Lovely Lantana

Lantana is popular annual where I'm from. A gorgeous perennial in Arizona.

A week has gone by, living in the land of perpetual summer (Cave Creek, Arizona) and I'm still getting lost on a regular basis! :)

More Lovely Lantana!

Be it hiking a trail - or in the car, running errands - pretty much every adventure turns into 'The Long Way Home.' Because I never know where I'm going 'til I get there.

Seems like everything is prickly in the desert but it's all delightful to me.

Honestly, I don't know how I'd survive, these days, without Google maps and my iPhone.

I'm confident my dry cleaning is somewhere close... but I can't, for the life of me, remember which strip mall that place is in ~ because they all look alike. And, my puppy ate the claim ticket.

So far, that's the most interesting aspect of testing out life down here. The sprawl, how everything is brand new.

The houses are very pretty, but they all look the same. Streets don't necessarily take you anywhere. Those streets dead end at the last house in the development and won't go further until somebody else moves in!

And, that's all so weird compared to back home. Where the houses are older, more distinct. There are true city blocks and navigation is a breeze. In my humble opinion that gives a neighborhood a bit more personality.

However! I am not complaining! It's still a grand break from the difficult winter we're experiencing back home.

Although there has been some finger-pointing going on.

This is.. 

A) A rocking beer party at the botanical gardens or 

B) A noble attempt to shield these babies from frostbite.

I have been accused of bringing the cold weather with me.

Yes. 'Tis I, the newbie, who is being blamed for the harsh cold snap we suffered through this week.

Me, being a winter gal... I think it's warm as toast down here.

But, the natives are none too thrilled.

For them, it's unseasonably cold and yesterday morning - while walking the pup - I saw blankets and bed sheets and beach towels covering precious plants to save them from the freeze.

It killed off a lot of Lantana. 

In the arctic region I call home, Lantana is a favorite annual. Such a perky, happy flower! 

RIP Lantana - couldn't handle the freezing night.

Down here, in zone 9 Arizona -- can you believe that?? Zone 9! What a gardening paradise!!

Okay. I'll try to contain myself...

Down here, in zone 9 Arizona, Lantana is a waterwise, workhorse of a perennial. (Well, it was until last week.) So, it made me very sad to see so many dead shrubs from that nasty ass freeze.

I guess that's the problem with everywhere these days. Mother Nature handing us everything we don't want vs. what we desperately need.

I'm still of the mindset that I desperately needed this escape, though.

Been trying to get up super early. Get my work outta the way so I can play with the dog in the afternoons. He's older, now, a teenager, and he runs so fast, every photo I take of him is a blur. :)

I'll leave you with a picture from our last hiking adventure: The Ocotillo Trail - in the Sonoran Desert Preserve. Which I was delighted to discover is only 2 miles from my rental house.

Towering cactus trees. So cool!

To put this in perspective.. the tallest of these two Saguaro is at least 40 feet high. 

Here's hoping you're all having a wonderful weekend!

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