nixwickedgarden

So the last cold snap that came through this area a couple of weeks ago, is now a distant memory.  At least for those of us here in the So Cal Desert.  Unfortunately, much of the East Coast and Northern Mid-west is still dealing with frigid winter weather—My heart goes out to you folks.  Spring has sprung here in Desert Hot Springs.  The sun has lifted my spirits and gotten me out of my funk & out in the yard to enjoy the warmer temps and see blooms popping out on just about everything!  My Partner has built planter boxes and put in new irrigation and planted vegetables, herbs, watermelon & strawberries.  He also bought a bunch of colorful flowers and put them in terra cotta bowls and big pots lining the stairs in the backyard.  We also got all the dead overgrowth under palms and shrubs pulled out and put out new gravel to clean up the overall look of the yard.  I hope we will at least have a few weeks of these ideal temperatures before we are hit will full-force Desert Summer heat!!!  As much as I love the high & dry heat here, it is nice to have an “ease-in” period before the swamp cooler has to be run all day and night and the sidewalk sizzles like a greasy-spoon diner griddle.  This warmer weather has also signaled the return of house-guests that want to come out here to visit us from Los Angeles (The temps in LA are right around 62-70° right now, while it is around 86° here).  I sent our last guest home with an Agave and an Aloe vera.  Last time he was here I gave him an Agave bracteosa, a variegated Century plant as well as a Albo-marginated Agave.  We have SO MANY to spare, it is kind of ridiculous.  I am glad I can share my plant-passion with some of my friends.  This time of year brings me out of my shell and encourages me to be social, generous and more loving.  It always amuses me come Springtime how grumpy and “Scroogy” I was at Christmas-time for all the parties and gatherings going on—That all happens AT THE WRONG TIME OF YEAR!!!  Who wants to drive 3 hours in the pouring rain, fog or sit miserable overnight in some crowded, dank Air Terminal when your flight to Grandmas house is cancelled??!!  I guess that is why I always enjoyed Christmas much more when I lived in Hawaii.  Nothing is better than hanging lights on your palm trees when it is 85° out and you are waiting for Santa to show up on his 11 foot Long-board!!!

Warm, nurturing and shining bright!  That is how I feel this afternoon.  It is 87° right now with Humidity at 6%—I wish the same for all of you!  🙂

Everything outdoors is blooming, the birds are singing and everything is just lovely.  Then my Partner had a sit-down discussion with me about how my plant collecting is bordering on madness.  I reluctantly agreed to slow way down on buying new plants online.  Then, what does he go & do?  He brings home some more plants for me that he saw at Home Depot!  Hmmmm…..How EXACTLY does this help my Plant-problem any?  It doesn’t, frankly, but I don’t care because I LOVES ME SOME BROMELIADS!    The Aechmea hybrid ‘Del Mar’ is a plant that I have admired for quite some time.  It is a patented hybrid by Bullis Bromeliads.  It is supposed to be a dwarf variant of their much larger Aechmea hybrid, “Blue Tango”.  Now, I have seen ‘Del Mar’s before and they are supposed to be small plants.  This is NOT a small plant!  This is quite large for an indoor houseplant, so after it blooms out I will be moving it outdoors under the Queen palms with my other tank-type Broms to produce hopefully a few pups.  The other plant he got for me was a little Vriesea hybrid that he was tripping out on since he had only seen paddle-type inflorescences coming out of Tillandsias (such as Tillandsia cyanea).  So he brought it home to show me.  I had one of these a few years back.  The paddle is so bright and glabrous that it looks artificial or lacquered.  After it blooms out, though, it is a really plain little plant.  I will endeavor to keep it alive with my other houseplants, though!

I took many pictures this week and I want to get some of them posted here in a few more posts.  I don’t like to go too long between posting here to my Blog because then I tend to over think and second guess myself as far as topics, titles and subjects.  Bottom line is:  I like to share my plants with folks!   More to come….   😉