The Blame

Petals so brilliant they blew my camera's ability to record the color/detail!
Couldn't keep them alive in Portland.

It's all my husband's fault. Bougainvillea is the one flower he takes the time to notice and distinguish from "mother-in-law" flowers, his broad classification for all those things that grow in the yard--pay them no mind.

Tiny bits of tan--baby flowers

So for Father's Day, he received three gloriously vivid Bougainvillea plants. And shortly thereafter, they began to do what the several others purchased through the years had done, they began to drop their flowers, and their leaves.

Even my husband could see that a real
flower was forming.

Since they were a bit of an investment, I hustled to tend them more carefully. And surprise of surprises, they came back. We, that should read "I," watched with amazement as the tiny non-green sprouts started to form.

The second blooming for these brave plants in the high
desert--far, far, far from Hawaii where my husband first
saw them.

If there were a secret in keeping these fairy-winged plants alive, it was water and sunlight. The group took about two quarts a day during the summer. They also received one dose of fish fertilizer mid season. And, yes, the easiest one of all was the eight hours plus of sunshine.

But then, really, their beautiful gift to us came because of a husband with extremely specific awareness about flowers. Let's just call it good taste.

Backyard Buffet

Yup! Apple leaves are good! Stems, not so much so.

I'm learning what deer like to eat. Asters and sedum from the front yard and apples from across the street. Also, in a pinch and to keep their ribs from absolutely coming right out of their hide, they will eat sunflower leaves and anything that grows and will hold still long enough for them to nip it off.

But my back yard, where plants for people-food grow, they've left alone. Until last week.

So, for my information, it's bushes on the buffet--they love bushes: Apple bushes (the columnar trees are only five feet tall), Aronia bushes(berries as well), Currant bushes, Blueberry bushes, Eggplant bushes, bush green beans, Tomato bushes.

So that's what Life in a New Land is teaching me this week. The deer have returned to munch more apple leaves and grab the green tomatoes. That's what we all do when we find a place we like to eat--we go back!