This is the time of year when those of us in the desert southwest need to pay particular attention to the hummingbirds. It's hot, really hot, so there's not a lot blooming that these wonderful creatures can eat. The Costa's and Anna's who live here all year need a bit of help from their human friends.

Food
Hummingbird nectar is the easiest thing in the world to make. You can also buy it, but here's a good recipe.

1 part sugar
4 parts water

Bring the sugar and water to a boil, just enough to dissolve the granules. Cool and store it in the refrigerator. It should last about two weeks. Never use honey or artificial sweeteners. Also, never use red food dye because it can hurt the birds.

If your birds don't lap up the nectar in a day or so, replace the food with a fresh supply, especially in hot weather, and wash the feeder with hot water every few days. If you see black spots in the feeder, it needs washing with hot water and mild soap that is easily rinsed out. Black spots mean mold and that can make your birds sick.

Our best advice is to start by filling your feeder only halfway to see how much the birds can eat in two to three days.

The Bee Dilemma

Some feeders seem to attract bees more than others - we're not sure which ones or why. We just know that occasionally we get a call asking how to get bees away from a feeder. The thing to remember is that bees and wasps like the same kind of nectar as hummingbirds.

If you find you have a bee problem it's probably because hummers lap the nectar, they don't suck, and in lapping a small amount of nectar ends up on the outside surface of the feeder near the ports. The best thing you can do is wipe off the feeder with a wet cloth. You can also try moving the feeder to a different spot in your yard. Rest assured, the birds will find it.

If and when ants become a problem, invest in an ant moat. A moat is a small, inexpensive vessel that's easily attached to most feeders. It goes between the feeder and the ant source - usually a tree - and the little pests can't get across.

Attracting hummers
Out here in the southwest we have hummingbirds all year round. There are two migratory - Black-chinned and Broad-tailed hummers - and two here all year - Anna's and Costa's. All you need to do to attract them is have some tubular shaped flowers in your yard - any color will do.

Shrubs such as (all common names) Arizona yellow bells, valentine bush, fairy duster and butterfly bush are favorites as are the flowers hollyhocks, penstemen, lantana, hibiscus and firecracker plant.

Hummingbirds are very territorial, so if you have two or three fighting over a feeder, put a second feeder across the yard. To entice them to a new feeder, pick a flower from one of your yard plants and insert it in one of the feeder holes. They'll find it quickly.

Now sit back, near the window of your cool, air conditioned home, and watch these energetic birds enjoy your hospitality. They will dart and buzz and fly backwards and forwards. It's quite a show. Next thing you know, you'll recognize them as your birds.

Amy's tomatoes are in growing strong and beginning to ripen. She got a bit overzealous, as you can see, and brought home more than she should from our spring tomato workshop. She also had one plant survive through last summer and into the winter. When it got nipped with a bit of frost she waiting until early spring and pruned it lightly. It, too, is bearing fruit.

She tried something different this year, adding a Garden Peach variety to her collection. This tomato is a native South American fruit mainly from Peru, where they are known as Coconas. (Thanks, Wikipedia for that bit of info.) The small, bright yellow fruit is the standard globe shape of a tomato. So far, her plant is prolific. It is similar to a peach in color and is supposed to have a mild, sweet flavor. The most interesting characteristic so far is that the skins are soft and fuzzy, like suede and the stems feel moist all the time.

As you can see, this is an overcrowded raised garden bed. There are 4 tomato plants, about 2 dozen zinnias (because you have to have color during a Phoenix summer!), a basil plant and 3 cucumber vines (started from seed) . She's hoping those cucumbers pollinate well. That has been a challenge in the past.

We'll keep you posted.

Last weekend I was fortunate to join a friend on a tour of three exclusive gardens in the Phoenix area. Wow. They were all unique and they were wonderful. One was very contemporary in its design with all kinds of spiky plants and planting arrangements. Another was truly a personal arboreteum. The gardener is a plant collector and propagator and the collection was unrivaled. There was even a rainwater harvesting system. A third gardener had reclaimed some prime desert and the restoration was full of mature cactus, desert trees and shrubs with hundreds of wildflowers.

What I really wanted to share, though, is the use of pots in these landscapes. Pots are difficult in our climate yet all three properties had used them in imaginative, colorful ways. In some cases just as adornment, in others to complement a plant. Here are a few favorites. Enjoy!

We love the way the Rescue Disposable Fly Trap works to keep our yard continuously "fly free". Inside the trap there's a powdered mixture of safe ingredients that flies find attractive. You just pop open the trap, add water to the fill line and hang the trap bag from a tree. Within minutes flies are lured inside the trap, where they can't get out.

They key is to hang the trap about 20 feet from your outdoor eating areas because the food and smells flies find yummy aren't something you'd enjoy. Nevertheless, Rescue works great to clear a large area of flies for about a month at a time. When the trap is full you just toss it in the trash.

We've got one near the compost pile and the trash cans and it works great. We sit outside for weekend meals and in the late afternoons without having to swat away annoying flies. Rescue Disposable Fly Traps are available in the shop at Southwest Gardener.

Labels: fly traps

This may look like a plain old clay jar to you, but it's really an Olla (pronounced oi ya), an unglazed clay pot, buried among plants and filled periodically with water. This ancient watering system was brought to the Southwest by Spanish settlers and was adapted by Native American gardeners. Here's how an olla works: Water seeps through the clay, and plant roots grow around the urn, clasping the container to absorb its leaking moisture. The open end of the olla extends above ground so the urn can be refilled as water is absorbed. You can place a small rock in the neck of the ollas to avoid evaporation.

Olla irrigation virtually eliminates runoff and evaporation, allowing
the plant to absorb nearly 100 percent of the water. Modern systems, including drip irrigation, lose water to evaporation, and they tend to clog. Olla gardening also helps gardeners who can’t irrigate frequently because of water conservation ordinances or time constraints. We are happy to offer these for sale at Southwest Gardener. A big thanks to Donna at the Arizona Herb Association for connecting us to a terrific supplier.

Ollas will work in the ground, raised beds or in pots. Here are pictures of them being used in an urban garden setting.

Curtis W. Smith, an extension horticulture specialist at New Mexico State University makes these recommendations.

• Choose low-water-use, non-woody herbaceous plants. Woody plants can break clay urns as their roots grow in diameter.
• Match olla size, and shape to plants' water needs, root size and root distribution.
• Cluster ollas and plants to maximize water-use efficiency.
• Match olla diameters with the diameter of plant clusters. Use shallow, broad ollas, for clumps of grasses and annuals.

Labels: olla