Lantana - Beautiful Landscaping Bush

Lantana - Verbenaceae

Lantana is a perennial bush that has flowers throughout the spring, summer, and fall.  The bright flowers come in orange, yellow, and pink and a combination of those colors.   They can be grow in almost any soil. The only draw back is that they grow very fast so they need to be pruned often.

Baby Mocking Bird

Baby Mocking Bird - These birds are  easy to identify because they often stick their tail feathers up in the air when they are standing, and are incessant singers (if you can call it that).

I spotted this little bird on my walk down the street this morning. Actually I heard it way before I saw it.  It was calling for its mother very loudly. I shouldn't have been surprised to discover that the incessant noise was coming from such a little guy because these birds never shut up. They sometimes sing all day and all night long, which can be terribly annoying when you want to sleep with your window to take advantage of the short season of cool weather.

See "An Intro to Mockingbirds: The Noisiest, Most Aggressive Small Bird You'll Ever Meet" to see videos of Mockingbirds defending their nests, and to find out more information about these birds.

Gambel's Quail

Gambel's Quail on rooftop   

Quail are one of my favorite birds. I love their personalities. They strut around with their plumes sticking out in front of them, always trying to keep up with the covey, calling to each other to keep tabs on where they are so they don't get left behind. You can always tell when quail are around because they never stop talking. There is nothing more entertaining than seeing a trail of little quail following the adults across a street with there little plumes bobbing up and down in front of them, all in a row like a mother duck and her ducklings. I have lived here for over 14 years and have only been seeing quail in this area for the last couple of years.  Last year they really seemed to move in and now we see them everywhere, usually near houses next to open desert, sometimes on our street in the Mesquite Trees when the seedpods start to fall, but there are a lot of cats that probably keep them away. Prior to last year I would see them in the desert near our house on really wet years, but mostly I just saw them at the bird preserve and other wetter areas.

Heritage Park - Fun for Everyone!

Heritage Park is a great place for the whole family.  A two-mile, paved biking and hiking trail surrounds a picnic area and play ground, many soccer and baseball fields, a senior center, an aquatic center, and a large dog park. More trails wind through the park.

Palo Verde trees in bloom along the Heritage Park Trail near the senior center.

There is a time for everything , and a season . . .

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-2  - "There is a time for everything, and a reason for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot . ." .

I grew up in the Midwest where the seasons were definite. You just knew when to plant. When the snow melted and the crocuses popped up, it was time to start seeds inside for early vegetables. A month later you could start seeds for the fall crops in pots, and bring them inside if it got too cold. Here in the desert it is completely different. I've lived here for almost 20 years, but I still can't get used to when to plant and when to uproot. For years I tried to do it like we did in Ohio, but it just didn't work. The intense heat would burn out my plants before they matured. Last fall I decided to start my cold weather crops much earlier. I planted red chard, cabbage, and cauliflower in November and by March the cauliflower was ready to pick.  I didn't get as much I expected, but it was so delicious, nothing like you buy in the store.  It was so tender that it cooked in less than ten minutes. I'm still getting red chard and my cabbage is just starting to form heads.  So far it is bug free (crossed fingers).

Lessons Learned in the Garden

Hi, welcome to Lessons Learned! This blog is about lessons learned through desert gardening, both practical and biblical, and anything having to do with nature and the desert. We will be sharing our experiences while attempting to garden in a desert environment, specifically in Henderson, Nevada located near Las Vegas.

Many people see the desert as an desolate, almost uninhabitable land, but the intention of the website is to show the great possibilities and joys of living in such a harsh land.

This is what most people see when they think of the desert near Las Vegas, but we will show you an up-close, Christian view of the desert through the eyes of nature lovers and amateur gardeners. If you live in the desert and love gardening or are even thinking about buying a plant, this bloh is great place to start.

This picture was taken east of Henderson about one mile from the River Mountain Bike Trail. The south-east corner of Henderson is in the middle ground and Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area is in the background.