Your Yard, Carla
Thanks for having me out. This is everything we walked through together, written down so you have it in one place. The big picture is simple: two shade trees out front, the grass swapped for native pollinator beds in the spots that don't get used, hedges along the pool walls, and vines where the house and fences could use some softening.
Where I gave you a couple of options, I've listed them with my first pick called out. Every plant here is desert adapted and doesn't need much water once established. Whatever you go with, we build the planting hole with quality compost and organic fertilizer so the soil biology gets going from day one. That's what makes these plants take off instead of just survive.
Shade at the front door and color where the grass is
The front is all about afternoon shade and making the walk up to the door feel finished. Two trees, one bed, and a small change to how the oleander gets pruned.
Entry tree: Desert Willow
This spot wants a tree. A desert willow is the right size here. It won't get big enough to crowd the roofline or the entry, but it gives real afternoon shade, and it's a good looking tree to walk past on the way to the front door. It flowers most of the warm season and the hummingbirds will find it fast.
Desert Willow
Native, fast growing, orchid-like pink to purple flowers spring through fall. Tops out around 20 to 25 feet with a light, open canopy that filters sun rather than blocking it. Drops its leaves in winter, which lets the sun through when you want it.
Second tree: Desert Ironwood or Thornless Mesquite
I'd add one more desert adapted tree over here to balance the front and put more shade on the house. Two good options. Desert ironwood is the hardier of the two. The wood is dense, it doesn't break in storms the way mesquite can, and you won't have to worry about it dropping limbs on the house. It's slower growing, but it's a tree you plant once. Thornless mesquite gets you shade faster and is easy to find, so it's a fair choice if speed matters more to you.
Desert Ironwood
Sonoran native, evergreen, blue-gray leaves and lavender flowers in late spring. Extremely strong wood. Slow to moderate growth, long lived, and one of the best trees you can put near a house.
Thornless Mesquite
Fast shade, wide spreading canopy, no thorns. Needs good structural pruning while it's young so it holds up in monsoon wind. Deep, infrequent watering keeps the roots down where they belong.
Take out the grass, plant a native pollinator bed
This grass isn't doing anything for you except drinking water. We'll remove it and fill the area with native, desert adapted plants that bring in the pollinators and add color through most of the year. It's the same mix I laid out for the backyard, so the front and back tie together.
Below is everything that will work in this spot. You won't be able to fit all of them, and that's the point. These are your options, so look through them and pick the ones you like most. Any combination here will hold up in this exposure.
Desert Milkweed
Upright gray-green stems, cream flowers, and the host plant for monarch and queen butterflies. Looks architectural even when it isn't blooming.
Perry's Agave
Tight blue-gray rosette, stays compact, gives the bed structure and a spot for the eye to rest between the softer flowering plants.
Gregg's Mistflower
Low, spreading, covered in lavender-blue flowers from spring into fall. The single best butterfly magnet on this list.
Penstemon
Tall spikes of pink or red tubular flowers in spring. Hummingbirds work these constantly. Reseeds itself and fills in over time.
Chuparosa
Sonoran native shrub with red tubular flowers through the cooler months when little else is blooming. Hummingbirds live on it. Grows 3 to 4 feet and takes full sun and reflected heat.
Brittlebush
Silver-gray mound about 3 feet across, covered in yellow daisies late winter into spring. One of the toughest natives on the list and it gives the bed that classic Sonoran look.
Baja Fairy Duster
Red powder-puff flowers most of the year, fine textured foliage, 4 to 5 feet. Hummingbirds and butterflies both work it. Takes full sun and heat off the pool deck without complaint.
Texas Sage
Silver leaves and purple flowers that show up right after a monsoon storm. 4 to 6 feet depending on the variety. Leave it unsheared and it'll bloom heavier.
San Marcos Hibiscus
A desert cotton relative with glossy green leaves and yellow hibiscus-style flowers spring through fall. 3 to 4 feet, evergreen, and it stays clean looking in the heat.
The oleander: prune less, get more
Just a suggestion here. Oleander gets sheared way too often in this town, and it fights back by throwing out weak growth and skipping flowers. Prune it only as often as it takes to keep the walkway clear. Somewhere between once a month and once every three months is all it needs.
- Less pruning means the plant puts its energy into flowers instead of regrowing what got cut off.
- It'll be happier, bloom heavier, and live a lot longer.
- Cut back to a branch rather than shearing a flat face when you do prune. It looks more natural and heals cleaner.
A shaded tunnel into the backyard
Train the bougainvillea up and over
The bougainvillea is already established and doing well along this wall. My suggestion is a trellis or arbor that goes up and over the walkway, then train the bougainvillea across it. Give it a season or two and this whole passage becomes a shaded, flowering tunnel on the way into the backyard. It's one of the better payoffs on the property for the effort involved.
Vines on the house, beds in the corners, hedges on the pool walls
The backyard has a lot of hard surface and a lot of white wall. The goal is to soften it with plants that can take the heat coming off the pool deck, bring in hummingbirds and butterflies, and give you some green on the walls without eating up the space you actually use.
Creeping fig on the window side
You've got cat's claw growing up one side of the window. To balance it, I'd put creeping fig on this side and let it climb the house. It's a self-clinging vine with small, tight leaves that hugs the wall flat and gives you that green-on-white look without needing a trellis. Keep it trimmed away from the window frame and the eave and it stays well behaved.
Creeping Fig
Evergreen, dense, self-attaching. Does best on a wall that gets some shade in the afternoon, which this spot does once the trees out front come in. Trim a couple times a year to keep it tidy.
Take out the turf, plant natives for the hummingbirds
This is where the turf comes out and the backyard gets its desert bed. Same treatment as the front. Desert adapted natives that attract hummingbirds and every other pollinator in the neighborhood, with plenty of color through the year. These are the plants I called out on the walk, and any of the extra options from the front yard list (brittlebush, Baja fairy duster, Texas sage, San Marcos hibiscus) work back here too.
Desert Milkweed
Upright gray-green stems, cream flowers, and the host plant for monarch and queen butterflies. Looks architectural even when it isn't blooming.
Gregg's Mistflower
Low, spreading, covered in lavender-blue flowers from spring into fall. The single best butterfly magnet on this list.
Chuparosa
Sonoran native shrub with red tubular flowers through the cooler months when little else is blooming. Hummingbirds live on it. Grows 3 to 4 feet and takes full sun and reflected heat.
Penstemon
Tall spikes of pink or red tubular flowers in spring. Hummingbirds work these constantly. Reseeds itself and fills in over time.
Perry's Agave
Tight blue-gray rosette, stays compact, gives the bed structure and a spot for the eye to rest between the softer flowering plants.
Blackfoot Daisy
Low mounding native groundcover, under a foot tall, small white daisies almost year round. Knits the bed together between the shrubs. Needs sharp drainage, which is why we build the bed up with compost rather than digging it down.
A vine to cover and protect the equipment
This fence is a good candidate for a vine. Something that grows up and over it will hide the fence, shade the equipment behind it so it runs cooler, and turn a plain corner into something green. Tangerine crossvine is my pick here, the same vine I mentioned for the pool fence, so you can carry one look through the yard.
Tangerine Crossvine
Evergreen, climbs on its own, big orange trumpet flowers in spring. Handles full sun and heat. Covers a fence panel in a couple of seasons.
Keep the turf where you sit, border the rest
The turf where the chairs are stays. That's usable space and it works. From there we run a border straight across, lined up with the border that's already on the other side, so the two match. Everything on the far side of that new border becomes planting bed, and that's where the hedge continues from the other walls so it wraps the whole pool area.
A hedge along the pool walls
Along the lattice fence and the south facing wall, you've got two ways to go. One is a vine on the fence, and tangerine crossvine is the one I'd use. The other, and what I recommend more, is a hedge planted along the whole run. A hedge gives you height, a living privacy screen, and it shades the fence itself so it lasts longer. Three hedge options that all handle this exposure well. Plant them 3 to 4 feet apart and they'll fill in fast.
Hopseed
Native, fast, evergreen, 8 to 12 feet. The workhorse hedge for this climate. Green or purple leaf forms.
Arizona Rosewood
Native, dense, dark green, white flower clusters in spring. Slower than hopseed but very long lived and never needs much of anything.
Orange Jubilee
Fastest of the three, orange trumpet flowers most of the warm season, hummingbirds all over it. Cut back hard in late winter to keep it full.
Tangerine Crossvine
Evergreen, climbs on its own, big orange trumpet flowers in spring. Handles full sun and heat. Covers a fence panel in a couple of seasons.
Monthly organic fertilizing program
Every plant on this page will do a lot better in living soil than in dirt. New trees, hedges, and pollinator beds establish faster and need less water when the biology underneath them is active. That's what this program builds. We come out monthly, spray the whole landscape with our organic liquid blend to feed the soil life, and top dress with quality compost three times a year. You get a short recap video after each visit so you know exactly what was done and what we're seeing.
- Monthly organic liquid feeding, trees, shrubs, beds, and turf
- Compost top dressing three times per year
- Recap video after every visit
- No contract, cancel anytime
Where this goes next
You mentioned you'd like to handle the planting yourself, and everything above is laid out so you can do exactly that. You're not on your own with it either. I'll get you added to the Garden Nerd Club, and as you start planting you can ask questions there and I'll walk you through how to do it right, from digging the hole to what goes in it. If you change your mind and want me to put together a planting proposal with pricing, just let me know and I'll get it to you.
For the turf removal and getting irrigation run to where the new plants are going, reach out to Garrett, the irrigation guy I work with. He's at 480-678-9121.
Questions on anything here, just reach out. You can also read more about how we plant at thegardennerd.org.