Have you ever noticed circular areas missing from your leaves? If so, you aren’t alone. The other day I noticed several of my plants with neat semi-circular sections missing. But, was I worried? Nope, and I’ll tell you why in my latest garden video.
Has this happened in your garden? What plants were affected?
A ‘Painted Lady’ butterfly drinking nectar from a lantana.
Do you know someone who has a green thumb? Usually, it’s someone with a beautiful garden that stands out among their neighbors with thriving plants that flourish.
While you may think people with green thumbs are born and not made, I’ll let you in on a BIG secret – behind every green thumb is a trail of many dead plants.
It’s true. There isn’t a single experienced gardener who has never had a plant die in their garden. Of course, someone with a green thumb may be hesitant to reveal this fact, and you may not notice because dead or failing plants are usually pulled out before people notice.
I’m not exempt from this either – I’ve had many plants die on my watch.
Newly planted ‘Blue Bell’ (Eremophila hygrophana) shrubs
Believe it or not, the fact that plants die in your garden helps you to become better at growing them. While your first inclination may be to get frustrated about the loss of a plant, look at it as a gardening lesson instead.
“Every dead plant is an opportunity to learn about what went wrong and how to avoid it in the future and become a better gardener in the process.”
There are several factors that can affect whether or not a plant does well. These include the following:
New ‘Blonde Ambition’ (Bouteloua gracilis)
Researching plants before purchasing them will help you to avoid potential problems. But often the best way to learn how a plant will do is to grow them yourself.
Of course, it’s never a good idea to put a shade-loving plant in full sun, or vice versa as you’ll probably be replacing it soon.
As a horticulturist, I experiment in my garden with newer plants that have come onto the market. Several years ago, I planted several ‘Blonde Ambition’ (Bouteloua gracilis) grasses. I had heard a few different tips about how to grow them and the best exposure – one says that filtered sun is a must while another person says it can handle full sun. So, I am trying them out in my front yard to see for myself where they will receive filtered shade until the afternoon when they will be blasted by the sun. UPDATE – they do best in full sun 🙂
*One fun bonus of being a horticulturist is that growers often send plants for free so I can try them and give them feedback about how they grow in a low-desert garden.
A new Parry’s penstemon (Penstemon parryi) finds a home next to my gopher plant (Euphorbia biglandulosa).
Other things that can affect how new plants will do are nearby plants – specifically trees.
One month later.
A tree that creates dense shade will make it difficult for many flowering plants to do anything but grow foliage at the expense of flowers. However, filtered shade from desert natives such as mesquite and palo verde create an ideal environment for many blooming plants that enjoy a little respite from the full sun.
New varieties of autumn sage with the brand new lavender ‘Meerlo’.
Sometimes, there isn’t much information available on new plant introductions and how they will do in an area with extreme weather such as our hot, dry one. In this area, a grower sent me plants to see how they would fare in a low desert garden. From past experience, I knew that salvia would need some shade, but the lavender was a mystery. I’ve seen some other species of lavender doing well in full sun while others doing well in filtered shade.
As you can see, the ‘Meerlo’ lavender did very well in my zone 9 garden even though the actual information on the plant tag states that it does best in zone 8 and below.
This is a lesson that I could have only learned by trying out this plant in my garden. While it could have died, it didn’t and I’ve learned from the experience, which adds to my overall garden knowledge.
So, the next time you find a dead plant in your garden, see if you can figure out why it died and learn from it. Sometimes plants die when they should be thriving for no apparent reason. Nature isn’t always predictable and sometimes you may have no answers, but you’ll be surprised at what you can learn, and before you know it, your thumb may slowly turn ‘green’.
Fuss-Free Plants for Fall Planting
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to take another photo of a landscape I passed by in a neighborhood where I had just finished up a landscape consultation.
Sadly, I often see examples of truly ‘interesting’ or should I say ‘bad’ pruning. I drove by this landscape and then made a U-turn so that I could take a quick photo…
Shrub pruning
I don’t know about you, but these Texas sage shrubs look like mushrooms, don’t you think?
Sadly, pruning these beautiful flowering shrubs this way, robs them of their flowers, increases maintenance, creates dead wood and shortens their life.
While there are quite a few shrubs that take well to repeated formal pruning – doing this to flowering shrubs should be avoided.
I must admit that I have seen Texas sage and other flowering shrubs pruned into many different shapes…
But, let me be frank – shrubs aren’t meant to be cupcakes, frisbees or gumdrops
If you are tired of the time and money it takes to maintain flowering shrubs the ‘wrong’ way. I invite you to join me in my online shrub pruning workshop where I will teach you the right way to prune.
Imagine your outdoor space filled with beautiful, flowering shrubs instead of green ‘balls’. Believe it or not, the shrubs in the photo above are the SAME plant – they have just been maintained differently. The one on the left takes much more money and time and the other thrives with pruning once (or twice) a year.
In my online class, I show you how to work with your landscaper or how you can take care of your shrubs yourself. Got ‘green balls’ already in your landscape? I’ll teach you how to rejuvenate them and the best time of year to do it.
So, ditch the ‘green blobs’ in your yard and learn how to prune with confidence – it’s much easier than you think. Learn more here and what students have to say about the class.
One of the most popular trees for arid climates is the ‘Desert Museum’ Palo Verde. Once you see one, it’s easy to see why it is present in so many residential, commercial, and community areas.
Its medium-green trunk, feathery foliage, and golden flowers, that appear in late spring, add beauty to any landscape. Another characteristic of this palo verde tree is that is has a moderate to fast rate of growth. The branches lets in enough sunlight so many plants can grow underneath its canopy.
BUT, there is another side to these lovely trees that may dissuade people from growing them and that is wind damage.
I’ve heard murmurs from people who don’t want to plant these trees any longer because of their susceptibility to damage from high winds.
However, most of these problems are caused by improper maintenance, poor location, and not selecting the right ‘type’ of Desert Museum palo verde.
I have three ‘Desert Museum’ palo verdes around my house. They range in age from 10 to 20 years old. In all that time, I have not lost a single one. Of course, there has been a couple of instances of branch breakage, but the trees recovered nicely. Broken branches is a natural part of life with trees – particularly those native to the desert.
So, how can you enjoy the beauty of this tree while lessening the danger of wind damage? As a retired certified arborist, I’m here to tell you that there are definitely things you can do.
1. Water deeply to a depth of 3 feet. Deep roots are key to the stability of a tree and also decreases the chance of uplifting roots. Apply water toward the outer reaches of the branches where the roots are concentrated. As a tree grows, there roots move outward, so move your drip emitters or hose as needed.
Be sure to plant in an area where there is adequate area for root growth. Parking lot islands and narrow areas don’t allow enough room for roots to anchor the tree.
2. Irrigate less frequently avoid your tree growing too fast. This is a big cause of wind damage with palo verde trees. It’s important to remember that they are desert trees and don’t need as much water as other plants in the landscape. But, people often overwater their desert trees, which causes them to grow too quickly. This causes the formation of weak wood because they haven’t had the time to grow strong trunks and branches. In the photo above, notice how thin the multiple trunks are.
Established native desert trees, that have been in the ground for at least 3 years, can follow these general guidelines – water 1 to 2X a month in spring/fall, 2 to 3X a month in summer, and monthly in winter. These guidelines are for our current drought situation but can be modified as needed.
3. Prune your tree correctly. There are examples of awful pruning. One common one is known as ‘lion-tailing’ which is when trees have been over-pruned so the majority of the tree is devoid of branches except for the very top. This pruning deprives the branches of foliage needed to produce energy for the tree and to increase tree strength. It also increases the amount of overhanging branches toward the top making the tree more likely to fall.
Many landscapers don’t know the right way to prune trees and can inadvertently cause harm to your tree. I highly recommend enlisting the services of a certified arborist to prune your tree correctly.
4. Select a multi-trunk form of palo verde instead of one growing on a single trunk. Desert trees naturally in a multiple trunk form, which distributes the weight of the upper branches. Palo verde trees that have been trained to grow on a single trunk, are under more stress from the wind with their heavy top half. The majority that you see fallen have been trained into a single-trunk tree.
5. ‘Desert Museum’ palo verde trees generally need pruning at least once (sometimes twice) a year. You want to be sure to prune them before the onset of monsoon season – removing any heavy weight or branches that are weakly attached.
Palo verde trees are a great choice for the desert garden that add welcome beauty and shade. If you have a ‘Desert Museum’ palo verde (or other native desert tree), I encourage you to follow these tips to help ensure a beautiful and stable tree for years to come.
Want to learn more about this and other palo verde tree species? Check out my previous blog post here.
Have you ever had a sunburn? Maybe a better question is, “Who hasn’t?”
Well, did you know that many plants get too much as well?
I recently made a house call for a client who was worried about her newly planted citrus trees.
Sunburned Citrus
This particular client has a large courtyard with several new citrus trees in pots.
The citrus were planted in spring and as summer progressed, the client noticed the leaves on her orange tree turning yellow.
Now yellow leaves can indicate a number of different problems. But in this case, the diagnosis was rather simple – her citrus tree has a case of sunburn.
Here are some common signs of sunburned plants:
– The areas of the leaf that are yellow are in the center and NOT along the tips or edges.
– Often, the yellow areas begin to turn brown.
– Signs normally occur in the summer months.
– The sunburned leaves are usually located on the south and west-facing parts of the plant.
– This particular citrus tree is in an area that receives reflected, afternoon sun.
So, what can you do to prevent sunburned citrus?
In this case, the solution is simple – moving the citrus tree to another part of the courtyard that receives afternoon shade is all that is needed to prevent further sunburn damage. OR, 50% shade cloth can be used from mid-May through September.
Citrus do best when planted at least 10 – 15 ft. away from walls, which absorb the heat of the day and re-radiate it out.
Avoid planting where they get the full force of afternoon sun.
Summers in the desert garden are hot. That’s no surprise. However, there are periods within these hot months that temperatures climb higher than normal. Because of this, we do need to help protect our gardens from the effects of a heatwave.
So, what is considered a heatwave in the low to mid-altitude desert? As a rule, when the mercury edges above 110 degrees F. During a heatwave, they can even go close to 120 degrees – ouch!
Thankfully, there are things you can do to help prepare the plants within your garden right now.
Water your plants deeply the night before three – four day span of 110+ degree are forecast. This is in addition to your regular drip irrigation schedule.
The goal of this supplemental irrigation is to water deeply. This allow the soil to stay moister for longer, which will benefit your plants.
Under normal circumstances, I water my plants for 1 1/2 hours. However, in preparation of a heatwave, I water 2-3 hours. Plants will need more water in order to deal with the extreme temps and the extra water that will be lost to the atmosphere through their leaves.
Don’t do this every night, only every 4 days or so during a heatwave.
Provide temporary shade for young plants in your landscape as they are more susceptible to stress from a heatwave.
This is because they don’t have a well-established root system to uptake much water and sparser foliage, so there aren’t many leaves to shade other parts of the plant.
Shade cloth is useful for protection lasting over several months. But for short-term shade during a heatwave, you can use burlap, sheets, an umbrella, or even place a patio chair over a susceptible plant. Uncover plants once temperatures are within the normal range.
Hot temperatures are a fact of life during the desert summer as are heatwaves. But, implementing one, or both, of these tips will help the plants in your garden.
For more tips for heat-proofing your garden, check out Heatproof Garden: 5 Amazing Tips.
Many of us are familiar with how over-pruning can take away much of the beauty of flowering shrubs, in addition to contributing to their early death.
But, have you ever wondered what they look on the inside?
I found this ‘ugly’ example alongside the drive-thru of Taco Bell.
Over Pruned Shrubs
It isn’t pretty, is it?
The side of the ‘Green Cloud’ Texas Sage was sheared away because it was growing over the curb.
The result of planting the shrub too close, OR the wrong plant in the wrong space .
You can see the thin layer of leaves that cover the shrub and the dark, interior where sunlight seldom reaches.
This isn’t healthy for your shrubs, shortens their lifespan, and increases the amount of water they require.
If this resembles your shrub(s), the good news is that you can often fix them.
Imagine going from the shrub on the left to the one on the right?
It is possible and often a certain type of pruning known as ‘rejuvenation pruning’ is the way to do this.
In my online shrub pruning workshop I love teaching my students how to rejuvenate their over-pruned shrubs.
It’s important to not that not all shrubs respond to rejuvenation pruning, but Cassia (Senna species), Sage (Leucophyllum species), Ruellia, Fairy Duster (Calliandra species) and Lantana shrubs respond well as long as they aren’t too old and healthy.
I encourage you to declare your landscape free of shrubs pruned into balls, cupcakes, and squares and transform it into one filled with beauty 🙂
Photo: Landscape No-No
Have you ever driven past a landscape that had some problems with it? As a horticulturist and landscape consultant, my attention diverts whenever I see ‘Landscape No-No’s’ like this one.
Awhile ago, I shared the photo of the landscape, above, on my Facebook page and invited people to identify three things wrong with the landscape. I received a lot of comments including “looks like Versailles by the inept” and “shrubs arranged like funny looking ottomans spread across gravel.”
It’s important to not that my reasons for showing examples like this aren’t to shame the homeowners. Instead, my goal is to help others to learn to identify problems and give them easy steps to correct or avoid them in the first place.
So, using this landscape as an example, let’s look at the problems and later, focus on how to solve them:
It’s obvious that there are too many plants in this area and the mature size of the shrubs wasn’t factored in the original design. The types of flowering shrubs in this area – desert ruellia (Ruellia peninsularis), Baja fairy duster (Calliandra californica), and ‘Green Cloud’ sage (Leucophyllum frutescens ‘Green Cloud’) are good choices. The problem is that they are spaced too closely together and pruned the wrong way.
As you can see, there is a tree, a couple of succulents (prickly pear cactus & yucca), and a LOT of shrubs. However, the landscape suffers from an overabundance of shrubs.
These lovely, flowering shrubs have been turned into anonymous, green blobs, lacking in beauty and character. In fact, you would have to look closely to be able to identify what each shrub is. The problem has to do with what is missing from this landscape, which are attractive shrubs allowed to grow into their natural shapes, covered in colorful flowers. Other problems associated with maintaining flowering shrubs this way is that it is stressful for the plant, shortens their lifespan, causes to them to use more water to regrow their leaves, and creates more maintenance.
Now that we have identified the problems, we can now look at the solutions. I will use the landscape above as my example:
Photo: Which one would you rather have? Learn how to maintain shrubs the right way in the desert garden in my popular shrub pruning workshop
Photo: Attractive desert landscape with room for plants to grow
Here is a snapshot of a landscape area at the Desert Botanical Garden where plants have room to grow and are allowed to grow into their natural shape and form.
Transforming the problematic landscape shown earlier, and others like it isn’t difficult, and the results are dramatic. What you are left with is a beautiful landscape filled with healthy plants that use less water and needs little maintenance.
If you are tired of shapeless shrubs shaped like green blobs, I invite you to learn more about how to prune ‘right’ way in my online Shrub Pruning Workshop.
Let’s face it. Hot summers are not surprising to desert dwellers. In fact, a typical desert garden with native and desert-adapted plants will weather intense heat with little fuss.
However, this summer has been one for the books and I’ve seen signs of heat-stress that I’ve never seen before. And yes, within my own garden.
Heat-stressed Rock Penstemon and Golden Barrel Cactus
I must admit that it’s been hard to see certain plants struggling in my desert garden and I know you may have similar feelings. So, why has this summer been so much more difficult than others?
Pink Trumpet Vine partially defoliated due to the heat
While it is normal to have several days above 110 degrees F., the summer of 2020 is one for the record books. We have experienced not just a couple of stretches of above-normal temps but, several long spans of infernal heat. Damage to plants is often cumulative. This means that the more days of above-average (or below-average) temperatures – the higher incidence of reaction from plants.
Take a walk outside in your garden. You will likely notice some plants that are yellowing, wilting, or have given up and died. However, you may also note that there are some that are doing well.
Why is that? Let me show you some examples from my own garden – the good AND the ugly.
New Mexican Fence Post cactus transplants
In March, much of my backyard was renovated. This included the addition of two separate plantings of Mexican Fence Post cacti. They are located along my back wall and as you can see, one is doing very well while the other makes me cringe when I see the yellowing.
Does the yellowing cactus need more or less water? No. Many succulents yellow in response to summer heat. Of course, this very hot summer has made it more severe. So, why the difference between the two?
The one on the left gets filtered shade in the afternoon from a nearby Palo Verde tree. You can tell that the one on the right doesn’t get any shade but full afternoon sun. In a normal summer, it would be normal to see some yellowing that will return to green once temperatures cool. I am hopeful that will happen. As plants age, they tend to handle heat stress better and as these are young, the stress was especially severe.
Signs of heat stress
In another area of my garden, I have Green Desert Spoon and Hardy Spineless Prickly Pear, which are very heat-adapted. Yet, they do show signs of mild heat-stress that I haven’t seen before. But, they will green back up in fall. Other plants that are struggling include Artichoke Agave, Gopher Plant, and Shrubby Germander.
I am thrilled that my young Desert Willow tree in this photo is thriving despite the heat. I have four others scattered throughout my landscape and all are doing just as well.
Young Baja Ruellia (Ruellia peninsularis) doing very well. The neighbor’s Dwarf Myrtle isn’t.
‘Sparky’ Tecoma shrub (Tecoma ‘Sparky’)
Pink Muhly (Muhlenbergia capillaris). Will soon burst forth in burgundy plumes in fall.
Gold Lantana in full sun all day
Feathery Cassia, Purple Trailing Lantana, and Yellow Bell shrubs are also doing well.
Here are a couple of exceptional performers that get full, reflected sun:
‘Rio Bravo’ Texas Sage
Bougainvillea
We don’t know if this summer will be an anomaly or the beginning of a new normal. But, instead of throwing in the towel, I invite you to do the following instead:
Take a stroll through your garden and take note of which plants are doing well and those that aren’t. If this is to be the new norm, it would be a good idea to add more of those that handle the heat well.
I am not going to make any major changes in my own garden. Most of my plants have done just fine in past summers. I’ll replace the few plants that died but am hopeful that next summer will be one with average temperatures. If not, then I know what plants have withstood the heat best.
Before we know it, fall will be here, and I for one, can’t wait!
Gorgeous Germander for Desert Gardens
Have you ever paused in the shade of a mesquite tree (Prosopis spp.) and noticed that its branches grow every which way?
I was reminded of this when I was visiting a client earlier this week and was advising him on how to care for his mesquite tree. I looked up and saw a cluster of branches growing up, down, sideways, and in curvy pathways.
Texas Honey Mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa)
In an ideal situation, mesquite trees resemble the shape of more traditional tree species, as shown above. However, they don’t always turn out this way.
Have you ever wondered why mesquite trees grow in such crazy ways?
The answer is quite simple – in nature, mesquites grow as large shrubs. The branches of shrubs grow in all directions, up, down, sideways, etc., and so do mesquites.
The problem arises when we train them up as trees, and their branches don’t always behave as trees do. Because of this, mesquites that have been pruned into trees, do best being pruned by a professional, particularly when they are young and certain branches are being chosen to remain while others are pruned off.
Of course, this doesn’t always happen, and you can see the results of bad pruning practices in many places.
I do love the shade that mesquite trees provide and I must admit that I enjoy a good chuckle when I see the unusual shapes that some mesquite trees have taken.
How about you? Have you ever seen a mesquite tree with crazy branches?
