Who doesn’t love roses? Personally, I envy those who are knowledgeable about growing roses, and extra envious of those who know the names of all the different roses Growing roses in Phoenix? Even in our withering heat, many varieties thrive, often in neglected conditions or without tender care.

Know your Planting Zone

There are multiple rose locations on our property. On the south side of our home, a rose garden is planted, with approximately 20 rose bushes. Quite honestly, I do not know the varieties of my roses, as these were initially selected by our landscape architect long ago. But now that I have the time, I am excited to be involved with all aspects of our roses.

Learn to Prune

Here is the last bouquet I cut before a hard pruning in January. This pruning is done for shape and to foster vigorous spring growth. Care of roses can be as complicated or straightforward as you care to make it, depending on the varieties you are growing and the zone in which it is grown. Remember to always select roses that are well suited to your area.

Rich Soil, Fertilizer, Water

Roses grow best in rich, fertile soil that is kept evenly watered throughout the year. In March, I add new compost soil around the beds of the roses, removing weeds and turning up the dirt. In addition, I check the watering system and add a rose fertilizer. This rose food can be found at Whitfill Nursery. The dogs LOVE it so you need to be extra careful that they do not ingest it.

Creating small berms around each plant helps with water retention.

Heirloom Roses

Next I move onto the heirloom roses that are on the periphery of the orchard. These 10 bushes are the original roses that we were able to save through the restoration. To read more about our house restoration, click here.

I believe these are Quatre Saisons (known as “Rose of the Four Season). This rather gawky, prickly rose produces the most fragrant blossoms. To read another story about these heirloom roses, click here.

Ramblers

In the front of our home, we have an additional 8 rose plants in front of the large Lady Banks’ roses. This old rambler, introduced in 1807, is very tolerant of the hot and dry conditions. Since we are growing it up the existing fence, Lady Banks’ provides a thick privacy hedge to the busy road. It is just now beginning to bloom with its small, yellow flowers. Soon this hedge will be one solid row of yellow.

Rose Hedge

The last of our roses is an enormous shrub rose. I do nothing to this because it is so huge. To give you an idea of its size, the wall behind it is 6 feet tall. It is approximately 12 feet x 10 feet by 12 feet tall. The bush is so thick with cane too and is the perfect habitat for birds.

Just starting to bloom, this shrub produces these delicate pink blossoms with a faint fragrance. If anyone knows anything about this rose shrub, please let me know. I imagine it has been here a very long time.

So all in all, we have 40 rose bushes, several Lady Banks’ bushes in both white and yellow, and this mysterious hedge above.

As I mentioned earlier, my goal is to tend to them this year and learn as much as I can about their origins, official names and classification. With most things in life, there are lessons to be learned, like wearing a long sleeve shirt while doing rose work.

“Death offers you thorns, eternity offers you roses, and life offers you both.”― Matshona Dhliwayo

Happy Wednesday to you! If you grow roses, please share. If not, I hope this post inspires you to do so. Roses are tougher than they look.

This post shared with Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday #634

I often get asked if gardening takes a lot of my time. Overall, the answer is no. Yet there are times during the year where crops need changing, soil needs amending, trees require pruning, and flowerbeds need thinning and weeding. Now is the time to do the Spring Gardening here in Phoenix.

Fortunately, we have someone to help us maintain our 2+acres. However, he has been out sick for the last 6 weeks. My husband and I are enjoying the extensive yard work in the interim as it is giving us a chance to evaluate and improve our outdoor area.

The Orchard

Our orchard has primarily citrus trees, planted long before we purchased the home. From oranges to kumquats, we love being able to pick fresh fruit many months of the year.

Timing is everything when you fertilize your citrus trees. Generally, you should fertilize your citrus tree at least once every two to three months during your tree’s dormant periods of fall and winter. Then once every one to two months during the tree’s active growth of spring and summer. 

Therefore it is time to fertilize citrus trees now. President’s Day is my cue to remember, then Mother’s Day and Labor Day.

What Kind of Fertilizer

NPK is the abbreviation you find on any fertilizer bag. It stands for nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium (K is the chemical symbol for potassium). Nitrogen encourages green growth, phosphorus encourages strong roots for flowers and fruit, and potassium encourages healthy fruit size, shape, color and flavor. Fruit trees need a balanced ratio of all three to support the growth of sturdy roots, strong branches and large, juicy fruits. Consider slow-release fertilizer as too much nitrogen at once isn’t recommended.

Fertilizer works best when applied to a mulch circle around the tree. Mulch circles keep grass from competing with the tree for water and food. They also prevent damage from lawn mowing, and help keep the root zone cool and moist.

Slowly we are working our way through each tree to create a large clean mulch circle around every one. In addition, all dead branches are being trimmed from the citrus trees. Soon we’ll have gleaned all the fruit, leaving room for fragrant blossoms to appear in next year’s crop.

To give you an idea of how many fruit trees we have: 4 Grapefruit, 8 Oranges 2 Lime, 1 Lemon, 1 Kumquat, 1 Limequat, 2 Tangerine, 1 Apple, 2 Apricot, 1 Peach, 1 Fig. That’s a lot of mulch circles!!

The Garden

As returning visitors to my Spring Gardening updates may know, there are 5 raised bed planters in my vegetable garden within a white picket fence: 1 raised flower planter and numerous surrounding beds at ground level.

With the winter garden reaching its prime, it is time for me to plant our Spring selection. First, I clean out all the dead/dying plants.

Next I add fresh compost. I am a huge fan of composting because it is easy, reduces your waste by 30%, and the plants love it.

To see a previous post on Composting 101, click here.

For my garden, I prefer compost that is basically clean; no small sticks or other dry debris. I sift the soil loosely over a wheel barrow before I transport it to the garden.

Here I let it sit in the beds for a few days or several weeks, depending on what I am planting. Currently I am awaiting a shipment of strawberry plants so the bed is ready to go!

Since I buy so many flowers, I decide to have a cutting garden this year. I ordered seeds willy nilly from Floret Farm, not taking the time to determine if they work for our planting zone (9B for USDA charts). What was I thinking?

For some reason I make the assumption that all flower seeds are planted in the Spring, which, is not the case here in Phoenix. With 10 packets of flowers seeds, only 5 are able to be planted now. The balance will have to wait until fall.

Using jumbo craft sticks, I mark the location with the name of the flower, planting date and # of gestation days. Since the sun patterns will change in the next few months, I will be interesting to see how they do in this location.

Some of the winter vegetables are looking so good and healthy, there is no need to remove them just yet. It is very rewarding to head to the garden just before dinner and pick ingredients for a fresh salad. Most of my tomato plants survived the winter so I will keep those too.

If you live in this area, my go-to bible for gardening is the Planting Guide for the Valley of the Sun by Kevin E. Erdmann (2004). I finally found the link online for the Bedding Planting Guide and here it is. However, if you are interested in the Vegetable and Herb Planting guide, contact me at marycrz@cox.net and I can scan it and email it to you.

What I love about this planting guide is that it tells you when to plant by month, whether to plant seeds or starters, if they are annuals or perennials and when they bloom. For a complete list of what you can plant this Spring, see last year’s post here.

The gardening activity will continue as I make my plant selection so more to come on that! Keeping my fingers crossed that the frost is over, as it was 37 degrees yesterday.

Being out in the fresh air and sunshine is just heavenly. The only drawback to gardening is that I am so sore! Time to use those muscle relaxing bath salts I made over the holidays. See recipe here.

Happy Wednesday!

Another week has come and gone! And it is nearly February~this year is already flying by! It’s been an exciting weather week here. I am so happy you are joining me today for Saturday meanderings to chat about all things new and wonderful this week.

New Beverages

Nothing better than a cuppa tea when it’s chilly and rainy. My sweet friend, Gabie from Tea End blog is my go-to person when I am seeking a new tea. She recently featured this one, The Wellness Tea on one of her blog posts. Ordering online is very easy and here are some of the claims this 100% organic herbal blend does to boost your daily balance:

• Immune System
• Anti-inflammatory
• Ease digestion
• Control blood sugar level
• Calming
• Cleanse
• Heart Health
• Energy Boost
• Improve skin health

Every afternoon I make a cup and add a bit of honey of Crozier honey. The tea package holds 30 pyramid tea bags. There is no caffeine, artificial colors or additives. See Gabie’s post here (photo above from Tea End Blog). To shop The Wellness Tea click here.

Our orchard is bursting with delicious citrus fruit but we are specifically enjoying our fresh tangerines. This Sidecar cocktail is SO good. Not only are you getting lots of Vitamin C, but I also add fresh ginger to the simple syrup. The bourbon is warming on these chilly evenings too. We are loving this tasty cocktail. Recipe is below.

Time to Prune

January and February are gardening months here in Phoenix. It is time to prune your fruit trees, before the spring growth starts to bud. This year I decide to prune the apple, peach, apricot and fig trees myself as I haven’t been happy with how they look.

In doing so, I discovered that our apricot trees have a borer which is creating havoc. I am in the process of reading up how to deal with these nasty characters as we have previously lost a peach tree due to these invaders.

Cleaning and Organizing Projects

There are no big or complicated projects on the horizon. But I am tackling smaller ones that take an hour or so each and every day. Does anyone hate cleaning out the freezer as much as I do? It would be embarrassing to show you the before picture, but here is what it looks like now. Hard to believe I threw out a lot of things.

Over 3 years ago, I converted a huge tv armoire to store our bedding and linens (see post here). It is finally messy enough for me to pull everything out and re-organize it all over again. Why can’t things stay perfect?

It feels good to get these things done as they are not overwhelming nor do they dominate my day.

More Antlers

Our sweet friends Sam and Kate, who provided us with the fabulous elk antler sheds (see post here), just sent us several deer antler sheds. I cannot wait to use them in different scenarios up at our cabin. Just a reminder that deer shed their antlers every year and no animal was hurt in the process.

Does anyone watch The Great British Baking Off? Well, we are watching the Masterclass episodes by Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry. They are addicting and the worst part, is that all I want to do is B.A.K.E. Recently I made cinnamon rolls with dried cherries, cranberries and walnuts with an orange glaze.

Then I had a hankering for brownies, but made these Black Bean and Avocado brownies instead. I know what you are thinking~black beans and avocado? Surprisingly, these brownies are rich and chocolatey. For this recipe I did add butterscotch chips vs. chocolate ones. Here is the link to Ambitious Kitchen for this healthier version.

Making Nut Milk

Several people find it surprising that I make my own nut milk. I cannot tell you how easy it is to make this. What I like most about it is that I get to control the ingredients. My fresh nut milk only lasts a week so I wonder what they put into commercially produced nut milk to lengthen the shelf life. The best and inexpensive helper to making nut milk, is a nut milk bag. You can find it here.

To see a post on how to make your own nut milk, click here.

iPhone Photos

A year ago I invested in an iPhone 11. There is probably still so much I do not know about it, but I do know that the camera function is excellent. Most of my photos are taken with this iPhone. Since improving my photography skills is ongoing, I take a lot of pictures. Here are some I took this week while walking the yard after the rain.

Our Weather

Since Phoenix has approximately 300 sunny days in Phoenix, we LOVE getting any weather that produces precipitation. With little rain this past year, it is so glorious to have all the rain (and snow) this week.

My friend, Louise, who lives in a more northern part of Phoenix, sent me this picture. Typically, her desert views are expansive but not only did it snow, but the visibility is nearly zero. Such a rare occurrence!

And we had 14 inches of snow at our cabin in the mountains!

Well, as we wrap up January 2021, I hope all is well with you and your family. So happy you are here today for Saturday Meanderings. Stay safe, healthy and warm!

When we bought this home, I didn’t realize how much I would love having an orchard. Located on the southern part of our parcel, the orchard is about 200 feet long. The rectangular shape is perfect for entertaining, as we host many dinners here in the Orchard.

Historically, I do not know how old the orchard is. The previous owners planted the kumquat tree in celebration of a wedding anniversary. I do know this tree is decades old. Based on the size of some of the adjoining date palms, the orchard has been part of this property for a very long time.

My husband built a support structure for the overhead lights which creates a magical setting at night.

The orchard is abundant with citrus this time of year.  Our tangerine tree is bursting with fruit, so much so that the limbs are drooping from the weight.

In the orchard, we have 7 different types of oranges with one of the best juice orange trees around. The children tell us that if we ever sell the house, we will need to take this orange tree with us!

Four grapefruit trees, both pink and white, two tangerines, limes, lemon, a kumquat and limequat tree round out the citrus selection.

One year I did make kumquat preserves and I must admit, it is challenging. For such tiny fruit, there are many seeds. After de-seeding them, which took hours, this is my first and perhaps my last attempt at this recipe.

We also have stone fruit in the orchard. Both apricot and peach trees will be sharing their beautiful fruit with us in May/June.

Though it seems a bit counterintuitive, we can grow apples here in Phoenix. The only downside is that they are ready to pick in June. My fantasies of apple picking revolve around cold weather, sweaters and autumn colors. But here, in the triple digit temperatures, you will find me picking our Anna apples.

Since we do not have a watering system in the orchard, it gets a deep watering monthly in the winter and twice a month in the summer. Flood irrigation is such an affordable way to water here. For a small annual fee, the Salt River Project provides water through irrigation gates to the property.

The dogs LOVE to run through the water. Fun for them but a bit messy for us.

Now, more than ever, we are getting lots of fresh Vitamin C with our citrus pickings. Last year, we had so much fruit, that we donated several boxes to the neighborhood.

But in the meantime, I hope to make my delicious Meyer Lemon Marmalade (see recipe here) and Preserved Lemons (see recipe here).

Make sure you are getting your dosage of Vitamin C daily and hopefully you are somewhere with an abundance of citrus so you can make these recipes. You will not be disappointed.

Hope you are having a terrific Wednesday!

If you enjoy this post, please share on Pinterest.

I hope this blog post finds you having a delicious cup of coffee (or tea) and a relaxing morning. Thanks for joining me for Saturday Meanderings as we chat about all things good this week!

I cannot tell you how much I enjoy hearing about your home projects or trying a recipe I’ve shared. My sweet neighbor, Tevia, got inspiration from the stenciled bathroom tile floor in our pool house. She tackled her guest house bathroom floor. Isn’t this amazing?

And now, she just completed her laundry room floor, using a different stencil but with only one color. It looks completely different! Wow!

Great Customer Service

I love my coffee every morning and two years ago, my family bought a Nespresso Breville Creatista coffee machine for my birthday. Multiple times a day this coffee machine is creating lattes, cappuccinos, you name it. Recently, though, the water tank in the back was leaking intermittently.

So we call Nespresso’s customer service and they conduct a leak test over the phone (took 20 minutes) and quickly sent a replacement tank. However, when it arrived, it was the wrong size. So I call again. Apparently they have discontinued this model and no longer have a replacement tank. So what did they do? They sent me a brand, new machine at no cost! This particular model retails at $599.99! How nice that Nespresso stands by their products.

Pretty Things and Images

Look at this spectacular photo of a chrysanthemum. I’m not sure I’ve ever truly appreciated the beauty of this flower. Wouldn’t this make a spectacular painting?

If you shop at Target, check out these cute rain boots from Smith and Hawkin. Click here for the link.

Cindy Hattersley from Cindy Hattersley Designs recently posted this picture. These are the last of her roses and the way they are captured on her new iPhone 12 is amazing. See her blog post here.

My Painting Aspirations

Last year, I didn’t paint as much as I would have liked. So this year, the plan is to schedule time to each week to paint. I would like to attempt painting animals. Here is some inspiration.

On My Bucket List

Visiting the People’s House during Christmas is on my bucket list. I have been by the White House but never inside. My sweet friend, Effie went this year and shared these pictures. I meant to post them during the holidays, but they are lovely no matter what time of year it is.

The theme is America the Beautiful. So often we forget that living in this country is such a privilege and in spite of its problems and political differences, it is certainly the best nation in the world.

This delectable wonder replicates the West Wing, Executive Residence, East Wing and for the first time, the Rose Garden and the First Ladies’ Garden. Constructed from 275 pounds of gingerbread dough, 110 pounds of pastille dough, 30 pounds of gum paste, 25 pounds of chocolate and 25 pounds of Royal icing, every detail is an exact replica.

She also sent me the accompanying book, illustrated by Carole Biggio, which for a budding artist like me, is a dream to have.

As politicians come and go, the White House staff mostly remains. If you haven’t read this book by Kate Andersen Brower, you will find all the stories interesting. The Residence can be found here.

To close, I have a short, funny video of Cooper. Life with our dogs is a constant adventure!

Have a spectacular weekend!

When reflecting back on 2020, is it possible that we took on TOO many projects? Perhaps for me, keeping extra busy was a way to not focus on all the world’s problems last year. I guess the good news is that several things got done, but it feels like an exhausting year on many fronts. Here is a list of completed projects of 2020 and which ones we hope to tackle in 2021.

Italian Fountain

Our outdoor Italian fountain is transformed from ugly to pretty~the rusty spouts are replaced with new ones! See post here.

Master Closet

After the embarrassing condition of our master closet, it gets good cleaning and goes from a mess to a neat and organized space. See post here.

Dining Room

With a few great yard sale purchases, I am able to upgrade the dining room with these fabulous upholstered parsons chairs. A new coat of paint helps brighten the room, too! See post here.

Windows and Screens

Being confined to home gave us the opportunity to personally wash each and every window in our home, as well as the out buildings. Not only did we clean, but repair screens, touch up paint chips and make sure our windows are in good working order.

Back Terrace

Many new upgrades are added to the back terrace. Since we entertain a lot in this space during our better weather months, it is time and money well spent. A new tile backsplash, so desperately needed, is now pretty and easy to clean. All the upholstered furniture and rugs are thoroughly cleaned; the concrete/slate floor is treated with a sealant. Broken slate is repaired at the fireplace. See post here.

Family Room

Another room benefitting from the great yard sale scores is the family room. New upholstered wing chairs and a round table is added; a gorgeous decorative chest becomes the bar storage. To see more about our family room, click here.

Potting Shed/Well Tower

In the spring, the potting shed in the well tower gets attention. Filled with dust and spider webs, it needs organizing and cleaning. See post here. Plus I finally create a storage system for most of my wreaths. See can see that story here.

Front Porch

A lot of focus is on the front porch last year. New front door color, polished hardware, updated wreath, fresh paint on the rocking chairs and a new door mat. What a welcoming difference! See post here.

Guest Cottage

While sprucing up the front of the main house, it is time to also tend to the guest cottage. Using spray paint, the light fixtures are brought back to life (see post here). With your help and suggestions, the vintage mailbox is updated too! (another post here).

Back Staircase

Yesterday’s post is a summary on the back staircase. Though this project starts in 2019 and is completed just a few days ago, much of the work is done in 2020.

Flooding and Ghosts

2020 is a year to remember, not only for the pandemic but the series of unfortunate events we had with flooding. First a broken water heater in the basement and then the dishwasher in the kitchen. No pictures of either mess, just a blog post about Old Houses and Ghost Stories here.

Pool House Bathroom

Perhaps one of the most difficult new projects is stenciling the tile bathroom floor in the pool house. But the end result is stunning. See post here.

Closet and Storage Organization

Thanks to being part of a blog hop, the front hall closet gets completely re-organized. Nearly all of my table linens reside in this odd shaped space. See more here.

Another storage organization project includes the hidden space under the front staircase. Slipcovers and decorative pillows are organized into bins and kept here.

Painting Furniture

Transforming an old piece of furniture into a Scandinavian style dresser at our cabin is a creative leap but with good results. To see this DIY project, click here.

Building New Things

My husband’s creativity and handiness produces a chick-nic table for our sweet hens. A fun and easy DIY project here.

Property Maintenance

With the help of our professional painter, John Cruz, the well tower, barn and hen house get some sprucing up. To see more before and after photos, click here.

New Projects for 2021

Our master bathroom is looking a bit tired. The tile floor is the same as the pool house, bland and dated. Debating whether to try and stencil it or just demolish and put in new tile. The countertops are marble squares ~again a dated look. It might be time for a complete renovation. To see more on our master bathroom, click here.

Create a Cutting Garden

I am just receiving my seeds from Floret Farm and am looking forward to making space for an actual cutting garden. Not sure how well this will do in our climate, but it will be a learning experience.

Update our Kitchen

Since I haven’t thought this through, I’m not sure how or to what I want to do with our kitchen. It will all depend on the budget, but it would be nice to fix a few things and update others. More to come on this.

Organize the Entire House

I want to start at one corner and make sure each and every room is the best it can be. Is that even possible? I dream about a place for everything and everything in its place.

Do you have any projects for 2021? I can assure you that there will be less projects for me this year. Instead, I want to fill my year with more fulfilling and meaningful experiences~like art, friends, family and travel. Let’s hope the world will begin to open up once again.

Happy Wednesday! Stay safe and healthy!