My rosebushes in the backyard did great the first two summers we were here. This summer, they are struggling to produce flowers. Between the heat and the bugs, they may not survive. Before we moved into our new house, I bought a blue Hibiscus from Home Depot. I kept it on the porch at the Park Model Mobile Home I was staying in for my first two weeks and then transplanted it next to the rose bushes in the backyard after I moved into the house. Two years later, it is dead and I pulled it up a couple of weeks ago. I fertilize all of my plants and spray them with bug spray, and still I am challenged to keep them alive.
We managed to kill our Australian Bottle Tree the first three months we were here--we over-watered it, not realizing that it was a desert-hardy plant that didn't need a lot of water. We were used to watering following Pacific Northwest standards in the summer. Little did we know that we were drowning our tree. As it turns out, it's just as well that it died. Australian Bottle Trees grow to be 50-80 feet tall and have a relatively narrow canopy. Had it survived, we probably would have had to cut it down to keep it from blowing over onto the roof of the house during the windstorms.
I have had some success with lantana, also known as verbena. I have a couple of plants growing out in the front of the house in pots that seem to be surviving. I miss being able to grow things. I would love to try growing some tomatoes and onions and other vegetables that we eat. After all, the climate in the Southwest is conducive to growing vegetables 335 days out of the year. It doesn't mean that everything can grow year 'round--it just means that there are more growing days for the particular type of produce you want to grow. [Mid-December to mid-January are the only non-growing months for most vegetables in the Southwest because the temperatures can actually dip below freezing at night.]
But, alas, most of my plants end up looking like this one. I actually have four of these in pots out front. I don't even remember what they are, but it doesn't matter--they're dead.
I guess I will have to look forward to the home that Jesus is preparing for us in Heaven. The Bible says: "...the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month." (Revelation 22:1, 2, New International Version) Wow! Won't that be great?!?!
