Just as the chief character in my latest novel started revealing unexpected facets of her background and personality, disaster rampaged through my fledgling orchard.  While we spent the weekednd in Phoenix, javelinas mangled apple, nectarine and pear trees.  A rat trap at the base of the almond provided defense.

City folk too often think of javelinas as cute little beasties like Josefina Javelina or this dancing javelina.  One of my relatives poo-poos warnings from the rest of the family and feeds them.  But the truth is, javelinas are 45-60 pound rats with tusks.  Near-sighted and prone to panicked attacks, they do not make good neighbors.

Here in the semi-country, they roam in herds of 6-10, dumping garbage cans, destroying gardens and goring foolish dogs. After talking with neighbors who had their landscaping demolished by them, I thought chicken-wire-and-rebar cages would protect the trees.; the  animals were smart enough to push down the wire.  Maybe Rev 2 will work better.  Taller cages, more rebar - after the next trip to Home Depot.

Reported attractants include fresh mulch, blood meal (fertilizer, not vampire droppings), garbage and birdseed.  Even if you don't mind javelinas trampling your flower beds, you might not want them around; they can attract bears and mountain lions.

Repellents include human hair, moth balls, coyote urine, dog poop tea, and electric fences.  We had haircuts last week, but with two dogs and a Walmart nearby, the choices were obvious.  Now I need to check out the local Ace Hardware for rat traps; I'm a belt-and-suspenders type of girl.

Thirty percent off!  What red-blooded American woman can resist a sale?  Especially when it's something exotic like a cinnamon bareel cactus?  Yep, yours truly made it to the Boyce Thompson sale and came home  with a half-truck of plants.  Some were replacements for the fairy dusters that succumbed to winter chills.  Most survived, but we now have a new rule around the hacienda:  Avoid fall plant sales. Although October is a great time for gardening in Phoenix, in the mountains, plants just don't have enough time to get well established.

As usual, one thing led to another and I found myself researching honey mesquite trees.  Several varieties of mesquite grow on the property and cultivating the tastiest (honey variety) is a priority.  If we still lived in Phoenix, though, I'd save the pods from the Chilean mesquite and have them ground. 

The most common references on the Internet send you to Texas honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa), a thorny invasive that hasn't arrived in Arizona yet.  Thorns are a major sticking point (pun intended); our trees are almost thornless and decades too old to be one of the patented thornless varieties.   Velvet mesquite  is common and native to Arizona, but they have furry leaves and big thorns.  A couple shrubby specimens of screwbean mesquite hide amid the older trees, but the blobby shaped beans are distinctive.  These are the trees lining our drive  and surrounding our house. 

And why do we want them?  If the nutty sweet taste of fresh-ground whole wheat sets your taste buds quivering, try substituting 1/4 mesquite flour in your favorite biscuit recipe.  It's that simple.  And if you don't have any mesquite flour handy, check out these folks.  Your taste buds will thank you.

Attention, gardeners:  the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, east of Phoenix on US 60, has a Members-only 30% off sale through this weekend on all plants; for non-members, the savings is only 10%.  Unlike the garden centers at most big-box stores, the goal is to get the plants sold before they get bedraggled.  Even after getting picked-over by the spring sale in March, the selection of exotic plants shames most nurseries.  Want a boojum tree?  What size?  Lust for frankincense?  Through the magic of clonic, your wish can be granted.  Need a barrel cactus for the window sill? Cinnamon, fish hook, golden, or?

So support your state parks, treat your garden and scurry to Boyce Thompson.  If you aren't familiar with it, you should be. Nestled below the soaring backdrop of Pickett Post Mountain, an eroded volcanic core, the gardens display cacti from South America, native flora, an Australian forest, flowers...  Overlooking the creek below is Pickett Post House, a southwestern style Arts and Crafts house originally built by Boyce Thompson.

Mick and I made a special trip - and ten new plants are in the garage of our mountain home, waiting to stretch their roots.  Some are old favorites from the desert, like pink fairy dusters and a globe mallow.  Others, such as desert honeysuckle,  are additions to the wildflowers I've found hidden among the weeds. 

Once you've driven to Boyce Thompson, Superior is only a few miles further east.  Stop at the intimate Jade Grill to check out the oriental BBQ dishes created by Lucy, a chef who has been featured in a multitude of magazines including  Cuisine, Family Circle,  and Sunset.  You'll be glad you did.

Want an excuse to learn new swear words and spend big bucks on weed sprays?  Just find a patch of this stuff.

Yep, this is my nemesis, the fernlike groundcover with tiny purple flowers.  Identification was difficult.  Searches of several books, including the National Audobon Society Guide to North American Wild Flowers, came up empty.  Even on-line searches got me zip until I found the  Southeastern Arizona Wildflowers site and searched for plants with purple flowers.  Then I found out why none of the other sites included storkbill.  Three words:  INVASIVE NOXIOUS WEED!  That explained a lot.

Storkbill, aka filaree, alfilaria, redstem filaree, alfilaree and stork's bill,  is a cockroach of the plant world.  Originally of Eurasian origin, it has invaded all states except Florida and Mississippi.  Listed as a global invasive species, it's hate around the world.

Why do we have it on our land?  Storkbill thrives on disturbed soil and a previous owner scooped out the hillside on our property not too many years ago.  How can I exterminate it?  Imposssible.  However, spraying combined with encouraging grass will reduce its occurrence.  Just as I suspected.

One summer afternoon, Mick and I stopped at Home Dept for house parts.  On the way out, I noticed some  desert landscaping lilies were covered with seed pods.  Despite Mick's embarassment, I whipped out a plastic bag and started harvesting.  Why?  Because the maintenance folk would just cut and toss the stems and I couldn't see wasting everything.  The bottom line was that no one would care.  A couple of months later, I had time and just tossed the seeds in a couple of depleted flower beds.  The blooms pictured above greeted me this spring.

Gardening on the cheap can be fun and rewarding.  Thirty years ago, my mother-in-law's neighbor was thinning her cactus bed and asked me if I wanted some pads. Descendents of those cactuses dwell in pots around our mountain home.  Twenty years ago, a friend asked if I wanted some aloe vera. Those have over-run at least two flower beds at our house in Phoenix.  (They don't do so well up here, but hey, it didn't cost anything to discover that.)

One of the best things about gardening with salvaged plants and seeds is there is no pressure.  Pay fifteen or twenty dollars for a plant and gosh darn it, that sucker better live!   You can always find another garden castoff somewhere.  Any positive is the awesome sturdiness of plants that normally would end up in the garbage.  A couple of years ago, the Arizona State Fair was throwing away some half-dead chrysanthemums at the end of the season.  I swooped in, rescued them and stuck in the ground up north.  Admittedly, they needed a lot of water during the summer, but when fall arrived, I was rewarded with billows of bronze flowers.  (They've since been transplanted to an area where they will be easier to care for.)

On the other hand, if you're one of those folks with an overabundance of cactus, flower seeds, or other green delights, consider letting others know before you toss the extras into the garbage.  Everyone benefits.

It's spring in Arizona and the wildflowers are spreading bright colors across the desert.  If you  want an excuse to get out of the big city,what better way that to take a trip up to Globe?

Does it matter whether the highway department or nature is responsible for the wildflowers along US 60 east of Ellsworth Road?  Who cares why brittlebush blooms add  a blaze of yellow to the area next to the concrete ribbon?  Warning:  the blooms in town are fading; the earliest began in January. As you approach Peralta Road, they begin to freshen. Other wildflowers join the mix - the orange of globe mallow, the blue of lupines, some yellow desert daisies.  The first flush of cactus blooms - hedgehogs and ocotillo - add dots of purple and red to the mix.

Near Superior, you'll encounter the fushia of penestemons. Driving up Queen Creek canyon, the wildflowers will dwindle to only brittlebushes and the last of those cling  the rocks below the tunnel.  Don't worry - breathtaking rock formations will keep your attention between the tunnel and Top of the World, noted for selling "Really Good Jerky."

As you head downhill toward Pinto Creek, the snow dappled Pinal Mountains loom straight ahead.  To your left are two of the great open pit mines dot Arizona's copper canyons.  These enormous holes in the ground are awesome sights in their own right; they have a beauty of their own.  Climbing out of Pinto Canyon, past the entrance to the mines, wildflowers begin appearing, adding a hint of color to the scrub oak landscape. 

Just past the entrance to the Bluebird mine, you encounter Miami and California poppies.  This year they seem everywhere - in yards, edging US 60, covering the edges of the Arizona Eastern RR roadbed.  A few even peek through the center  median of the highway.

Once you're up in Globe-Miami, visit Besh Be Gowah archeological park (one of two Salado Indian pueblos in town), go antiquing around downtown Globe or on Sullivan Street in Miami, and have lunch at one of the great Mexican restaurants found around both towns.  You'll be glad you did.



  


    

It's been many years since a snowstorm visited the Arizona high country this late in the season.  But waking up to snowy mountains and golden sunlight is breath-taking - and something that doesn't happen in the big city.  Temperature swings are similar to the low desert - frost in the morning and 60 in the afternoon.  Add to that the return of the turkey vultures and clean air.  Life is wonderful.

With warming weather and wet roots, the weeds are jumping, especially  a lovely, fernlike ground cover with purple flowers that transform into bullheads.  Last Valentine's Day I got a garden cart (a very romantic present because it made hauling water to the plants easier.)  The first time out, I came back with four flat tires.  The same Green Slime you can buy at Walmart for auto tires worked wonders.

The bullheads are sturdy plants, growing in gravel and spray resistant.  I've discovered that Spectracide at max concentration (7 ounces per gallon) knocks them down in one or two rounds. If you have dogs, you definitely want to get rid of these.