Gardening in a dry, hot climate is always an adventure.  Too much sun.  Too little water.  And soil that has almost nothing going for it.  Your desert garden, however, can be much more than sizzling hot rock mulch* scattered with pines and scrawny bushes. 

Create a Mediterranean Garden 

You will find that it is definitely possible to create a Mediterranean-style retreat around your home with fast-growing, leafy green trees and palms in garden rooms.  You can enjoy shady havens surrounded by green hedges and fabulous drought-tolerant flower borders.  

Plant a Desert Style Garden

Further away from your house, you can plant a drier, more desert-like xeriscape garden with cactus, ornamental grasses, acacias, mesquites and other desert plants.  Better yet, you can do it all while using water wisely.

Happy gardening!