Birds and Blooms Blog

Ocotillo, deer grass, and desert marigold make up this beautiful, drought tolerant landscape

Last week, I shared with you Part 1 of my visit to a beautiful, drought tolerant garden located in the middle of a city in the Southwestern desert.  The beauty of the design and plants belie the fact that this garden needs very little supplemental water.

The Scottsdale Xeriscape Demonstration Garden showcases plants that thrive in areas that regularly experience drought.  Varieties of Baja fairy duster (Calliandra californica), bougainvillea, flame honeysuckle (Anisacanthus quadrifidis var. wrightii), globe mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua), lantana, penstemon and Texas sage (Leucophyllum species) are just a few of the drought tolerant plants that are on display.

The demonstration garden is located next to a water treatment plant and part of the garden sits on top of a reservoir that contains 5.5 million gallons of treated water.

Concrete cistern lined with river rock.

Throughout the garden are examples of water harvesting, which captures rainfall that otherwise would end up as run off, where it finds it way to the storm sewer.  By creating cisterns like this one, storm water is saved and once the cistern if full, the excess water is directed to run through a swale lined with plants that benefit from the rain.

Mesquite bosque

Another innovative example of channeling rainwater is seen in this grove of honey mesquite trees (Prosopis glandulosa).  This section of the garden is lined with concrete walls that form a spiral down toward the center.  There is a gradual slope, which directs rainwater toward the plants in the center.

At one end of the garden stands a large cistern that holds the average amount of water that a household uses in 1 week, which serves as a powerful example of why we need to conserve water.

Mourning dove enjoying a drink of water.

Around the cistern is a Native American saying:

“THE FROG DOES NOT DRINK UP THE POND IN WHICH HE LIVES”

I hope you have enjoyed this tour of a beautiful drought tolerant garden.  Next week, I will talk about different ways that you can save water in your own garden.

Bird-friendly coffee. Have you heard this term and wondered what it means? I know I didn’t the first time I heard it.

Let me explain it in a nutshell. Basically, bird-friendly coffee means that the coffee is grown in the shade. And by growing the coffee in shade, it helps to protect vital habitats that support bird populations. In fact, it helps support many of the birds that show up in our backyards every year. Baltimore orioles, summer tanagers, yellow warblers, barn swallows, indigo buntings, ruby-throated hummingbirds…these are just a few of the birds that you can help protect by buying and drinking coffee grown in the shade.

If you want to do your part by drinking bird-friendly coffee, then I would encourage you to check out the company Birds & Beans. They were our supporters this spring for our Bird Day Challenge. They have an outstanding reputation among birders as being a wonderful company with really great-tasting coffee. (Our staff has tasted it, and they agree.) Now we don’t go around endorsing just any product, but we really want people to know what a worthwhile concept shade-grown coffee is and what a good company this is.

Curious about shade-grown coffee? You can look for it at your local store (or ask a manager to start carrying Birds & Beans). Though an even easier way to try it is to order some coffee through the Birds & Beans online store. Be sure to come back and let us know what you think. Or if you’ve tried shade-grown coffee and have additional recommendations, leave them here!

I’ve been traveling in Costa Rica for the last week and have seen some incredible places and even more incredible bird species. So far, I’ve visited Rancho Naturalista and Savegre Mountain Lodge and today, I’m heading to the northern part of Costa Rica to a lodge called Laguna del Lagarto. The birding has been spectacular and through yesterday, my group had almost 300 bird species! The following photos are just a few of my favorites that I’ve taken so far.

We made a short stop on our drive to Rancho Naturalista at some ruins and were plesantly surprised to see a very cooperative Blue-crowned Motmot.

Flame-colored Tanagers are extremely colorful birds! They were one of the stars of the show at Savegre Mountain Lodge.

Volcano Juncos can only be found above the treeline at the very top of the mountains.

Fiery-throated Hummingbirds are only found at high elevations. We stopped at some hummingbird feeders that had at least 20 of these coming in!

Did you see Melinda Myers or our giveaway signs at the Wisconsin State Fair? If so, thanks for stopping by to enter! (If not, you can still enter. There’s no purchase necessary!) Just sign up for our FREE Gardening newsletter, and that it! We’ll draw four winners total to win the following great prizes. This contest will run during the duration of the Wisconsin State Fair (July 31-August 10). Winners will be drawn in mid-August.

PRIZE 1. Self-watering containers from Gardener’s Supply Company.

PRIZE 2. A bird feeder and seed from Cole’s Wild Bird.

PRIZE 3. A garden fire sculpture from TIKI Brand.

PRIZE 4. An outdoor beanbag chair from Jaxx Bean Bags.

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