Extreme Garden Sports – Right Conditions for Selecting Plants

You have come so far, and are feeling anxious to visualize what your space is going to look like. In this session, we are going to fill in all of the blanks of your design. Extreme sports are derived from people who participate in intense activities, such as jumping from planes, climbing cliffs, and other crazy stuff. Well gardening here can be extreme because of the intense summer heat, short seasons, and lack of water. This hub is specifically to help determine what plants need to be sustainable in the Sonoran Desert. The desert is beautiful, but as dwellers, we do need to deal with some of nature's extremes associated with the low desert. To truly be successful we need to keep the following things in mind when selecting plant material for our garden designs. They are:

Water

One of the most difficult lessons of desert gardening is know how much water is needed to sustain their desert landscape. The Sonoran Desert only receives 7-14" inches of rainfall per year. This scant amount of water makes it necessary for home gardeners to supplement with watering regularly. Local nurseries offer several varieties of thirsty plant. While many of them can be planted and live here, unfortunately, these are not always well-adapted, and will give the home gardener more grief than joy. These plants often drain precious resources and only endure mediocre lives. When selecting plants it is preferable to select plants that require low water. These plants will be much more successful and lower maintenance then some of the northern varieties offered.

Take a moment and assess your watering situation. Will you be watering by hand, sprinklers, drip system, or flood irrigation? Do you have head to head coverage in your irrigation system? Watering desert landscapes or any landscapes is complicated, and requires some research. If you have a good system in place, then you are ready to get your plant party started. For more comprehensive information, the Water Conservation Department has a beneficial booklet that will resolve most of your watering questions, "Landscape Water by Numbers", can be picked up at various City municipalities as well as many local nurseries. There is also a link below to order a free copy.

Sun Exposure

One of the main reasons many people move to the desert, is the plentiful supply of sunshine. This is a blessing and a curse since plants need sunshine to grow, but just like humans they can dehydrate and burn due to overexposure of the sun. Some areas of our yards are more vulnerable to sun damage than others. The southern and western exposures are the hottest areas in a landscape and take the brunt of sun exposure. Plants planted in these areas need to be hardy, and/or have access to afternoon shade. The northern side is great for many summer plants that like to hideout from the sun, but the same area can be a death trap for them in January when freezing temperatures occur. I like to keep these plants "mobile" and move them when I feel like they are in danger. Primarily the eastern exposure is the best place for your plants, and if you have a choice, you may consider moving the majority your garden to that area. Sometimes the eastern exposure is inaccessible and you may consider adding deciduous trees to your landscape to provide afternoon shade in the summertime.

Seasons -Heat and Cold

One of the most difficult things I had to adjust to when I moved here, were the desert seasons. At first, the only seasons I thought there was in the desert, was hot and hotter. However, after living here for a couple of years, and playing around with my garden, I realized that there are distinct seasons for gardeners. One of the fortunes of living here is being able to garden practically year round. Keeping this in mind, seasons are short and they are extreme, ranging from 115 degrees Fahrenheit to 30 degrees Fahrenheit. If you can brave the summer heat, you can plant melons, peppers, tomatoes, basil, sunflowers, vincas, and many other annuals that are tasty and beautiful. If you don't want to brave the heat, than having a good design will be key to a beautiful yard and keeping you comfortable in the cold air conditioning. Choose plants that are desert natives or adapted, and they will tolerate the extremes in temperatures and seasons with little effort. There a plethora of short-season flowers and veggies that does well here and will be a cinch to add texture and color to your backdrop of desert shrubs and trees.

Soil  

Your soil is the basic building block plants will get their nutrients from and needs to be cared for just as you would your home. Soil varies somewhat, depending on the area you live in. Different areas of the valley deal with clay, or sand, affecting the way and time length it takes for plant roots to absorb it. Assessing your area may have you changing your mind about where you plant certain material or deciding a container garden would be more beneficial in really poor areas.

In general, the desert soil has many nutrients in place already, and is perfect for succulents and other desert plants. It is always beneficial to add organic matter to your soil, such as compost to enrich the environment, adding nitrogen, slowing evaporation and keeping the soil cool. Other soil amendments include vermiculite, peat moss, perlite, soil polymer, or anti-desiccant that will help keep water retention around the roots of your plants and lengthen the days between watering.

There are many factors to take into consideration, but having a plan helps you make these decisions cost free, before you spend cold hard cash on vegetation that will ultimately fail in your garden or not be the visual prize you were hoping for. Addressing these factors now, will give you success as a home gardener and will sustain your landscape well into the future. By recognizing the short comings of desert gardening will give you the opportunity to thoroughly enjoy the benefits of desert gardening. The planning and implementation of your design not only will be aesthetic, but successful.