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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Because of wow. / Quiet Open Thread

Quiet Open Thread

by Cheryl Rofer|  August 6, 20189:26 pm| 42 Comments

This post is in: Because of wow., Open Threads

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Some of you wanted to see the wall a very talented stone mason was building for me when I exclaimed about it on Twitter the other day. Yes, you look like jackals on Twitter too!

Here is the wall. I have planted a number of (relatively) local perennials behind it, hence the white tags, which will work their ways out or become cracked by the sun. I will remember the names of most of the plants, some of which I know already.

Further behind the adobe-looking wall to the left is a plant (actually several of them) that I am very pleased with. It is the one on the left, which is blooming today. You can just about see the purple toward the back of it. I am pleased with it because it grew, all by itself, from the plant on the right, which I planted. They are desert four o’clocks and several other small ones are starting in various places.

One of my ambitions has been for the natural plants to reproduce themselves. Neither of those plants is blooming profusely, but here’s another that is.

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Reader Interactions

42Comments

  1. 1.

    dmsilev

    August 6, 2018 at 9:33 pm

    he wall a very talented stone mason was building for me

    I think we all want to know whether Mexico is paying for it.

  2. 2.

    A Ghost To Most

    August 6, 2018 at 9:33 pm

    Very nice. Lots of work to get it right, I bet. I built (mortared) beds in front of our townhouse 35 yrs ago. Much work.

  3. 3.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 6, 2018 at 9:43 pm

    Nice wall.

  4. 4.

    Yarrow

    August 6, 2018 at 9:44 pm

    Can’t quite tell, but it looks like your bed might need some mulch. Since it’s summer, that’ll definitely help it hold moisture and help your new seedlings.

  5. 5.

    Nicole

    August 6, 2018 at 9:47 pm

    Pretty! I live in an apartment, so I enjoy seeing photos of other folks’ plants. I do miss gardening.

  6. 6.

    debbie

    August 6, 2018 at 9:48 pm

    I love the colors in the wall. It doesn’t get more Southwestern than that!

  7. 7.

    Mai Naem mobile

    August 6, 2018 at 9:48 pm

    I don’t know if you can plant lantana where you’re at but it’s pretty indestructible here. Perennial flowering shrub which can be maintained to short or pretty big. Also catnip for your cats.

  8. 8.

    Mnemosyne

    August 6, 2018 at 10:00 pm

    @dmsilev:

    Well, a New Mexican is, which should be almost as good.

  9. 9.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 6, 2018 at 10:05 pm

    @Mnemosyne: boooo

  10. 10.

    JanieM

    August 6, 2018 at 10:07 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: How did your interview go? (You may have said earlier, but I can never keep up with the pace around here.)

  11. 11.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 6, 2018 at 10:09 pm

    @JanieM: fine I guess, we will just have to see.

  12. 12.

    jacy

    August 6, 2018 at 10:10 pm

    Congrats on the fine-looking wall — and the plants. I can’t do plants. They hate me.

  13. 13.

    A Ghost To Most

    August 6, 2018 at 10:13 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Tech job interviews can be weird sometimes.

  14. 14.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 6, 2018 at 10:16 pm

    @A Ghost To Most: “sometimes” lol. Add onto that, I’m pathologically self-critical, so I really have no way of accurately assessing it.

  15. 15.

    chris

    August 6, 2018 at 10:20 pm

    Pretty pictures and it looks so nice and dry. 97% humidity here in Nova Scotia right now, no wonder stuff grows like crazy here.

    Also, beware mulch!

  16. 16.

    Mnemosyne

    August 6, 2018 at 10:23 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Hey, somebody had to do it.

  17. 17.

    dmsilev

    August 6, 2018 at 10:23 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Indeed, close enough.

  18. 18.

    Mnemosyne

    August 6, 2018 at 10:25 pm

    I need to go work on clearing out my craft room so I can recover in there after my surgery next month. Ugh. I should probably pomodoro it in 20 minutes a day rather than getting myself all wound up about HOW FUCKING LONG it’s going to take to do it.

  19. 19.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 6, 2018 at 10:27 pm

    I have had a shitty week already and it is only Monday. Plants ain’t doing it.

  20. 20.

    Gin & Tonic

    August 6, 2018 at 10:29 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: That’s what liquor is for.

  21. 21.

    chris

    August 6, 2018 at 10:32 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Huh, never head of pomodoro but I do it. I learned it here. Twenty minutes a few times a week and the hovel ain’t too bad.

  22. 22.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 6, 2018 at 10:33 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: I am aware of that. Believe me.

  23. 23.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 6, 2018 at 10:35 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    pomodoro

    Tomato?

  24. 24.

    waratah

    August 6, 2018 at 10:36 pm

    I love the colors in the retaining wall. I fell in love with the Adobe homes the first time I saw Sante Fe. I think they are a work of art. I like how you are going with native plants. Do the four o’clocks open in the evening?

  25. 25.

    chris

    August 6, 2018 at 10:37 pm

    @chris: Can’t edit. Meant to add a Tumblr link as well. It has lots of pics and success stories.

  26. 26.

    A Ghost To Most

    August 6, 2018 at 10:37 pm

    A severe hail storm that pounded parts of El Paso County Monday afternoon sent eight people who were visiting the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo to the hospital with hail related injuries, killed three zoo birds and injured other animals.

    Softball-size hail was reported about three miles south of Colorado Springs and hail at the zoo broke out windows and skylights.

    denverpost

  27. 27.

    StringOnAStick

    August 6, 2018 at 10:44 pm

    I love desert four o’clock, a perfecr xeric plant if you have sandy soil. You have to be patient, as in several years because it makes a huge tuber so sometimes it is slow to come out of dormancy or seems undersized all summer. It’s worth the wait though!

    As for mulch, your best bet for xeric gardens is pea gravel, not wood based mulch. Wood keeps things too wet in the spring, can tie up soil nutrients as it rots and blows away in our intense western winds. I converted our whole yard to xeric with drip irrigation and pea gravel 12 years ago and spend very little time weeding and fussing. The hummingbirds love it, the elk and deer leave it alone and no lawn mowing is lovely.

  28. 28.

    Mnemosyne

    August 6, 2018 at 10:47 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Pomodoro Technique, by its creator. Basically breaking a project down into 20-minute chunks of time so you don’t get overwhelmed.

    And in case FYWP is still adding an extra close quote to my links:
    https://francescocirillo.com/pages/pomodoro-technique

  29. 29.

    Cheryl Rofer

    August 6, 2018 at 10:47 pm

    @Yarrow: No mulch in the bed. The soil there is actually pretty good, in contrast to other parts of the yard, which include pure caliche and pure sand. The plants are native or capable of enduring dry spells. A relative of the four o’clocks, a prickly poppy, some penstemons, a red gilia, and a couple of other things.

    @Mai Naem mobile: Lantana is an annual here. I’ve used it in pots on the deck. The butterflies love it.

    @waratah: Yes, they open in the evening and stay open until about ten in the morning. The cats and I see the hummingbird moths working them in the morning.

  30. 30.

    jacy

    August 6, 2018 at 10:51 pm

    @A Ghost To Most:

    One of the few things I don’t miss about Colorado Springs are the sometimes freakish hailstorms. High school friend posted a picture of a baseball sized hail stone that hit her car from this last one. We don’t seem to get hail in Louisiana.

  31. 31.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 6, 2018 at 10:52 pm

    @Mnemosyne:That would never work for me. I can see how it could be useful in other circs.

  32. 32.

    Mnemosyne

    August 6, 2018 at 11:02 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    It’s mostly to break up large projects into manageable chunks. You probably do something like it when you have a large project without realizing that there’s a shorthand name for “doing a project for X amount of time and then taking a break.”

  33. 33.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 6, 2018 at 11:04 pm

    @Mnemosyne: the idea in fact predates the name!

  34. 34.

    Mnemosyne

    August 6, 2018 at 11:08 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I think the specific 30-minute duration (25 minutes of work, 5 minute break) of 4 cycles was the actual innovation that the Pomodoro guy came up with. But, yes, the general idea of breaking a large task into chunks is not a new one.

    Also, having a cool/fun timer, which is where the name comes from.

  35. 35.

    Major Major Major Major

    August 6, 2018 at 11:10 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I do like the timer.

  36. 36.

    Amir Khalid

    August 6, 2018 at 11:11 pm

    Desert plants are all but totally unknown to this creature of the tropics. I’ve only ever seen wee little potted cacti, usually in pots the size of a single-scoop ice cream cup.

    I (and not I alone) will be very glad indeed when FYWP can remember our names/nyms and email addresses again.

  37. 37.

    Onnes Omnibus

    August 6, 2018 at 11:12 pm

    @Mnemosyne: For me, things work or they don’t. If they don’t, I worry at them. There can be periods of confusion, but one tends to get there. Time isn’t a factor. Our brains are very different.

  38. 38.

    Mnemosyne

    August 6, 2018 at 11:15 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I’m tempted by the Kikkerland cat timer, because it’s freakin’ adorable:

    https://www.amazon.com/Kikkerland-Kitchen-Timer-Cat-Multicolor/dp/B00UAAZZZ0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1533611582&sr=8-1&keywords=Kikkerland+cat+timer

  39. 39.

    A Ghost To Most

    August 6, 2018 at 11:17 pm

    @jacy: Something I learned from TV WX this week: because of the thinner air, a hailstone of comparable size to one on the lower Plains will do 8% more damage here.

  40. 40.

    A Ghost To Most

    August 6, 2018 at 11:32 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: The quality of your work will carry you. Real talent shows. Even if you’re a crazy bastard like me, which you aren’t. There are many BSers, fewer who can actually do the work.
    Best of luck; the prepared often make their own luck.

  41. 41.

    Neldob

    August 6, 2018 at 11:37 pm

    What a lovely wall! It was about 104 here today. Gives new meaning to scorched earth. Phew.

  42. 42.

    Mnemosyne

    August 6, 2018 at 11:48 pm

    @Onnes Omnibus:

    Our brains are very different.

    This is a factual statement. I was just surprised you’d never heard of it since it’s huge in time management circles, but if you don’t have issues with time management, it stands to reason that you wouldn’t have heard of it.

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