Desert Collages - March 2013

Today is a savoring of the vacation I had back in March in Arizona. I’ve made some collages of desert images.

Barrel cactus, lizards, cholla fruit, the edges of aloe, lichen. The eye searches for anything that is not the color of sand. The very sparseness of the desert highlights the shapes and colors.

The sky seems bluer in the desert. The tall spires of the desert spoon are not colorful but their shapes are classics of the desert.

And what about the saguaros and aloes. All the shades of green are there. One even has leaves outlined in white.

So - hear I am more than a month after the vacation - still enjoying the time in this place very different from the lushness of Maryland.

Aloe Blooming

The aloe plant I purchased for my daughter when she went off to college (and returned to me when it got too big for her apartment) has been repotted several times in its 5 years with us - and now it is blooming again. The first time it bloomed was in mid-summer when it was out on the deck. After it finished blooming, many small aloes came up around it. We bought a larger pot and separated some of the small ones from the parent as we moved it to the larger pot. The next time it bloomed was almost a year ago in May when it was still indoors. It was quite a challenge to move it outdoors with its tall spindly bloom while the painters were working! Now it is blooming in February - while it is trapped indoors (the picture to the left was taken 1/24 and the one to the right was taken on 2/9). The dried remains of the stall and bloom from last year are still standing too.

The blooms are mostly green but this time of year I appreciate any color other than brown. I am celebrating that I have something blooming before the hyacinths and crocus this year!