Growing roses

Water-wise lawn replacements

Wake Up Call.  The sudden, early hot spell in March is Mother Nature's call to gardening action.  Will the weather return to normal or stay too hot or too cold?   Not even the weathermen seem to know.  So start adding organic mulch to your desert garden flower beds today to enrich the soil.  The chances are good that your plants have already awakened from winter and are hungry -- so fertilize them.

Color duets.  We have recently seen hedges created from two different shrubs and the effect can be quite charming and interesting.  One hedge was a row of sturdy, very fast-growing Japanese privets (Ligustrum japonica) with upright Lantana (Lantana camera) planted between every third privet shrub.  The privet's white (and smelly) flowers appear only in Spring; the lantana, as we all know, blooms for months on end.  Please note that the Lantana is not the low-growing Lantana montevidensis, commonly used as a ground cover.  Be sure you ask for the upright one.

Plant Lantana in your garden and you will have colorful blooms all summer long.  Better yet, the bees and butterflies love the flowers.

In another hedge, the gardener had planted black-eyed Susan vine (Thungergia alata) which decked the tall privet hedge with brilliant orange and yellow flowers.  One nice thing about this fast-growing vine is that, in cold climates, it will die back with the first frost each year.  This allows you to change your mind and your color scheme annually, if you wish.  Perhaps the following year you could plant a blue morning glory (Ipomoea) to add color to your all-green hedge.

Summer Color.  Some time ago we suggested plants that will bloom in summer after most desert plants have gone into summer dormancy.  Here is that list again and now is the time to plant them.

1. Lantana montevidensis.  2. Oleander.  3. Roses. 4. Crape myrtle.  And 5. Sunflowers.

New Online Garden Tours.  You will find descriptions and photos of three botanic gardens to tour in Tucson and one in Phoenix on the Hot Gardens website.  The Tucson Botanic Garden has been selected as one of the best "Secret Gardens" in the United States.  We applaud that choice!

This ramada, partially painted cobalt blue, is part of the historical garden section of the Tucson Botanical Garden.  You will see 16 demonstration gardens for residences -- many of which utilize ramadas, a traditional architectural structure of the Southwest.

 If Oprah can have favorites, so can we.  We came across hand made soaps that do an excellent job of cleaning without the usual abrasiveness associated with garden soaps.  These soaps are thorough and gentle -- which is what hands deserve after hours of rough treatment in the garden.  You can find them at Pasadena Soaps.

How much does a Las Vegas condo really cost these days?