Making the backyard my own.

Good morning.
We added a little art piece to the garden...

It's a dragonfly given to us by Colleen, a co-worker from the Salon as a going away present. We hung it on a branch in our one backyard tree.
And here's pics of the plants we chose for the backyard...

This first plant is called Red Bird of Paradise. It gets brilliant orange/red flower in the summer.

Next is Bottlebrush. In the spring and sometimes fall, they get red bottlebrush like flowers.

Then, Coral Autumn Sage. They get kinda hot pink flowers.

This next plant is called Baja Fairy Duster. It gets delicate fan like red flowers.

And last is a purple spreading Lantana.
Every plant we chose attracts hummingbirds so I expect to see them a lot.
We also bought a couple of pots and planted cactus in them.

I can't plant anything within 3 ft of the lot line according to our HOA, but I can put pots anywhere I want.
The left cactus is called Silver Torch and the right one San Pedro.  In between, if I get ARC approval, will go a wall water fountain. I'll know next Friday.
So, we're starting to add our own personal touches to the yard to make it 'ours'. It's very nice sitting our there and soaking in the sun and watching the humming bird.
My Mom wrote and was concerned about wildfires she heard about on the news. I explained they were nearly 7 hours north of us up by Reno/lake Tahoe. Nevada is a big state, and Vegas is in the southern tip.
Also Thursday, a visit from Vice President Biden really messed up traffic. He flew in to Nellis Air Force base which is in the north-eastern part of the valley. His motorcade came down the 215 and got off right at Aliante. They closed the overpass, and Aliante Blvd from Elkhorn to Centennial. We were at Smiths grocery store and had to go our the side street and take back roads to get home. Good thing we've gotten to know a lot of the roads around here. He was going to a union hall for a speech with one of the local politicians.

Don't know why he came by us since the union hall is near downtown and we're at the northern edge of the valley, except they said he made a few stops on the way, but didn't say what they were.
So that caused a big traffic mess for a short time.
And I guess I've talked enough for today.....