It's Spring in the Desert!

One of the things that I'm not too thrilled about at our house is the "desert landscaping" in the front yard. I miss the rich green lawns and huge shade trees of the midwest.

If you've ever been to the southwest, you know what I mean. Some yards still have traditional grass and trees and others are quite beautiful with xeriscaping (drought tolerant native plants) and trees like mesquite, palo verde or acacia, small boulders, and even some cactus. But our yard is pretty much a bunch of gravel with a small mound near the entrance covered with really UGLY lava rocks where 3 huge palm trees used to be. We had the trees removed, but haven't really had (or made) the time to get the rest of the yard in better shape.

At this time of year, God brings some beauty into our lives through the flowers that bloom all over the yard among the stones without any work from us. We get yellows, oranges and blue/purples that greet us every day. Sure, there are some weeds among them that should be pulled, but I like the added green, so I don't mind.

You'll also see that there's a bird in the ocotillo cactus. This one and our prickly pear cactus should start blooming soon as well. The photo of the prickly pear isn't from our yard, but it looks much the same. I'll post a pic when it's more in bloom.

So although our yard needs lots of work and could look much much better, we do enjoy this time of year with our freebie flowers from God.

Hopefully we'll be able to make some time in the next month or so to get the yard in better shape before the heat of summer hits.