Poppies in the Vegetable Garden

What do you have growing in your vegetable garden?

I have three separate gardens where I grow vegetables, but they aren’t the only thing that is growing in the rich, moist soil.

Red Poppies

Red Poppies

There are also red poppies present alongside the Swiss chard and leaf lettuce.  

Red Poppies grow among the vegetables.

It all started 4 years ago with a packet of red poppy seeds.  

Thereafter, every year a new crop of poppies grows among the vegetables.  

grow among the vegetables.

Poppies aren’t the only flowers that come up each year on their own – blue lobelia, marigolds, and nasturtiums always make their presence known every spring.  

For this of you who enjoy colorful annuals, how about giving them some space in your vegetable garden?  It has everything they need – fertile soil and water.  

Do you have anything else growing in your edible garden?  What flower would you add?

Butterfly Gardening for the Southwest Garden

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Do you like butterflies?

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.

Desert Botanical Garden's butterfly

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.

Butterfly Gardening

What if you could attract more butterflies to your garden?  It’s not hard to do.

Butterfly Gardening

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.

adult butterflies love lots of flowers

Like most of us, adult butterflies love lots of flowers.

Butterfly Gardening

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.

Butterfly Gardening for the Southwest Garden

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.

Butterfly Gardening for the Southwest Garden

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.

Butterfly Gardening for the Southwest Garden

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?**

Great Landscape Design: Drought Tolerant and Beautiful!

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Have you ever found yourself driving through a neighborhood past landscapes planted with the commonly planted lantana and oleander shrubs when you see something completely different that catches your attention?

A few weeks ago, I was leaving a client’s home in North Phoenix and started on my way home, when I drove past this beautiful, drought tolerant landscape.  

Great Landscape Design: Drought Tolerant and Beautiful!

Beautiful drought tolerant landscape.

The corner of the landscape was anchored by an ocotillo whose graceful canes added needed height to the landscape.

Palo brea trees add year round green color and yellow flowers are so set appear later in spring.

Globe mallow(Sphaeralcea ambigua) adds a welcome spot of orange in late winter and into spring and will bloom again in fall.

Cacti and agave add great texture contrast with their unique shapes. The Argentine giant cactus(Echinopsis candicans) willproduce large, lily-like flowers in spring.  

americana, lophantha and victoria-reginae

Beautiful drought tolerant landscape.

Several species of agave have been used throughout the landscape including Agave species americana, lophantha and victoria-reginae.  With so much variety in the color and sizes available in agaves, there is one for almost any landscape situation.

Several different cacti are tucked in here and there leading one to want to walk around and discover what else is growing in the garden.

The thin, upright succulent stems of candelilla (Euphorbia antisyphilitica) add great texture contrast when planted next to succulents and cacti with thicker leaves/stems.

The main planting area in the center is on a slightly elevated area, which offers a glimpse of the plants located toward the back. Landscape design that creates areas that artfully take center stage and then recede into the background as you walk through, which creates intrigue and heightens the desire to see what else is present in the garden.

drought tolerant landscape

Aloes, which do best in light shade, are scattered throughout the landscape, which add color in late winter into spring.

In the background, the orange, tubular flowers Mexican honeysuckle(Justicia spicigera) attracts hummingbirds all year long.

Variegated agave americana adds great color contrast with their bi-colored leaves while Indian fig prickly pear(Opuntia ficus-indica) adds height in the background.  

Golden barrel cacti (Echinocactus grusonii)

  I love this unusual pathway that zig-zags through the landscape.  Golden barrel cacti (Echinocactus grusonii)are used to greatest effect by grouping them in 3’s.

Large boulders finish the landscape adding mass and texture while not needing any pruning or water.

It’s important to note that large boulders like this may need heavy equipment to place. If you want to avoid the hassle and expense of using heavy equipment, you can place 2 medium-sized boulders next to each other for a similar effect.

There are several things that I enjoyed so much about this landscape.  One is how they used a large amount of different plant species without it looking ‘busy’.  Also, instead of laying out the entire landscape where you can see everything from the street, this one leads you on a path of discovery when you are treated to glimpses at what is located further in.

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This past week was event filled along with some rather unexpected occurrences for me.  One was that for the first time since early January, my calendar was quite suddenly empty.  I had several landscape consultations scheduled that were cancelled at the last minute by clients and rescheduled for various reasons including a flooded house to a puppy eating a cigar.

It was rather disconcerting to go from trying to keep my head above water to having the gift of extra time on my hands, but I enjoyed it and got some gardening articles finished ahead of looming deadlines.  

granddaughter, Lily

Last week was also a big milestone for my husband who turned 50.  We celebrated throughout the week, but one of our favorite outings was breakfast at Joe’s Farm & Grill with our granddaughter, Lily.

On a sad note, our friend, neighbor and vet passed away unexpectedly on Friday.  He had treated the furry members of our family for 18 years with love and respect.  We were also blessed to have been his neighbor for over 15 years.

We will miss his loving care for our animals, seeing him and his wife walk their dogs in the evening and even the lemons he would leave at our door.

After hearing the shocking news of his death, I had a hard time focusing on anything else this weekend and even writing took a backseat – hence the lack of blog posts.  But, it was a blessing to be able to set work aside for few days and let the loss sink in.

My schedule is now filled up again with appointments and the desert is awash in spring color, which is a busy time in the garden.

I hope your week is off to a good start.  

10 Tips for Drought Tolerant Gardening

Creating a Hummingbird Container Garden

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Does the idea of attracting hummingbirds to your outdoor space appeal to you?

It’s hard to find anyone who wouldn’t welcome these colorful visitors.

The best way to attract hummingbirds is to have a garden filled with their favorite nectar plants, but what if you don’t have a garden space or any room for additional plants?

What can you do to attract hummingbirds besides hanging out a hummingbird feeder?

Create your own hummingbird container garden!

Imagine a pot filled with one or more plants that are irresistible to hummingbirds. A container takes up little room and enables you to attract hummingbirds to your garden whether your outdoor space is an acre or a small apartment balcony.  

Creating a Hummingbird Container Garden

Hummingbirds always seem to be flitting around my garden and they love to perch up high in my cascalote tree.

I recently set out to create three different hummingbird container gardens in my backyard.

The reason that I decided to do this was that I was asked by the Hummingbird Society to be a speaker at the Sedona Hummingbird Festival this summer. The topic of my presentation will be teaching people how to create their own hummingbird container garden. So, I thought that it would be a fun project to create my own.

Many people rely solely on hummingbird feeders to attract hummers because they don’t have enough garden space. My hope is that I can show them that they can have a mini-hummingbird garden despite their limited space.

I must admit, that I love it when I have to buy plants for a project. So, I headed out to the Desert Botanical Garden’s spring plant sale.  

Creating a Hummingbird Container Garden

I had a wish list of nine plants that I wanted to use and I was thrilled to find them all.

vegetables and flowers

The pots that I decided to use were repurposed.  They used to be located next to my vegetable garden where I would plant a mixture of herbs, vegetables and flowers in them.

The problem was that my 7-month-old puppy, Polly, kept eating the edible plants out of them. So I decided to use them for non-edible plants in hopes that she would leave them alone.

I had bought the pots 3 years ago – they were on sale at Walmart for $5 each. I had painted them using spray paint that was suitable for use on plastic.

For my portable hummingbird garden, I moved the pots to an area that receives filtered shade underneath my ‘Desert Museum’ palo verde tree. I also gave them a new coat of paint to freshen up the colors.

To add height and definition, I raised the orange pot by placing it on some leftover step stones.

attracting hummingbirds

Each container was to have 3 different plants.  I had some fun deciding on the combinations for each pot.

For the orange container, I decided to plant a succulent mini lady’s slipper(Pedilanthus macrocarpus), Mexican fire (Anisacanthus quadrifidus var. wrightii) and Waverly sage(Salvia ‘Waverly’).

I confess that I have never grown any of these plants in this container before, which makes this project even more fun.

While I have grown the regular-sized lady’s slipper,  I didn’t know there was a mini variety until I saw it at the sale and I knew that I just had to have it – it would be a perfect size for a container. (One thing that I love about the Desert Botanical Garden’s plant sales is that you can often find unusual or rare types of plants).

Mexican fire will bloom spring through fall, producing red flowers. I don’t have any experience growing this shrub at all, so this project will be a learning experience.

The salvia, ‘Waverley’ sage, has white and lavender flowers, which are beautiful. Like most salvias, it will do best in filtered shade in the desert.

Polly is checking out what we were doing

Polly is checking out what we were doing.

My son, Kai, was excited to help out with the project. He decided that the orange pot would be his so he wanted to add the plants himself.

Blue Bells(Eremophila hygrophana), Mexican honeysuckle(Justicia spicigera) and red autumn sage(Salvia greggii).

Next up was my purple pot.  In it went Blue Bells(Eremophila hygrophana), Mexican honeysuckle(Justicia spicigera) and red autumn sage(Salvia greggii).

Blue Bells is a relatively new plant on the scene and this Australian native flowers all year long and has evergreen foliage.  I have used it a lot in recent designs but this is the first one in my own garden.

Autumn sage has always been a favorite of mine – especially in areas with filtered shade where their red flowers will decorate the landscape fall through spring.

Mexican honeysuckle had been my go-to choice for shady areas where its bright green leaves and orange flowers look great all year.  After 17 years as a horticulturist, there is finally one in my landscape.  

Sierra Star(Calliandra 'Sierra Star'), garnet sage(Salvia chiapensis) and purple trailing lantana(Lantana montevidensis)

The blue pot contains a newer plant variety, an unknown and an old favorite.

Sierra Star(Calliandra ‘Sierra Star’), garnet sage(Salvia chiapensis) and purple trailing lantana(Lantana montevidensis) made up the last trio.

Sierra Star is a hybrid with two famous parents – pink fairy duster(Calliandra eriophylla) and Baja fairy duster(Calliandra californica). It blooms throughout the year, producing reddish-pink flowers.  I have used in several new designs and am so excited to have it in my garden.

Garnet sage is another salvia that I am looking forward to learning more about. It has lovely magenta flowers and attractive foliage.

Some people may be surprised to learn that purple trailing lantana attracts hummingbirds, but you’ll find it on most hummingbird plant lists and I’ve seen them feed from lantana before.  

attracting hummingbirds

As with all container plantings, I used a high-quality planting mix.

As I stepped back to admire my work,

attracting hummingbirds

Unfortunately, someone else decided to come and admire my hard work too.

attracting hummingbirds

I admit that I haven’t had much trouble with dogs eating my plants until Polly and her sister Penny came along.

attracting hummingbirds

My hope is that after she gets used to them, the newness will wear off and she will learn to ignore them.

Until then, we put up a temporary barrier.

attracting hummingbirds

Thankfully, the barrier won’t keep the hummingbirds away. In my experience, it takes a few days for them to notice new plants (and hummingbird feeders).

I’ll keep you updated as to how my hummingbird container does and will take photos along the way that I can use in my upcoming presentation.

Made in the Shade: Gray-Foliage and Spiky Plants

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Do you visit your local botanical garden?

I try to make it to my local garden at least 2 – 3 times a year, which just happens to be the world-renown, Desert Botanical Garden.

Last week, I visited twice – once for their spring  plant sale and again with my kids. Spring break is a great time to visit when the garden is in full bloom. The kids were excited to go, so we made the 30 minute trip.

Made in the Shade: Gray-Foliage and Spiky Plants

I must admit that they were getting a little cabin fever over their spring break. The problem is that spring is my busiest time of year for landscape consultations (spring for a horticulturist is like tax season for an accountant), so we can’t go out of town.  So, we try to carve out outings throughout the week.

The kids enjoy visiting the garden and one thing that we like about visiting the garden several times a year, is that it never looks the same. Each season brings a different look as different plants take center stage as they flower or show off their foliage.

Made in the Shade: Gray-Foliage and Spiky Plants

Gray-Foliage and Spiky Plants

One part of the garden that really caught my eye was a bed filled with plants with gray foliage interspersed with spiky plants.

As you can see, there are layers of plants in this area, most of which have fine-textured, gray foliage. They are interspersed with greener spiky succulents for a great color and texture contrast.

Texas honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa)

In this area, the garden enjoyed filtered shade from a Texas honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa), including the aloe vera in the background.

artemisia 'Powis Castle'

The feathery foliage of artemisia ‘Powis Castle’ filled the back spaces of the garden. This is a great choice for gray-blue color in the garden. It appreciates filtered shade in the Arizona desert.

two young yucca

The spiky plants in the center are two young yucca  – I’m not sure of the species (I must confess that I’m not a fan of yucca, but I’m in the minority). Young yucca are often mistaken for agave.

moss verbena (Glandularia tenuisecta formerly Verbena tenuisecta)

At the base of the yucca was moss verbena (Glandularia tenuisecta formerly Verbena tenuisecta). I love the carefree nature of this trailing ground cover with its purple flowers and bright green foliage.

Caribbean agave (Agave angustifolia 'Marginata'), lavender cotton (Santolina chamaecyparissus) and the small black-spined agave (Agave macroacantha)

The next section of the garden was filled with Caribbean agave (Agave angustifolia ‘Marginata’), lavender cotton (Santolina chamaecyparissus) and the small black-spined agave (Agave macroacantha) in the front.

Made in the Shade: Gray-Foliage and Spiky Plants

Along the side of this garden bed were Agave ocahui, which is a nice small agave that looks great in this staggered arrangement.

These were just a few of the beautiful plants that have gray-toned foliage that we saw that day.  Introducing the plants with shades of gray that range from green to blue tones of gray, create a cooling effect and contrast nicely with the darker greens in the landscape.

Next time we will look at some of my favorite plants with shades of gray.

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For now, I need to get my 3 youngest kids ready for school, which starts tomorrow. Just 2 more months until summer!

Made in the Shade: Gray-Foliage and Spiky Plants

On another note, my second-oldest daughter, Rachele, returns to work after 2 months off for maternity leave. I remember how hard it was to go back to work after she was born – especially those first 2 weeks.

Rachele and baby Eric are back on her Navy base and I can’t wait to go and visit them in a few weeks!

Badly Pruned Trees OR How Not to Prune Trees

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I have a love affair with trees.

It’s true. I love their beautiful branch architecture, foliage and the dappled shade that they provide. Living in the desert Southwest, shade is a valuable commodity with the relief it offers from the intense sun and cool temperatures it offers.

desert Southwest

For all these reasons and more, I can’t fathom why people would prune their trees like this, stripping them of all their beauty and much of their function.

Badly Pruned Trees OR How Not to Prune Trees

Badly pruned trees

The phrase that comes to mind when seeing something like this is badly pruned trees or how ‘not’ to prune trees.

Unfortunately, this is just one of many trees in this parking lot that have fallen prey to terrible pruning practices.

As a certified arborist, I see many bad examples of pruning, but I can honestly say that the trees in this parking lot are the worst.

Badly Pruned Trees OR How Not to Prune Trees

Years ago, my husband and I used to live next to the area in Scottsdale and the appalling pruning that was done to the trees was well known by me.

On this lovely day, the kids and I were on our way home from the Desert Botanical Garden when we drove past this shopping plaza. I quickly made a detour to see if anything had changed.

Sadly, they hadn’t. So, I took out my camera and started taking photos.

See if you can guess what each badly tree is:

Badly Pruned Trees OR How Not to Prune Trees

#1

Badly Pruned Trees OR How Not to Prune Trees

#2

Badly Pruned Trees OR How Not to Prune Trees

#3

Badly Pruned Trees OR How Not to Prune Trees

#4

Feel free to leave your answers in the comments section. After guessing, click here for the answers with examples of what the trees should look like when properly maintained.

Needless to say, you don’t need to know what type of trees they are to realize that they have been ‘butchered’.

Badly Pruned Trees and What They Should Look Like

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I recently shared some examples of ‘butchered’ trees and asked you to try to identify what each tree was. You can take the quiz here, if you like before seeing the answers, below.

As promised, here the photos of badly pruned trees and what they should look like:

Badly Pruned Trees

Badly Pruned Trees

Desert Fern (Lysiloma watsonii)

Photo: #1 – Desert Fern (Lysiloma watsonii)

Badly Pruned Trees and What They Should Look Like
Shoestring Acacia (Acacia stenophylla)

Photo: #2 Shoestring Acacia (Acacia stenophylla)

Badly Pruned Trees
Chilean Mesquite (Prosopis chilensis)

Photo: #3 Chilean Mesquite (Prosopis chilensis)

Badly Pruned Trees
Palo Brea (Parkinsonia praecox)

Photo: #4 Palo Brea (Parkinsonia praecox)

‘Topping’ of trees is not only unsightly, it is also unhealthy – leaving trees susceptible to biological and environmental stresses and actually making them grow faster and use more water.

For more information on why ‘topping’ is bad for trees, click here.

Fuss-Free Purple-Flowering Beauty

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Yesterday, doing several errands, I was driving through the parking lot of our local Walmart when I saw a sight that stopped me dead in my tracks.

Now, normally parking lots are prime examples of bad landscape practices with over-planted and excessively pruned shrubs.  But, what I saw was truly breathtaking.

Purple Blossoms

Purple Blossoms

This fuss-free, shrub was awash with large, purple blossoms. The color was so vibrant and it added a lot of needed color to the parking lot island.

So, do you know what type of shrub this is?

Purple Blossoms

I’ll give you a few hints:

– It is native to Australia.

– It is drought tolerant and thrives in the low desert.

– It grows best in full sun and blooms in spring and occasionally throughout the summer.  

blue hibiscus shrub (Alyogyne huegelii)

This is a blue hibiscus shrub (Alyogyne huegelii).

This shrub grows fairly large, growing 6 – 8 ft. tall and wide.

blue hibiscus shrub (Alyogyne huegelii)

While I have only seen it in purple & dark purple, it is also found in pink and white.

What really stood out to me about this shrub is not just its beauty, but the fact that it was thriving in an area where many plants struggle in the hot, reflected heat of a parking lot island.

**How about you? Have you ever seen this shrub before or grown it in your landscape? Please share your experience with this purple-flowering beauty.

Purple Flowering, Beautiful, Fuss-Free Shrub

Two New Water Wise Plant Discoveries

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Do you like discovering new things?

I do. Particularly newer plant introductions. New plant hybrids are always being discovered and I am always on the lookout for new ones.  I like to use newer plant introductions in landscapes to help give them a new and updated look. 

Last week, I told you about my partnership with Monrovia plants and selecting two new plants for my garden. 

Two New Water Wise Plant Discoveries

New Water Wise Plant

While shopping at the nursery for plants, there were many different plants to choose from. As I walked through the nursery, I was tempted by lavender but then a display of Monrovia cacti and succulents caught my eye.

Two New Water Wise Plant Discoveries

New Water Wise Plant

This tiny prickly pear grows 8 inches tall and 24 inches wide.

It looked so cute, I almost reached out to touch it, but stopped myself just in time.

Santa rita and purple prickly pear are among my favorite types of cacti. I like their blue gray pads touched by purple. ‘Baby rita’(Opuntia basilaris ‘Baby Rita’) is a great alternative for smaller areas or you can group 3 of them together.  

'Lucky Crown' agave(Agave Kissho Kan)

The next plant I was tempted by was ‘Lucky Crown’ agave(Agave Kissho Kan).  These are small agave that reach 18 inches high and wide.  They have beautiful, variegated leaves with maroon teeth along the edges.

I must admit that I was sorely tempted by both of these plants, but I decided on two different drought tolerant plants.

Have you seen any new plants that you have been tempted by?

To see what two plants I did come home with, click here.

2 Flowering Water-Wise Beauties Ready for Spring

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What does your garden look like in early spring? Does it somewhat boring? How about adding some color and interest to your garden by adding some water-wise flowering plants?


This week, I had a fun project to work on – in partnership with Monrovia, I was asked to select two types water-wise plants for the landscape. So, I headed out to my local nursery with a mission to select from the different water-wise Monrovia plants available.

Once I arrived at the nursery, I was faced with a number of different Monrovia plant choices from succulents, cacti, shrubs and perennials. After a some time going back and forth, I narrowed my choices down to these two water-wise, flowering beauties.

Parry's penstemon (Penstemon parryi)

Parry’s penstemon (Penstemon parryi) has long been a favorite perennial of mine. I love the ‘cottage-garden’ look it provides with its pink spikes that appear in late winter and on into spring.

different water-wise Monrovia plants

It is quite versatile in the landscape where it can be used in wildflower gardens, planted in a perennial bed or simply placed next to a boulder.

My next plant choice was a flowering succulent. 

Blue Elf aloe (Aloe 'Blue Elf')

Blue Elf aloe (Aloe ‘Blue Elf’) is a newer aloe species that is perfect for small spaces. It thrives in hot, reflected heat and flowers in late winter on into spring.  

different water-wise Monrovia plants

I have been using this small aloe a lot in recent landscape designs (like the one above) including in narrow planting beds, in entries and also in pots.


Both of these flowering plants are water-wise choices and perfect for the drought tolerant garden.  

different water-wise Monrovia plants

I loaded my new Monrovia plants up and started home.

different water-wise Monrovia plants

On the drive home, I could see the flowers from my new plants in my rearview mirror and I couldn’t wait to find new homes for them in my garden.

different water-wise Monrovia plants

I played with a number of potential locations in the garden for my new parry’s penstemon, but decided on planting it next to a boulder. Plants like this penstemon look great next to boulders where their different textures provide great contrast.

Blue Elf aloe

I didn’t have to try different spots for my new Blue Elf aloe – I knew that I wanted it for one of my containers in the front entry. This area gets blasted with hot, afternoon sun, which this pretty little aloe can handle with no problem.

Monrovia plants can be found at Lowe’s garden centers as well as at many local nurseries, which is where I found mine.  You can also order Monrovia plants online.  The quality of their plants is excellent and the only problem you’ll have is choosing from the large variety available.  

*This post is sponsored by Monrovia, but my plant choices and opinions are my own.  Visit their website for more water-wise plant choices for your drought tolerant garden.