Let's Dig Holes And Pour Money Into Them

I think it started when I bought the new BMW.


At that point, Ethel's brain went into overdrive. Since I was going to be commuting for a lot
longer than I ever intended to - and, obviously, the purchase of the convertible was a sort
of concession to that - then Ethel figured out that she had to quickly spend money on some
land anchors (editor's note: a "land anchor" is something that ties you to a given piece of
ground; something that keeps you from moving on. Sometimes land anchors are possessions;
sometimes they are situations (jobs, friendships), sometimes they are commitments (church, 
volunteer gigs). In any case, they tend to cause one to stay put). 

Since we hadn't done much to the yard, I reckon Ethel figured that that would be the best
"bang for the buck" investment. First off, she bought a couple of golden barrel cactus to put
into the front yard:





There was a lot of other work that she had to do, in addition; because of our cold snap
this last winter, she and Silas have had to clip out a lot of dead growth; some things have
had to be cut back all the way to the ground (such as our boganvillea). But that doesn't
bother me too much, because a) I didn't have to dig any holes for it and b) I didn't have
to pay for it. But I did have to pay for two new Chilean Palos Verdes (read: fancy word
for mesquite) trees for the south yard:




I don't have a pic with these in the ground; but then, while I had to pay for
them, I didn't have to dig the holes. Ethel and Silas planted them one Saturday
morning while I was out running. If you're going to do landscaping, it helps to
have a fifteen-year old around the house.

These are intended to shade the windows on the south side of the house; it
can get pretty hot in this area during the summer. Later in this project, we're
going to put some more trees on the north side of the house, as it turns out
that that area actually gets direct sun in the mornings during the summer.

The Palos Verdes give shade; my new blue agave, however, does not :) nor do
the new saguaros, Hank and Jenny:




Hank is the saguaro to your right, and Jenny the one to the left. Ethel named 'em;
I have no idea what her reasoning was. The blue agave you can see just to the
right of Jenny; I saw that one at Home Depot and I just had to have it. Our old
saguaro in Tucson was named Dilbert; carrying on that theme, this blue agave is
named Alice; this name fits both in hairstyle and in personality.

Ethel decided that she had to have new pampas grasses - she got in such a
hurry to get them that she actually wound up with a patch of bear grass instead.




See that tuft of grass shooting up behind the granite? That's Bear Grass. The Cactus
Man at the local nursery told Ethel that it was Pampas Grass, and she fell for it. (An
interesting bit of circular history here; in Tucson, we had Bear Grass, but somehow
or other Ethel forgot that and thought (or was told) that we had Pampas Grass; she
went out looking to buy Pampas Grass, and came home with Bear Grass by mistake).

(The job I want is "Plant Namer". I have no idea why Bear Grass is called Bear Grass;
I see nothing bearish about it. In the same area at the nursery, they also had Deer
Grass, but there was nothing deerish about that, either. And I have a suspicion -
albeit unfounded - that there ain't no Pampas Grass on the Pampas).




Above you'll see a tuft of Pampas Grass, between those chunks of granite in the
shade. This is actual, real, verified and bonafide Pampas Grass (unless it isn't).





Here you'll see two installations of Pampas Grass - the one behind the boulders up
under the mesquite (I mean, "Chilean Palo Verde") and the one down by the pool.
I have a funny feeling that Ethel is going to demand more Pampas Grass soon, as
this doesn't seem like "enough". (read: there's still some credit left on the Amex).




Here, intended to shade our bedroom windows, are the new citrus trees - on the
right is an Arizona Sweet Orange, and on the left is a Tangerine. I've gotten just
a whiff of the orange blossoms that the little guy on the right has in bloom; I am
very much looking forward to the smell of those blossoms coming in through the
open bedroom window. But then it might be hard to leave the room :)

Last, but not least, are the hardware additions to the Resort-Like Backyard - I've
already shown you guys the Fountain in a previous post:



It's nine feet high, and six feet wide, and soft as a downy chick - no, wait. That's
"Grandma's Feather Bed" by John Denver. The Fountain is about four feet high, and
weighs a couple of hundred pounds; it's made of slate stone and the basin at the
bottom holds four or five gallons of water. The Fountain isn't going to go anywhere
soon; it's a major Land Anchor, because it's too steenkin' heavy to move.




This is the Fire Pit; it's the Arizona equivalent of a fireplace, and I have to admit
that I very much enjoyed sitting out by it the other night and feeding it pieces
of dead plants that Ethel had been pruning from our landscaping that died due
to this winter's cold snap. I'm intending to get some firewood for it, but buying
wood in Arizona is expensive enough without turning around and setting fire to
it; and firewood in the Fire Pit doesn't even heat the house, so it's sort of hard
to justify economically. I'm hoping that I can go out into the desert and find
some deadwood to burn; if the winter cold killed our landscaping, shouldn't it
have also killed a bunch of native growth?

No, I didn't think so either :)