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Composting is an unnatural act…

Well, composting is unnatural in a hot dry climate where plants produce small leaves with waxy or oily exteriors, where grassy lawns are few and far between and where the air is, more often than not, dry as a bone.

Those are things that are antithetical to the natural composting that occurs in cooler, more forested zones where big leaves and/or lots of pine needles, weekly grass clippings from the lawn, and damp air make composting a normal part of the environment and is fairly easy for a gardener to do.

So because it is not a natural function in a hot dry climate, I’ve never written about it.

During this last month, however, I received an question about it so if you want to start composting, even though you are living in a hot dry climate, here is some advice.

First: the good news about compost. Compost is food for the soil. It loosens the soil hardened by heat and dry air and makes it easier for plant roots to grow deep. It enriches the earth with long-lasting nutrients. Used as a mulch on flower beds it can be protective.

But compost should not be used in place of fertilizer. Its carbon to nitrogen ratio is too unstable, too unpredictable to count on as a fertilizer. In fact, if the compost process isn’t fully complete, the compost may suck nitrogen right out of your soil. Compost that is “complete” is crumbly, not smelly, dark brown or almost black and will, very gradually over years, release some nutrients to your plants and help balance the pH in your garden.

composting food waste

Now to get started the first thing you are going to need is a place or a container to hold the garden and kitchen waste you want to turn into compost.

From left: beginning, middle and done with composting!

When I had a compost heap in my Santa Barbara garden, it was just that, a heap of grass clippings and leaves in the far corner of my backyard that had been started by the previous owner. If I was doing it again, I would have either set up attractive wooden bins or put everything into metal canisters that could be turned. (Live and learn!)

Then begin by adding biodegradable stuff, such as grass clippings, leaves, coffee grounds, sawdust, faded flowers, dead annuals, and even newspapers torn up into little bits. You need a mix of one part green stuff to 3 parts brown stuff for the best composting process. For green stuff you add things like grass clippings; brown stuff are things like chopped straw or old dead dry leaves.

Next, toss in a shovel or two of your native soil to jump-start the process. NO need to buy compost bacteria or fungi starter. Your native soil has what you need.

And dampen the whole thing. Don’t soak it. Just keep it damp like a sponge that has been wrung out. This is especially important in our dry climates. You may have to dampen it daily…or more often. If possible, keep your compost in the shade so it won’t dry out as quickly.

Be sure to turn it regularly so the decomposing process continues on all materials, not just those on outside. When you turn it you may discover it is warm or hot in the center. The center of the compost bin may heat up to 130F, which should kill all the wild seeds that ended in it. If it becomes too hot, that is a sign of excess carbon and you should add more green stuff, like grass clippings or weeds you pulled from your garden.

raccoon by wall

Now about food waste. If you are composting in a container, especially a revolving one up off the ground, toss in all the food waste you have. BUT, if your compost “bin” is actually a compost heap you may find wild raccoons and other hungry animals visiting it. They love those old apple cores, orange peels, rotting pumpkins, bananas and other food leftovers.

Do NOT put meat or dairy in your compost pile. It will not decompose quickly, will smell hideous and may attract vermin or dangerous bacteria to your garden. Also avoid leaves of oleander, they are poisonous. And avoid adding eucalyptus and salt cedar leaves.

I strongly recommend acquiring some type of plastic or metal compost bin. Some cities offer residents free compost bins, so call your local government to see if you can get one or two for free. There are also several on Amazon that look good, including a pink compost bin. One even claims to be able to make compost in two weeks! That’s fast! Composting usually takes months. Happy composting!

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  1. Best and beautiful native shrubs for extreme heat
  2. Five fragrant plants for your garden
  3. Where to get free or cheap trees for your garden
  4. Six distinctively different landscapes to replace a lawn
  5. Cover up that naked wall
  6. Nine trees to combat climate change
  7. Four desert trees good for soil, 4 toxic ones
  8. Plants that bloom even in mid-summer scorching heat

Ask Me Anything and tree planting deception

Sorry, but “Ask Me Anything” has been canceled because there have been too many trolls.

In my Hot Gardens newsletter in the winter of 2006 I suggested that my online gardening friends do just 2 things for the new year: 1) plant a tree and 2) change one lightbulb to LED.

Rio Grande Fax Tex Ash autumn
The large Fan Tex Ash tree thrives i hot dry climates and has gorgeous golden leaves in Fall.

Asking people to change light bulbs seems terribly out of date now–everyone has already done it.
But planting a tree in your own garden is as smart and timely now as it was then. Especially since many ads about tree planting around the world and the U.S. are, as I have recently learned, somewhat misleading.

Deceptive ads about tree planting

We’ve all seen the ads telling us that Nepal or Ethiopia or some other country or a mega-international company has planted millions of trees.

And those claims of tree-planting are true and so inspirational!

But the ads tell only part of the story. As it turns out, some uncounted number of these millions of trees are being planted in ‘tree plantations’ and will be harvested in 10 to 20 years.

In a tree plantation there is no attempt to restore a natural forest which is more complicated than just sticking little trees in the ground lined up in neat rows. Trees in a plantation create a monoculture, rather than a diversified ecosystem. Each tree is like the next one all spaced for optimum growth with no smaller trees or shrubs in between. That means in 10 to 20 years when these more mature trees are cut down and hauled away the benefits of the trees will revert back to zero. Tree plantations are a short-term fix to a long term problem of rapidly increasing carbon dioxide in the air and climate change.

Crape myrtle Lagerstroemia indica hot pink
When most other plants are wearing summer green, the Crape myrtle bursts into colorful bloom. In dry climates it is a relatively small tree.

So I urge you to plant a tree or a few trees or long-lived shrubs in your garden in 2020. Become part of a long-term solution.

Happy gardening in 2020!

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  2. Five fragrant plants for your garden
  3. Four trees good for soil; four toxic ones
  4. Cover up that naked wall
  5. Six flowering plants that reliably bloom in scorching mid-summer heat
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  7. How to combat death by heat exhaustion of plants in pots
  8. Little Free Plant Stands and gardening tips

Light and shine for your holiday garden

luminaria

Even if you decide not to deck out your home with strings of lights and other festive decorations this year, consider using luminaria on your porch, in windows or along a walkway during the holidays. To my eyes, homes with luminarias are so much more attractive than ones with dancing elves and soaring Santas. (Although children love the elf-and-santa version of decorations!)

Many garden stores now have ceramic or metal luminarias but they are easy to make at home:

1) fold down the tops of brown paper lunch bags you can buy at the grocery store as if making a cuff and
2) fill in the bottom of the now-shorter bag with a handful of sand or garden soil to anchor it, then
3) set a tea-light in the bottom center of your handmade luminaria and
4) light the tea-light. Voila–you’re done!

Garden Gifts

If you have a gardening friend and are looking around for a holiday gift idea, consider giving them a garden ornament. These three are definitely for the friend who has everything. The two glass ornaments are in the garden behind the Sonoran Glass School in Tucson and are available for sale. The desert tortoise is not for sale and permanently at home in the Arlington Garden in Pasadena.

turtle garden ornament

But these three can be inspiration. If you like the idea of glass in the garden but would like something more affordable, consider buying a tempered glass wind chime at your local holiday faire. And almost every good garden shop has animal ornaments for reasonable prices.

Winter Flower Blooms Again

amaryllis bloom

Looking ahead: when the amaryllis blooming in your home during the holiday season fades, plant the bulb outside in a very sheltered place and in about 14-16 months, the amaryllis will bloom again…and every year after that. I had one in my Mojave garden that bloomed and produced offset bulbs for over a decade! The offset bulbs, which I separated from the original bulb and replanted, in turn bloomed in Springtime, too. It was definitely a gift that kept on giving! Happy holidays to you!

Our 8 most popular newsletters

  1. Best and beautiful native shrubs for extreme heat
  2. Five fragrant plants for your garden
  3. Where to get free or cheap trees for your garden
  4. Six distinctively different landscapes to replace a lawn
  5. Cover up that naked wall
  6. Nine trees to combat climate change
  7. Four desert trees good for soil, 4 toxic ones
  8. Plants that bloom even in mid-summer scorching heat

Look to South Africa for unusual off-season flowers

Our mild Autumn weather is almost a second Springtime, especially for gardeners who live at lower elevations in the desert with warm winters.  Plant pretty annuals like carpets in empty flower beds to replace any perennials that have died back. Take care not to disturb the roots of the perennials because they will be back next year.

Or fill pots on your patio to overflowing. At higher, cold-winter elevations it may be too late as the first winter storms have blanketed mountains with snow.

Should you dig up the flower bulbs?

While some people, particularly in the U.K. and New England, dig up their bulbs in Fall, in most of the U.S. southwest it is not necessary. But if you want to add flowers from bulbs, rhizomes and corms to your garden, now is the time to plant to assure yourself of Springtime flowers.

purple and white iris

Freesia and Iris are two of our favorites. Both require little water and no attention. The exception, however, are those re-blooming iris that flower in spring and fall which need heavy watering.

The incredibly fragrant Freesia dies back to the ground after blooming; the Iris keeps its leaves and provides an upright structural element in a garden border.

If you already have Iris, split and replant the rhizomes now for double the flowers next year. Do not plant them deep. Simply place them in a shallow trench and cover lightly–deep enough to protect from a freeze if you live in an area with occasional light freezes in winter.

About tulips: yes, you can plant the bulbs, but they really love a damper, milder climate — like the Netherlands or Seattle.

Flowers from South Africa

Gladiolus dalenii

You may be much better off planting bulbs native to South Africa, such as the freesia-like Tritonia or the Watsonia borbonica, which looks like a miniature gladiolus. The low-growing Babiana is a Sub-Sahara native also worth considering as an edging plant. It looks somewhat like a crocus and does well in a desert garden.

The Gladiolus (Gladiolus dalenii), above, a South African native, is a delicate variation on the large, sturdy upright “glads” of late summer. These bloom in Spring.

Salvia leucantha sage

One plant that is a joy for so many gardeners in California and the Southwest is the Mexican Bush Sage, Salvia leucantha ‘Midnight’ that blooms twice a year. Unlike re-blooming Iris, the Mexican Bush Sage is not a water guzzler. It naturally blooms in Spring and late Fall.  It is a super-tough plant with tall spires of purple or purple and white flowers that stay in bloom through December! One year I even clipped the flower stems and used them to decorate my Christmas tree. Tip: Cut it back to about 8 inches high in January and it will re-grow and bloom again in March.

Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Our 8 most popular newsletters

  1. Best and beautiful native shrubs for extreme heat
  2. Five fragrant plants for your garden
  3. Where to get free or cheap trees for your garden
  4. Six distinctively different landscapes to replace a lawn
  5. Cover up that naked wall
  6. Nine trees to combat climate change
  7. Four desert trees good for soil, 4 toxic ones
  8. Plants that bloom even in mid-summer scorching heat

Free seeds thanks to Libraries, Yahoo and Google

Back before the Yahoo search engine, and later Google and Amazon, came along, libraries kept large wooden cases called card catalogs listing each book they owned on a small piece of paper filed alphabetically. These catalogs were good for finding books if you knew the book name. As for discovering new books on the same or related topics-well, digital search engines beat the old card catalogs hands down.

So libraries joined the search engine world and card catalogs joined buggy whips as obsolete curiosities.

But what to do with these large heavy wood cases?

seeds in card catalog at Tucson Library

Check out locally grown seeds

In Tucson, the library system decided to turn the card catalogs in three of their libraries into “seed catalogs”, of a sort. But no need to open your wallet to purchase the seeds–it’s like checking out a book. Library patrons can check out seeds–mostly vegetable and herb seeds–for free. Most of the seeds appeared to be “home-gathered” and packed by hand which means they came from plants that had actually been grown in a hot, dry garden. That, in turn, means the plants grown from the seeds are more likely to survive our harsh conditions.

Look through here to see a few of the seeds available:

When I asked the librarian about checking out seeds she told me that there was no requirement to “return” or replace the seeds, although they would appreciate it.

I think this is a brilliant idea and one that should be copied by every library in the country. After all, every one of them probably has a big card catalog if they haven’t already disposed of it. And I’m sure the idea would be supported by garden clubs and gardening enthusiasts across the nation.

Coming soon: frugal gardening

There are, of course, other ways to obtain seeds and starter plants for free or very little. I will be writing about them in my next post because frugal gardening has turned out to be a very hot topic! Stay tuned…but meanwhile mention the card-catalog-turned-seed-catalog to your local librarian.

We're Savings Seeds sign Tucson Public Library

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  1. Best and beautiful native shrubs for extreme heat
  2. Five fragrant plants for your garden
  3. Where to get free or cheap trees for your garden
  4. Six distinctively different landscapes to replace a lawn
  5. Cover up that naked wall
  6. Nine trees to combat climate change
  7. Four desert trees good for soil, 4 toxic ones
  8. Plants that bloom even in mid-summer scorching heat

Quinces and Figs thrive in the desert. Make great jam, too!

In 2014 Quinces (Cydonia oblonga) were named the Fruit Tree of the Year by the California Rare Fruit Growers Association. Well, maybe rare in California, but here in Tucson quince trees have been growing since the late 1600s. Brought to this locale by Jesuit Father Kino, one of the first Europeans to the area, later travelers complained that the only fruit tree in Tucson was the quince, which is basically inedible fresh off the tree. It has to be cooked and then it is delicious as a jam. I’m sure the travelers were hankering for juicy Spanish oranges or crisp German apples–but no luck. In Tucson hard quinces were the only choice.

Two quinces fro Tucson Presidio
These two quinces were given to me by a docent at the Tucson Presidio. The are unripe, hard, fuzzy outside and have no scent. More modern hybrids have a smooth peel and are fragrant when ripe.

While I have seen plenty of pomegranates growing in yards around Tucson I hadn’t seen a quince tree until I visited the replica of the original Tucson Presidio where a quince tree is planted side-by-side with a sweet Spanish orange tree and a lemon. As you can see, it is loaded with quinces, which are drought tolerant, sun and heat-lovers that need good drainage. Online it stated that 2 trees were needed for pollination, but this solo plant seems to be doing okay by itself. One other thing to note about quince trees: they are covered with lovely white flowers in Spring. So if you are thinking about adding a small tree to your hot, dry garden, maybe a quince is the tree for you. (Or maybe a fig–see below.)

Quince tree at Tucson Presidio Hot Gardens
The quince tree at the Tucson Presidio.

While quince trees are naturally small, fig trees can become enormous, as this fig, below, growing in one courtyard of the Tucson Presidio demonstrates. And it does not take decades to grow to this size. This Presidio was built from scratch on a former parking lot and opened in 2007, so this fig (and the quince above) are no older than 12 years!

fig tree in downtown Tucson Hot Gardens
A huge fig tree in the courtyard of the Presidio in downtown Tucson

In addition to producing delicious figs to eat raw or cook into jam, fig trees (Ficus carica) have large leaves that cast a dense shade to create a cool oasis in a desert garden. The ‘Black Mission’ and ‘Brown Turkey’ are good varieties for the desert. Most produce two crops of figs per year and need regular watering, especially when the fruit is growing. If you intend to plant a fig in your garden, be sure to ask the nursery staff how large the tree is expected to grow. Smaller size fig trees can be espaliered along a wall. (I know. I did this in my garden in Las Vegas!)

Pomegranates on the ground at the Tucson Presidio.

Now a word about pomegranates, which I have written about before because they are among the easiest and most forgiving of neglect of any fruit tree in a desert garden. There are ignored pomegranates on the ground all over my neighborhood, as well as at the Tucson Presidio. But it looks like they are providing food for birds and animals. A good thing!

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  1. Best and beautiful native shrubs for extreme heat
  2. Five fragrant plants for your garden
  3. Where to get free or cheap trees for your garden
  4. Six distinctively different landscapes to replace a lawn
  5. Cover up that naked wall
  6. Nine trees to combat climate change
  7. Four desert trees good for soil, 4 toxic ones
  8. Plants that bloom even in mid-summer scorching heat

Plant white this fall for nighttime viewing next summer

Fall is the best time to plant in hot dry gardens. The soil has now cooled enough that the roots of new, young plants won’t die from being enveloped by hot summer dirt. And summer dirt can be really hot: up to 140 degrees F (60 degrees celsius!) in direct sunlight. At that temperature the roots “cook” and if the roots get cooked, the plant dies. So do your planting now. Over winter, the roots will have plenty of time to toughen up and spread deep into the earth before the heat comes back next year.

Now I have a few suggestions for what to plant this Fall for a White Garden for nighttime enjoyment next summer.

A famous garden reinvented for the Southwest

First a little background: the White Garden was “invented” by author Vita-Sackville West when she designed a garden room at Sissinghurst Castle in the U.K. with plants that only produced white flowers. It was a radical idea for that time, the mid-20th Century. In fact, the White Garden vaulted her into fame as a garden designer and horticultural columnist for the London Observer. (She was already famous–maybe infamous–for her personal scandals and novels!)

So borrowing her idea–although not the plants she used in cool, damp Kent in southern England–here is a slide show with a few plants to use in a White Garden in the American Southwest.

  • White roses
  • White crape myrtle
  • White yarrow
  • Japanese Privet
  • Pittosporum- very fragrant

In addition to these white flowering plants you could also include dwarf White Oleander, White Jasmine Vine, white Iris, or Texas Wild Olive. Be careful with the Texas Wild Olive, Cordia Broissiere, because the seeds are slightly toxic to humans. Birds, however, love them. Also take care with the Oleander, all parts of it are poisonous.

Plants with variegated or silver leaves can also add luminousness and be reflective in a nighttime garden.

  • Variegated Turf Lily
  • Artemesia Powis Castle

Even if you are not interested in a white garden room, adding white blooming plants to an otherwise color-filled or all-green garden brings a spark of interest and contrast to the other plants.

Full Disclosure: I have visited Sissinghurst Castle to see Vita Sackville-West’s garden rooms. The book she wrote about her gardening ideas, “Sissinghurst” is available on Amazon. Someone, not VSW who passed away in 1962, is posting on Twitter using the handle @thegardenvsw . The tweets, taken from her writings and accompanied by photos, are always very interesting.

A reminder for Fall: be sure to add organic mulch around plants in your garden and, if possible, dig it in without disturbing the roots. Also avoid using mulch that has peat in it. From what I read from U.K. gardeners peat retains carbon which helps slow climate change. Better for all of us for the peat to remain buried in bogs rather than scattered around our gardens.

Our 8 most popular newsletters

  1. Best and beautiful native shrubs for extreme heat
  2. Five fragrant plants for your garden
  3. Where to get free or cheap trees for your garden
  4. Six distinctively different landscapes to replace a lawn
  5. Cover up that naked wall
  6. Nine trees to combat climate change
  7. Four desert trees good for soil, 4 toxic ones
  8. Plants that bloom even in mid-summer scorching heat

Texas Rangers are the earth’s “Thank You” to the monsoon

In recent weeks TV weathercasters in the desert Southwest have been laughingly referring to the “non-soon” as the annual summer rains got held up in West Texas. And, to make it worse, even fewer clouds came out of the Sea of Cortez. No rainstorms from either direction. Finally in late July one storm dropped enough rain to begin bringing Texas Rangers (Leucophyllum fructescens) into bloom.

Texas Ranger Leucophyllum frutescens in bloom

Since then even record setting temperatures have not slowed the rush to flowering by these heat loving shrubs, native to the Chihuahua desert. They are a visual joy in blue, purple, lavender, and white!

Texas Ranger untrimmed
Thanks to Starbucks in Marana AZ this Texas Ranger has been left untrimmed, although perhaps with too much shade on the plant. It prefers full sun.

Better yet, as SW natives the Texas Ranger thrives in very alkaline soil of .8 to .9 pH. While these 8 foot to 10 foot tall shrubs bloom in concert with the monsoon, they prefer fast draining soil to keep their roots almost dry so be sure to add plenty of organic material when you plant a Texas Ranger. And only irrigate them–lightly, if at all–during the summer months. Stop watering at the end of the monsoon in late September. And as for fertilizer? None needed at all. Fertilizer makes them spindly and weak.

NOW FOR MY RANT: Do not trim Texas Rangers into lollipops! Commercial groundskeepers seem to be the worst offenders of this practice, as you can see in the photo below. Texas Rangers have a beautiful loose shape and should be allowed to keep it. If you feel you absolutely have to cut back a plant, do it in March–one time during the year, only once! Or maybe plant a dwarf “compacta” variety instead. END OF RANT.

improperly trimmed Texas Rangers shrubs
These 4 Texas Rangers in a parking lot have been severely trimmed. Whoever developed the horticulture plan for this commercial area should have chosen the Leucophyllum frutescen ‘compacta’, the low growing variety of the plant.

Amazon Burning- what you can do

The new President of Brazil ran on a platform of developing the Amazon. What we are all seeing now is that landowners, particularly cattle ranchers, took that to give them a greenlight to start burning their way deeper into the life-giving jungle after he took office.

Now we can all be outraged as Presidents Macron and Trudeau have been on Twitter or we can actually do something about it in the real world. Countries like Pakistan, India, China, Senegal, Nigeria and even tiny Nepal have already embarked on programs to plant millions of trees.

While we can have no hope of getting support from the current administration in Washington D.C. for a massive tree planting effort in the U.S. I am confident that local groups, like the Tree People in Los Angeles or the National Forest Foundation, will continue and expand their Plant-A-Tree programs in cities, towns and forests across the country.

Crepe myrtless in bloom

If no organization near you is doing it at the very least plan to add a tree to your garden this fall when planting season begins. If every person in the U.S. planted just one tree we would have 329 million new trees which would help offset the damage being done right now in the Amazon.

Our 8 most popular newsletters

  1. Best and beautiful native shrubs for extreme heat
  2. Five fragrant plants for your garden
  3. Where to get free or cheap trees for your garden
  4. Six distinctively different landscapes to replace a lawn
  5. Cover up that naked wall
  6. Nine trees to combat climate change
  7. Four desert trees good for soil, 4 toxic ones
  8. Plants that bloom even in mid-summer scorching heat

The bee-friendly Tucson Botanical Garden

The Tucson Botanical Garden has become very bee friendly. Yes, of course there are still displays of cacti and other desert plants as well as their famous ramadas and winding shady paths. Their efforts to support bees, however, are non-traditional for a Botanical Garden and should be applauded. And, in my opinion, should be emulated by other public gardens!

Here are some of the efforts they are making:

solitary bee homes Tucson Botanical Garden

Above, what appear to be tall, whimsical garden ornaments are actually homes for solitary bees–the kind of bees that do not live in hives and do not produce honey–but pollinate flowers and fruits and vegetables nonetheless. These bees are non-aggressive because they do not have hives or honey to protect.

As you can see these homes are holes drilled into the wood. It is something so simple almost any gardener could do it. Or you can purchase an economical bee home online and easily hang it up on any branch in your garden.

What to do about honey bees

Bee trap in tree Tucson Botanical Garden

Working in conjunction with a local Tucson beekeeper, this box up in the tree is a bee trap — not a bee house. When a swarm of honey bees has entered the box, the beekeeper comes and removes it to transfer the bees to his apiary because honey bees can become aggressive. The bee trap in the tree is then replaced with an empty one.

flowers to attract bees at Tucson Botanical Garden

The Tucson Botanical Garden is noted for its shade-producing ramadas in several designs. Beside this one is a bed of flowers to help provide food for bees. Not to mention the flowers are visually appealing.

Mediterranean herb garden Tucson Botsnical Garden

One of my favorite places in the garden is the Mediterranean herb garden under its blue pergola. It was one of the first gardens created in 1964 by the plant collector Harrison Yocum who founded the Tucson Botanical Garden at his home. Since then the garden has been expanded with purchases of neighboring properties.

And here are some other photos of the garden, including the docent who gave me a private tour. Thank you, Carolyn.

colorful ramadas at Tucson Botanical garden

As I was leaving I discovered this amazing decorative wall by a local Tucson artist. No bees that I could spy but there are hummingbirds, red peppers, butterflies and magical angels. If anyone knows the name of the artist, please let me know.

Decorative wall Tucaon Botanical Garden

Just a reminder. Until the daily high temperature falls below 90 F (32 Celsius) the only thing your garden plants need is regular watering. It’s inadvisable to fertilize or transplant during hot summer months.

Our 8 most popular newsletters

  1. Best and beautiful native shrubs for extreme heat
  2. Five fragrant plants for your garden
  3. Where to get free or cheap trees for your garden
  4. Six distinctively different landscapes to replace a lawn
  5. Cover up that naked wall
  6. Nine trees to combat climate change
  7. Four desert trees good for soil, 4 toxic ones
  8. Plants that bloom even in mid-summer scorching heat

Gardens walled in by color in historic old Tucson

By midsummer most of the plants in hot, dry gardens–with the exceptions of Lantana and Mexican Bird of Paradise–are muted desert green.  Desert style gardens simply look drab and dull  at this time of year. The plants are in survival mode until Fall.

xicn Bird of ParadiseMy first plan for this post was to focus on those two plants which bloom in full force in summer. It turns out that the Mexican Bird of Paradise (Caesalpinia mexicana or C. pulcherrima. ) is also known as the Pride of Barbados and Poinciana. And while it flowers in sunset colors, left, one variety has only yellow blooms. And as for Lantana, a least here in Tucson, these popular plants need some shade during the day or they will rush to bloom and make seeds.

But as I was driving around historic old Tucson neighborhoods looking for good examples of Mexican Bird of Paradise to photograph, I noticed that so many gardens were  filled with color. But not from plants.  Homeowners had taken an adventurous route with painted walls — both on their homes’ exteriors and the garden walls that surround them. The green colors of plants had almost become accents.

Yes, we all know that painting walls and homes can be quite expensive, but the colors can be inspiring. And, once painted, the colors last for decades.  No watering, no fertilizing, no replacing sick or dying plants required.

Here are a few of those colorful walls and homes.

multi color home
Why settle for one or two  when you can paint each wall a different color? Variations on this  shade of green seem to be growing in popularity. The terra cotta wall and beige are more traditonal–but not when used this way!

blue stucco garden wall
Blue garden wall with a pink painted house is a color combination I saw more than once. I wonder if the lights wrapped around the tree trunks are turned on regularly or only during the winter holiday season.

pink garden walls
There is a kind of subtle minimalism about the pale pink walls with just a few plants. The home behind the walls is a slightly darker shade of pink.

golden stucco garden wzll
The palm trees leaning over this golden garden wall are laced with bougainvilla blooms–a very clever idea while the palms are not too tall.

orange color stucco wall
Nothing shy about this chocolate brown painted home with vibrant orange trim and a matching wall. The desert plants in front of the wall seem to be accents now, but the agaves and barrel cactus will grow quite large in time.

green color house Tucson
While green is making a comeback as an exterior color, this all green home is really over the top. Maybe a subtler shade of green? Maybe tempering the green with an accent color? It is certainly non-traditional for a stucco home.

Our 8 most popular newsletters

  1. Best and beautiful native shrubs for extreme heat
  2. Five fragrant plants for your garden
  3. Where to get free or cheap trees for your garden
  4. Six distinctively different landscapes to replace a lawn
  5. Cover up that naked wall
  6. Nine trees to combat climate change
  7. Four desert trees good for soil, 4 toxic ones
  8. Plants that bloom even in mid-summer scorching heat