Althea

Althea or Rose of Sharon is a flowering shrub that is very popular around here. It takes more water than the native plants do but less than a lot of other shrubs do - like the lilac. My mom had 4 very old and beautiful althea in her yard in Silver City, NM. They were there when she moved to the house on D St in 1970. We had no idea how old they might have been at that time but from the size of them it was considerable. They were still there when we sold the house after her death in 2007. As far as I know they are still there. They didn't take much water and were like small trees with their trunks being a good foot in diameter.
     When I moved to Rio Rancho I took a handful of seed off of some of her althea and planted them in the first house we lived in and they grew and flourished and bloomed their beautiful purple-ish-pink blossoms. When I moved to the house I am in now I did the same thing by taking seed from the ones at the other house as they were two big to move. This photo is of the one I have now. Grown from seed in the past 11 and a half years. 

A Green Desert

Drove out across the desert today to have some down time and let Tuffee our Border Collie go for a run. I was amazed. In the spring the desert was dry and brown and looked as if someone had used a blow torch to just touch the tips of the plants. The drought was killing everything including the cactus. Now the rains have finally come back after about 10 years or so and everything is green again. There were flowers blooming that I could never remember seeing before. I counted 1 red flower, 2 blue flowers, 2 purple flowers, and about 5 or 6 different yellow and white kinds of blooms. Here are some of them. I tried to do distant shots and then close ups of the different kinds.

More Summer Flowers

I took some more flower photos in my yard the other day. Hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoy taking the photos. The last photo is of the bulls skull with morning glories growing up around it.

After the Rain

Here are a few close ups of flowers with water drips on them after a short rain shower the other day.

New Plant

This plant was given to me. I have never seen one like it and can't find it in any of my books or on the computer. It is a vine and has tiny flowers on it. To me, the flowers look more blue than they show in the pic. Anyone know what it is?