Newsletter Spring - Hot Gardens

Hot Gardens Newsletter: Spring

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 be prepared by 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. Fertilize them now.
Two color hedges

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 camara) 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.

Lantana camara hedge mixed colors
A mixed planting of Lantana camara makes a very colorful hedge that blooms for months and months on end.

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.
5. Sunflowers. 6. Mexican Bird of Paradise.

Take online tours of botanical gardens

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!

Tucson Botanical garden blue herb garden

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