you won’t wake Cabela, who is taking a nap on the love seat.

The Light From Within

Happy Easter! This is a repeat of an Easter lily photo I posted back in 2007 . . .

This photo of an Easter Lily is unretouched other than cropping and resizing. A sunbeam coming through the window over the staircase hit this flower at just the right angle and place to make it look as though the inside of the flower was producing the light.

glow