My daughter was at a conference in Phoenix last week and I enjoyed seeing her pictures of the area near the convention center. She went early for a workshop and managed to see a basketball game in the arena that evening!

She sent pictures of desert creature sculptures

And the sign for a pollinator garden – that obviously still has some plants blooming (daisies and lantana) – an urban garden.

My favorites were the images of architecture and murals. The one showing the white roof (along with a mural) was taken from her hotel window. I wondered how often the white needed to be refreshed to maintain its ability to reflect heat.

It’s been over a decade since I was in Phoenix and then I did more in the outskirts rather than the downtown area. Winter would be the time I’d pick to visit again!

It’s been more than 8 years since my grandmother died – but there are still many plants in the garden at my parents’ house that she started. The pink preference sage all came from a plant from her sister’s garden.

The oxalis was something she saw first in her sister’s garden then ordered some from a catalog (we think). It is growing so profusely these days that some of the plants are being potted to be part of the floral decorations for my niece’s wedding.

The bees like the flowers too.

The evening primrose is self-propagating around a rose bush my grandmother got as a birthday present (the rose bush must be over 20 years old now) and she planted the primrose seeds at its base.

I’m not sure where the daisy-like flowers came from, but they’ve been in the garden for a long time. These days they bloom in enlarging clumps in the front yard garden under the big mulberry and beside the red yucca.