Blog - Ramblings from a Desert Garden

With the imminent arrival of fall, I can’t wait to get to the nursery to choose plants for some empty spots in my landscape. Each year, I do an inventory or audit of my garden and look at plants that are struggling or just not adding much to my outdoor space.

If you are like me, you may be thinking of adding plants this fall too.

In my career as a horticulturist, I’ve designed, planted and overseen the installation of thousands of plants over the years.

As you can imagine, I have accrued tips along the way of how-to and how NOT to select the best plants for the landscape.

Plant nursery at The Living Desert Museum in Palm Desert, CA

In my online course, Desert Gardening 101, one of the very first sections deals with how to best choose plants from the nursery. Today, I’d like to share with you some of my favorite tips on how to select the best plants at the nursery that will save you money and future problems.

Earlier this month, I wrote about how important it is to research plants before buying. This is a crucial step to make sure that you are select a plant that will thrive in your climate.

I encourage you to take a few minutes to read these tips, which could save you from buyer’s remorse and a dead plant.

Foxglove for sale in front of an Arizona big box store nursery. This lovely perennial is not the easiest plant to grow in the desert garden.

1. Avoid impulse buys.

Believe it or not, some nurseries carry plants that will NOT grow well in your area. There are many times I have seen hydrangeas offered at my local big box store. While I would LOVE to be able to grow hydrangea in my Southwest garden, I know that within a few weeks of planting – it will soon languish and die.

Don’t assume that just because your local nursery sells a certain type of plant, that it will grow in your climate. Sadly, this is particularly true of big box stores.

Why do the stores stock plants that won’t grow in the local climate? The answer is simple – most people are drawn to these plants because they are colorful and beautiful. So, they inevitably purchase them assuming that they will grow in their garden. A few weeks later, they are dismayed when their new plant becomes sickly and dies. This leads to many people believing that they have a black thumb.

2. Smaller sizes can be better.

In many cases, skipping over the larger-sized plant in favor of one in a smaller-sized container is the better choice.

Of course, there is the amount of money you will save, but did you know that the smaller plants have an easier time becoming established?

Smaller plants are younger and are better able to handle the shock of being transplanted than older plants. In addition, they have less upper growth (branches, leaves & stems) to support, so they can focus on growing roots, which is vital to its growth rate.

Bigger and older plants aren’t as adaptable and take an extended length of time to grow.

Planting smaller plants works best with those that have a moderate to fast growth rate. For plants that take have a slow rate of growth, you may want to select a larger plant size.

Another bonus is that in addition to saving money, you don’t have to dig as large a hole!

Root-bound plant

3. Avoid plants that have been in their containers too long.

Sometimes, nurseries don’t sell plants as quickly as they’d like. So what happens when a plant sits in a container too long?

The roots start growing around and around each other causing the plant to become root-bound. Once roots grow this way, they have a hard time growing outward into the soil as they should. Eventually, the plant will can decline and even die.

How can you tell if a plant has been in its container too long?

– Look for signs such as weeds growing in the pot, which indicates that it may have been in the nursery for a while.

– Are there any dead leaves inside the pot? This is also an indicator that it may have been sitting in the nursery for a long time.

– See if roots are growing through the drainage holes – if so, that is a clear indication of a plant that has been its container too long.

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If you have brought a plant that turns out to be root bound, you can help it out. Take a box cutter or ‘hori-hori’ garden knife which is a soil knife that is useful for cutting and digging. I use it to make a series of vertical cuts around the root ball so that you are cutting through the circled roots. Do this on the bottom too.

By cutting the roots, you are disrupting the circular growth pattern, and they should be able to grow out into the surrounding soil.

4. Select healthy plants.

While most plants at the nursery are usually healthy and in good shape, this isn’t always the case.

Avoid plants with yellow leaves, which can be a sign of incorrect watering. Look for signs of any yellow or brown spots on the leaves as well, which can be a sign of disease. Also, check for signs of disease such as insects or the presence of webs or chewed leaves.

Bringing any plants home with a disease or damaging insects can inadvertently infect your existing plants.

Check the soil in the pot and if appears overly moist or has a funny odor, walk away. Overwatered plants rarely do well.

5. Select plants that are grown locally whenever possible.

In Arizona, where I live, many plants found in our nurseries are grown in California. (I don’t have anything against things from California – I grew up there 😉

However, plants that are grown in a different climate and then brought over to another one can have a tough time adapting to the new climate unless they have had time to ‘harden off’ and adjust to the weather conditions.

When possible, choose plants grown by local growers. Not only will the plants have an easier time becoming established, but you will also be supporting your local economy.

Do you have any plant-buying tips? Please share them in the comments.

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The signs that fall is approaching are sometimes so subtle that it is easy to miss them. But, they are there just the same.

You may notice the lengthening shadows on your way home from work, signaling shorter days. Or maybe you’ve noticed that you aren’t rushing indoors as quickly as you did earlier this summer.

Fall is a time to celebrate the end of hot summer temperatures and what better way to do that than to venture out into the garden again?

Before you head out to shop for plants, it’s important to pick the right ones or you may be left with a dead or struggling plant and a thinner wallet.

Here is my most important piece of advice before you head to the nursery:

Research plants before buying.

It sounds simple, doesn’t it? But you would be surprised to learn that most people don’t research plants before they add them to their landscape.

There are three questions you should have the answers to before planting.

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1. Know how large your plant will grow at maturity.

Neglecting to get the answer to this question can have unfortunate results.

This homeowner had ficus trees planted in the raised bed around their swimming pool.

Now, when you look at this picture, you may be wondering why would anyone plant ficus trees in this area.

Newly planted ficus tree

Well, it goes without saying that new plants are much smaller than they will be once they are planted and have a chance to grow.

Mature ficus tree.

But, once plants are in the ground and begin growing, that small little plant can increase in size exponentially. In this case, the ficus looks like it is ready to swallow up this house.

Over-planted shrubs

Another example of not researching the mature size of plants can be seen in many landscapes throughout the Southwest.

In a nutshell, the small 1 foot tall and wide shrub in the nursery can grow more than 10X its original size.

2. Know what exposure the plant does best in.

Putting a plant that needs full sun in a shady spot will result in a leggy plant with few leaves and almost no flowers.

What a plant that does best in filtered shade looks like when planted in full sun.

Conversely, if you place a plant that does best in the filtered shade in an area that gets full, afternoon sun – it will suffer.

You will save yourself a lot of time, money and frustration by simply placing plants in the exposure they like.

3. What type of maintenance will your plant require?

Fuss-free Eremophila ‘Summertime Blue’

Some plants need frequent pruning, fertilizing and protection from pests.

Others are what I like to call ‘fuss-free’ and need little else besides water.

The amount of maintenance a plant needs is largely dependent on whether or not it is native or adapted to your client.

For example in the Phoenix area where I live, queen palms are very popular. The problem is, is that they are not particularly well-adapted to our desert climate.

In fact, it is rare to see a healthy queen palm growing in the greater Phoenix area. Frequent applications of palm fertilizer are required to get them to look okay and even then, they will never look as good as those growing in Florida or California.

I don’t like to fuss over plants except for a couple of rose bushes in my garden, so I am a strong proponent of using native or adapted plants that need little pruning, no fertilizer and aren’t bothered by insect pests.

Now we know three important questions to get answered before selecting plants for your garden.

So, where can you go for the answers to these questions?

There are a few different places you can go to find out these as well as other questions.

Master gardeners are an invaluable resource and their job is to help people learn how to grow plants successfully. You can call them, email your questions or stop by and talk to them in person.

Take some time to visit your local botanical garden. Write down which plants you like, or snap a photo of them with your phone. Note how large they are and what type of exposure they are growing in.

5 Tips for Choosing Plants From the Nursery