Warming up

Last week was a little cold, but it’s finally warming up again. Our normal high for this time of year is around 24c (76f) but last week it was significantly lower, by the weekend it’s supposed to be 28c (82f), with our normal full sunshine. We were out working in the garden this past weekend, getting in some more tomatoes and a dozen more sunflowers. B wants to fill one of the garden beds with dozens of sunflowers, she liked the way the few we had last year looked.

The Springs Preserve had their annual plant sale last Saturday and this year we were able to get up early enough to get there when some plants were left. They carry a few dozen pots each of hard to find desert plants, and even thought the total amount is probably around a thousand plants they still sell out by 10am (opening at 8). We snagged a half dozen gallon pots of some pretty yellow desert daisies and pestemons and some other pretty pink flowering thing. Those were laid out and will get into the ground this week.

The Springs Preserve is a large complex with a big desert botanical garden, playground, exhibits and other activities. If you come to Vegas a lot it’s worth stopping by. The outdoor gardens are free to walk around, and granddaughter E likes to climb on the big snake and play with the train, so we go periodically. Wolfgang Puck runs the café, where we grab a lunch salad and coffee.

Around town we are back in the ‘yellow’ season, where most of the plants in bloom have yellow blossoms. We have about a half dozen different things around our yard blooming right now. This one is a succulent, which only has one big bloom per year:


After the flowers dry up the plant carries the feathery seed pods for a while, until the wind takes them away.