Turning Our Rain Basins into Pollinator Gardens

volunteer salt bushes prevent erosion during storm

I often wonder what people see when they walk by our yard. Do they see the habitat we created for birds and other pollinators? Or do they wonder why we don't pull the "weeds?" 

To me a weed is a misplaced plant or a nasty invasive one. You won't find any weeds in my yard. 

Our rain basin hosts a variety of pollinator plants - some we planted, some planted by birds, some volunteers. All intentionally kept and loved. Each with its own purpose. Some provide food for us or the birds. Some help the water infiltrate in our basin, nourish the soil, and prevent erosion. 

The common purslane I transplanted does all that. Plus it attracts butterflies! 

I was delighted when volunteer globe mallow strategically placed themselves throughout our basin. Needless to say, I left them there. I've found that they attract more butterflies and native bees than the flowering plants I bought at a garden sale. One globe mallow had native bees inside each of its orange flowers. Here is one I caught a picture of...

I try to strike a balance between "wilding" and appearing intentional. Last year I pulled some over-zealous volunteers. Some native grasses that had browned. And I thinned out some bushy plants that had taken over our jujube basin. 

During the long dry spell, I regretted removing the grass seeds that the birds relied on for food. And I discovered that the bushy plant is our native salt bush that produces seeds that the birds love!

The volunteer salt bushes also created a barrier to slow the rushing stormwater in several basins. 

Here it is protecting the other pollinator plants in our right of way basin. 

It kept the organic matter that healed the soil in our jujube basin from washing out into the street! 

But now it is turning brown. What will the neighbors think? Will they understand it is just dormant? That it still protects our basin? 

I love being out with the birds and other wildlife. And watering the new pollinator plants in my basin gives me an excuse to do that. #lovemyrainbasin

I also enjoy playing citizen scientist, snapping pics, and observing how the plants fare in this unpredictable weather. We can't count on the usual seasonal weather - even monsoon storms often elude us. What rain we do get is the remnants of hurricanes. Long periods of drought are often followed by extreme storms and microbursts. It's important to have durable plants that can stand the erratic weather. 

As always, I recommend keeping the volunteers where you want them and pulling the ones you don't want. Sometimes they're hard to recognize, so I'm resharing: Good Weeds vs. Bad Weeds.

Read more: 

From Drought to Flood: Rainwater Harvesting at Work

Our Yard the Bird Feeder

Prompting Purslane Season

Tale of the Vicious Devil Vine

Once upon a time, a sticker seed arrived in Himmel Park. Nobody quite knows how it got there. Maybe on the shoe of a drumming circle drummer, maybe on a paw of a dog, or maybe a bird planted it. That seed grew into a sprawling goat head weed that neighbors stepped on and spread throughout the park. Soon the rolling hills of the park were covered with these devil vines. The seeds hid in the grass and replanted themselves year after year. A industrious group of neighbors gathered to pick the goat heads led by a local artist and musician. Legend has it that you can still see this goat head warrior out there picking them over a decade later. 

This true story has inspired my own efforts to keep the goat heads (also known as puncture vine or devil weed) out of our little neighborhood park. My story starts with the quest to eradicate the burclover from Pinecrest Park so they wouldn't stick to the dogs' fur. Thirty-eight neighbors came out for our "Bagels and Burrs" event and removed 3 large trashcans full. But the job wasn't done. With the help of a weary husband and an occasional kind neighbor, we did get them out of one stretch where dog walkers enter the park and near the children's playground. Then burclover season ended. Accustomed to getting up in the morning, I turned my attention to painful goat head stickers. My goal is to remove them before they go to seed, so they don't spread like they did at Himmel Park. 

Honestly, it is like finding a needle in a haystack. They have little yellow flowers, but so do several other weeds in the park - including my favorite edible weed, purslane. But I have managed to keep on top of them, having pulled 101 (so far) in 3 months. Sometimes picking one to four a day. 

When some guy asked me how they got into the park, I noticed that the dog walkers stroll around the neighborhood before ending up in the park. Just west of the park, I spotted a median completely full of goat heads. So I got three five gallon buckets of goat heads out of that island.

But I still find a few goat heads along the entrances of the park. 

A few days ago, I joined two neighbors on their daily stroll around the neighborhood and happened onto a yard with "Clean up after your dog" signs. All along that right of way were goat heads - even near the pole where dogs like to pee. So I went ahead and picked them. While I was there, two people that hang out in our park walked by with their dogs. So my theory is that the goat heads are being tracked in from all over the neighborhood (and even the next neighborhood over). That day I ended up picking goat heads from the right of way in six yards. 

You might think this is a futile effort. Maybe it is. But those are thousands of goat head seeds that won't spread through our neighborhood and end up in our little park. This story can still have a happy ending if neighbors keep goat heads out of their right of ways. 

Nobody expects you to be a goat head warrior. But if you spot a devil vine in the park, please pick it. Or simply check the bottom of your shoes before entering the park. If you hear a crunch, crunch, crunch when you walk across the street, you might be tracking in goat heads on your shoes

If this blog spreads like a weed, we could maybe save our park and live happily ever after.

More information: 

Observations from the Park

Bagels & Burrs Builds Community

Late Season Purslane Saves the Day!

Travels with Willie: Goathead Warriors

For Appearances Sake

Bermuda breaks through gravel 

Roots and runners

Hastily hid  

For appearances sake

Speckled aqua green 

To keep pebbles pristine

Can't stop the invincible invasive 

Or critters grazing there 

Poisoned 

For appearances sake

Making Pollinator Dreams Come True

We made a dream come true for a kindergarten teacher at Arcadia Sky Community School by installing a pollinator garden so her students can have a sensory experience.

It all started with a tour of a lot by the Tucson Water well, We had reached out to Melody Peters, of the Pollinator Equity Project, about supplying some plants for a pollinator garden there. She invited Kathleen Opeka, a garden consultant and landscape architect, to join us. We scoped out where we might put a rain basin and some pollinators to compliment the desert plants that were already there. We wanted to create a lovely space for the students at the nearby school to get out in nature.

After the tour, we stopped by the school to give an update on the project and met some of the teachers. The Kindergarten teacher, Jackie, took the opportunity to pitch the idea of having a pollinator garden for her students. After a quick tour of the area, we all agreed to work on the "Kindergarden!"  

After seeing what plants Melody had available, Kathleen came up with a garden map to show where to plant them. To fulfill Jackie's dream of creating a sensory experience, they looked for plants that you could see, hear, taste, and touch. And ones that didn't have any spines to prick little fingers. This is what they came up with.

Garden plan by Kathleen Opeka of Desert Primrose Gardens

Meanwhile, Dan removed some volunteer mesquite trees and dug a rain basin along the fence. Using the planting guide, he dug most of the holes in the basin so it was ready for the littles to plant. He built up a berm along the fence to collect the water that would be coming down the slope.

Finally the big day arrived! Melody was up bright and early to bring 29 plants and place them in the right locations - using Kathleen's planting map as a guide.

Kathleen arrived after dropping her kids off at school and adjusted the plan a bit for the space. Then the three of us dug the rest of the holes.

Then it was planting time with the littles! Kathleen's love of gardening was contagious. She shared how the purpose of the garden was to support pollinators with native plants while bringing color and joy to the space. She pointed out the rain basins that were designed to collect our valuable rainwater from uphill that will flow into the basin.

Then she showed the proper technique for handling the rootball gently, planting the proper depth, filling the hole with dirt (from piles Dan had cleverly left by each hole). She explained how to water the dirt around the plant, not on the plant.

Each of the adults were assigned two kids to supervise. They held the plant in place while they squeezed the plastic pot to loosen the rootball, then lowered it carefully into the hole. They used their little shovels and hands to put the (now hot) dirt around the plant. My little partner even demonstrated how her father stepped on the dirt to pack it in.

After the kids were done planting, this amazing woman went to Ace to get a hose and timer to create a simple irrigation system that she donated to the school.

Then Dan filled in the basin around the plants with mulch to retain the water longer.

Some of the plants for the sensory garden were Palmers Mallow that is fuzzy to touch, chocolate flower for smell, and many colorful plants that are a treat for the eyes. Many seeds pods will make crunchy noises when dried. And dried Penstemon seeds rattle. The chuparosa will eventually have flowers that are edible. Sorta tastes like cucumber.

In the meanwhile, I liberated purslane that was growing by the playground in the nearby park to be a tasty treat. Tastes citrusy. Common purslane is the one with the tear shaped leaves. 

I planted my favorite edible weed between each of the plants.

I wondered what the children thought of the experience. It was pretty hot out there after all. The teachers' responses say it all...

"I am beyond words. I am incredibly grateful to all the hard work that has gone into this beautiful project. At the end of the school day we go over our favorite things that happened during the school day in order to close out our day. Every single student said that helping in the pollinator garden was the highlight of their day. Upon pickup time the students were all so eager to show their hard work to their grown ups. Today is a day I will remember for a very long time. I am so grateful to everybody involved, thank you all so much for helping our little school become an extra magical place. I conclude my gushy email with a quote from one of my personal hero’s Fred Rogers “We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say, 'It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.' Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.”
With immense gratitude, Jackie Murillo

"We know these plants will make an impact on the local environment, and we hope they will make an impact on the lives of the children who helped yesterday. By making little dreams a reality we slowly and gently create a better world for ourselves and those we share space with," Zoraida Gonzalez.

You're Welcome,
Team Pollinator

Thanks to Melody and Sustainable Tucson's Pollinator Equity Project for providing 24 plants. And her husband for transporting them. https://sustainabletucson.org/pollinator-equity-project/

Thanks to Kathleen for everything! You can find her at: https://www.desertprimrosegardens.com/

Habitat Restoration Committee – Sustainable Tucson

Next up - Pinecrest neighborhood pollinator garden.

Our Sustainable Home Journey

Ever since Dan moved in about a decade ago, we've had the dream of retrofitting our little brick 1950s house to be more sustainable. We attended a Sustainable Tucson meeting with Robert Bulechek on transitioning to electric appliances run on solar.  He gave a great piece of advice - replace your gas appliances (stove, heater, hot water heater) with electric as they break down. We took that to heart. 

It has been quite a process. Similar to our journey with our rainwater harvesting system, we worked on it through the years when we had the time or money - or when appliances could no longer be fixed. 

Back in 2017 Dan dug a trench to direct greywater from the outdoor washing machine to the basin to water some heritage (low water) fruit trees. That washing machine provided about 17 gallons of water per load. The greywater basin also collected rainwater. 

While our cisterns and basins have done a great job supplying water for our low-water native plants and our veggie garden, Tucson Water recommendeds installing a super high-efficiency toilet for saving even more water. They provide a $100 rebate for a MaP Premium toilet. Handy Dan installed ours. 

We even repurposed our old toilet. 

When the old air conditioner broke down, we replaced it and the gas-fired heater with a more energy efficient heat pump in 2017.

Our biggest dream was to get solar, but it turned out to be a more complicated process than I imagined. We needed to give the solar company an estimate on how much power we would use. Before we could do that, we had to replace our leaky, 74 year-old windows with energy-efficient windows. After looking at a lot of reviews, we chose Renewal by Anderson UV blocking windows with cool forest green frames. The new windows have really enhanced our lives as we now spend hours watching the birds in our front yard and we hear a lot less of the "Speedway" we live near.

Meanwhile... in the backyard, Dan fixed the washing machine for the last time. We replaced the washer and dryer with water and energy-efficient models. The only drawback is that the new washing machine uses less than five gallons of water per load, so our poor pomegranate tree isn't getting the 17 gallons it was used to.

The last step (we thought) was getting the electrical system redone to add new circuits for electric appliances inside the house.

Unfortunately a roof inspection from the solar company (Technicians for Sustainability) uncovered hail damage. So we had to get the roof retiled. 

We finally got the solar panels and battery storage installed this January (just after the federal incentives ended. Sad.) 

We celebrated our dream come true! We were able to run most appliances and the air conditioner on solar and storage! 

Now we just had to get the rest of our gas appliances replaced with electric ones. 

This time we lucked out with 50% discounts from Efficiency Arizona. We got in just under the wire before the federal government stopped covering transitioning to electric. We even got in on a sale at Lowes that paid for delivery and installation. They also took the appliances away to be recycled at Los Reales Sustainability Campus. 

Check out our shiny new induction oven. It will be nice not to breathe in those natural gas fumes.

Out with the old and in with the new. 

Just one last gas appliance to replace! 

We replaced the gas hot water heater with a heat pump water heater and the installers noticed some wiring from a previous installation that needed to be fixed. 

So all of our appliances now run on electricity and can be powered with our own solar panels. 

One last step: sealing the ducts and increasing the insulation in the ceiling (with 50% also covered by Efficiency Arizona). We more than doubled the thickness of the insulation. Our last electric bill was $65 due to record heat. But after the insulation it should be down to nothing!  

One last surprise, we had to redo a sagging roof before the crew could work up there. Brian did an amazing job! And now we know our ceiling won't be falling down on us! Thank you, Advantage Home Performance!

At last we had our gas disconnected! We are so blessed to have a sustainable home that we can leave to our children after us.  

More information: 

Efficiency Arizona (for rebates on insulation, wiring, duct sealing, and upgrading electric appliances)

Commercial High-efficiency Toilet Rebate

Residential High-efficiency Clothes Washer Rebate

My Little Protest in the Park

What is this plant

That deserves protection

This little “weed”

I love so dearly

That I stand guard

In protest

As violent machines

Roar past

Slicing greenery

With their sharp blades

As flashing, flicking wires slash and slit

indiscriminately

Along turf's edge

What is this plant

That occupies my time

If so called weeds

By their very nature

Spread

Why is my help needed

To replant

To reseed

To protect from poison

For appearances sake alone

For contracts made

Without nature’s consent

What is this plant

Seasonably celebrated

Subtle sour succulent

Shedding tear shaped leaves

As mowers run roughshod

Through the free produce aisle

Along the curb

This playground garden

Kept as an example

Until razor sharp teeth

Rip through

Leaving nothing but crumbs

For the ants

Where the children play

But not today, not today

I stand in protest

With my picking tools

Lined up like pickets' tools

Shielding precious purslane

For future food lessons

Munchies for birds and bees 

Tree huggers have nothing on me 

Workers in broad rimmed hats

Stare confused

Instruments of destruction

And cellphones in hand

Awaiting instruction

With a handshake it's done

The natives are spared

Saved to flower another day

I suffer mixed feelings

For disrupting workers

For one last reprieve

Will it weaken my leverage

For new trees

I take up my spade

Liberate the weeds

Fiercely protective of the roots

Now tucked safely between pollinators

For kinders to taste 

In their sensory garden 

Learn more: 

Prompting Purslane Season

Still Crazy about Purslane

Making Pollinator Dreams Come True