April Flowers for Auntie Em

Over Easter dinner, a friend talked about Philly's four nor'easters.

This morning on ESPN, announcers in sweaters were cavorting in a snowstorm.

Snowy hikes are making a comeback this week on Facebook.

Auntie Em, enduring an East Coast Spring, has mentioned several times that she loves my snapdragons.  I love Auntie Em and I love my hardy snaps, so here we are.

 Spring after Spring, although they are sold as annuals. they reemerge from a severe winter pruning, thicker and healthier than the year before.  They may not be an exotic species, but I'll take anything that gives me reliable color and deem it the most beautiful plant I've ever seen.

Yes, I'm easy that way.

You would be too if you gardened here.

Little Cuter, photographer extraordinaire, calls this lighting The Golden Hour,

These 36" newbies were planted with expansion in mind.  I have high hopes that they will cover the area between the Heavenly Bamboo (nandina of some variety or other) and the scraggly ferns..

Lest you assume that I am a wizard at creating lush landscapes, let me assure you that I have failed more often than I've succeeded.  

This is The Container Of Last Chances. 

 Everything planted here was originally somewhere else, doing poorly, near death, not thriving.

I found bulbs that never bloomed as soil was being swapped out of otherwise healthy pots.*

I remove the dead stuff and plant the rest and encourage them to take their time.

Gardening in the desert Southwest is a constant test of wills - me vs the environment.

The COLC is my way of striking back.

Happy Snapdragons, Auntie Em!

Come back and see them in person anytime!

*1/3 every year should be gently removed and replaced with fresh potting soil, according to both the Pima County Master Gardeners and the Marin County Master Gardeners.