Complete Foolishness

I consider myself somewhat of an amateur gardener.  Self taught via the internet and chatting with other gardeners for tips. Gardening in the high desert is something else altogether. I feel like I am in a daily contest against Mother Nature. Against the hot beating sun, cloudless skies, low humidity, high winds, alkaline clay soil,  a 35+* span of temperature daily, short growing seasons, very hot summers, very cold winters and low rain. Do I feel like I'm winning? Most days not. 

In my one growing season here, I have learned a lot of lessons. Sprinklers must be used at the point in the day where the least evaporation will happen. It can't just be some arbitrary time during the night. Plants that were all day sun in the Garden of Eden of Oregon and Washington where all our plants are shipped in from are considered part sun plants here. And it matters. They will get burned to death. Plants are more expensive here because they are shipped in from the I-5 coridor of Washington and Oregon. A few plants come from hot houses in Utah. There is less selection.  Bulbs have proved a waste of time. Either they don't come up or the next season they fail to come up. Some plants considered perennials in the Garden of Eden are annuals here.

What does grow here: grasses, wildflowers and sagebrush. 

Most days after toiling for at least an hour to keep the plants watered and feed with food and adjusting the alkaline soil for acid loving plants, I consider the plants not dying a victory. 

Last June's gutting of the yard and my landscape vision.

This June

It's getting there. 

Stubbornness and determination to conquer this desert of grasses and sage brush and grow lush plants that have no business in a desert = complete foolishness.