A sunny place on a wintery day

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I intentionally got a house with the backyard facing east to maximize the amount of shade in the summer. This is the Sonoran desert, and it gets really, really hot here. Shade is a premium. In the winter, unfortunately, it makes my back yard fairly cold, and there are only a few sunny areas. Macintosh, the good little wiener dog, follows these sunny areas around and makes the best use of them. Here she is lounging in front of a dioon edule, var. palma sola cycad. Right behind the cycad is a nice little clump of Cape Honeysuckle (Tecomaria capensis). Immediately next to Macintosh's ear is a small clump of ice plant. I've had bad luck with ice plant here in The Tropical Paradise. I rooted quite a few and planted them all over the place, but most didn't last the summer. The plant to the left, which is light green, is asparagus fern, shaped like a fox tail. these grow very well here. It's not deep green because I haven't remembered to fertilize it, but I will!

The brown stuff you see on the ground is coffee grounds, which I get for free at Starbucks and Seattle's Best Coffee.

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