Cooling the block walls around your patio, the same walls that are working against you right now.
Your patio is boxed in by block wall on three sides, and right now that wall is doing the opposite of what you want. It soaks up sun all day and radiates heat back at you in the evening, especially on the west side where the afternoon sun hits it directly.
This plan puts living shade and screening along every hot wall, softens the reflected heat, and replaces the dead soil left behind by the artificial turf with real, living ground. Three zones, plus a ground cover decision for you to make.
Hopseed Screen
This wall takes the brunt of the afternoon sun and gets hot to the touch. A line of hopseed along the base will shade the block itself as it fills in, breaking up that heat instead of letting the wall bounce it straight back onto your patio.
There's about 3 feet of space between the block wall and the concrete, currently covered in artificial turf. That turf comes out first. Because it's been sitting on top of dead, compacted soil, we'll amend the entire strip with compost before planting so the hopseed actually has something to root into, then finish with a layer of mulch to hold moisture and keep the soil cool.
- Dense, fast-growing evergreen screen, keeps its leaves year-round
- Tolerant of heat, reflected sun, and poor soil once established
- Takes well to shaping if you ever want a tighter hedge line
- Low water once rooted in
Desert Willow, Corner Shade Tree
In the corner where the east and north walls meet, we're adding a desert willow. It's a native Arizona tree, so it's built for exactly this kind of heat and reflected sun off the block, and it won't outgrow the space. It'll stay small enough for a patio setting while still giving you real shade and a burst of green right where you need it, plus attractive flowers through the season.
One thing to know going in: desert willow is deciduous, so it drops its leaves in winter. It fills back in quickly once temperatures come back up in spring, but the tree will look bare for a stretch in the cooler months.
Same situation here as the west wall: about 3 feet between the block wall and concrete, currently artificial turf. That comes out, we amend the whole strip with compost, then mulch on top.
- Arizona native, built for heat, sun, and reflected heat off block walls
- Stays compact enough for a patio, won't outgrow the space
- Trumpet-shaped flowers through the warm months, attracts hummingbirds
- Deciduous, drops leaves in winter and fills back in quickly each spring
- Low water once established
Tangerine Cross-Vine, Flanking the Corner Tree
On either side of the desert willow, one tangerine cross-vine on the east wall and one on the north wall. These climb the block directly, adding another layer of green and color running down each wall away from the corner, and helping cover more of that hot surface as they establish.
- Fast-growing climbing vine, attaches directly to block without a trellis
- Tangerine-orange trumpet flowers, blooms heaviest in spring
- Evergreen in mild winters, semi-evergreen in a harder cold snap
- Handles full sun and reflected heat off the wall well
Ground Cover — Iceplant
The open ground around the new plantings gets filled in with iceplant rather than rock. It spreads to a dense living mat, stays cool to the touch, and keeps the cooling effect of the rest of this plan going instead of working against it the way rock would.
Iceplant
A living ground cover that spreads to fill in the open space. Low maintenance, doesn't get messy, and stays cool to the touch, so it actually helps bring the temperature down around the patio instead of adding to the heat. Pairs with the same compost and mulch approach used everywhere else in this plan.
- Spreads to form a dense mat, chokes out weeds once filled in
- Bright daisy-like flowers, blooms heavily in the right season
- Very low water once established
- Stays low, no mowing or regular trimming needed
Small River Rock
A low-maintenance hardscape option. Worth knowing that rock absorbs and holds heat, so it works against the cooling effect the rest of this plan is going for. We can have Garrett price this option out separately if you'd like to compare.