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Here’s an awesome woody plant that is typically not used properly in Arizona landscape design and is beautiful when left in its natural form, but since it is slow growing the application is often totally incorrect. The purpose of shearing in your Phoenix or Scottsdale landscaping was never meant to be a method of beating a huge shrub into submission to fit your space. Many times what you see as manicured could be ten times more lovely with proper plant selection and planting placement. One such shrub is the Feijoa sellowiana, also known as Pineapple Guava.

The Feijoa is naturally a large evergreen shrub that can be trained into a small ornamental tree with both single or multiple stems. It also is an excellent candidate for espalier, making it a great selection for softening sunny courtyard walls or privacy walls around the backyard. This handsome plant has many attributes most homeowners look for in the Arizona landscaping, the fact that it is evergreen and low maintenance is just the beginning or it’s strong points.

Since it will one day reach maturity at 15 feet tall and 15 feet wide in anyone’s Scottsdale landscaping, this isn’t a shrub that should be placed close to the curb or used as a foundation hedge… thats where the shearing abuse comes into play. Its hard not to be attracted to this plant with the gorgeous flowers and handsome foliage. The suggested uses in Arizona landscape design for the Feijoa are as a hedge or patio tree. Hedge meaning a large element, as in someday it will be a privacy screen. For most homeowners in a development, someday is not fast enough, making this not the right choice for that application either.

The best way to enjoy the true natural beauty of the Pineapple Guava is in tree form or espaliered along a masonry wall. As a tree it adds a strong not to the landscape with a shape that is unique and very sculptural. The multi-stemmed form has gracefully twisting branches and trunks. Hiding beneath the thick foliage of the sheared hedge plantings one sees about town is attractive trunks that when exposed will peel and add an accent of cinnamon not found in most plants we use in our desert landscaping, much like you find with older specimens of Crape Myrtles. As a tree, it is just the right size for the front yard landscaping or to take a prominent location in your patio bed areas. Take care not to plant it too close to the pool or sidewalk though, as the fruit falls to the ground when ripe in autumn.

The Pineapple Guava fruit is indeed edible and very tasty, as are the lovely pink and red fragrant flowers that precede them. The Pineapple Guava fruit is great out of hand. I do not eat the skin though some people do. The Feijoa sellowiana flowers are also both edible and fragrant. The fruit sweet pineapple flavor is great for snacking and matures to 3 inches long and the green skin takes on a reddish hue when it ripens.

Even here in your Arizona climate, the highly versatile Feijoa prefers full to part sun. While it is drought tolerant, you will want to water it once a week. The soil is the one thing that is very particular with this handsome Scottsdale landscaping plant. In calciferic soils it will be prone to a health issue known a chlorisis, which is easily corrected with amendments. Its a great all around plant for many spots in the yard when situated properly to enjoy its true natural beauty and desirable for many reasons whether just to admire it or to enjoy the sweet fruit it will provide in October-November. Oh yes, and its bright, scented blooms attract hummingbirds too.

Popularity: 6% [?]

There are three requirements that most homeowners have of their Arizona landscaping.

1. Good color from foliage or blooms, and if flowers it should offer several weeks of blooming time.
2. Fragrance.
3. Low water requirements.
4. Low maintenance.

Even if retired, homeowners today are very busy people. The perfect plants for any yard, be it here where xeriscaping landscaping is best or in any other region, will be very simple to care for and still perform without fail. Naturally, the first season in your soil from the nursery, any plant will need more care than once it’s established in the ground soil. This is true of all landscaping plants around the world. Yet, there are some that are easier to deal with than others after that settling in period has passed.

A great selection for Peoria xeriscaping landscaping is the Sweet Broom shrub. This dry climate plant is valued for its late winter to early spring bloom time, which is long lasting and very fragrant. This native of the Canary Islands does very well in he areas around Phoenix, from Anthem to Peoria and back again. After that first year in your landscape, this shrub will thrive with only occasional watering.

Commonly known as Easter Broom or Sweet Broom, it’s formal name is a bit confusing. It can be known as Genista fragrans, Cytisus spachianus and Genista stenopetala, though it is more frequently referred to as Cytisus spachianus. We’re not sure why the plant namers can’t make up their mind, but you’ll have no problems just calling it Sweet Broom, even those in the nursery industry will know exactly what plant you’re talking about.

Not all xeriscaping plants we use here in the towns around Peoria will be up to thriving in the heat of our Arizona summer sun, but Sweet Broom is delighted with it. As with all plants that prefer full sun in their native environment, you’ll get far more abundant blooms to enjoy where there are few to no hours of shade.  But do be prepared to give these shrubs a good watering on a regular basis once they are in your landscape plantings. The purpose is to help them assist deep root systems that will enable them to deal with far drier conditions in the seasons to come. A well-developed root system is the key to having excellent success with just about anything you wish to grow in your Arizona landscaping.

Sweet Broom is a fast growing bush, which is good for establishing a great looking home landscape quickly. They can reach 8-10 feet tall if left to their natural exuberance. Not all homeowners will want them naturally shaped, so for a more formal appearance, you’ll want to shape these xeriscaping landscaping plants by shearing. The right time to do so with Sweet Broom is right after its flowering is over.

Brilliant color and sweet perfume draws many people to this plant. Do be sure that is situated where it can take on it’s mature size without hampering the view from windows or along the curb when deciding where to plant them on your property. While they are easily maintained at a much smaller size than their expected maturity, it is never a good idea to put huge shrub where a small one is needed. It is sometimes difficult to envision that small plant in the nursery container as it will one day be after several years growth. Sweet Broom isn’t going to dawdle around about it either, it will quickly grow into its natural size in your Peoria xeriscaping landscaping.

Image courtesy of Terwilliger CC 2.0 Share-Alike

Popularity: 7% [?]

These tiny birds are fascinating and many are eager to attract them to their yard. You’ll need more than red-tinted sugar water in a hummingbird feeder though if you want to keep the hummingbirds around as they require a great deal of nutrition each day. This means planting a collection of plants whose flower’s nectar are high in sugar content. You see, it isn’t just any bloom that attracts hummers, they tend to be drawn to those with red, orange or yellow blooms with a scent. Once there is a plant that grabs their attention and supplies them with a good food source, they will find other flowers with good levels of sugar and make use of them too – if they are present in the area around your Arizona home.

In the region around Scottsdale, Phoenix and Glendale, one great addition to any butterfly or hummingbird garden is the Firecracker Bush. This selection also feeds other birds once the berries are mature that follow the flowers. Its an attractive plant for your Glendale landscaping and sizable enough to provide good mass and height to the design of such a planting.

The scientific name for Firecracker Bush is Hamelia patens. It is a native of the tropic and subtropic regions of South America and Florida. The shrub is well adapted to the climate and conditions in Texas and Arizona.

Visual appeal is found in the natural shape and colorful components. The foliage when new is kissed with a reddish hue and the branches are also a pleasant red tone. The fiery red clusters of tubular blooms are borne on the ends of the stems from spring to fall, providing both lovely color for your Glendale landscaping and abundant nectar for your hummingbirds too.

Blooming is more abundant in full sun, but the high temperatures of a Phoenix-Scottsdale area summer makes it best to plant the Firecracker Bush in part shade. Here it will require less water to remain undistressed.

Other plants that will do well in our climate that complete Arizona hummingbird gardens are:

• Aloes
• Anise Hyssop (Agastache)
• Bee Balm (Monarda)
• Shrimp Plant (Chuperosa)
• Desert Honeysuckle (Anisacanthus thurberi)
• Mexican Flame Vine (Senecio confusus)
• Pentas
• Beardtongue (Penstemmon)
• Petunia
• Red Bird of Paradise (Caesalpinia pulcherrima)
• Sage varieties (Salvias)

Young plants do require some pruning regularly as they mature to achieve a nicely full and bushy look in your Scottsdale, Phoenix or Glendale landscaping. They grow very quickly, so don’t be worried about having an unimpressive looking shrub in your yard for several years. In colder areas of the country, Firecracker Bush is treated as an annual that can grow to 3 feet tall in just one season. Here in Arizona hummingbird gardens, this shrub will rapidly grow into the lovely plant you were expecting.

Popularity: 8% [?]

There are lots of reasons that to residents of Anthem, pool landscaping is important. No matter where you may live, a pool isn’t something that is easily hidden in the backyard, at least not without erecting a wall around it. So it makes perfect sense that many people want the patio design and pool deck’s paving to flow and connect, along with pool landscaping that merges with the rest of the backyard. In today’s smaller properties, the pool can occupy a huge portion of your available space, as well as being clearly visible from the rooms inside the house.

Water features and rocks are a wonderful partner of the pool, after all one finds many exposed rocks in places that the flow or water has washed them free of the soil. Here we’ve added waterfalls with a few select plants framing this space between the stone paving patio and spa. One thing that really makes this so natural looking is that the pool itself isn’t that traditional blue. This one looks a lot like stone, giving the water a far less contrived appearance and a color one would likely find in a natural pool somewhere in the wild.

The pool landscaping here is quite simple and very low maintenance, yet very striking. Prostrate Rosemary gracefully weeps to the water’s edge and is lovely at all times, but exquisite when in bloom. In the foreground is Desert Spoon (Dasylirion wheeleri) and is echoed in the pool landscaping at the right side of the spa. Yucca of all types is lovely in bloom, but one of my favorites is the wispy Red Yucca you see here at the front of this bed along the waterfalls. Between blooming seasons, it looks like an evergreen grass but is simply gorgeous at full color such as the day this photo was taken.

Every project we do with pool decks is unique to the owner of the home and the layout of the backyard area. Some are quite simple and others more involved, but they all include Arizona pool landscaping designed to accent and nicely occupy available planting space with plants that add color and interest.  A good share of them make use of swimming pool fountains or waterfalls, which is a great way to add the soothing sound of water to outdoor living space using only the water already in the pool.

Popularity: 9% [?]

For covering a fence or softening walls of enclosures, you’ll find this lovely vine an excellent candidate for properties from Phoenix to Paradise Valley. Landscaping plants that need very little water once established are always welcome in this region of Arizona. Landscape design uses for the drought loving Coral Vine give you months of colorful beauty in bloom.

The proper name for this xeriscaping landscaping vine is ‘Antigonon leptopus‘. It is a native of sandy to rocky soils of Mexico, which easily translates to an excellent selection for use in Arizona landscaping.

Even without the blooms, the large heart shaped leaves give you lovely texture and presence in the earlier part of the season. Coral vine, or Queen’s Wreath as it is sometimes called, will abundantly deliver many graceful draping flower stems from mid-summer through fall.  While it may be tempting to locate this climber to add a romantic touch to your trellis ramada or pergola, if you’re afraid of bees, it might be best to admire it for a bit more distance. Bees adore the blossoms as much as people do.

There aren’t that many xeriscaping landscaping vines that will deal with the temperature of a block wall in our summers, yet this one handles it with great pleasure. It seems to really love the extra heat, making it a great solution for softening courtyard walls and privacy walls around the backyard or outdoor living space patios.

Antigonon leptopus will quickly soar to 30-40 feet long when planted in full sun to light shade, though the more direct sunlight it receives, the more blooming beauty you will have to enjoy. During the warmer months, after the roots are well established in the soil of Phoenix and Paradise Valley landscaping, you need only water the plant once a month. It actually prefers that the soil become somewhat dry between waterings. In the winter, Coral Vine only needs to be watered frequently enough to keep the dark green leaves from wilting.

A stunning plant that gives so much blooming color and grace to a variety of locations in your Arizona landscape design, wherever you have superb drainage. The soil, if having too much clay content can be amended to give the vine the right situation to do well in your yard.

Popularity: 7% [?]