AZ Theme Miniature Garden

My Fairy Gardening and Miniature Gardening is limited to using succulents while we are in AZ.  Plus, we have to transport them back home when we head north again, which is always a challenge for Denny.

But, succulents are abundant in the garden centers and at reasonable prices.  Although I intend to use restraint and do, I could probably do a better job of limiting my purchases! 

I just finished putting an AZ themed miniature garden together since arriving home with my bounty of succulents.  It's fun to create something a bit different each year and although I've had this container and the little decorations and used them before, this year I used some different plants and a different design.  The little home is a favorite of mine, I purchased it years ago at a garage sale for $1 and treasure it!  Two of the cacti spent the winter in a neighbor's house being protected from our MN winter!  Thanks Mary!

Love this beacon shining in my hosta bed!

Always one of the first hostas to greet me!

 'H. Little Mischief' was a gift from a special friend.  She tells me it is almost time for my hosta friends to pop up and spread their lushness over the early spring flowers that will soon be exhausted and will go back to sleep until next spring!  I think she uses her color to be sure she gets noticed!  She's small but mighty and I love her! 

And she brought along a special friend, a weed this year!

Muscari, another touch of blue!

Grape Hyacinths (Muscari) are another spring favorite of mine!  It's now their turn to join the "Spring Thing" in my flower beds!   Available now in your garden centers and will come back to greet you every spring.  They are so easy to tuck in here and there and if they get too prolific for you, just dig out part of a clump, they make a great gift to friends in the spring!

CLICK HERE for interesting information about Grape Hyacinths!

Spring bouquet

Seems I planted a spring bouquet without realizing it once upon a time!  The early bloom on the Lamium added another color this year!  Mother nature delivers it to me every spring!

Cactus!

A friend of mine, Pat, had this adorable wooden planter and had not figured out what to do with it yet, so she asked me if I'd like to see what I could come up with for it!

Well, while in AZ this winter, it dawned on me that succulents might be the best answer to this challenge because it required small pots.  Small potted plants find it difficult to survive at my house because every planter has to be able to handle up to 4 days in July/August without water!  So, I picked up four cactus (which three of them the happen to flower readily! I just got their special new home all set up for them!   They have such catchy names I'll have to figure out some neat signage for them!

This will have to come inside for winter but will be comfy outside in MN during temps at 40 degrees and higher!

My Blue Heaven

One of my favorite sights in Rochester is when the Siberian Squill share their beauty with us!  I always have to drive by the Mayo Foundation House in SW Rochester to check out what I call "a piece of blue heaven"!  I'm always taking people with me to share the thrill!  This year I took my neighbor Mary with me and later my great granddaughter, Josie. 

Then I gave Josie a few of my Squills in bloom to tuck into one of her fairy gardens! 

I was delighted today when Denny asked me about the little blue flowers blooming in the grass where we removed a garden bed last fall!  Yep, now I have my own naturalized piece of blue heaven starting in my own yard!

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON SIBERIAN SQUILL

Tulips on the SE MN Tundra

At last Tulips open up on the SE MN Tundra!  My friend, Joan, just updated me with this picture of her tulips she shared with me in February!

It is so rewarding to find our friends coming back to visit us again this gardening season!  Like everyone else, I've been out there cleaning winter clutter from the garden beds, adding fertilizer and weed preventer and finding plant friends popping up to greet me!  Bestest time of the year indeed!

Feb. 

Today!

Of course, plant shopping was done!

Yep, there was a desert plant sale being held when we were there!  Of course, we just had to do a bit of shopping after finding a few interesting looking plants!  

And, Denny didn't complain cuz he bought a garden art Lizard!

Jan in pink and me in Turquoise! 

More of Boyce Thompson Botanical Garden

Just can't resist sharing a few more photos of that delightful demonstration garden!

Denny resting in the shade of a 'Lady Banks' rose bush that is about 15 Ft high and 25 Ft wide

Boyce Thompson Botanical Garden sights

Just have to share a few special photo ops we found while we were there! 

My friend Jan!

Desert gardening does have color!

No fairies in this container..but it is attractive and about 4 Ft in diameter!

Fairy Gardens featuring Desert Succulents

My AZ snowbird friend, Jan, from Oregon and I checked out a Fairy Garden Exhibit featuring desert succulents at a popular Botanical Garden!  We both are into Fairy Gardens and gardening so off we went with my husband, Denny as our transportation guy! 

Jan and I decided we rated the few hours we shared at this event a score of 10!  Not only did we get to see a nice display of Fairy Gardens but we ended up in a section of the Botanical Garden that we had not been in before!  So, we had lots of photo ops!  It was a hot day but the area we were in was fairly shady and we had a nice soft breeze to enjoy!  What more do we need to rate it a 10!  No cold beer to enjoy so that left it only a 10 and not a 10+!

This darling bit of heaven was created using just fresh cuttings of succulents!

For information about the Boyce Thompson Botanical Garden CLICK HERE!

AZ Garden Tour Yard Art

We spotted some "not the usual Garden Art" along the tour!

I fell in love with this little one!   Well, not so little but not so big either.... just right size!

AZ Garden Tour Scene

Think outside of the box for garden art accents in your garden beds or outdoor rooms!

AZ Garden Tour Wicking Beds

One of the gardens featured an interesting concept in raised gardening beds by introduced us to "Wicking Bed" Gardening.  The crops we saw were impressive, primarily veggies.

The frame is to support shade cloth during the extremely hot summer months!

Click here to learn more about Wicking Beds