Going Desert

When we bought this house, the front yard was landscaped quite nicely. However, the lantana and hibiscus plants that dominated the yard were not native to Arizona. I have always been a big fan of native plants. Seems like a good idea to plant things that grow here naturally, especially here in the desert where water is not all that abundant. We had some really cold nights in January, cold enough to cause frost. Well this frost killed my plants. Not really killed, but maimed. I was warned by the news people that it was coming, to cover my plants, but I did not heed these warnings. I knew what I was doing. See, I was hoping these plants might die.

Non native plants might be able to tolerate the heat, but they do not tolerate the little rain we get or the possible freezing temps we might get. My plan was to kill off the plants and replace them all with new plants, native plants. Native plants do well in the heat, the sun, the drought conditions, and most of all survive the freezes.

It is crazy to me that people will go out in the yard and cover plants with sheets and news paper so the cold doesnt kill them. Now you may be asking, why not replace them whether they are alive or dead? Brian, thats why. He had a problem with digging out a perfectly healthy, good looking plant and putting in a new one.

Well we have begun to replace plants now. First we stated with 2 prickly pear cacti. One green and one purple. We had never planted a cactus before and so we were a little sloppy. We ended up with spines all over ourselves. In our hands and arms and I even had some in my neck. What? You could feel them, those little annoying things in your finger that you cant see. It sucked.

I also bought some golden columbine to plant in the planter bed. This way I wont have to waste money buying annuals every year to plant in that bed. Columbine is native here and loves the shade that covers that bed and will come back bigger and better every year.
I also planted 3 globe mallow, which are so pretty when they are big and in full bloom.

Next we planted a saguaro and a brittlebush. The saguaro is small but was expensive. I have wanted a saguaro for a long time and now I have my very own. It wont get very big during our time here in this house. I will most likely take it with me when we move someday. Luckily the saguaro did not have the little spines that stuck in your skin and drove you crazy. Instead it has hard spines that impale you if you get to close. Awesome!

Last weekend we planted an ocotillo, a very awesome looking desert plant. It might be my favorite. When its in full bloom it is a striking plant. Tall, green with bright red flowers at the top. Gorgeous.

We are still in the process of replacing the last few plants. We are still going to plant an agave, a creosote bush, another brittlebush and a tree, a big beautiful palo verde tree.

I love to garden, to watch things grow and bloom. Desert plants can be so beautiful. Now we are able to cut back on the amount of water these plants get and they will survive the summer and the winter.

Now if I can get Brian to agree to get rid of the palm trees in the back yard, we'd be set. They are a thorn in my side. Water lovin, desert hatin thorns.

The yard when we moved in:

And now:

The ocotillo is not leafing out yet so it looks a little dead, but its going to be amazing. Its going to look like this:

Its hard to really see how the yard looks in the picture. I guess you will just have to visit to see for yourself.

-Nina