Southwest Desert Gardening

What, you ask, is the Greater Roadrunner, the State Bird of New Mexico, doing sitting on a fence?

It is hanging out, waiting for what it hopes will be its next meal to come to a bird feeder! I was unaware that roadrunners ate other birds until a couple of weeks ago. A roadrunner was sitting by a hummingbird feeder, and it jumped up and tried to snatch a hummingbird in mid-flight. Look at that beak! Look at that claw! I moved the hummingbird feeder that day. I’m in the process now of moving all the bird feeders away from the block wall.

The roadrunner can eat all the lizards in the woodpile it wants!

‘Gemini’ is a great rose for the desert southwest. This photo was shot on August 15, 2008. You can see that the rose does not lose its size, form, or color even in the heat of summer. Flowers generally appear singly, one-bloom-to-a-stem, but ‘Gemini’ is capable of making very large sprays. One year I had a spray with 13 florets; this spray has “only” five.

If you want to grow only one hybrid tea in the desert southwest, ‘Gemini’ is a great choice!

August is the best time of the year for hummingbirds in the Albuquerque region.

The wonderful little black-chinned hummers come in the spring, and are the last to leave in the fall.

But in August, we can also expect the rufous hummers and broad-tailed hummers to pass through on their migrations south for the winter. Both are here in abundance now.

The little Calliope makes an occassional appearance; I have not seen one yet this year, but I am still hoping. . . And, in the meantime, I’m enjoying the abundance of other hummers here now.

This “little” guy has really grown! He’s not quite an adult, and he still has a few downy baby feathers, but the transformation in such a short period of time is amazing!

‘Cinnamon Delight’ is a miniature rose, and its official ARS color classification is russet. Russet roses are not all that common. They are generally achieved by some mix of mauve roses with yellow roses.

Probably because of the mauve component, russet roses seem to like some degree of protection from the hot afternoon sun. This one grows in a large container on the patio, where it gets lots of morning sun, but only filtered shade in the afternoon.

Last week I posted a photo of a young fledgling Western Scrub jay here. That photo was taken 6 days ago.

Now, the bird is still a fledgling, and is still awkward, and is still getting its adult feathers. But it has learned about peanuts, and just goes straight for them when they are put out. This guy was a fast learner!

This dove was quite content this morning.

The reward for the time and effort spent gardening? It is the simple joy of spending a morning like this enjoying the beauty of the flowers and the birds and the clouds and the sounds!

The rose in the foreground in ‘Cesar E. Chavez,’ a hybrid tea.

The two larger birds are house finches.

The cute little black-and-yellow birds are a pair of goldfinches.

Sheer joy in a Saturday morning!