Growing Despite the Heat

And for once, I'm not talking about me getting bigger :)  I'm finally getting around to posting about our new bushes/plants and our garden!  I managed, this year, to get things planted sooner and thus, we have some fun stuff growing.  But first, we've been trying to brighten up our previously very sparse rock-decorated yard.  (Grass, while lovely, is not exactly practical here in my opinion.  Some people have it, but to be honest it's not worth the water to keep it alive during the summer, so it dies.)  Anywho, random tangent.  Here's what we've planted this spring:

A rose bush!  Who knew that these did so well here?  At least, it has thus far.

Orange Jubilee, which has by far been the fastest growing and most thriving plant.  Since this photo, it's shot up about two feet and keeps bringing those gorgeous orangey trumpets out.

This is our agave.  Can't landscape in AZ without some kind of succulent, right?

This is the honeysuckle.  We bought the smallest one available, since we're cheap, but it's taken quite a bit of time to start growing.  We think it might finally be getting a bit bigger.  It hasn't blossomed yet, though.

And here's our little plot out back.  This is a photo from several March, I think.  I was just glad a few things sprouted.  Of course, you'll notice it is the zucchini that seems to be thriving.  Here's a more recent photo, wherein you'll note the zucchini has taken over the entire plot and the melons have spread forth.

And check out the size of those zucchini leaves!

The orange tree got some new growth this year, which is a good sign.  No blossoms that we noticed, but I did see this little bud one day:

Of course, when I went back to check on it, it was gone.  Alas, no oranges for a while yet.

My tomato, which thrived quite well, but now is seeming to run out of steam.  It is quite droopy and wilty, but I'm quite sure it gets enough water.  The tomatoes are still ripening, but I'm not sure how many more I'll see.

The little bell pepper took some coaxing to get flourishing too, but it is quite a bit bigger now and has one or two little peppers growing.

A few of our cooler weather plants did quite well.  The turnip is a bit tiny, but the one below managed to get bigger.  The radishes did fabulously (despite their strange appearance).

We've also gotten a handful of beans.  I pretty much just eat them as soon as they are picked :)

One of the bigger zucchinis, I didn't notice until it got a bit out of hand.  Vince was super impressed with its size, so included his hand as a point of reference.  I've been fortunate to give out quite a few of these to people at work, so we aren't quite swimming in them yet.

Our little desert willow tree, planted last fall, finally starting showing signs of life (during the winter, it looked like a dead stick).

And even better, it blossomed into these gorgeous flowers!

Our other little desert tree, a palo verde, also showed off some beautiful blossoms.  Maybe the trees will even be taller than us before we decide to move :)

And that's it for now!  It's nice to try and brighten up the hot, desert-y place with some vibrant plants.  Hope your spring (which is what I call summer here, June-August are what's known as inferno) is just as lovely.