An El Paso weatherman announced a startling statistic yesterday—forty-three days of triple digit temperatures this summer. I knew it had been darn hot lately, but hearing the official statistic set me to wondering how our much-loved outdoor plants have survived the season.
Not all have, of course. Returning from an 18 day trip abroad recently, I discovered a few plant casualties as I walked through our property on the first day back. The prissier plants, the ones bought for their colorful blooms, had succumbed to oven-like temperatures. But the majority of plants, especially native and adapted plants, were bravely soldiering on.
Below are images of some of our hardier plants They may appear less attractive when on sale in nurseries (flowering annuals are so seductive), but they prove to be loyal friends when the weather turns inhospitable.
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| Candelilla |
Number one on my list of native plants is candelilla. I don't know what I find attractive about sticks coming up out of the ground, but maybe it is the uniqueness of the plant that keeps me digging up clumps to start new plants around the yard.
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| Mexican Firebush |
Some may say that the Mexican Firebush is invasive. I prefer to think of it as being very generous. From one purchased plant, I now have five good-sized plants in various locations on the property. And when nothing else has the energy to bloom, the firebush is covered with small red blossoms that hummingbirds appear to appreciate as much as I do.
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| Fairy Duster |
One of the delights of desert plants is their ability to appear tough but produce amazingly delicate blooms. Below is a close up of a red fairy duster.blossom. Doesn't it look like it could dust a fairy's house?
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| Fairy Duster Bloom |
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| Yellow Bells |
Yellow Bells looks like a cousin of the common red trumpet vine, but I like the more unusual yellow blooms. This plant, which has grown quite large, lives in our vegetable garden to give color to the area when the tomatoes and peppers fail to grow (which is unfortunately quite often).
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| Ruellia |
And finally, my favorite plant, Ruellia, or Mexican Petunia. My son, Clayton, discovered this plant when he was in college in Austin, Texas and bought it because of its delicate lavender blooms. He soon discovered that the blooms last only one day. The good news is Ruellia blooms again every day under the right circumstances. This Ruellia is partially shaded from the hot afternoon sun and receives a hearty drink of water every two days. Another Ruellia, which lives in a large pot in the courtyard, is still recovering from too much sun and too little water.
I know I am not the first to comment on the challenges and rewards of gardening in the Desert Southwest, but I thank my desert plants often (does anyone else talk to your plants?) for their tenacity to grow and produce beauty in difficult circumstances.
