What’s Happening in my Yard?

For those of you who know how much I love wildflowers or any flowers for that matter, you may be in shock at what I did today. I pulled almost all of the Desert Bluebells from my side/backyard today. We could barely open the shed and it was only going to get harder. They were growing out of control this year. We did have normal rainfall last year of +/- 8 inches. However, we do not have rain gutters so all of the rain pours off our roof. Probably why the wildflowers in this part of our yard were so thick and huge!

As sad as it was to pull these out, and a few bees didn’t seem to be too happy with me, at least mother nature made up for my sadness with a beautiful sunset.

This sunset is from my backyard tonight! I tweeted it to one of the TV stations, maybe it will be on the news later tonight!

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Several years ago I sprinkled a small package of wildflower seeds that I had purchased at the Desert Botanical Garden. The seed was a mix of Mexican Gold Poppies, Lupine (unsure of which variety) and Desert Bluebells. The packaged stated it was enough seed to cover about 10 sq. feet. And after all these years, the wildflowers cover my front yard, the side yard by the driveway and part of the backyard!

Each year I allow the wildflowers to reseed for the following year. The Gambel Quail in the neighborhood enjoying feasting on the seeds as well. Once they have all died and released their seeds I then pull the remnants. Not a task I enjoy doing and each year I ask myself why I let the wildflowers reseed. Oh yes, for the joy they bring me each spring!

So what is happening in my yard right now? Below are a few photos I took this morning. I have never had Desert Bluebells with such large leaves or so tall! Hope this is a sign of what is happening in the desert! May have to do some early scouting at Bartlett Lake and Lake Pleasant.

Maybe each week I’ll post an update of what is happening in my yard!