Hello, My names Logan, I grew up in Wisconsin for most of my life. Moved out to Arizona about 2 years ago... and have been struggling to keep a garden going in this heat. Looking for some desert gardeners for some help!
welcome aboard logan! we're up north, but there are lots of members here in the south who may be able to help...
Welcome. I think you will like it here. I only joined this month and it has quickly become my favorite site. Barbara
Hello, Logan! Welcome to Gardenstew! We lived in Wisconsin before moving to Arizona. We lived in Arizona for 20 years and moved to Texas last year. Though it's hot here it's a lot different than Arizona. Gardening in Arizona is mostly done in spring and fall. dooley
Hi there Logan and this time a warm welcome from West Lothian in Scotland. :-D One plant you might like to try in your garden is Tecoma Stans/Gold Star Esperanza. This is a beautiful, heat-tolerant Texas native plant with striking masses of golden/yellow trumpet-shaped flowers. It's highly pest resistant and looks wonderful in containers on a patio. It also looks lovely in mass plantings. It loves full sun and blooms from early summer until the first frost. It can grow up to four feet tall and spread to three feet wide.
Guess San Antonio practically qualifies as desert gardening.. I know.. not quite though it did hit 100 yesterday. The best I can figure is that we have 2 growing seasons.. spring & fall. I attempted most of my summer gardening in partial shade. Good Luck!!
Appretiated I'll have to look into the Tecoma Stans/Gold Star Esperanza. Sounds like a pretty sweet plant, and since Arizona barely gets below 40, it should do well all year. Haha I did find out pretty quick that nothings going to grow in the summer here.. I couldn't even get high heat tolerant grass to grow on my new property. Guess I'll have to try again here in about a month. The thing that really killed my garden wasn't even the direct sunlight, I have an enormous pine tree shading most of the back yard, but just the 115 degree heat seemed to wipe out everything not accustomed. moderator's note: removed website link, see point 1.1 of usage rules
My sister lives in Phoenix. She gardens all year around. She had tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and eggplant, I think. She had green beans in the spring. She will plant cool weather things in September. Salad things grow well and carrots and beets and most greens. She shades the stuff from the sun. Plant it where it will get afternoon shade from your house or build a frame with shade cloth. You need to get your grass started before it gets hot. Go to the local nursery. They have a lot of things that you can plant this month that will do well all winter. My sister brings her "delicate" plants under the patio cover during the winter but seldom has to bring anything inside. A lot of people rely on cactus and succulents for the summer months. Mexican and other types of Bird of Paradise do well there, too. There is a huge one in the yard next door to her. It takes awhile but you will learn what you can and can't grow. When we moved up to Mayer it was different, too. There the altitude made it cooler than Phoenix. You could grow things you couldn't grow in the valley. Check out things like pansies and petunias for winter annuals. There are some vines that do well in winter, too. Good luck with your gardening. dooley
gardening in the heat Thanks! I appreciate all the good insight. I'll have to make a list of all these and head over to the nursery tomorrow... Do you happen to know a good thorn bush that does well out here? I need some sort of blockade for the dogs, but I'd rather not use a cactus. Also, I have seen several different vine plants out here, do you happen to know the name of.. well it's a very wicked looking vine, very bulk, with pink flowers.
The vine that you see most in the Phoenix area is bougainvillea. It gets huge and has pink or red flowers. It's winter hardy in the valley. The other primary vine is pyracantha. It has yellow flowers. There are two types of pyracantha so ask about it before you buy it. They look alike but one is pollinated by moths which fly at night and one by bees which work by day. The one that is pollinated by the moths is very stinky when it flowers. The smell only lasts a couple of weeks but it is bad. But, my mom had one outside of her window that smelled really good. She had it growing up her patio too to screen from the sun. dooley
