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.”
https://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Dodonaea_viscosa_hedge_Hopbush.jpg425640arizonaplantlady@gmail.comhttp://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/favicon.pngarizonaplantlady@gmail.com2016-05-19 13:30:002022-10-15 04:52:07An Attractive, Drought-Tolerant Hedge for Southwestern Gardens: Hop Bush
It never ceases to amaze me how that despite how busy your calendar, everything grinds to a halt when you get sick. Oh, I realize that there are certain types of sickness that you can press on through like a cold or even a small fever. But, when the stomach flu hits, you are powerless to do anything.
What makes it worse is when everyone in your household gets it as well. So, we have been spending quality time together nursing our sore stomachs and anxiously awaiting the time until our appetites return.
In the meantime, the garden is undergoing some contruction.
Irrigation trenches are criss-crossing our landscape as we are having new drip irrigation installed. Our current system was first installed when we built our home 18 years ago and was having problems with numerous leaks. Considering that the typical lifespan of a drip irrigation system is 10 – 15 years, we were long overdue to have ours replaced.
While it may not seem very exciting, I am looking forward to having separate drip lines for my fruit trees, shrubs/perennials and vegetable garden.
Many plants in my garden are beginning to bloom adn I thought I would give you a peek.
colorful spring flowers
I spread a variety of flowers seeds in my side garden and some have already begun to bloom.
I planted toadflax seeds, which came in a variety of different colors.
white, pink and purple, spring flowers
I have white, pink and purple varieties adding welcome color to this area of the garden.
Another plant that has started blooming is from Renee’s Garden seed company and is called ‘Vanilla Berry’.
So far, these are the only two types of plants flowering in this garden, but the California poppies are getting ready to burst forth in different colors including white, purple, pink and of course, orange.
Citrus trees are also in full bloom perfuming the air with their intoxicating fragrance. I am hopeful that my young Meyer’s lemon tree will produce its first lemons.
The peach trees bloomed earlier this year and are now filled with immature peach fruit – I can almost taste the peach jam that I will make from them this May.
Spring Flowers, Lobelia
The cool-season annuals that I planted in the fall are still going strong. Even though they look great right now, I will replace them later this month with warm-season annuals in order to allow them time to grow a good root system before the heat of sumemr arrives.
Late winter and spring is also when my autumn sage (Salvia greggii) is also in flower. I received several different varieties, straight from the grower, to try out in my garden, which were planted last fall. They are doing great in their current location where they receive morning sun and afternoon shade.
On another note, we have been anxiously awaiting the re-emergence of our desert tortoise, Aesop.
We last saw him in late October before he went into his hole to hibernate. Since then, we’ve periodically checked on him and today, we moved slightly. So, I can’t wait to see him begin to walking out in the garden.
I’ll be sure to keep you updated.
How is your garden looking? Is anything blooming yet?
https://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/drip_irrigation_installation.jpg480640arizonaplantlady@gmail.comhttp://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/favicon.pngarizonaplantlady@gmail.com2016-03-18 03:46:002020-12-29 11:30:43Stomach Flu and Spring Flowers
Fall in the garden is a time of celebration with plants enjoying the period after the heat of summer has bid goodbye and before the cold of winter arrives.
This time of year is filled colorful blooming plants decorating our outdoor spaces. In the past few weeks, the color purple has made its presence known in several gardens that I have visited recently.
If you love the color purple, here are some plants that you may want to include in your garden.
Black dalea(Dalea frutescens) saves its flowering for fall when violet flowers appear above its lacy foliage.
This Southwestern native is hardy to 15 degrees F. and does best in full sun. Black dalea is underused in the landscape and deserves to be used more.
Desert ruellia(Ruellia peninsularis) is a shrub that I use it often for my client’s designs. I love that it flowers throughout the year as well as its attractive foliage.
A native of Mexico, this shrub does best in full sun to partial shade and is hardy to zone 9 gardens.
Sometimes, parking lot medians can put on a spectacular show. This blue ranger(Leucophyllum zygophyllum) begins blooming in summer but saves its best flowering for fall.
The gray foliage adds nice color contrast in the garden. Hardy to 10 degrees, plant in full or reflected sun for maximum flowering.
One of the most beautiful purple blossoms belongs to the skyflower(Duranta erecta) shrub. Delicate purple flowers are arrayed on graceful arching stems.
Hardy to 20 degrees, skyflower blooms spring through fall.
Last week, while I was doing a landscape consultation, my attention was drawn to a beautiful bluepotato bush(Lycianthies rantonnetti) blooming in the front yard.
The vibrant purple flowers contrasted beautifully with the bright green foliage. This shrub is hardy to zone 9 gardens.
Finally, let’s look at the generous blooms of purple trailing lantana(Lantana montevidensis). This lantana groundcover blooms spring through fall and needs very little care other than pruning once or twice a year.
Hardy to 20 degrees, this lantana grows in full sun or partial shade.
I hope that you have enjoyed this tour of purple autumn blooms.
https://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Dalea_frutescens.jpg640510arizonaplantlady@gmail.comhttp://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/favicon.pngarizonaplantlady@gmail.com2015-11-10 13:30:002022-10-22 09:40:09Purple Blooms for the Fall Garden
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.
https://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Fall_Southwest_Landscape_Turpentine_Bush.jpg482640arizonaplantlady@gmail.comhttp://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/favicon.pngarizonaplantlady@gmail.com2015-09-14 13:30:002020-12-31 11:06:39Fall Blooms for the Southwest Garden
Picture a garden filled with colorful flowering plants with hummingbirds hovering about.
Now imagine that this garden is located in a small space against the backdrop of the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona and you have paradise.
Beds filled with flowering perennials are my favorite element of gardens. Their appearance changes month to month as blooming transitions from one type of perennial to the other.
So, I was delighted to see that this hummingbird paradise was filled with beds filled with blooms of every color.
What I liked about the first perennial bed that I first saw was its curved edge, brightly colored wall in the back and the colorful tiles, which highlighted the flower colors.
A single purple-flowering, Chihuahuan sage(Leucophyllum laevigatum) anchored the corner of the bed with its height. The purple flowers provided great color contrast with the blanket flower, coneflower, salvias and yarrow.
Coral Autumn Sage (Salvia greggii ‘Coral)
Some of my favorite hummingbird plants were growing in the garden. Salvias are quite frankly, hummingbird magnets and grow beautifully in arid climates.
Salvia microphylla ‘Lipstick’
While most Salvia species grow well in full sun – if you live in the low-desert, they will do best when planted in filtered shade.
Salvia greggii ‘Purple’
When deciding what types of plants to add to your garden that will attract hummingbirds – salvias are a sure thing.
The deck was paved with flagstone and had two separate planting beds. Even though each planting area wasn’t large, the plant palette was not limited since there are many perennials that don’t grow overly large, so the homeowners were able to fit in a lot of colorful plants in the confined spaces.
In the second perennial bed, two different colored hummingbird mint (Agastache spp.) plants provide height and anchor each end of the bed. The sunny colors of blanket flower fill the middle.
Again, a brightly-colored wall adds to the beauty of this area.
The flowers of hummingbird mint (also known as hyssop) are simply irresistible to hummingbirds.
Besides producing pretty flowers and attracting hummingbirds, these perennials are drought tolerant, love hot/dry spaces, can be grown in zones 5-10 and are deer and rabbit resistant. They bloom summer to fall.
Blanket flower (Gaillardia spp.) come in a multitude of warm colors with shades or red, yellow and orange.
This colorful plant thrives in sunny spaces and attracts butterflies.
You’ll find this perennial growing in a wide range of gardens from zones 3 – 10.
The homeowners made the most out of their small garden space by creating a painted ‘garden’ along a previously blank wall.
Hummingbirds weren’t bothered by us and they hovered by the hummingbird mint and salvia flowers enjoying a drink of nectar.
This special garden is a wonderful example of how a garden limited on space can be used to create a lovely hummingbird paradise.
**For more information on plants that will attract hummingbirds to your Southwest garden, I recommend Hummingbird Plants of the Southwest.
*This blog post contains affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). Thanks for your support in this way.*
Do you love hummingbirds? If asked, most people would say that these tiny birds are among their favorite bird species.
Anna’s Hummingbird whose head and throat are covered in pollen.
I always pause whatever I’m doing whenever I see a hummingbird nearby as I marvel at their small size along with their brilliant colors and flying antics.
Last weekend, I enjoyed an unforgettable experience observing and learning about hummingbirds at the annual Hummingbird Festival, in beautiful Sedona, Arizona.
At the festival, I gave two presentations on small space hummingbird gardening, showing people how they could create a mini-hummingbird garden in a container.
When I wasn’t speaking, I was enjoying the garden tour, visiting local hummingbird gardens along with attending other lectures given by noted hummingbird experts.
While there were wonderful events throughout the weekend, this was one particular event that I’ll never forget.
Immature Male Black-Chinned Hummingbird
Imagine being able to observe hummingbirds up close being banded and re-released. It really is as incredible as it sounds! In fact, I was able to hold and release a hummingbird myself!
So, what is hummingbird banding?
Hummingbirds are captured, tagged and re-released and is done to track hummingbird migration, the age and health of hummingbirds.
Mature Black-Chinned Hummingbird
This hummingbird banding site was located in the backyard of a home in Sedona.
Multiple hummingbird feeders are set out to attract a large number of hummingbirds.
A few of the feeders are inside of cages with openings for hummingbirds to enter.
A hummingbird enters to feed from the feeder.
Each little hummer is carefully put into a mesh bag in order to safely transport it to the nearby table to be examined and banded.
It’s important to note this process does no harm to them and it is a very quick.
The tools needed for banding hummingbirds.
The birds are carefully removed from the bag and the process begins.
Young male Anna’s hummingbird.
They are carefully inspected for general health and to identify the species of hummingbird. On this day – Anna’s, Black-Chinned and Costa’s hummingbirds were seen.
Measurements of the beak and feathers are taken to determine the age.
Feathers on the underside are softly blown with a straw in order to see how much (or how little) fat a hummingbird has. A little fat indicates that a hummingbird is getting ready to migrate.
Special eyewear is required for the banders to see what they are doing with these tiny birds.
For the banding process itself, hummingbirds are placed in a nylon stocking so that one of their legs is more easily manipulated.
The small band is carefully placed on the leg.
As you might expect, it isn’t easy to band hummingbirds because of their tiny size – the bands themselves are so small that they fit around a toothpick. In fact, hummingbird banding is a highly specialized job and there are only 150 people in the U.S. who have permits allowing them to band hummingbirds.
After the banding has been done, hummingbirds are given a drink of sugar water before being released.
This hummingbird bander is from St. Louis, MO and was so excited to see his first Costa’s hummingbird (which aren’t found where he lives).
For me, the most exciting part is when observers have the opportunity to hold and release the newly-banded hummingbirds.
The hummingbirds would sit for a few seconds in the palm of your hand before flying off.
Holding a hummingbird in your hand is as amazing as you would expect! The hummingbird that I released was a young black-chinned hummingbird that had hatched earlier this year.
One of the observers who got to release a hummingbird was a gentleman who was 100 years old + 1 month old!
How wonderful to be able to experience new things at that age 🙂
The garden where the banding was held was beautiful – especially with the backdrop of the red rocks of Sedona.
I must admit that I was equally split between observing the banding and watching the numerous hummingbirds feeding.
Can you tell how many hummingbirds are in the photo, above?
Seven!
I have got to add more hummingbird feeders to my own garden!
***********************
I am so grateful to the folks at the Hummingbird Society who put on a wonderful festival. I enjoyed speaking and learning about these wonderful “flying jewels”.
The festival is held every other year in Sedona, AZ. There were over 1,000 attendees this year. I highly encourage you to consider attending this special event next year.
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.
https://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/ripe_Anna27s_apples_Southwest.jpg575640arizonaplantlady@gmail.comhttp://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/favicon.pngarizonaplantlady@gmail.com2015-06-15 12:30:002022-10-23 07:51:49A Sweet and Tart Apple Harvest
It’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t. The sight of a butterfly makes us pause whatever we were doing and take a few moments to observe their fragile beauty.
Kids are even more entranced by butterflies. Every year, I take my kids to visit the Desert Botanical Garden’s butterfly exhibit where they can view them up close.
What if you could attract more butterflies to your garden? It’s not hard to do.
Adding plants to your garden that attract butterflies is also a great way to add both beauty to your outdoor space.
We are fortunate that there are countless plants that make butterfly gardening in the Southwest garden both fun and rewarding.
Like most of us, adult butterflies love lots of flowers.
While I enjoy seeing butterflies visiting my own garden, I’ve also had the privilege of designing a butterfly and hummingbird garden alongside a golf course a few years ago.
It’s so enjoyable to walk through the winding path and sit underneath the shade of palo verde trees and see the butterflies fluttering nearby.
So, would you like to create a garden that attracts butterflies?
You don’t have to do one on a large scale, adding a few plants or creating a container filled with butterfly-attracting plants is fun and easy to do.
To get started, here is a great resource with lists of plants that will attract butterflies to your Southwest garden. In addition, there is also a handy photographic guide to help you identify the butterflies who visit your garden.
**Do you have any plants in your garden that butterflies seem attracted to?**
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While most people will tell you that they love roses, they probably do not like the extra maintenance that they require with repeated fertilizing, deadheading, and fighting damaging insects, and fungal diseases.
Well, let me introduce you to a rose that is beautiful and low-maintenance.
Lady Banks rose may be well-known to a few of you and it is worth a second look for those of you who love roses but not the fuss.
They are resistant to damaging bugs and most fungal diseases leave them alone. However, unlike many modern roses, they flower once a year in spring, producing a glorious show.
If you’ve ever heard of the World’s Largest Rose Bush in Tombstone, Arizona – it may interest you to find out that it is a Lady Banks rose. You can read more about my visit to this historic rose bush, here.
There is so much to enjoy with this beautiful, fuss-free rose.
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Did you enjoy eating leafy greens such as lettuce or spinach as a child?
I would eat a little salad, with some needed prodding from my mother, but I didn’t really enjoy it. Now, I love lettuce of all kinds and like to use a variety when I make my own salads.
Well, I may be older, but that doesn’t mean that my mother is finished with me yet. The other day she brought over some kale from her garden.
I must admit that I have been somewhat resistant to eating kale. I don’t have any good reason for it other than a deep-seated prejudice toward dark-green leafy greens.
Photo: Kale and Romaine Lettuce
My mother didn’t stop with just bringing freshly harvested kale over to my house. No, she actually made a delicious kale salad with lemon zest and olive oil dressing.
I was a little hesitant before I took my first bite. I realized that I really wanted to ‘grow-up’ and like kale and get rid of my ridiculous prejudice.
It turns out that I really did like it! So much so that I plan on growing my own.
It just goes to prove that mothers do know what’s best for us – even when we are all grown up 😉
I hope you have enjoyed my winter harvest blog posts. We’ve gone from broccolito new vegetables and covered how to get kids to like cauliflower.
Do you have a vegetable that you used to hate and now like to eat?
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