Arizona

An Attractive, Drought-Tolerant Hedge for Southwestern Gardens: Hop Bush

Beautiful Hop Bush Shrub (Dodonaea viscosa)

I am always on the lookout for great examples of plants in the desert landscape. In my work as a landscape consultant, I drive through countless neighborhoods, which allows me to see lots of ideas.

A few years ago, I drove by a house that had a beautiful Hop Bush shrub (Dodonaea viscosa).

This evergreen, drought-tolerant shrub does wonderfully in our southwestern climate, and it is a frequent addition to landscapes I design.

It’s versatility is one of the reasons it is near the top of my favorite shrub list.

Hop Bush is a great substitute for Oleander shrubs.
They can grow up to 12 feet tall or be maintained at a shorter height – basically you can decide how large it gets.
Their height makes them a great choice to screen out an unattractive view in spaces where a tree won’t fit while providing shade for for windows.
Hop Bush can be allowed to grow into their natural shape or pruned more formally.

Native to the Southwest, Hop Bush is quite versatile and relatively fuss-free, especially if maintained by pruning every 6 months or so, as shown above. Here is another example of a hop bush shrub that has been pruned more formally, which it handles well.

Of course, you can always let it grow into its more natural form as a large shrub.

For more information on hop bush including what its flowers look like and why it’s becoming a popular substitute for oleanders, you can read my earlier blog post – “Drought Tolerant and Beautiful: Hopbush the Alternative to Oleanders.”

Drought Tolerant and Beautiful: Anacacho Orchid

Arizona

Do you have a list of favorite plants? I do. Mine is made up of about 12 plants, and they change from time to time.

One of my recent additions to my favorites list is anacacho orchid (Bauhinia lunarioides).

This lovely plant can be trained as a small tree or a large shrub.

Fragrant white flowers appear in spring, and the foliage adds beauty throughout the year.

While I don’t have this plant in my landscape, yet – I have been using it in a few of my latest designs.

If you would like to learn more about this beautiful plant, I invite you to read my latest plant profile for Houzz.

Bauhinia Lunarioides Perfumes the Garden With Its Fragrant Flowers

How about you? Have you ever seen or grown an anacacho orchid?

10 Things To Know Before Buying Plants

Revisiting a Newly-Designed Landscape Two Years Later

Arizona

One of the most rewarding things about my job is having the opportunity to revisit areas that I have designed. Despite designing landscapes for over 17 years, I never tire of having the opportunity to explore them again to see how the landscape has matured. When touring the landscapes, I take time to look at what worked and sometimes what didn’t. I take these lessons with me and implement them in future designs.

Blue Bells (Eremophila hygrophana) and feathery cassia (Senna artemisoides)

Today, I’d like to take you on a tour of a landscape that I designed for a church two years ago.

I was asked by the landscape committee to create a landscape that would be filled with color during the cool season since that is when the majority of the members are attending.

BEFORE:

The landscape was filled with over-pruned shrubs, many of which flowered in summer. In addition, there were a large number of frost tender plants in the landscape that were unsightly when much of the residents were in town.

AFTER:

Newly-Designed Landscape

After removing the shrubs, I added feathery cassia (Senna artemisoides), which blooms in late winter and spring, along with the newer Blue Bells (Eremophila hygrophana) which flowers all year long while staying at a rather compact 3 feet tall and wide size.

BEFORE:

Mexican (Yellow) Bird-of-Paradise (Caesalpinia mexicana)

When working with an existing landscape, I always try to keep mature plants that are healthy and fulfill the design criteria. In this case, a Mexican (Yellow) Bird-of-Paradise (Caesalpinia mexicana), that had been trained into a tree, which has evergreen foliage and flowers in spring and fall.

Blue Bell shrubs and golden barrel cacti (Echinocactus grusonii) completed this planting area.

BEFORE:

In this area, a few shrubs, a barrel cactus and a lonely red yucca hang on from the previously designed landscape, all of which add little interest to the landscape.

AFTER:

Valentine Bush (Eremophila maculata ‘Valentine) and desert spoon (Dasylirion wheeleri)

Contrasting textures and color add interest to the landscape throughout the entire year. Seasonal blooming creates an entirely different look to the landscape as well.

BEFORE:

As landscapes age, plants can become overgrown and to some, unattractive as was the case with this old desert spoon. The lysiloma tree was in good shape and the decision was made to keep it.

AFTER:

Angelita daisy (Tetraneuris acaulis syn. Hymenoxys acaulis)

Angelita daisy (Tetraneuris acaulis) is one of my favorite small perennials as its bright, sunny flowers appear throughout the entire year.

Valentine bush and feathery cassia serve as foundation planting.

BEFORE:

Pink fairy duster (Calliandra eriophylla) had been used to create a hedge. However, while pink fairy duster does flower in winter and spring, it isn’t a suitable choice as a formal hedge. Rather, it belongs in a natural desert landscape and untouched by hedge trimmers.

AFTER:

Pink Muhly (Muhlenbergia capillaris) in winter.

Pink muhly was added for welcome fall color when its plumes turn a vibrant burgundy color, which fade to an attractive wheat color in winter. After being pruned in early spring, bright green growth quickly fills back in.

BEFORE:

Revisiting a Newly-Designed Landscape Two Years Later

This is a high-profile corner as it is one of the entries into the church parking lot. As you can see, there was little to attract the attention of passersby.

Newly-Designed Landscape

Adding a combination of plants that will ensure year round interest no matter whether it’s spring, summer, fall or winter.

Even though the purple trailing lantana (Lantana montevidensis) can die back to the ground in winter, the bright colors of the Valentine bush and feathery cassia will draw attention away from it.

BEFORE:

Three Agave americana were all that sat in this area, which offered little color and virtually no interest.

Newly-Designed Landscape

I took the existing agave and spread them throughout the landscape, where they can create both texture and color contrast when paired with the softer shapes and darker colors of shrubs.

One thing that I wish I had done differently was to space the shrubs in this area a little further apart. This can cause landscapers to excessively prune shrubs into poodle shapes in an attempt to keep them from touching. Pruning them severely once a year can keep them from outgrowing their space OR removing every other shrub once they become too large can take care of the problem.

I hope that you enjoyed seeing the transformation of this landscape to one filled with cool season color.

Plant Palette For New Landscape: Perennials and Succulents

Television, Frost, Plants and a Cold That Won’t Go Away

Arizona

January is off to a busy start. We have gone from a house bursting at the seams to one that seems suddenly spacious after my two oldest daughters left for home with their children. While I do miss them, I must admit that I never thought a house filled with 3 teenagers would seem quiet.

Enjoying last minute cuddle time with Lily before she flew back to Michigan.

As I drove my oldest daughter and her family to the airport, I felt that familiar tickle in my throat and knew that I was getting sick. I wasn’t too surprised with all of the busyness of the holidays that my resistance was low.

A few days later, I was due to make an appearance on the television show, Arizona Midday, which airs on our local NBC television station. The topic was to be about winter gardening tasks.

While I have been on television a few times before, this was my first time on this particular program.

As with the other times, I made a trip to the nursery for plants and other things for the television spot since the producers like a lot of props to make things look more interesting.

I came away with a bare root rose (my favorite Mr. Lincoln red rose), leaf lettuce and kale, parsley and cool season annuals for color. Other props included different types of frost protection including frost cloth, old towels, and sheets.

Unfortunately, as the date of my television appearance neared, my cold got worse and evolved into a full-blown sinus infection.

So on a brisk winter morning, loaded up with cold medicine and a pocket full of kleenex, I loaded up my plants and other props and headed to the TV station along with my mother who came with me to help me stage the table and provide moral support.

We spent a delightful time waiting to be escorted to the studio in the green room with a pair of chili cooks who were talking about an upcoming chili cookoff.

Television show, Arizona Midday

Finally, it was time for the gardening segment, which went quite smoothly – I didn’t cough or sneeze once. The host was kind, gracious and most importantly – laid back and relaxed.

After returning home, I got on my favorite pair of sweats and got back into bed. I am determined to kick this cold!

I hope that your January is off to a great start!

November Blooms

Arizona, California, Uncategorized

I love flowers. In fact, it was my love affair with flowers that inspired me to get my degree in horticulture. I figured that life is too short to not do what you love, so working as a horticulturist allows me to be around blooming plants throughout much of the year.

As the weather begins to cool, blossoms begin to lessen, but one of the many benefits of living in the Southwest is that there are always some plants showing off their flowers.

Today, I’d like to share with you just a few of the flowering plants that I saw during the past couple of weeks, which are decorating the fall landscape.

Pink Fairy Duster (Calliandra eriophylla) flowers in spring and fall, is extremely drought tolerant, thrives in full sun and is hardy to 10 degrees F.

Creeping Indigo Bush (Dalea greggii) is a groundcover, which flowers in spring and fall, is drought tolerant, thrives in full sun and is hardy to 10 degrees F.

The Cascalote tree (Caesalpinia cacalaco) flowers in fall and on into early winter, is drought tolerant, thrives in full sun and is hardy to 20 degrees F. While thorny, there is a new variety with a smooth trunk, called ‘Smoothie’.

Pink Muhly (Muhlenbergia capillaris) is an ornamental grass that flowers in fall, is drought tolerant, thrives in full sun to filtered shade and is hardy to 0 degrees F.

Blue Bells (Eremophila hygrophana) flowers all year long, is drought tolerant, thrives in full sun to filtered shade and is hardy to 17 degrees F. Still in bloom in November

These are but a few plants that are still in bloom in November in my zone 9 climate.

How about you? What is blooming in your garden or neighborhood?

A Beautiful Centerpiece for November’s MGB

Fall Blooms for the Southwest Garden

Arizona, California, Southwest garden, Uncategorized

The beginning of fall is only a few weeks away as the long summer winds down. Fall is a wonderful time in the garden and is the best time of year for adding new plants, allowing them a chance to grow before the heat of next summer arrives.

Turpentine bush (Ericameria laricifolia) in bloom

When deciding what plants to add to your garden, many people concentrate on incorporating plants that bloom in spring and summer, but there are a number of attractive plants that bloom in fall.

Fall Blooms, Pink muhly (Muhlenbergia capillaris)

Using plants with overlapping bloom periods ensure year-round beauty for your landscape.

Damianita (Chrysactinia mexicana)

Many plants that flower in fall also flower at other times of year as well such as damianita(Chrysactinia mexicana), Mexican honeysuckle(Justicia spicigera) and autumn sage(Salvia greggii).

Early October is a great time to start adding new plants, so now is a great time to decide what type of fall-blooming plants to add.

I recently shared 10 of my favorite, drought tolerant fall bloomers in my latest article for Houzz. I hope you’ll include some of these in your landscape where they will help to decorate your fall landscape.

10 Plants for Colorful Fall Blooms in the Drought-Tolerant Garden

Do you have a favorite fall-blooming plant?

What to Do In The Southwest Garden – September

A Sweet and Tart Apple Harvest

Arizona, azplantlady, Southwest garden, Uncategorized

It’s hotter than he** (dare I use the word “hell”?) outside in June and while most desert dwellers can be found hibernating indoors enjoying air-conditioned temperatures in the 70’s – you’ll find a few of us darting outdoors to pick apples.

While parts of the country wait until late summer and on into early fall to harvest apples – June is apple harvesting time in the desert.

apple harvesting

Many people don’t realize that apple trees can grow in the desert Southwest – so do apricots, peaches and plums.

The key to growing these types of fruit trees is our relatively cold temperatures. They need a certain number of “chilling hours”, which are when temperatures are within 32 – 45 degrees F.

When summer temperatures are hovering in the 100+ range, it’s hard to recall what cold winter temperatures feel like, but it’s those chilly temps that make it possible to grow apple trees.

In the past years, I have harvested my apples from among the several apple trees located on the family farm.

But, not this year.

Three years ago, we transformed our side garden, creating a “potager”, which is a French term for a kitchen garden filled with fruits, herbs, vegetables alongside ornamental plants.

In the potager, we have the largest of our vegetable gardens, blackberry bushes, two peach trees, an orange tree and two apple trees.

The apple trees are located toward the end of the garden with the blackberry bushes growing against the wall.

This was what they looked like 1 1/2 years ago. Since then, they have grown quickly and are filled with apples, ready for us to pick.

Today, we will head out in the morning and pick our apples. There are so many growing, that I won’t need any from the family farm.

Normally, I make applesauce and an apple pie from apples. This year, I will make those but will add to it. We will also be making apple chips and apple sugar. Who knows? If we get a ton of apples, I may need to find more things to make with them.

My daughter, Ruthie, and niece, Sofie, will help me along with a very special friend who is their “orphanage sister”.

**Next time, I’ll share their special story along with all the goodies we make along with helpful links so you can make them yourself with apples from the supermarket.

Winter Vegetable Harvest: Broccoli and How to Freeze It

Christmas…..Arizona Style

Arizona, az plant lady family, Uncategorized

Each region has their own way of celebrating Christmas. Of course Christmas lights seem just about universal and they are one of my favorite parts of decorating for Christmas.

Some of you may feel that it is not Christmas without snow, but growing up in Southern California near the coast – the only white Christmas that I have seen is watching Christmas movies on television.

Californians have their own way of celebrating Christmas, including a parade of boats decorated with lights and decorations. One of my fondest memories is sitting on the breakwater and watching the boats parade along the coast.

Well, now that I have lived in Arizona for quite a while, I have become quite familiar with the unique way that desert dwellers decorate for Christmas.

The Christmas tree for our town is not actually a real tree…..

p class=”has-text-align-center” style=”font-size:14px;”> Arizona Style Christmas Celebration

It is actually made up of tumbleweed.

Hard to believe, isn’t it?

But, it is just beautiful, especially when it is all lit up at night.

Some residents love their cactus and it plays a starring role in how they decorate the outside of their homes.

Agave also play a part in holiday decorations….

I’ve even seen some agave with round, glass Christmas tree ornaments stuck on their pointy tips.

Did you know that Ocotillo can also stand-in as a Christmas tree?

I hope you have enjoyed these glimpses into Christmas….Arizona Style.

Even though we may not enjoy a white Christmas in our beautiful desert, I like to think of the fact that the first Christmas occurred in a desert not that much different then ours…

*******************************

I WISH FOR YOU ALL

A

VERY

MERRY

CHRISTMAS

*****************************

Cookies and Sugar Cone Christmas Trees

Natural, Recycled DIY Items for the Home & A Sale!

Arizona, Uncategorized

Do you like to decorate your home with natural objects?

I do.

Recently, I’ve been busy creating items using things found in nature.

For example, these may seem like regular pieces of wood from a tree – but what if I told you that they were actually old roots from a cresote bush?

You may not know what a creosote bush is, but if you live in the desert – you’ve seen them. They are the shrubs scattered throughout the desert.

The roots that I used for my project came from one of the creosote shrubs in the picture, above.

This creosote shrub was in an area that I was asked to design next to a golf course. While I kept most of the creosote, I had one removed to make room for new plants.

You can see the pile of creosote roots left over after the shrub was pulled out.

I came up on these roots after placing the new plants and thought that they would be great for a future project. They were woody, twisted and had great character. I loaded them up in my truck and stored them in my side yard until I could find the right project in which to use them.

I decided to pair my old wooden roots with air plants.

My mother, who is extremely creative, introduced me to air plants and I immediately fell in love with their unique shapes.

Air plants are unique in another way in that they do not need soil. All they need to grow is air, water and a sunny window, which makes them perfect for using in home decorating projects since you don’t have to worry about soil.

You can read more about air plants and how to care for them, here.

So what do you get when you pair air plants with pieces of natural wood?

A very attractive centerpiece that looks great on the coffee table.

I was so excited about how nice it looked that I decided to try using smaller pieces of wood and different air plants.

Because each piece of wood was unique and had been twisted over time by nature, each pairing looked different.

I must admit that I had so much fun playing with different combinations.

So, what am I going to do with so many creosote wood / air plant combinations?

Earlier this year, my mother proposed going together with my sister and create items for the home that are made from natural elements for a large holiday boutique.

My sister and I both agreed and have been working on making different items focused on using natural and/or recycled elements, along with my mother.

Here are just a few of the items we will be selling:

Gourd Bird Houses

My mother and I have both grown gourds in our gardens and transformed them into bird houses and feeders.

Seed pod Christmas ornaments

Can you tell what type of tree/shrub this seed pod comes from?

If you guessed Texas mountain laurel (Sophora secundiflora), you’d be right.

My sister has made a variety of Christmas ornaments using seed pods. I love the idea of transforming natural items and using them to decorate your home for the holidays!

Terrariums with air plants

Do you like terrariums? I think of them as small worlds enclosed by glass. There will be quite a few terrariums with air plants, including hanging ones.

Lavender sachets made from antique seed bags.

During a trip to Winona, Minnesota – we bought quite a few old seed bags from antique stores. My mother, who is an excellent seamstress, made them into sachets, glass cases and aprons.

Reading glass cases made from antique seed bags.

‘Sparkly’ white Christmas seed pod ornaments

My sister has made a variety of Christmas ornaments using seed pods. I love the idea of transforming natural items and using them to decorate your home for the holidays!

Basil Salt

I love using basil salt on my favorite Italian dishes. The basil came straight from my garden 🙂

Mini air plants on antique wooden spools

Seed Bombs

Have you heard of seed bombs? I wrote about this fun garden trend last year. I first saw these at the Sustainability Festival last year.

*Can you tell that they are wrapped in ‘recycled’ packaging?

Air plants mounted on driftwood sitting on top of wooden plants ready for hanging.

My mother and I collected much of the driftwood during our trip to Lake Michigan this summer.

In addition to what I’ve shown you above, we will have aprons, totes made from seed bags, terrariums made from light bulbs and fairy garden houses made from wood and moss.

Our goal was to create items using natural and/or recycled items.

If you live in the greater Phoenix area, we would love to see you!

We will be selling our natural items at the Believe Boutique, which is a large holiday boutique with over 125 vendors. It is being held at Cornerstone Church in Chandler, Arizona on Friday, November 7th from 4:00 – 9:00 and again on Saturday, the 8th from 10:00 to 3:00.

**We’ll be located in the main lobby in the ‘Sustain’ booth. I’d love to meet you, if you have time to stop by!

The Gardens of Bisbee

Arizona, Arizona garden, Uncategorized

Earlier this week, I have been sharing with you about our recent trip into the old, mining town of Bisbee, AZ.

From unique pieces of art, the friendly people, great food and endless stairways, our trip was so much fun.

What I haven’t shown you in my earlier posts are the plants and gardens of Bisbee, which deserve their own post.

Bisbee is located in zone 8a, which is means that it gets about 10 degrees colder then Phoenix and Tucson areas. Because this historic town is also higher in the mountains, it doesn’t get as hot in the summer months.

Much of the plants were the same of what you would see growing throughout central and southern Arizona. Missing were the more tropical plants such as bougainvillea, yellow bells and lantana, which struggle to survive the winters in this area.

The gardens in Bisbee often made use of old, antique pieces that intermingled almost seamlessly among garden plants.

In this garden, the homeowner added a splash of color by using brightly-colored bottles to form an informal border along her raised beds.

Up on her wire fence, she had an old miner’s pan and soup pot hanging from a post.

The Historical Clawson House had a lovely planting arrangement that I particularly liked.

A large swath of flowering coreopsis contrasted beautifully with the gray/blue agave showing us that you don’t need a lot of different types of plants to make a statement in the garden – sometimes less is more effective.

Walking along the main street, I saw the biggest star jasmine vine.

It grew up the metal fence and beyond, hugging this 3-story building. Needless to say, the fragrance was intoxicating.

A brightly-colored building had an unusual pair of container plants.

Spinless prickly pear (Opuntia ellisiana) looked great in half-whiskey barrels.

Continuing our walk through town, I saw a small cafe which had an adjoining garden that can only be described as a grotto.

Where else, but in the desert southwest would you see a prickly pear cactus growing along side a rose bush?

Speaking of roses, I spotted a hedge of pink Iceberg roses in full bloom.

*Iceberg roses are a typically used for providing an informal hedge and they do well in Arizona.

In front of the iconic courthouse, I spotted some flowering ocotillo, so I headed over for a closer look.

I never tire of seeing the vermillion-colored flowers of ocotillo year after year.

My little ocotillo produced its first flower earlier this spring, after 4 years in the ground! It can take while for newly planted ocotillo to flower, but 4 years was a little long to have to wait.

Alongside the ocotillo were santa-rita (purple) prickly pears in full bloom.

Continuing our walk through the historic downtown, I noticed murals painted along the Cochise County Cooperative Extension Building.

In the window of the building were some helpful plant tips.

What a great way to add ‘plants’ to an area where planting live plants isn’t feasible.

This small front garden had a naturalistic planting theme using white achillea with Mexican evening primrose.

A local store did add some live plants by training a pair of vines over the doorway.

As I passed by these large metal doors, I wondered what lay behind them…

I peeked through a crack and noticed a lovely, little garden. I just wish that I could have seen more.

I have always liked small bungalows and their gardens. Maybe I can have one someday when the kids are gone and we need less room.

Here is another bungalow garden filled with purple prickly pear, a white Texas sage and autumn sage.

The city park had a two rain barrels, painted with rainy themes. It was a great way to demonstrate how homeowners can harvest their own rainwater.

**In closing, I would like to say that it isn’t easy traveling with me. I am always stopping and taking small detours in order to take pictures of plants and landscapes.

My husband is always so patient and doesn’t hesitate to carry my purse for me when my hands are busy holding my camera taking pictures.

Another common occurrence when traveling with a horticulturist is having to stop the truck after passing a lovely (or sometimes bad) landscape.

Again, my husband doesn’t complain – he just pulls over and waits while I run out to take a picture.

In this case, it was a lovely metal fence that had small shelves for pots planted with red yucca, to rest on. There were figures sculpted out of metal as well. It was just lovely.

I hope you enjoyed this small tour of the gardens of Bisbee. I cannot wait to return again someday.

On The Road to Bisbee…

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An Attractive, Drought-Tolerant Hedge for Southwestern Gardens: Hop Bush

Drought Tolerant and Beautiful: Anacacho Orchid

Revisiting a Newly-Designed Landscape Two Years Later

Television, Frost, Plants and a Cold That Won’t Go Away

November Blooms

Fall Blooms for the Southwest Garden

A Sweet and Tart Apple Harvest

Christmas…..Arizona Style

Natural, Recycled DIY Items for the Home & A Sale!

The Gardens of Bisbee

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