Acacia in Bloom

The very first blooms have opened on the young acacia tree.  Little puffballs of white and yellow are lightly fragrant, not very showy, but delightful to have around!

Wordless Wednesday: Summer Skies

Leaves of Acacia salicina

End of Month View: the Dry Corner in February

It's time for the End of Month View, and for the first time I am going to feature one section of the garden.  This is the Dry Corner.  It's not very heavily planted yet, and what is there has yet to fill in.  But it is taking shape a little.  This corner will form the entrance/exit into the rest of the yard.

From the garden side...

and looking in from the yard...

It is meant to be home to some of the most adamantly desert natives I am growing - things that should not have much supplemental water at all.  This where the acacia (Acacia salicina) is planted (I do love the colour of the bark)...

...and some of the succulents, like Senecio "Blue Fingers"...

...and now Euphorbia "Firesticks".  Is this the same as "Sticks on Fire"?  I don't know.  If it is, it can sometimes grow to a considerable height.  At present, it's a little, glowing batch of fingertip branches.

There is also a tiny Sedum adolphi, with its plump leaves becoming ever more golden in the sunlight.  It was sold as one of those miniscule succulents-as-houseplants that one finds at garden centres.  It went out into the big world and nearly met with immediate demise.  Betty the dog accidentally ran it down - literally planting her foot in the middle of it - as she greeted me because, of course, I was standing there admiring the new plant.  The main stem was undamaged; and I plopped the other remnants back into the soil.  It worked well with a bit broken off the Senecio.  These look all right so far!

Anigozanthos "Bush Ranger" has been very pleased with this location.  It has just been cut back so is only a tuft of flat, dark green leaves at present.

The Tetraneuris is also in this bed.  For a while it had me worried: the leaves have such a dry, leathery texture that I kept thinking they were dying back.   But no, it is producing a mass of little buds though the leaves still feel dry and crinkly to the touch.  Healthy, I think?

At the moment, some of the strongest bloom is coming from Berlandiera lyrata.  I am happy to report that the chocolate scent is distinctly smellable now.  I can only send the picture...  Here you can see the scalloped leaves that form a rosette at the base of the flower stems.

This bed will need a number of other plants to fill it out, but I thought I would begin focusing on it for the End of the Month View with Helen at the Patient Gardener.

I can't leave today's post, however, without showing the first open bloom of Penstemon parryi.  Just opened this morning!

Looking at Leaves

Sedeveria "Sorrento"

I got a late start on Garden Bloggers' Foliage Day, but here is the January report.  Mostly pictures...

First the beautiful powder blue and green of  Senecio "Blue Fingers".

Then the promise of spring flowers from the bulbs.  Dutch Iris "Blue Magic" is up...

as is Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum arabicum).

Also there is Dietes irioides, commonly known as Fortnight Lily, whose handsome, deep green fans have just sent out their first bud stalk.  I have been happily impressed with the elegant presence of the Dietes clump and will be even happier as it begins to bloom.  By the way, my aunt recently recommended Dietes (as well as Argyranthemum frutescens, the Marguerite Daisy) for successfully growing under Eucalyptus trees, a notoriously difficult situation for plants.

All in all, the leafiest plant in the whole garden is probably still the Salvia greggii "Autumn Moon"...

but it has some competition for the title from Eremophila "Outback Sunrise", which has yet to flower, but has held its lush green foliage fresh for months.

Lastly, there are the bronze/purple foliaged plants, which I am learning to appreciate more and more in this garden.  Sedeveria "Sorrento" (see also my post on these earlier this winter) is thriving.

I love the purple hues of my newly planted Penstemon parryii.  I suppose the colour will change as the weather warms.

Another recent acquisition is the slightly curly leaves of the little groundcover Tetraneuris aucalis.  The yellow daisies perch on wiry stems some 12 in (30 cm) or more above the mat of leaves.

And finally, once again, there are the smoky leaves of Eremophila "Valentine".  This is proving a superb addition to the garden.

Thanks to Christina for hosting GBFD each month at My Hesperides Garden and for encouraging a good look at the foliage that brings its own grace and beauty to complement the often more ephemeral flowers.

Last of all, a look (almost) upward at the leaves of the little Acacia tree (Acacia salicina, see also here), quietly evergreen... or eversilver...

A Tiny Posy

Today's vase and post have to be quick ones, so here is a tiny vase with  just a few flowers in it.  Happily, I can introduce a new flower here: Tetraneuris acaulis (formerly Hymenoxys acaulis).  Quite a bit of name for this delightful, native yellow daisy!  It is a low-growing plant with grassy foliage, but the flower stems are long and wiry, lending themselves to a graceful effect.

Also included in this vase are a couple sprigs of perovskia.  My very young plant is still blooming profusely.

 A single stem of lavender (Lavandula stoechas "Madrid") was added as well.  There are a good many more blooming stems; I'm very pleased with this selection so far!  Also present is some foliage from the new Acacia salicina, which I wrote about in my last post, and a spring of rosemary.

The tiny bud vase is the same handthrown stoneware piece that I used in my first Monday vase post.

Sorry to be so brief; I'm sure this sounds a little hurried - which it is!  But I didn't want to miss posting for the Monday Vase meme hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.  I'm sure there will be other less rushed posts from her and other participants today, so by all means check them out and enjoy!  Happy Monday!

The Garden Tree

It has been clear from the beginning that the small, sunny garden would need a tree.  Partly to create a little shade, partly to add a vertical line that can connect the garden itself with all the big sky above it (not to mention the house beside it).

I have had the spot picked out for months, but deciding on the tree took longer.  It needed to be small, but still tree-form, something that the average person could stand underneath and feel a little shade on the top of the head.  At the same time, it must not unduly crowd the garden, let alone the house.  The short list originally included Desert Olive (Forestiera neomexicana), Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis), and Acacia - type to be determined.  The Forestiera I ruled out fairly early because I wanted a different effect.  But Chilopsis vs. Acacia - that has been a running question.  In the end it was decided on the spur of the moment.  Acacia salicina, the Willow Acacia, was trundled home in the back of our minivan last Tuesday.

It is small, but it looks like a real little tree...!

I had actually decided on the Chilopsis after my last trip to Elgin's Nursery in Tolleson, where they had some lovely specimens with their soft purple trumpet flowers.  However, many acacias are just coming into bloom in our area, and I kept wondering whether I might not like them better.  I nearly bought a Chilopsis at the local garden center but remembered that Elgin's trees had looked so nice and healthy so why not wait...?

At last I went to Elgin's.  And they were out of Chilopsis.  They did, however, have some graceful little Willow Acacias...

. 

So the Willow Acacia came home with me and is now happily in the ground.  Very happily, since we had another good rain last night.

So here are a few thoughts on Acacia salicina.  It grows taller than wide - roughly 30 ft (9 m) by 15 ft (4.5 m).  This allows me to have a taller plant in a small area.  It is said to be short-lived but to grow very quickly.  The one distinct disadvantage recorded in my post-purchase online information hunt, is that it has a tendency to sucker freely.  Well, I can only hope that doesn't make too much trouble for me; I do dislike having to hunt and chop back robust things that come up where I didn't put them.  There was a wisteria once...  but that's another story!  Acacia salicina is evergreen, unlike Chilopsis linearis, and it supposedly has fewer seedpods and creates less litter though there was a comment about seedlings.  It's a tough plant and has to hold its own in the world, no doubt!

Acacias seem to originate in many (warm) quarters of the world, including some Arizona natives, such as Palo Blanco (A. willardiana).  A. salicina itself is from Australia.  Very drought-tolerant, watering on one side of the tree only was recommended by one source.  The rain thinks differently, and the tree is happy for the present.  But I plan to plant only reliably xeric perennials beneath it to avoid overwatering.  As it has little cream-coloured ball flowers, it should combine well with the yellow-flowered natives such as Hymenoxys and Berlandiera, which I also brought home and hope to get into the ground soon.

It is so nice to see a tree - however small - in the garden.