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Do you have a sustainable landscape?
One that does not require excessive amounts of fertilizer, water, pruning, gasoline or time?
Over the past week, we have been talking about what a sustainable landscape is. We learned about the definition of sustainable landscaping and saw examples of both good and bad landscapes in the post, “What Is a Sustainable Landscape.”
In the latest post, we talked about four mistakes that people make that keep their landscape from being sustainable such as over-pruning. If you missed it, you could see what the other three common mistakes are – “What Keeps a Landscape From Being Sustainable?”
If your landscape falls short of being sustainable, or you want to decrease some resources that you use, there are small steps that you can start to take today toward a beautiful, sustainable landscape.
Step 1: Reduce the number of high-maintenance plants in your landscape.
Isn’t this hibiscus beautiful?
However, if you are growing it in the desert southwest with our nutrient-poor soils and dry, hot climate – it takes a lot of fertilizer and water to keep it looking like this.
In addition to needing fertilizer and more water, pests can often bother hibiscus, which is then treated with insecticides as well.
As popular as queen palms are, they are not well-adapted to our climate and soils. So, frequent applications of palm fertilizer are required throughout the warm months of the year.
Can you tell what this plant is?
It is a severely chlorotic and unhappy gardenia. These plants like acidic soil. The problem is, we have alkaline soil in the southwest.
Okay, before I get any rose-lovers angry at me – let me first say that I love roses and have three of them in my backyard garden.
Yes, roses do need extra attention in the form of fertilizer, water, and pest control. But if you look back at step #1, you will notice that it says to decrease the number of high-maintenance plants.
Yes, our gardens would be more sustainable if we had none of these plants that require extra resources in our landscapes, but gardening is also about pleasure and enjoyment. So, including a few of your favorite higher-maintenance plants doesn’t make you a bad person 😉
**I use an organic fertilizer for my roses and plant garlic around my rose bushes that help keep aphids away.
Step 2: Reduce the amount of frost-tender plants.
Frost-damaged bush lantana
Frost-damaged natal plum.
While many frost-tender plants such as bougainvillea, lantana, natal plum (Carissa microcarpa), yellow bells (Tecoma stans) and others thrive in our climate spring through fall – once temperatures dip below freezing, they suffer frost damage.
Once spring rolls around, homeowners and landscapers are hard at work pruning back all of the brown, crispy foliage which contributes to green waste (branches, etc.) that often ends up in landfills. Also, gasoline is a resource used to deliver our garden debris to the landfill and powers some of our pruning equipment.
Before we leave the subject of reducing the amount of frost-damaged plants – let me say a word about ficus trees.
They are lush, green and beautiful. However, they are also sensitive to temps below freezing.
During a mild winter, your ficus may not suffer any frost damage. But, every few years, we do go through a cold spell when temperatures dip into the 20’s, and severe damage is done to the outer leaves and branches.
Homeowners are then faced with severely pruning back their ficus trees, which causes them to look somewhat ugly while they slowly recover.
To learn more about ficus trees and other trees better suited for the landscape, click here.
Step 3: Use plants adapted for your climate.
This is perhaps the most obvious step toward a more sustainable landscape.
In the desert southwest, plants that are adapted to our hot, arid climate are crucial to a sustainable landscape.
Arid-adapted plants have a special characteristic that helps them to thrive in the blistering heat of summer while not requiring large amounts of water.
Notice the flowering of ‘Rio Bravo’ sage (Leucophyllum langmaniae ‘Rio Bravo’), pictured above. Do you see the tiny hairs that cover the flowers? There are even smaller hairs that cover the leaves, which give them a grayish color.
These tiny hairs help to reduce the amount of water lost to the atmosphere (evaporation) and also reflect the sun’s rays away from the plant.
This Palo Blanco (Acacia willardiana) tree has different characteristics that helps it to survive our desert climate.
It has tiny leaflets, which limit the amount of water lost to evaporation. But, it also goes even further – in times of drought, the tiny leaflets will fall off, which further decreases the amount of water lost to the atmosphere. This type of trait is known as ‘drought deciduous.’
Succulent plants such as cacti and agave handle arid regions by storing water inside.
Step 4: Research plants before purchasing.
Have you ever been tempted by a beautiful, flowering plant and not knowing anything else about it? If you have, you aren’t alone.
But, you will be saving yourself a lot of time, money and more if you do a little research before you buy a new plant.
When deciding what type of plant to add to your landscape, ask yourself the following questions:
– How large will the plant grow?
– What exposure does it need – full sun, filtered shade or full shade?
– Is the plant drought-tolerant, or does it require large amounts of water?
– Will it require regular applications of fertilizer?
– Is it prone to pests or other problems?
Those are basic questions that you should know before you even dig a hole for a new plant.
So, if you don’t have a bookcase or two filled with plant books (like I do) – where can you go to research plants?
Here are a few online resources to get you started researching plants for the southwestern climate:
Arizona Municipal Water User’s Association Landscape Plants
Mountain States Wholesale Nursery
The Desert Botanical Garden ‘Desert Garden Guides‘
I do have a few favorite books that are invaluable as well…
Landscape Plants For Dry Regions: More Than 600 Species From Around The World
Arizona Gardener’s Guide (Gardener’s Guides
Native Plants for Southwestern Landscapes
Month-By-Month Gardening in the Deserts of Arizona: What to Do Each Month to Have a Beautiful Garden All Year
Silver Spurge (Euphorbia rigida)
I like to use plants that I call ‘fuss free’. They are all drought-tolerant, most are cold-hardy in zone 9a, don’t require supplemental fertilizer, need pruning once a year or less and most of all – they are beautiful.
A FEW FAVORITE ‘FUSS-FREE’ PLANTS
Texas Ebony
Trees:
Cascalote (Caesalpinia cacalaco)
Palo Blanco (Acacia willardiana)
Shoestring Acacia (Acacia stenophylla)
Texas Ebony (Ebanopsis ebano)
Baja Fairy Duster
Shrubs:
Baja Fairy Duster (Calliandra californica)
Desert Ruellia (Ruellia peninsularis)
Mexican Honeysuckle (Justicia spicigera)
Valentine (Eremophila maculata ‘Valentine’)
class=”has-text-align-center” style=”font-size:14px;”> Damianita
Groundcovers:
Bush Morning Glory (Convolvulus cneorum)
Daminaita (Chrysactinia mexicana)
Firecracker Penstemon (Penstemon eatoni)
Soap Aloe
Succulents:
Beavertail Prickly Pear (Opuntia basilaris)
Silver Spurge (Euphorbia rigida)
Soap Aloe (Aloe maculata)
Victoria Agave (Agave victoria-reginae)
Pink Muhly
Ornamental Grasses:
Bear Grass (Nolina microcarpa)
Pink Muhly (Muhlenbergia capillaris)
Of course, these are but a very sampling of arid-adapted plants that add beauty and sustainability to your landscape.
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I hope you have found these first steps toward a more sustainable landscape helpful.
Next time, we will discuss how to care for your plants and avoid unnecessary maintenance. In most cases, if you choose the arid-adapted plants, they will need very little maintenance.
A Peek Into My Back Garden
azplantladyWhat has your winter been like?
Has it been unusually cold or warm? If you live in the Southwest, you have undoubtedly experienced a warmer then normal winter.
As a result, many plants that are usually dormant in winter, are green and blooming even though it is still technically February.
I started wearing sandals 2 weeks ago, but I still haven’t broken out my shorts yet.
Last week, I showed you my edible garden, (also known as a kitchen garden), which is located on the side of our house.
Today, I wanted to show you a peek at what is happening in the back garden during this warm winter.
This is one part of the back garden.
This was my first vegetable garden. Because this garden is close to the house, I like to plant vegetables that are harvested frequently such as leaf lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers.
To the right, you can see my pink trumpet vine. Behind is a hollyhock getting ready to flower. Against the wall is purple lilac vine in full bloom and peeking through the slats of the fence are nasturtium leaves.
I have two large rose bushes and the ‘Abraham Darby’ rose bush has a few lovely blooms. You may notice that this rose has a rather old-fashioned appearance. This is one of many David Austin shrub roses.
After growing 40 hybrid tea roses in the garden of our first house, I have found that I like shrub roses. They are easier to take care of (need less pruning) and are very fragrant.
The pink trumpet vine (Podranea ricasoliana) growing up against the pillar of my patio has beautiful, pink flowers.
Normally, it suffers some frost damage during the winter, but during this warm winter, I have had pink flowers all winter long. The flowers normally show up in spring and fall and are truly stunning.
I went out into the garden and cut the flowers for a lovely bouquet yesterday.
This plant grows quickly and can be grown as either a vine or a sprawling shrub.
Another plant that usually shuts down for winter is coral fountain (Rusellia equisetiformis). I love the arching branches of this perennial and its orange/red blossoms.
One plant that still looks like winter, is my bougainvillea.
A few days ago, I asked you on my facebook page if you love or hate bougainvillea. I had an overwhelming response with most of you saying that you liked it.
I have two bougainvillea. I used to have more, but while I love the beauty of bougainvillea, I don’t particularly like to prune them, so two words for me.
The blue sky is really the perfect backdrop for the orange, tubular flowers of orange jubilee (Tecoma x Orange Jubilee).
For those who want a tall shrub that grows quickly, then orange jubilee is a great choice.
I recommend using it against a bare wall or to screen out pool equipment.
In fact, I visited a client who used orange jubilee as ‘green curtains‘ for her home.
Right now, my purple lilac vine (Hardenbergia violaceae) has taken center stage in the back garden.
Growing up my south-facing wall, they burst forth in a profusion of purple blooms every February and last into March.
The whiskey barrel planter is a holding area where I have planted my extra plants. I’m not sure what I will do with it later.
In addition to growing purple lilac vine up walls, I also like to grow it as a groundcover too.
*This vine is easy to find in nurseries in winter and spring, when they are in flower. However, you can have a hard time finding it in summer and fall. So if you want one, get it now.
Behind my purple lilac groundcover vine, I have red bird-of-paradise (Caesalpinia pulcherrima) growing.
But, because it is dormant in winter, it isn’t much to look at right now – but I’ll show you how lovely they are this summer.
Hollyhocks have a special place in my garden. I love these old-fashioned flowers and their flowers are truly stunning in spring (they flower in the summer in cooler climates).
They self-seed and come up every year for me. In a month, the flowers will start to burst forth and I can hardly wait.
The hollyhocks are located next to my smaller vegetable garden and receive enough water from the garden without me having to give them supplemental water.
Another old-fashioned favorite flower are nasturtiums. These flowers have a place inside of all of my vegetable gardens.
Not only are they beautiful, nasturtiums also repel bad bugs from bothering my vegetables. Another bonus is that their leaves and flowers are edible.
The bloom in late winter and through spring. I let them dry up in summer before pulling them out. They do drop some seeds, so I always have new ones coming up the next year in the garden.
I have several pots in front of my smaller vegetable garden. In them, I plant a combination of vegetables and flowers, including bacopa, which trails over the edges of pots.
There are carrots and leaf lettuce growing in my second vegetable garden.
I step outside into the garden whenever I need a few carrots for dinner and they taste so delicious.
In the same garden, I am growing celery for the first time. I must say, that I am quite impressed at how well it is growing and can’t wait to taste it.
Last week, I mentioned showing you a part of my garden that I have NEVER shown anyone.
This is my side yard – NOT a garden…
This is the space where we store garden equipment, trash cans and our garden shed. I also have my compost bin in this area.
You can see only half of the side yard in this photo, but you aren’t missing anything by not seeing the rest.
Another purple lilac vine grows along the fence, which hides part of the side yard and a large ‘Desert Museum’ Palo Verde provides welcome shade.
Our second bougainvillea is located along the wall. It is never watered and it has been 3 years since it has been pruned. As you can see, it does just fine being ignored.
And so, I hope you have enjoyed peeking into parts of my back garden. Of course, I haven’t shown it all to you – just the parts that are blooming.
In a few months, I will show the other areas when they are in bloom.
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So, what is blooming in your garden this month?
Do you have a favorite winter/spring blooming plant?
My Spring Garden in Winter
AZ Plant LadyIn the past, I have shown parts of my garden, but never a comprehensive look. So, I thought I would share with you a more comprehensive look at my garden.
First, I’d like to show you my newest part of my garden, which is located on the side of my house – just outside of my kitchen window.
This part of the garden is looking remarkably good considering that it is still winter. For those of us who are fortunate to live in the Southwest, we didn’t really experience much of a winter this year.
In fact, I recall only 1 week of freezing temps and that happened back in December.
My Spring Garden in Winter
This is the largest of my three vegetable gardens. It is hard to believe that it didn’t exist 2 years ago.
I had always dreamed of having a nice side garden and because ours is rather large, there were many possibilities. So, we decided to create an edible garden in this area.
You can read our planting journey, here.
This year, I planted Swiss chard for the first time and don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner – I love this plant!
Well, I don’t really like it cooked (but I’m weird that way). I do like to use it in salads along with leaf lettuce. My kids even eat it!
I think it also looks really pretty too with its brightly-colored stems.
In the corner, is my single artichoke plant.
My Spring Garden in Winter
It was about 6 inches high when I planted it last fall. Needless to say, it has grown so fast. I can’t wait to see the artichoke buds (the part you eat) begin to form.
I will harvest some of the artichokes, but also plan to allow some to turn into flowers, which are beautiful and fragrant.
I like the idea of using artichokes as ornamental plants as well as for eating.
In the center of this vegetable garden sits a stump from a eucalyptus tree that we had to cut down to make space for this particular garden.
An old watering can sits onto of the stump and I fill it with cool-season annuals. This year it is purple violas and alyssum.
In summer, the watering can sits empty, because it is too hot for plants to grow in it. Roots will literally ‘cook’ in small containers during the summer. I think it looks just fine without plants for part of the year.
The second crop of radishes of the season are just beginning to come up. There is still time to plant radishes before it gets too hot.
Behind the vegetable garden are two apple trees. They are growing so well during their first year. I will have to wait a couple more years before I get any apples, so I’m trying to be patient.
I planted garlic around the base, in order to help keep borers away.
Not shown – behind the apple trees are blackberry bushes. I had a great crop of last spring. I plan on making blackberry jam this year!
Along the garden wall is one of my favorite shrubs called ‘Pink Beauty’ (Eremophila laanii), which is evergreen in my zone 9a garden and has pink flowers in winter and spring.
It rarely needs pruning as long as it has enough room to grow – mine stands at 9 feet tall.
Next to is Pink Trumpet Vine and Yellow Bells shrubs, which serve two purposes. The first, is that the cover up an ugly, bare wall. Second, they help to cool the garden down because the shrubs keep the wall from re-radiating heat that it absorbs in the day.
The buds on my peach tree have not begun to swell yet, but it is just a matter of time.
My other peach tree is covered in blossoms. Planted just last winter, it produced 19 peaches for me last year.
My herb container sits in front of the vegetable garden and is filled with lovely, purple petunias. I like to add flowers to my herb pots for an extra splash of color.
I hope you enjoyed the tour of my side garden.
Next time, I will show you the main part of my backyard and maybe a peek at the ‘other’ side yard, which I never show anyone.
What is growing in your garden this February?
I’d love to hear about it.
Feathery Foliage, Yellow Flowers and Tough as Nails
Flowering AnnualsLast month, I asked you on my Facebook page, which plant I should profile in my upcoming article for Houzz.com (Every month, I write a plant profile on plants that grow well in the Southwest.)
My blogger friend, Becky, who lives in Tucson, mentioned that Feathery Cassia (Senna artemisoides) would be a good choice.
Surprisingly, I hadn’t thought to feature this great shrub considering that I have used it in landscape designs in the past.
In 2012, I was asked to design the plantings along a street in Rio Verde, AZ.
In addition to succulents, trees, perennials and other shrubs – Feathery Cassia was one shrub that I wanted to be sure to include due to its low-maintenance, drought-tolerance and gorgeous winter color.
In just over a year, Feathery Cassia has a good start, but will grow much larger.
I love pairing this shrub with Valentine (Eremophila maculata ‘Valentine’) with its red flowers.
I like this shrub so much, that I have planted 5 of them along in my own garden, along a long block wall. I can’t wait until they start growing.
If you want to learn more about Feathery Cassia, like why do people call it ‘feathery’ or learn about the surprise the flowers harbor – check out my latest article from Houzz…
Before you throw your next party, browse a wide selection of bar ware, bar glassware and serving platters.
For small bathroom ideas, browse photos of space-saving bathroom cabinetry and clever hidden mirrored medicine cabinets.
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I hope you are all enjoying your week. I am getting ready to head to Florida next week in order to participate in a fun gardening project. I’ll let you know more soon…
The Many Uses for Lemons and a Little Feathered Friend
CitrusWell, it is that time of year again, when citrus trees are full of fruit and that includes the lemon tree at Double S Farms.
Growing up in California, we always had a lemon tree in the backyard and I kind of took them for granted. Then I grew up and moved into my first house in Arizona, which didn’t have a lemon tree although we did have grapefruit and oranges.
I love lemon trees and will maybe plant one in our side garden next year.
You know who else likes lemon trees….. Jose, the migrating hummingbird. Jose is a Costa’s Hummingbird and he is quite tame, letting us approach him fairly closely to take pictures. You can read more about Jose here.
Okay, back to lemons…..I am so thankful that my mother and sister are very generous with their lemons and I frequently have more lemons then I know what to do with.
*By the way, it is time to fertilize your citrus trees, if you have not already done so this year.
In order to make the lemon harvest last longer this year in my kitchen, I filled ice cube trays with lemon juice and then put them in a ziploc bag that I keep in the freezer. So, when I need a little lemon juice for a recipe, I just grab an ice cube or two.
I also zested the lemons and have also frozen that as well. So, I am well prepared for cooking.
You can learn how to freeze lemon juice and zest, here.
Another thing that you can do with your lemons is to make natural air fresheners. They really do scent the air without having to use ‘air-fresheners’ made from chemicals. You can learn how to make your own, here.
Each year, my mother (Pastor Farmer), makes a delicious lemon cream pie. It is very light and just so yummy. She graciously wrote out the recipe so that I could share it with all of you.
I hope you enjoy it!
CITRUS MOUSSE
Graham Cracker Pie Crust
Two 12 oz. containers of whipped topping (Cool Whip)
One 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup grapefruit juice
Beat together whipped topping and sweetened condensed milk. Then add the lemon and grapefruit juice.
Pour into graham cracker pie crust and chill for at least 2 hours.
*This pie can be frozen and you can substitute more lemon juice for the grapefruit juice if desired.
A Few New Ideas for Sustainable Landscapes
Sustainable LandscapeWhen most people think of a ‘sustainable landscape’, they view one that is boring, filled with few plants which is why they are often surprised to see how beautiful they are.
Over the past couple of weeks, we have talked about small steps that you can take toward a more sustainable landscape and today, we will finish up our series with a few more steps you can take in your own garden.
Re-think what you plant in pots.
Leaf lettuce, garlic, parsley growing along side petunias.
If you are like most people, you have a few pots that you fill with flowering annuals, which you fertilize on a semi-regular basis.
But, how about thinking outside of the box about what we add to pots.
For example, did you know that many vegetables do great in pots and are also attractive? I like to grow vegetables in my pots and add a couple of annual flowers in for a little color.
While some flowering annuals can be a bit fussy (pansies, for example) – herbs are not. They look great in pots, are on hand whenever you need a bunch of fresh herbs for cooking and they don’t need as much water and fertilizer as flowers.
Crown-of-Thorns, Lady’s Slipper, Elephant’s Food and a cactus.
Succulents make beautiful pots with their varied textures. Because the store water inside, they do not need as much water as other container plants.
A helpful tip for planting a large container – fill the bottom third with recyclable plastic bottles. Most plant’s won’t reach to the bottom of large containers and it is a waste of money to fill up the entire pot with expensive potting soil. Another bonus is that it also makes your pot a bit lighter.
Use natural or recycled materials when possible.
Gate made from old Ocotillo canes and tree branches.
Often, when we are adding elements to our landscape, we overlook the many things that are recycled or natural that can fill that need.
For example – did you know that you can create a ‘living’ fence made from Ocotillo canes? It’s true! I have seen them my local nursery.
Pathway made from recycled, broken concrete.
If your landscape needs a path – instead of buying new pavers or step stones, use recycled, broken concrete. Or use natural stone products like flagstone.
It is hard to overstate how boulders can help a landscape go from ‘okay’ to ‘fabulous’.
Boulders add both height and texture without needing any water or pruning. In addition, boulders make plants look better when they are planted alongside.
Eliminate or decrease the use of pesticides.
Leaf-roller caterpillar damage on Yellow Bells shrub.
Our first reaction when seeing insects damage on our plants is to run for the nearest pesticide in our misguided attempt to rescue our plants.
But, did you know that most plants can handle some damage from insects without any problem?
In fact, once damaging insects take up residence in our favorite plants – soon after new bugs come along that devour the bad bugs.
Bougainvillea Looper Caterpillar damage.
If you see something is eating the leaves of your plants, you have several options that are not harmful to the environment:
– Ignore it
– Prune off the affected foliage
– Pick off the insects (or spray off with water).
– Apply an organic pesticide such as insecticidal soap or BT (Bacillus thuringiensis).
You can also help to prevent damaging insects by planting ‘companion’ plants, which bad bugs do not like. For example, planting garlic around roses helps to keep aphids away.
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I hope you have enjoyed this series of posts on sustainable landscaping. My hope is that I have helped to inspire you to make some changes to your landscape to make it more sustainable.
I’d love to hear your thoughts or any ideas that you have done in your own garden to make it more sustainable.
For a complete listing of these posts with links, click here.
Small Steps Towards Sustainability in the Garden
Sustainable LandscapeA sustainable, low-maintenance landscape is not only beautiful, it can save the use of unneeded resources such as maintenance, time and money.
To date, our series on sustainable landscaping has talked about what is a sustainable landscape. Next, we talked about what often goes wrong in the landscape that causes us to use unneeded resources.
In our quest toward a more sustainable landscape, we started to discuss small steps that you can take towards a more sustainable garden. In part one, we covered plant selection and what types of plants to avoid as our journey toward a sustainable landscape progresses.
Today, we will finish up our series on sustainable landscaping with additional steps you can implement in your garden right now.
Reduce over-crowded landscapes by removing excess plants.
As you can see, there are far too many shrubs in this area, which helps to contribute to over-pruning.
To help solve this problem, simply remove the excess shrubs. How can you tell which ones to remove? First, find out what type of shrubs they are – in this case they are ‘Green Cloud’ Texas Sage (Leucophyllum frutescens ‘Green Cloud’).
Then use one of the resources I gave you last time to research the plant, which would tell you that this type of shrub will grow about 6 feet high and wide. So, the shrubs should be placed at least 6 feet apart.
Using the photo above as an example, start out with the first shrub on the left, measure out to the next shrub that is at least 6 feet away. Any shrubs between these two shrubs need to be taken out. Repeat the process until the remaining shrubs are at least 6 feet apart.
Stop unnecessary pruning.
These shrubs have plenty of room to grow in the landscape, yet they are pruned every couple of months.
This type of pruning is called ‘poodle’ or ‘cupcake’ pruning.
It is really quite amazing how much more work over-pruning causes and in ways you may be surprised to discover, click here to learn more. To reduce the amount of resources (green waste, water, plant replacement, and maintenance bills) wasted on unneeded pruning.
So declare your landscape a ‘poodle’ and ‘cupcake’-free zone. Believe me, your plants will thank you for it and your plants will look much nicer.
Allow shrubs to grow to their natural size.
When you allow enough room for plants to grow, the temptation to over-prune is greatly lessened.
Plants have a lovely shape that we frequently ruin, by making them into ‘balls’ or other unnatural shapes. This does not only affect the health of the plant, it can also remove flowers.
Note: I am not saying that all pruning is harmful. Pruning done properly can be beneficial for plants.
So, what if you have a landscape filled with over-pruned shrubs. What can you do to transform them into more naturally-shaped shrubs that are more sustainable?
The answer is relatively simple and it does involve pruning…
This over-pruned shrub is located in my neighborhood. I cringe whenever I walk by it while walking our dogs.
It is seldom allowed to grow any leaves before the landscapers come just about every leaf off. Frequent over-pruning has led to old, woody growth that is unproductive.
The solution to transforming this shrub is called rejuvenation pruning, which entails pruning the shrub all the way back to 1 1/2 feet. In most cases, this will stimulate attractive, new growth that you can allow to grow into their natural shape.
*I mention ‘in most cases’ because there is always a chance that the shrub will not recover from this type of pruning. However when this happens, it is usually an indicator that the shrub was already declining and would not have lived long regardless of whether it was severely pruned or not.
Below, is an example from my own garden…
On the left, you can see a sage shrub that has been allowed to grow into its natural shape, which is more sustainable then over-pruning. In addition, I also get a lot of beautiful flowers.
Every 3 years of so, when the branches become woody and unproductive, I prune it back severely (in spring) and within 4 – 6 weeks, it is already growing new branches filled with attractive foliage.
Water your plants deeply and infrequently.
Would you be surprised to discover that 80% of your water bill is used outdoors? It’s true.
Would you also be shocked to discover that most of us over-water our plants? In fact, more plant problems are caused by over-watering then under-watering.
So, why waste water, which is a precious resource in the western United States needlessly?
While you can have a landscape filled with desert-adapted plants that need no water, after established – your plants will look better if given some supplemental water.
For my own landscape – I water my shrubs and perennials once every 3 weeks in the winter months and it looks beautiful.
In the summer, I water every 7 – 10 days.
The key is to water shrubs to a depth of 2 feet, perennials/groundcovers to 1 foot and trees to 3 feet.
So, how do you know how often to water?
There is excellent information available for the Phoenix metro area that you can access here.
For those of you who in other arid climates – check with your local extension office for watering guidelines.
However, if that seems rather complicated, there is a new irrigation controller that does all the work for you. All you have to do is enter your zip code, once the controller is installed and it will keep track of your local weather and water your plants only when they need it. You can find out more about this Smart Irrigation Controller, here.
*For those of you who would like more information, I have written more extensively on landscape watering for desert gardens that you can access here.
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I hope you have found these posts helpful toward your goal of creating a more sustainable landscape.
Our last post will cover the last small steps that you can do to achieve a sustainable garden, so please check back.
Small Steps Toward a Sustainable Landscape – Part 1
Sustainable Landscape*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 have a sustainable landscape?
One that does not require excessive amounts of fertilizer, water, pruning, gasoline or time?
Over the past week, we have been talking about what a sustainable landscape is. We learned about the definition of sustainable landscaping and saw examples of both good and bad landscapes in the post, “What Is a Sustainable Landscape.”
In the latest post, we talked about four mistakes that people make that keep their landscape from being sustainable such as over-pruning. If you missed it, you could see what the other three common mistakes are – “What Keeps a Landscape From Being Sustainable?”
If your landscape falls short of being sustainable, or you want to decrease some resources that you use, there are small steps that you can start to take today toward a beautiful, sustainable landscape.
Step 1: Reduce the number of high-maintenance plants in your landscape.
Isn’t this hibiscus beautiful?
However, if you are growing it in the desert southwest with our nutrient-poor soils and dry, hot climate – it takes a lot of fertilizer and water to keep it looking like this.
In addition to needing fertilizer and more water, pests can often bother hibiscus, which is then treated with insecticides as well.
As popular as queen palms are, they are not well-adapted to our climate and soils. So, frequent applications of palm fertilizer are required throughout the warm months of the year.
Can you tell what this plant is?
It is a severely chlorotic and unhappy gardenia. These plants like acidic soil. The problem is, we have alkaline soil in the southwest.
Okay, before I get any rose-lovers angry at me – let me first say that I love roses and have three of them in my backyard garden.
Yes, roses do need extra attention in the form of fertilizer, water, and pest control. But if you look back at step #1, you will notice that it says to decrease the number of high-maintenance plants.
Yes, our gardens would be more sustainable if we had none of these plants that require extra resources in our landscapes, but gardening is also about pleasure and enjoyment. So, including a few of your favorite higher-maintenance plants doesn’t make you a bad person 😉
**I use an organic fertilizer for my roses and plant garlic around my rose bushes that help keep aphids away.
Step 2: Reduce the amount of frost-tender plants.
Frost-damaged bush lantana
Frost-damaged natal plum.
While many frost-tender plants such as bougainvillea, lantana, natal plum (Carissa microcarpa), yellow bells (Tecoma stans) and others thrive in our climate spring through fall – once temperatures dip below freezing, they suffer frost damage.
Once spring rolls around, homeowners and landscapers are hard at work pruning back all of the brown, crispy foliage which contributes to green waste (branches, etc.) that often ends up in landfills. Also, gasoline is a resource used to deliver our garden debris to the landfill and powers some of our pruning equipment.
Before we leave the subject of reducing the amount of frost-damaged plants – let me say a word about ficus trees.
They are lush, green and beautiful. However, they are also sensitive to temps below freezing.
During a mild winter, your ficus may not suffer any frost damage. But, every few years, we do go through a cold spell when temperatures dip into the 20’s, and severe damage is done to the outer leaves and branches.
Homeowners are then faced with severely pruning back their ficus trees, which causes them to look somewhat ugly while they slowly recover.
To learn more about ficus trees and other trees better suited for the landscape, click here.
Step 3: Use plants adapted for your climate.
This is perhaps the most obvious step toward a more sustainable landscape.
In the desert southwest, plants that are adapted to our hot, arid climate are crucial to a sustainable landscape.
Arid-adapted plants have a special characteristic that helps them to thrive in the blistering heat of summer while not requiring large amounts of water.
Notice the flowering of ‘Rio Bravo’ sage (Leucophyllum langmaniae ‘Rio Bravo’), pictured above. Do you see the tiny hairs that cover the flowers? There are even smaller hairs that cover the leaves, which give them a grayish color.
These tiny hairs help to reduce the amount of water lost to the atmosphere (evaporation) and also reflect the sun’s rays away from the plant.
This Palo Blanco (Acacia willardiana) tree has different characteristics that helps it to survive our desert climate.
It has tiny leaflets, which limit the amount of water lost to evaporation. But, it also goes even further – in times of drought, the tiny leaflets will fall off, which further decreases the amount of water lost to the atmosphere. This type of trait is known as ‘drought deciduous.’
Succulent plants such as cacti and agave handle arid regions by storing water inside.
Step 4: Research plants before purchasing.
Have you ever been tempted by a beautiful, flowering plant and not knowing anything else about it? If you have, you aren’t alone.
But, you will be saving yourself a lot of time, money and more if you do a little research before you buy a new plant.
When deciding what type of plant to add to your landscape, ask yourself the following questions:
– How large will the plant grow?
– What exposure does it need – full sun, filtered shade or full shade?
– Is the plant drought-tolerant, or does it require large amounts of water?
– Will it require regular applications of fertilizer?
– Is it prone to pests or other problems?
Those are basic questions that you should know before you even dig a hole for a new plant.
So, if you don’t have a bookcase or two filled with plant books (like I do) – where can you go to research plants?
Here are a few online resources to get you started researching plants for the southwestern climate:
Arizona Municipal Water User’s Association Landscape Plants
Mountain States Wholesale Nursery
The Desert Botanical Garden ‘Desert Garden Guides‘
I do have a few favorite books that are invaluable as well…
Landscape Plants For Dry Regions: More Than 600 Species From Around The World
Arizona Gardener’s Guide (Gardener’s Guides
Native Plants for Southwestern Landscapes
Month-By-Month Gardening in the Deserts of Arizona: What to Do Each Month to Have a Beautiful Garden All Year
Silver Spurge (Euphorbia rigida)
I like to use plants that I call ‘fuss free’. They are all drought-tolerant, most are cold-hardy in zone 9a, don’t require supplemental fertilizer, need pruning once a year or less and most of all – they are beautiful.
A FEW FAVORITE ‘FUSS-FREE’ PLANTS
Texas Ebony
Trees:
Cascalote (Caesalpinia cacalaco)
Palo Blanco (Acacia willardiana)
Shoestring Acacia (Acacia stenophylla)
Texas Ebony (Ebanopsis ebano)
Baja Fairy Duster
Shrubs:
Baja Fairy Duster (Calliandra californica)
Desert Ruellia (Ruellia peninsularis)
Mexican Honeysuckle (Justicia spicigera)
Valentine (Eremophila maculata ‘Valentine’)
Groundcovers:
Bush Morning Glory (Convolvulus cneorum)
Daminaita (Chrysactinia mexicana)
Firecracker Penstemon (Penstemon eatoni)
Soap Aloe
Succulents:
Beavertail Prickly Pear (Opuntia basilaris)
Silver Spurge (Euphorbia rigida)
Soap Aloe (Aloe maculata)
Victoria Agave (Agave victoria-reginae)
Pink Muhly
Ornamental Grasses:
Bear Grass (Nolina microcarpa)
Pink Muhly (Muhlenbergia capillaris)
Of course, these are but a very sampling of arid-adapted plants that add beauty and sustainability to your landscape.
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I hope you have found these first steps toward a more sustainable landscape helpful.
Next time, we will discuss how to care for your plants and avoid unnecessary maintenance. In most cases, if you choose the arid-adapted plants, they will need very little maintenance.
What Keeps a Landscape From Being Sustainable?
Sustainable LandscapeHave you ever wondered how sustainable your landscape is?
Earlier this week, we began our series of posts on sustainable landscaping and talked about what a sustainable landscape is. You can find the first post here.
Most of us like the idea of having an attractive landscape without wasting resources such as fertilizer, excessive pruning and water, time and gasoline unnecessarily. But, oftentimes we do things in our gardens that create the need for additional resources.
Today, we will look at one of the major problems that I see which often goes wrong and prevents people from having sustainable landscapes.
MISTAKE #1:
Most people fail to take into consideration how large their new plants will grow.
For example:
This young ‘Green Cloud’ Texas sage (Leucophyllum frutescens ‘Green Cloud’) measures roughly 1 foot high and wide.
But, just a few years after planting, it does grow quite a bit…
This ‘Rio Bravo’ sage (Leucophyllum langmaniae ‘Rio Bravo’), which is similar in size to ‘Green Cloud’ Texas sage reaches sizes up to 8 feet tall and wide.
It’s hard to believe that such a small shrub can grow so much in just a few years time.
This trailing rosemary was initially quite small when planted next to this boulder. However, the homeowner did not allow for the fact that the rosemary would grow and eventually ‘swallow’ the boulder.
This small ficus tree looks rather innocent, doesn’t it? But, it is harboring a secret…
It will grow absolutely huge!
This ficus tree absolutely dwarfs this house.
The mistake of not allowing for the mature size of plants when planting, leads to…
MISTAKE #2:
Over-planting.
At first glance, there appears to be nothing wrong with this landscape area. There are some larger dwarf oleanders in the background and nine young Texas sage shrubs.
But, do you think that the Texas sage shrubs will fit in this area once they start to grow toward their mature size of 6 – 8 feet?
I don’t think so.
Over-planting occurs when people don’t allow for the mature size of the plants. Of course, new plants look rather small and somewhat straggly once first planted, which often leads to over-planting to make the new area look more attractive.
That is what happened to this area below…
Would you believe that the shrubs planted above are actually the same as those shown below?
It’s true. The only difference is that in this space, the mature size of the shrubs was taken into account, so there was no over-planting taking place.
Think about how much less money and maintenance this area uses compared to the previous area? There are fewer plants, less maintenance and it looks much nicer!
Mistakes #1 and 2 lead us to…
MISTAKE #3:
Excessive pruning.
So, what do you think people do if their plants are planted to closely together – they prune them…a lot!
Drive-thru’s are places that you can usually find over-planted landscapes. The one above is filled with 2/3’s more plant material then is needed.
The over-pruned shrubs in the forefront are actually Valentine (Eremophila maculata ‘Valentine’) shrubs, which look much more attractive when not over-pruned.
There are 3 Valentine shrubs in the photo above that are allowed to grow to their natural shape after their annual pruning in May.
These silver sage shrubs at our local Costco store have also been over-pruned due to the fact that they were planted too closely together.
Over-pruning often leads to artistic expressions…
‘Abstract Art’
‘Mushrooms’
‘Cupcakes’
Words fail me attempting to describe the pruning of these sage shrubs.
Here are some interesting facts about over-pruning that you may be surprised to hear.
Over-pruning…
– makes plants grow faster (as they attempt to re-grow the leaves lost)
-creates more maintenance (faster growing plants tend to be pruned more often)
– uses more water (in their attempt to re-grow lost leaves pruned away).
– creates green waste (branches/leaves head to the landfill)
– leads to unhealthy plants (from the stresses of too much pruning).- wastes time used for un-needed pruning.
Have you ever seen the inside of shrubs that have been excessively pruned for years?
I warn you, it isn’t pretty…
Not too pretty, is it?
Over time, flowering shrubs that have been excessively sheared, can develop large dead areas and eventually decline. This leads to old shrubs being removed and a new ones put in.
MISTAKE #4
Growing plants that aren’t adapted to your climate.
Plants that are not well-adapted to your local climate require excessive resources such as extra water, fertilizer and other maintenance.
Queen palms (Syagrus romanzoffianum) are just one example of a plant that often struggles in our southwestern, desert climate. No matter what we do, they will never look as nice as the queen palms growing in more tropical climates.
The lesson to be learned from this is that not planning for the mature plant size, over-planting, over-pruning and wrong plant selection uses up a lot of resources.
1. Excessive amounts of water are used due to over-planting, over-pruning and for plants not well-adapted to our arid climate.
2. Money is wasted on buying more plants then are needed.
3. The costs of maintenance used for excessive planting and pruning include another resource – gasoline.
4. Declining health of plants that have not been pruned properly or those ill-suited for our dry, hot climate.
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So how does your landscape compare with examples, above?
If you see some similarities – don’t worry. There are things that you can do to decrease the amount of resources that go into maintaining your landscape.
My goal is to help you toward not only a more sustainable landscape, but one that is also beautiful and attractive.
In my next post, we will start to talk about
“Small Steps Toward a Sustainable Landscape”.
What Is a Sustainable Landscape?
azplantladyDo you know what ‘sustainable landscaping’ is?
Would you be able to identify a sustainable landscape if you saw one?
Last weekend, I spoke to a large group about “New Ideas for Sustainable Landscaping”. The community that I spoke to are in the process of becoming an Audubon International Sustainable Community, which would make them the first one to do so, west of the Mississippi.
There a lot of people who turned out to learn more about how to live a more sustainable lifestyle. I was thrilled to talk to them about what sustainable landscaping is and small steps that they can take toward that goal.
Maybe you are curious about sustainable landscaping and want to implement some strategies toward having a more sustainable landscape.
This is my first post talking about this important subject in the hopes that I can inspire you to take steps toward a more sustainable landscape.
WHAT IS A SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPE?
First, let’s look at an example of what I am NOT talking about in regards to a sustainable landscape…
Do you remember when green gravel was in style in the 70’s?
Or how about this one with the fancy gravel design and two lonely cacti?
Technically speaking, both of these landscapes are sustainable, but they are not the model of sustainability we are looking for.
Here is a great example of a sustainable landscape.
So is this one.
Both of these landscapes are planted with arid-adapted plants that thrive in our hot, dry climate with minimal care. What you may also notice is that they are not ugly – they are all quite beautiful.
The next time you find yourself near the natural landscape, wherever you live – notice how nature does a great job creating and maintaining a beautiful landscape.
Nature does this without any help – no pruning, supplemental water, chemical fertilizers (nature does fine with natural sources of fertilizer) and pesticides.
So, what exactly is a ‘sustainable landscape’?
“A SUSTAINABLE LANDCAPE IS ONE THAT IS IN BALANCE WITH THE CLIMATE, WHICH REQUIRES MINIMAL ‘INPUTS’.”
What are ‘inputs’? They are resources that we use to create and maintain our landscapes such as fertilizer, supplemental water, pruning, gasoline and pesticides.
Would you like to decrease the amount of ‘inputs’ in your landscape, without having to sacrifice beauty?
Well you certainly can and it isn’t hard to do. In fact, you can save yourself time and money in the process!
Next time, we will discuss what we are doing wrong in our current landscapes, which is important to know so that we can avoid these mistakes on our quest toward more sustainable landscapes.
What Keeps a Landscape From Being Sustainable?
New Ideas for Sustainable Landscaping: A Preview…
Landscape DesignNew Ideas for Sustainable Landscaping
Have you ever given much thought about how sustainable your landscape is?
I must confess that I have been giving it a lot of thought lately.
I am busy putting the final touches on a presentation that I am giving tomorrow on “New Ideas for Sustainable Landscaping”.
The community where I am giving this talk, asked me to speak on this subject in their continuing efforts to become an Audubon International Sustainable Community.
There will be other experts on hand to discuss other ways that people and communities can become sustainable.
My talk will focus on three ways to create a more sustainable landscape:
– Maximize the use of arid-adapted plants.
– Utilize a good, functional design that is environmentally-friendly.
– Appropriate maintenance is practiced.
Next week, I will write a series of blog posts that will focus on these three ideas.
My hope is that you will be able to implement some of these things in your own landscape.
In the meantime, please wish me luck for my talk tomorrow!