Category: DIY gardening tips

You don’t need a pristine green thumb to become a Master Gardener

Many people think you already need to be an expert to join the Master Gardener program, but that is a major misconception. Whether your current garden is a sprawling oasis or just a few succulents in terra cotta pots on your patio, the program is designed to train you from scratch.

At its core, being a Master Gardener is about education and community. If you love gardening, want to learn from great teaching gardeners, and are willing to share your new gardening know-how with your neighbors, you are a perfect candidate.

Cultivating a Legacy: How the Program Began

The Master Gardener concept was born in 1973 in Tacoma, Washington State. Dr. David Gibby of the Washington State Cooperative Extension noticed a massive shift: homeowners were flooding local agricultural extension offices with urban horticulture questions.

Historically, Co-op Extension offices only served commercial farmers by giving them advice on how to make their farms more successful. Suddenly, they were being asked about which roses produced the longest-blooming flowers, how to get rid of tomato pests, and what to plant for a hedge in a specific neighborhood.

Instead of hiring more government staff, Gibby created a volunteer training program. These trained volunteers could then step up to answer community questions, plant demonstration gardens, and teach local classes to adults and, much later, to children in schools.

As the Master Gardener program spread nationally, the training changed to adapt to local conditions. Suggestions for the best pink rhododendrons may be great for Washington state, but best blooming cacti is a more pertinent topic for the Sonoran desert conditions of southern Arizona.  

Another major change: As time went on, local Master Gardener programs became part of state Universities, rather than the state agricultural Co-op Extension offices.

Surviving Master Gardener Training

Master Gardener training is highly localized, intensive, and incredibly rewarding. I took the multi-month training program in Clark County (Las Vegas), Nevada. Having previously gardened in the lush, coastal climate of Santa Barbara, California, transitioning to the Mojave Desert required learning a completely new set of rules.

In the desert, you learn to work with the environment rather than trying to make it conform to your garden dream. The training dives deep into:

  • Soil composition: Managing rock-hard caliche and alkaline desert soils.
  • Water management: Capturing rainfall and mastering drip irrigation as well as efficient xeriscaping.
  • Plant selection: Identifying native and desert-adapted species that thrive in intense heat with low rainfall.

If, for example, you are an Arizona desert dweller, you might recognize the Orange/yellow flowering shrub as a Bird of Paradise. But just one state to the West in California, there is another plant called Bird of Paradise that looks like a lily that belongs in the tropics and won’t survive in the desert. The smaller purple shrub on the left in this image has multiple names (Texas sage, Texas ranger, for example) and only blooms when the humidity gets high enough. Watering it like crazy will NOT bring on the lovely purple flowers. These are just two of the many, many types of things you could learn in a local Master Gardener program.

After I finished the training and began fielding questions from people who were gardening in the desert for the first time I decided to share my knowledge beyond Nevada. A total tech novice I developed a successful website about gardening in a hot, dry desert climate to reach would-be desert gardeners around the planet. For that I thank the Clark County Master Gardeners.

How to Join Your Local Program

So, are you ready to master the green world of gardens and share your knowledge with your community? You can find a local program by visiting the American Horticultural Society or checking with your local state university.

To become a Master Gardener typically requires 40 to 70 hours of classroom instruction covering botany, soils, plant pathology, pest management, and sustainable gardening. The fees for the training vary from state to state.

Next comes 40 to 75 hours of community service working with senior Master Gardeners. You would be doing such things as answering questions from callers to the MG help desks, advising school gardens, leading basic gardening classes for adults or managing demonstration plots. Then you will be expected to do 20 to 30 annual volunteer hours to maintain. 

And I can tell you that when you join the program you will learn more than names of plants and best gardening practices, you will meet new friends among the Master Gardeners who will endure for a lifetime.

PotMen run wild in a drab desert garden

Of course you can do more serious things with terra cotta pots than create PotMen for sculpture in your desert garden which probably looks a bit dull at this time of year. You could create a water-wise plant watering system with terra cotta ollas. Or set up a mini-fountain to provide water for thirsty lizards and birds. Or simply position large painted terra cotta pots — either solid color or elaborately designed–here and there as color in your summer monochrome garden.

But I started with PotMen, at the top of this post, who are funny and silly and, have “heads” that give you a space to grow non-traditional desert plants, such as nasturtiums, ivy and petunias like those sprouting out of the PotMens’ heads. During peak summer heat and peak sunshine those plants would not survive 24 hours, as we all know. But in the shade and in a milder season, growing those colorful flowering plants is do-able. I plant nasturtiums in pots every Spring and they thrive for a while. Meanwhile the PotMen are fun in a garden year ’round. (FWIW, I first saw these characters in Europe, not the U.S. and only found one person online offering instructions on how to make them. They are strung together with cords and propped upright with narrow slats.)

Call ollas “ancient sustainable irrigation”

Terra cotta ollas were created first thousands of years ago in North Africa, or China, or maybe in Spain or somewhere else. While no one can say definitively where it started, we can make a very good guess about “who.” A woman, somewhere, saw water seeping through a clay pot she used to keep water in her home and realized that by sinking a clay pot filled with water into the ground in her garden/fields she could spend less time hand irrigating plants. She realized the water would slowly seep out into the soil and give plant roots the water they need consistently for good growth. All she had to do was refill the pot, now more commonly known as an olla (pronounced Oy ya), every three or four days. She probably also worked with her village potter to refine the design of her “plant-waterer.” They came up with a round clay pot with a narrow neck to help prevent evaporation and a cap on top–also to slow down evaporation. That design is still used today. Ollas can also be created with ordinary clay garden pots. See DIY instructions on You Tube.

Help a lizard with its drinking habit

When I first set up a plant saucer on my patio and filled it with water it was for the Mourning Doves that live in my neighborhood. And they came and drank and began hatching little doves in the shrubs in my backyard. Success!

A month or so after I set up this mini-bubbler fountain one morning I noticed a little lizard skittering away into the leaf litter. Unlike the doves, the lizard can’t just fly over to the river for water so I continued with this mini-fountain — now more for the lizards than the doves. I have only seen one smaller lizard who could be a baby of the first one, however. In case you want to add this feature to your garden, there are small solar powered bubblers listed online for under $10.

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Control the invaders before they take over

Plant aggressive growers—like certain desert mint varieties or invasive succulents—directly into a clay pot, then bury the entire pot into the ground up to its rim. The thick terra cotta walls contain the root system to stop underground runners from taking over your garden beds. Among the aggressors: ice plants (Carpobrotus edulis) and some Sedum. Sedum Angelina is an example: it is golden yellow during summer and golden orange in the fall. It is tempting because of the color, but highly invasive.)

Nope. Find another kind.

If you are thinking about planting the Mother of Thousands, in a pot with other succulents, it will overwhelm and essentially kill the well-behaved succulents. And, worse yet, little Mother of Thousands plants will sprout up all over the place even if the original plant is in a pot. So beware! More about succulents in an upcoming newsletter.

Gorgeous large pots look great by the front door but they are tempting to thieves

Whether a classic adobe or a contemporary Southwest style home, large pots look beautiful beside the doorway. Alas, thieves think so, too. If you want to do this anyway, be sure to affix the pots to the front landing with silicon adhesive and/or by running a cable from the inside of the pot, through a flat washer and then through the hole in the bottom and lock the cable to a railing. Or you may decide to use your beautiful big pots beside the patio behind your home and leave your front door plain. Keep the beauty of terra cotta pots to yourself, your family and your friends.

Fragrant and showy African plants for your hot, dry garden

November means fewer hot days in the Northern Hemisphere but in the Southern one, it’s Spring and plants are beginning to rise up toward the sun and bloom. Happily, many, particularly from South Africa, are suitable for our hot dry gardens.

One of the most fragrant South African flowers I know and love is the Freesia, a member of the Iris family. It blooms in Springtime and then the leaves die back to the ground. While often Freesia plants are grown in pots where they may flower year after year, in most of the desert Southwest the Freesia bulbs (also called corms) are planted in the ground. If you are brave try simply leaving them in the ground. Some people prefer to dig the bulbs up and replant. Properly cared for they will bloom again for 7 to 9 years. The hybrids come in many colors, but the white and yellow blooms seem to be the most fragrant. And–maybe best of all– they are very easy to grow: just stick the bulbs in a hole 2 inches deep, cover it and then water lightly. Come Spring warmth they bloom.

Another choice is the freesia-like Tritonia, originally found in Mozambique but now common in the Cape region of South Africa. It looks similar and is very tough. Many are very fragrant, especially after dark, but two, Tritonia Pink and Tritonia Cream are fragrance free.

Iris in a desert garden is unexpected

For a more showy plant in a garden border, choose Iris, a native of Egypt in northern Africa. Its flashy blue and purple and yellow flowers are surprising in any garden and moreso in a desert environment. In hot, dry climates they grow beautifully from rhizomes, a flat, lumpy and thick root-like structure. (Not a round bulb like the Freesia has.)

I recently planned to add Iris to my garden because, not only are the flowers a visual delight, Iris leaves remain upright after blooming and add structure to a garden border. But when I saw the price for one rhizome cutting I was surprised. Ok, they were rhizome cuttings from rare/unusual Iris, but–wow, they were much more than I anticipated. So I would advise you, if you already have Iris, split your own rhizomes, and replant so you have twice as many in late Spring. You might want to offer to swap rhizome cuttings with a gardening friend or neighbor to get different colors.

How to split Iris rhizomes

After you dig up the Iris rhizome, cut the leaves back to about 5 or 6 inches then divide the rhizome by pulling it apart at the joints. If it doesn’t break easily cut it into large pieces using a sharp, knife sterilized by dipping it in bleach and water.

Okay, now here is where planting Iris is different from most plantings. Do not use compost. Do not heap mulch around the plant. Do not plant it deep. Iris like it plain and simple. Just dig a shallow hole about ten inches wide by three or four inches deep and place the rhizome with a few leaves still attached on a low mound of desert soil in the hole. Then fill the hole with the TOP of the Iris rhizome still visible. Pro Tip: If the rhizome is soft and squishy, throw it out.

South Africa is the home of gladiolus

Yes. Those big, showy “glads” in American gardens come from the original ancestor in South Africa. And here are even more plants from there suitable for desert Southwest gardens.

Gladiolus dalenii


Gladiolus These Gladiolus (Gladiolus dalenii) are a delicate version of the large, sturdy upright “glads” of summer. Our European-style upright ones are hybrids based on these South African natives. These bloom in Spring.

You may be much better off planting bulbs native to South Africa, such as the or the Watsonia borbonica, also called the Pink Watsonia or the Bugle Lily. It, too, resembles miniature gladiolus.

I wish I could tell you to plant Agapanthus, yet another South African native, but, sadly, they do not survive in desert heat.

In the next newsletter look for information about the plants from another Southern Hemisphere locale, Australia. Some of their natives thrive in our hot dry gardens.

Read our 8 most popular newsletters

  1. Hot Days, White Nights, How Design a Moon Garden
  2. Australian Plants for a Desert Garden
  3. Cover up that naked wall
  4. Best and beautiful native shrubs for extreme heat
  5. Five fragrant plants for your garden
  6. Where to get free or cheap trees for your garden
  7. Four desert trees good for soil, 4 toxic ones
  8. Plants that bloom even in mid-summer scorching heat

5 tips for winterizing your desert garden

In winter there is much more variation in temperatures in the areas called “deserts” in the Southwest–the areas where annual rainfall is low. Winter in Phoenix gives gardeners a break from those 110F daytime highs of summer. The average daytime high in Phoenix in winter is 68F and in Palm Springs it’s 72F. The average daytime winter high in Las Vegas is 58F and in El Paso it’s 59F. That sounds like good news for desert gardens — right?

But that’s only part of the story. Then there are the winter nighttime lows. If you live in central Phoenix or Palm Springs your garden will not be frost-bitten in winters. You can safely garden without worry, 12 months of the year. (Phoenix suburbs and other towns in the desert southwest at higher elevations may end up with overnight freezing temperatures, so watch your local weather report.)

Gardeners in Las Vegas, however, will have about 24 days of overnight winter frost. And dry El Paso? Wow–gardens there are enduring overnight frost as many as 75 times a year. So here are some tips about winterizing those gardens.

Tip 1: Protect against frost

Cover tender plants with frost cloths, burlap, or old sheets. Avoid plastic, which traps moisture and causes damage. Anchor coverings to the ground to trap soil warmth. Prioritize protection for citrus trees, succulents, and young ornamentals.

Tip 2: Know your plants’ limits

Not all desert plants are equally hardy. Many cacti, including the very popular Barrell Cactus, will tolerate a light frost, but suffer under prolonged hours of freezing temperatures. Prickly pear and saguaro are hardy, if they are not water-logged from too much irrigation.

Succulents, like aloe, are tougher, while others, like echeveria, are delicate. And it almost goes without saying, but I will say it anyway: non-native plants, including shrubs and trees, are especially vulnerable and can be damaged by night freezes. For example, my favorite palm tree, the Queen Palm, (Syagrus romanzoffiana) hates cold weather so I was unable to plant it safely in Las Vegas. It would have not survived the first cold winter there.

If you have plants in containers that are sensitive to freezing temperatures, bring them indoors or tuck into a sheltered patio.

Tip 3: Adjust your watering schedule

Cooler temperatures and fewer hours of sunlight mean slower evaporation so reduce watering frequency and duration to prevent root rot. Dormant plants need little to no water, while winter vegetables and annuals still require light irrigation. Pro Tip: Water before a freeze—moist soil holds heat better than dry soil.

Tip 4: Plant cool-season veggies and flowers

poppies rancho santa ana garden

Desert winters are perfect for growing leafy greens, carrots, peas, potatoes, and broccoli–particularly in raised beds. If your heart is set on flowers you can get seasonal color in winter with nasturtiums, lupines, poppies and snapdragons. They are best planted in a sheltered area. And companion planting helps maximize space and protect soil during cooler months. (More about companion planting in a future post, including wisdom from indigenous people.)

Tip 5: Mulch and enrich the soil

This is desert gardening 101: mulch, mulch and mulch some more. Moderately coarse organic mulch is the best because it performs two tasks: 1) heaped around plants it is a physical barrier insulating against summer heat, winter frost and evaporation and 2) as it decomposes gradually over time organic mulch helps balance the soil’s pH and provides nutrients to your plants.

We do not recommend using rock mulch close to plants. Rock mulch can heat up to 150 degrees Fahrenheit in direct summer sun and that will kill the plant.

And, finally, while you are working in your garden, check the drainage. Winter rains, like our summer monsoons, can clog natural flowing water paths and the water can pool and damage roots.

Happy gardening!

Keep promise write memoir ebook and paperback

Read our 8 most popular newsletters

  1. Hot Days, White Nights, How Design a Moon Garden
  2. Australian Plants for a Desert Garden
  3. Cover up that naked wall
  4. Best and beautiful native shrubs for extreme heat
  5. Five fragrant plants for your garden
  6. Where to get free or cheap trees for your garden
  7. Four desert trees good for soil, 4 toxic ones
  8. Plants that bloom even in mid-summer scorching heat

Gardening gadgets and fun stuff for your garden

Last month I promised a post about gardening gadgets, so here it is. Full disclosure: I am not making any money from these suggestions. They are simply handy things–and some fun ones–to have for your garden and for gardening.

A full-function gardener’s apron. This isn’t exactly a gadget but an durable, easy care full size apron with lots of pockets and a kangaroo pouch gives you the protection you need plus places for all your compact garden tools, gloves, sun screen, clippings and fruit you have harvested. Cost: $20 and up.

Gardener’s sleeves. These are like long sleeve, fingerless gloves to protect your arms from scratches while you’re working in the garden. And now they come in really terrific, fun patterns. I’m surprised that some internet influencer or Paris fashion house hasn’t jumped on these for style alone!

Garden kneeler and seat. There are several styles shown on Google and Amazon that let you sit or kneel while you weed the flower beds or trim the shrubs. One even has an umbrella attachment — which I like a lot. I’m not going to show any of them; there are over 20 listed on Amazon plus more at Target and Walmart. Prices run from $3o up. (There are lower priced ones, but they look flimsy and flimsy is not good.)

Pruning shears for arthritic hands. Okay, you young gardeners don’t need these now, but us older ones appreciate the ergonomic design that German engineers put into these easy-to-use clippers/shears. Their claim is that they are 3 times easier to use.

An umbrella hat is exactly what it says. A medium size umbrella you can wear to protect yourself from the sun’s dangerous rays. The downside I see to this hat is that it is large enough to bump into shrubs and low tree branches while you’re wearing it. (But now having had 3 operations for skin cancer, I strongly suggest protecting your skin.)

Mini-electric chain saw. Yep. There is now a small chain saw that runs on a battery for use in trimming branches. I would love to have one of these. They are small and lightweight — less than 2 pounds. My little garden saw is so old, dull and rusted that it is useless. Prices for the better quality mini chain saw start around $150 and go up. TIP: Check customer reviews before you buy.

Robotic lawnmower. We’ve all seen the Husqvarna ads for their new lawnmower that is guided by satellite gps. (It looks like it could be a shiny, black Mars rover!) But Segway, the people who made those funny two wheel standing vehicles, also makes a robotic lawnmower. Not cheap, of course. The Segway starts at $1,000. Husqvarna has one low priced model but most are $1,000 to $4,000. Check the reviews before you buy.

An inflatable outdoor movie screen. Yes. You can hold movie parties in your back yard this summer with an inflatable screen and outdoor projector. The screen will set you back about $120 or so. Be sure to find out if the air pump runs silently and that the screen is stable if a breeze springs up during your viewing party. You don’t want your screen sailing off over the fence into your neighbor’s yard. Outdoor movie projectors start at as little as $100 but the top of the line projectors are closer to $300.

And, finally, Eat Pizza. My favorite from last month’s newsletter: an outdoor pizza oven to feed your guests before the movie starts.

Read our 8 most popular newsletters

  1. Hot Days, White Nights, How Design a Moon Garden
  2. Australian Plants for a Desert Garden
  3. Cover up that naked wall
  4. Best and beautiful native shrubs for extreme heat
  5. Five fragrant plants for your garden
  6. Where to get free or cheap trees for your garden
  7. Four desert trees good for soil, 4 toxic ones
  8. Plants that bloom even in mid-summer scorching heat

Harvesting monsoon rain saves gardens

Climate change clearly has arrived in the American Southwest with scorching heat daily. And sadly, no monsoon rains yet, even though monsoon season officially started on June 15th. 

We all hope that storms will be sweeping in from the Gulf of Mexico and Sea of Cortes soon. That’s what the TV weather forecasters keep telling us nightly. So now is the time to prepare to capture that rain water. And by doing it now you will already be prepared to harvest rainfall again when winter storms arrive. (6 hours after I posted this a fierce monsoon storm struck Tucson. Maybe I should have posted it earlier.)

There are basically two methods to keep water in your garden for future use. One is to save it in above-ground or below-ground containers and the other is to help the rainfall percolate into the soil instead of running off your property and away from your plants.

Start with your flower beds

While most flower beds are mounded — hopefully because you add a thick layer of organic mulch twice a year — you may want to consider digging little basins in the center of the beds to capture as much rain as possible. Be careful not to damage the roots of your plants. The water will then seep into the earth for future use by the plants.

If you plant in raised boxes, be sure to have good drainage on the bottom or during a heavy downpour your planter may flood and drown the plants.

High priced infiltration or on the cheap

Infiltration, in its costly form, involves digging a large pit in your yard to hold rain runoff from your roof. This means rain gutters and downspouts must be installed. The pit must be lined with a strong, permeable material and must have an overflow to channel excess water away from your home. Water will seep from the pit into the surrounding soil, thus “irrigating from underground.” Consult a landscape architect or soils engineer if you plan to do this.

In the less expensive version of infiltration, dig or drill narrow, deep holes spaced apart in a circle around trees and shrubs. These holes will fill with rain which will then seep into the soil. To do this effectively, you may have to line the holes with strong, permeable material to prevent the sides from collapsing into the holes while allowing water to escape into the root zone. Some people recommend using French drains, those metal drain pipes with holes, installed vertically like mini-wells.

In the super-cheap version, very coarse gravel or small rocks may also keep the holes from collapsing. Deep watering like this will encourage trees and shrubs to grow deeper, stronger roots. And deeper roots mean more stability when the seasonal winds howl across the landscape in Spring and Fall.

Install cisterns or rain barrels

Our last suggestion is to add a cistern or rain barrel to capture rainfall which you can use later by pumping the water out for irrigation. Unlike infiltration which is designed to allow water to spread out underground during and after a storm, a cistern is supposed to hold water in the container, not diffuse it.

If you want to add an underground cistern–which is essentially a well filled with rainwater–you should consult with a landscape architect or soils engineer because there are engineering and permit issues involved. The sides and bottom must be sealed to prevent water from escaping and the system must have an overflow drain. If water overflows in the wrong direction you may have serious and potentially expensive erosion problems from damage to your home or your neighbor’s house!

On the other hand there is a simple way to capture rain: buy a big plastic barrel or one of the large above ground cisterns–prices start at about $70 and go up into the thousands depending upon the size. It can be a quick and easy method to store the rainfall from the downspouts on your roof to use later. The big risk here is that the rain falls so intensely that the barrel overflows and starts flooding the area before you notice it.

Are cisterns still illegal?

Happily and wisely, the laws in Colorado and Utah banning water harvesting have changed. Now Coloradans can have 2 rain barrels with a total capacity of 110 gallons of water for use on their own property. In Utah homeowners can save up to 2500 gallons of rainfall in above or below ground cisterns for use on the same property. In both these states, please check for specific regulations.

Many other states, including Texas, Nevada and California, now have laws supporting rainfall harvesting and rules regarding usage. These states now allow saving rainwater that falls on your roof and using it in your garden. Using the water for drinking water is banned in some states, discouraged in others. My advice: do not drink it. Give it to your garden.

Visit my author’s site to see the books I’ve published

Read our 8 most popular newsletters

  1. Hot Days, White Nights, How Design a Moon Garden
  2. Australian Plants for a Desert Garden
  3. Cover up that naked wall
  4. Best and beautiful native shrubs for extreme heat
  5. Five fragrant plants for your garden
  6. Where to get free or cheap trees for your garden
  7. Four desert trees good for soil, 4 toxic ones
  8. Plants that bloom even in mid-summer scorching heat

How to make wildlife happy in your garden

You’re probably happy with your gardening efforts — with good reason. After all, you…
– planted a tree on the south or west side of your home to cool it
– removed your front lawn…and perhaps kept some grass in the backyard for a children’s play area
– even added one (or more) shrubs along that concrete block wall to minimize the heat.

So congratulations!

But this post is about why you should take a second look and see your garden through the eyes of a hummingbird, lizard, butterfly, quail, ground squirrel, or other wild creature that may live in your area. (But not javelinas or bears. They are clearly not animals you want to encourage.)

You may even want to re-think your garden as a haven–a kind of “happy place”–for wild creatures in your neighborhood and, thus, deserving of being a Certified Wildlife Habitat. Complete with an official metal plaque you can order and post in your front yard.

The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and the Arizona Wildlife Federation set standards for having a Certified Wildlife Habitat and the official plaques come from them. They state that in order to be Certified a garden should provide wildlife with food, water, cover from predators, shelter for raising the young, PLUS do all this sustainably.

Start with food for wild creatures

For wildlife food the NWF suggests that you plant natives with colorful flowers and lots of seeds. It’s not necessary, however, to install only native plants because natives often bloom all at once. Other drought-tolerant plants that bloom and produce nectar or seeds at different months during the year can be suitable additions to your wildlife-friendly habitat. For example, you could plant South African natives Pink Trumpet Vine (Podranea ricasoliana) or Cape Honeysuckle (Tecoma capensis) for summer nectar for bees and birds. Humingbird and birdseed feeders can also be good additions to your backyard.

Then next to those vines, for example, plant a desert native Brittlebush (Encelia farinosa) and Mexican Gold Poppies (Escholtzia mexicana) to produce seeds. (Click below to see images of each.)

  • Pink Trumpet Vine Podranea ricasoliana
  • Capoe Honeysuckele
  • Mexican poppies in Tucson

Daily water is a must-have

To provide water, small shallow plant saucers or bowls are your best bet. Backyard fountains look glorious, but given the water problems–and potential water rationing–in the American Southwest, fountains should be disconnected and turned into planters.

Add a few small stones to the plant saucer to help smaller creatures, such as little lizards or little birds, drink comfortably from this water source.

Hidden from danger

Like humans, wildlife wants shelter from predators and shelter to raise young. These can be identical. Trees and shrubs–from short to tall–are excellent hiding places and nesting sites for birds, as well as havens for insects and lizards. These two photos, taken at the Tucson Botanical Garden, demonstrate wildlife-friendly gardening with shrubs at various heights combined with tall trees. There are also hiding places between the pots shown in the second photo.

What you don’t see in these photos are wide stretches of rock mulch with one or two plants. In a good wildlife garden at ground level, attractive ground covers, like cacti and succulents as well as Lantana montvidensis, hide small creatures from predators. Lantana is also a good food source for bees. (In the first photo a fountain appears in the back right side, but we do not recommend adding fountains these days!)

  • lantana montevidensis yellow blooms

Now, the last requirement for Certification as a Wildlife Habitat is that the garden is sustainable. You probably already do much of this: minimize or eliminate lawns, harvest water, avoid pesticides, use natural mulch, and use only drip irrigation.

Do all this and you, too, can have a Certified Wildlife Habitat. You can take the first step here.

While this post is primarily written for gardeners in the arid U.S. Southwest, these standards for a wildlife-friendly garden apply worldwide including Australia, the U.K., Cyprus, and Middle East where many Hot Gardens subscribers live. And where many native creatures are now struggling to survive due to climate change.

Read our 8 most popular newsletters

  1. Hot Days, White Nights, How Design a Moon Garden
  2. Australian Plants for a Desert Garden
  3. Cover up that naked wall
  4. Best and beautiful native shrubs for extreme heat
  5. Five fragrant plants for your garden
  6. Where to get free or cheap trees for your garden
  7. Four desert trees good for soil, 4 toxic ones
  8. Plants that bloom even in mid-summer scorching heat

Turn a love of gardening into extra cash

Mother Nature can be your BFF if you want to turn your love of gardening into a source of extra spending money. And it is so simple. All you need are inexpensive pots you can buy on Amazon or your local garden center, some potting soil and patience. Then, on a sunny Saturday, hold your “garden sale” on your driveway.

Here is how to start creating cash from plants

varigated pelagornium geranium

Take cuttings from special plants in your garden and plant them in small plastic pots–like the ones you see in the local garden center. Actually, the plants don’t have to be rarities, but they do have to be healthy. For example, if you have a sturdy geranium (Pelargonium) with pretty blooms or varigated or scented leaves, take a few 4″ to 6″ long cuttings for starters. Then stick the cuttings in a inexpensive plastic pot filled with good potting soil. And water frequently. If you think that your geranium seems too ordinary, keep in mind that you liked it enough to buy it, so, no doubt, other people will like it too. You could even have an example in bloom nearby during your garden sale so people can see how attractive it is. It may take six weeks for the geranium cutting to take root.

Divide to multiply

Another example of a plant to sell would be iris, which grow well in hot dry climates as well as looking beautiful. You should divide iris rhizomes every 2 to 5 years anyway, so why not keep some and offer others for sale? Be sure to cut the leaves back to 5 to 6 inches and clearly label the color and if the iris is a rebloomer.

Depending upon where you live, you may also have agapanthus in your garden and they are good candidates for dividing. Simply dig up the root ball, cut it into 2 or 3 large size pieces, replant one section in your garden and sell the others. You should probably divide the iris and the agapanthus just before your driveway garden sale. They should not dry out before replanting. It might also be helpful to your customers to have a little note to give them about planting iris and agapanthus. Each has different requirements.

Then there are seedlings–pick your favorite annual flowers and herbs–which should be started in very small pots again like at the garden center. Then water and wait.

Mother Nature should do her work within a few weeks. The cuttings will have taken root and the seeds should have sprouted to produce seedlings.

Advertise your private garden sale

Then hold a “garden sale” on your driveway on a Saturday morning. Post signs around your neighborhood. List your garden sale online on Craigs List or Next Door. Post notices about it on community bulletin boards. 

Before the sale begins do some research about pricing. As you probably know, iris rhizomes are expensive and agapanthus, too, so price yours accordingly. But geraniums are priced lower and herb seedlings even lower at garden centers and yours should be, too. And at the end of the garden sale day, you pocket the money you made and move any unsold pots into your back yard to continue growing until you hold your next garden sale.

Selling unusual plants for microclimates

Hot gardens plumeria blossoms
Plumeria blossoms are exceptionally fragrant and the plant–a small tree–can grow indoors.

Not long ago we spoke with a man at a California farmer’s market who had trimmed an old tropical Plumeria tree in his back garden and put the 2 foot long ends of the trimmed branches into big plastic pots filled with rich potting soil.  Several months later, when he was confident the cuttings had taken root, he held a garden sale on his driveway based on one ad on Craigs List. And he earned over two thousand dollars over two weekends.

A few weeks later he showed up at a farmers’ market with the few remaining potted Plumeria and proceeded to sell them in another couple of weekends. His goal for his garden sale was to raise money for his daughter’s college education.

One of the reasons he was so successful was that Plumeria trees had just begun making a comeback in popularity after 50 years of being pretty much ignored.  His Plumeria was also of a rare color, which made it all the more desirable and allowed him to charge higher prices.

It’s important to note that Plumerias need a sheltered microclimate in a Southwest desert garden; their leaves will burn when subject to intense, all day sunlight. (Sorry, Phoenix, no plumeria trees for you.) On the other hand, they do well in Mediterranean climates where the temperature doesn’t rise over 90-95F very often.

Cacti and condos – meant for each other

A retired couple we know sell succulents and cacti in small, colorful pots at a local open air market for extra retiree income. Cacti and succulents are often the plants of choice with apartment and condo owners because they grow very slowly and can be ignored for weeks without whithering and dying. Of course, cacti and succulents are the mainstay of many desert gardens so homeowners are also potential buyers.

And as with the other garden sale ideas in this post, Mother Nature does most of the work in producing the products you sell. And you harvest the profits.

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Read our 8 most popular newsletters

  1. Hot Days, White Nights, How Design a Moon Garden
  2. Australian Plants for a Desert Garden
  3. Cover up that naked wall
  4. Best and beautiful native shrubs for extreme heat
  5. Five fragrant plants for your garden
  6. Where to get free or cheap trees for your garden
  7. Four desert trees good for soil, 4 toxic ones
  8. Plants that bloom even in mid-summer scorching heat

Follow the 90 degree rule for planting

Fall is definitely the best time to plant in hot, dry Western gardens. It’s actually a good time to plant in much of the world, because, after all, Fall is when Mother Nature sows seeds.

But not just any Fall day will do. In the desert southwest, including parts of Texas and California, you should wait until the average daytime temperature drops under 90F before you plant.

The issue isn’t only the air temperature, but the temperature of the ground. The soil, especially native soil, is far too warm now for the roots of transplants to grow. Between the dehydrating effect of the air temperature on new leaves and the “cooking” effect of the hot earth on the roots, new transplants may not survive very long even if you water them frequently.

Where to get a free or cheap tree for your home.

How to protect your transplants

Clematis in bloom
The Clematis jackmanii in my backyard.

However, if you just can’t wait to start gardening again after a summer hiatus, you may be able to protect your transplants by placing a piece of tile or broken terra cotta pot over the root zone, thus keeping it cool.

I did this with a Clematis Jackmanii, a plant not commonly found in a hot, dry garden. I planted it by a trellis in a very sheltered corner with a broken piece of pot over the root zone. It grew and bloomed then over winter it died back. The following spring it rose from the seemingly dead to climb the trellis and bloom again. To see other climbing plants for hot dry gardens, to here.


You could also add shade cloth to help reduce the temperature.

Should you avoid planting in native soil?

I have to admit that the Clematis was not planted in purely native soil. In most of the Southwest the soil is alkaline and lacking many of those tasty chemicals that hungry plants need. Realizing this, I made sure the Clematis was installed in a flower bed with super-enriched soil made mostly of organic mulch. And remulching twice a year is a must with our poor quality dirt which leeches all the good chemicals out of the mulch into the dirt within months. “Poor dirt” returns to being “poor dirt” rather quickly.

Another approach is to plant in raised beds, but those large wooden or metal boxes can become rather expensive. So, consider going to Amazon to find grow bags for a more affordable solution.

They come in small, medium and large and are good for growing almost every type of vegetable or herb. You can fill these bags with soil you buy at the garden center or mix native soil into the bag with commercial potting or top soil. And all the good, nutritious chemicals in the growing mixture end up feeding your plants — not dissolving into the surrounding soil.

Prickly Pears may save us all

Well, I’m late with this, but according to a five-year study at the University of Nevada Reno, those ubiquitous prickly pear cacti (Opuntia) can become a new source of bioenergy feedstock to replace fossil fuel. This cactus also does double-duty as a land-based carbon sink removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it in a sustainable manner. Just like trees do.

This is especially important because, according to a biologist at Saguaro National park as the climate in Arizona and around the world is changing prickly pear cacti are becoming more common. They really like the new weather conditions and poor quality soil is no problem for them. So add a prickly pear to your garden to help with the changing climate. And keep in mind that prickly pear jam is delicious!

Read our 8 most popular newsletters

  1. Hot Days, White Nights, How Design a Moon Garden
  2. Australian Plants for a Desert Garden
  3. Cover up that naked wall
  4. Best and beautiful native shrubs for extreme heat
  5. Five fragrant plants for your garden
  6. Where to get free or cheap trees for your garden
  7. Four desert trees good for soil, 4 toxic ones
  8. Plants that bloom even in mid-summer scorching heat

Gates to hide secret gardens and courtyards

Summer heat has arrived and planting season is behind us in the Southwest. If your gardening urge is still strong, there are other additions and/or changes you can make at this time of year starting with landscape features — the walls and garden gates around your home.

In newer communities in the Southwest, grey concrete block walls on three sides of a property are pretty much standard. In Tucson, perhaps because of its long ties with Mexico and Spain, many homeowners–especially in older neighborhoods–go one step further and enclose the front yard to create a private, family courtyard. And with walls on four sides, the garden gate entry to this secluded area becomes a very important statement.

So be inspired by these photos. Some are of very expensive custom stuccoed walls with garden gates designed by artists. But there others that use standard, off-the-shelf elements and even one that falls within the do-it-yourself range. And a simple coat of paint on a gray block wall or iron fence can always bring new life to a desert garden.

Fearless color and custom gates

One would expect a Spanish Revival home behind this wall and custom garden gate, but actually the house looks more like a Craftsman home that has been painted dark chocolate brown with orange trim. The gate with its sunburst is clearly Arizonan, but not a visual barrier. Definitely no fear here–well, except for that coiled snake on the left.

Another orange/terra cotta wall, but with a far less elaborate–and less expensive–gate. It is an ordinary door, painted deep blue. The sugar skull design appears to have been routed out of a thin panel of wood, but using paint for the face would create a similar look. The lights on either side of the door have pierced clay covers. Privacy is clearly important to these homeowners. But where is the door bell? I’m not sure.

Three doors that are almost medieval. All three appear to be handcrafted with found or repurposed wood. And each says “Stay Out”. The small sign on the brown wood door with a lion knocker states that the person standing there is under video surveillance. I guess some people are friendlier than others.

Gates across your driveway

  • garden gate with giraffe

Driveway gates with decoration added. The teddy bear parade gives passers-by laugh, especially with the giraffe, far right, peaking over the wall. In the second photos, the actual gate to the house is quite open. And in the third image at another home, the trickster Kokopelli playing his flute guards the drive.

Less expensive and very Arizonan

An ocotillo branch fence — a tradition that goes back thousands of years. The indigenous people used ocotillo for fencing, as well as for “roofs” on their ramadas long before any Europeans showed up. You may be able to collect ocotillo branches yourself, or they are available for purchase at a few stores I found online.

Another use of ocotillo on a gate. This one, however, seems to be a hybrid of the medieval fortress gates and ones using natural materials.

Rustic and charming

This is a charmingly rustic, do-it-yourself sunburst garden gate. It appears someone dismantled an ordinary gate and inserted painted metal elements representing the Arizona environment: cacti, mountains and a sunburst. The wall has been artificially “aged” by incomplete exposure of the brick. Fun!

Painting a iron gate and fence purple gives a customized look to what is probably an off-the-shelf addition to this Spanish Revival cottage and garden.

True confession: I love this gate and wall. 100% found and repurposed materials aging naturally in the Arizona sun. And who knows what lies behind; it’s on the edge of a light industrial area. In the second image, it is apparent that the red door was once something else that looks as if it is from India. Repurposed on an entirely different continent!

One last comment: if your homeowners association bans front yard walls or if you prefer not to add one, see the 6 distinctively different desert landscape designs on this website. They range from woodland to dry creek bed. All are open to the street.

Read our 8 most popular newsletters

  1. Hot Days, White Nights, How Design a Moon Garden
  2. Australian Plants for a Desert Garden
  3. Cover up that naked wall
  4. Best and beautiful native shrubs for extreme heat
  5. Five fragrant plants for your garden
  6. Where to get free or cheap trees for your garden
  7. Four desert trees good for soil, 4 toxic ones
  8. Plants that bloom even in mid-summer scorching heat