Desert Crest Press

Indigenous to the arid wilds along rocky slopes and desert washes, the Chuparosa is a native plant of southern Arizona. Technically known as Justica californica, here you find great architectural beauty for low maintenance Phoenix and Scottsdale landscaping.

The common name, Chuparosa, is Spanish for hummingbird and they are instantly drawn to the tubular red blooms as soon as flowering begins in May. The color show continues until fall, giving you great interest alone and heightened by the continual presence of hummingbirds throughout the spring and summer seasons.

Most of the year, Justica is leafless, making it very open, airy and architectural in form. Even in full foliage in early spring, the plant is never dense. It will mature to 5-6 feet high and up to 12 feet wide over time.

Thanks to its native chosen environment in the wild, well chosen placement in the planting areas of your Arizona yard that have good drainage will no doubt be much to the delight of the Chuparosa. It is wise to remember that even desert natives that are purchased from a nursery will need watering attention during the acclimation period that always takes place for the first year planted in your ground soil.

As with all plants in a well maintained landscape, even xeriscape plants will be far more of an asset to your home under periodic watering. This is best achieved with deep root drip irrigation that allows every bit of precious fresh water to be used by the plant and not lost to evaporation or draining beyond the root zone.

Full sun is the best exposure for optimum flowering with Justica californica, though it tolerates light shade. It’s marvelously heat tolerant throughout our summers, and even thrives in reflected heat from pavements. There’s not much concern about winter hardiness as the plants are evergreen to 20° F. Should temperatures dip below that point, the portions of the Chuparosa above the soil line will die. Not to worry though, as your xeriscaping hummingbird magnet will quickly restore it’s growth again once the weather warms again.

To get optimum growth and vigor, plan on fertilizing and pruning in late winter. The overall natural shape of the Chuparosa is somewhat rounded, though loosely structured. It is best planted in sandy soil with only one watering a week from mid-spring through fall. In winter, as with many plants used in Phoenix or Scottsdale xeriscaping landscaping, less moisture is necessary.

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Unless you were born here, our 300 days of sunshine every year has a lot to do with why people move to Arizona. It’s also why having a Phoenix home with a patio is important to most homeowners. Except for the few chilly weeks we have in winter, the bright days and ambient nights make outdoor living spaces more valuable here than many areas of the country. Naturally, the most desirable Phoenix patio design is spacious enough to allow for room to enjoy the outdoor room in a myriad of ways.

Whether you opt for a wood deck, or a concrete paver or natural stone patio, the improvement adds instant value to any home. Due to the low maintenance and long lasting beauty of pavers, most people prefer to have their Phoenix patio designs constructed of this material. Composite decks cost almost as much as pavers, and are known to have issues like warping. Wood decks are decidedly less expensive but require annual maintenance and extensive repair in the future as wood deteriorates and needs replacing. Flagstone and stone paving tile patios are equally as beautiful, but will generally be higher priced than a paver patio.

Adding a gas grill to the patio is a must for any homeowner. It’s part of our cuisine and adds an asset to our entertaining of friends and family. The trend of built in gas grills as opposed to a portable one continues to grow, and for good reason. Slip in grills are far better quality than anything you can buy on wheels today. It’s a big plus for outdoor grilling and dining to have food preparation and serving space right next to the grill, making the usefulness of a built in unit so much more too.

Naturally, with patios designed for entertaining, a bar area is common and many times part of the built in grill structure. This makes outdoor cooking much more enjoyable, with guests and chef all in the same space. Keeping the costs of having patios installed that allow for comforts like shade from the sun, many people turn to large umbrellas as opposed to the cost of pergolas or ramadas. Well placed lighting and outdoor refrigerators are in big demand for owners of modestly priced homes and in very affluent communities.

There’s nothing quite like an evening spent in great company that is shared around the dancing flames. While adding outdoor fireplaces to patio designs isn’t always possible for sticking to the budget, the outdoor fire pit fits most people needs at a lower cost.

In this particular entertainment-centric patio design, the bar area, cooking and serving space and the fire pit are conveniently located for easy access and flow from one activity to another.

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It would be a great deal easier to put together a great Arizona landscape design for around the pool if all plants adored the added heat and light your pool puts in their environment. The water is perfect for you to cool off in, but beneath the desert sun, the mirroring aspect of the water and the extra warmth of the soil the pool decking creates makes things a little too harsh for some of our preferred plant choices. When deciding what you should use in your Scottsdale pool landscaping, be sure to use specimens that will take the heat and still be beautiful.

In today’s smaller properties, that backyard swimming pool takes up a great deal of space. Naturally it is a focal point on it’s own, but these outdoor living elements are always more attractive with plantings that make the area even a bigger focal point. The best pool landscaping in Scottsdale or Phoenix areas will always be low on maintenance and high in color. For most homeowners this means lots of great blooming action offset by good textures and shapes.

With smaller backyards, the bed spaces around the pool deck will no doubt be minimal too. For the best possible outcome, it is best to choose plants that not only deal with the conditions and the chlorinated water, but also won’t outgrow the space you have to offer them. Additionally, it is wise to avoid spiny plants so close to the poolside, along with those that do a lot of shedding. After all, you want to spend more time enjoying the backyard and your pool than cleaning up after your landscaping.

Here are two excellent candidates for plantings around the pool in Arizona landscape design that are beautiful, long blooming and won’t shrink at the extra heat and light known to be a problem in this area of a residential yard. Superb Penstemon, shown in full bloom in the photo above, will give you wonderful spring color for weeks on end. This native of our region requires very little maintenance and will remain an evergreen plant with periodic watering during the summer months. Hummingbirds love Penstemon, bringing even more color and interest to your private oasis than flowers could possibly offer.

In front of the Penstemon is Red Yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora) that offers great texture and shape year around. Once the Penstemon is finished blooming when summer arrives, the Yucca will start flowering. The whispy bloom stems of offer you both architecture and color that is simply wonderful.

Both these plants are great xeriscaping landscaping candidates, but will indeed perform better with the right light watering routine. They prefer well draining soils, so be sure to amend properly if you have clay in the planting area for best focal point results and carefree pool landscaping.

Image courtesy of nestmaker. CC by 2.0

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Low growing evergreen shrubs are excellent players in minimal maintenance landscape design anywhere. Adding bright blooms and vibrant colored fruits that have continual presence most of the time just sweetens the attraction for homeowners. Lucky you, your Glendale landscaping is well within the hardiness range of the Carrisa macrocarpa ‘Tuttlei’, as is the rest of the area around Phoenix and Scottsdale.

Since shrubs used in our xeriscaping landscaping in these parts tend to be quite large, you’ll find lots of great places for this spreading low evergreen. More commonly known as the Natal Plum, this plat originates from the shores of Southern Africa. It is naturally acclimated to the heat and arid conditions of this region of Arizona. It can also tolerate the cold desert winter temperatures and doesn’t need shelter from the midday sun.

While the Tuttle Natal Plum is drought tolerant, here in the desert it will need light, regular watering. The small leathery shape of the leaves and their dense growth habit makes this plant a great landscape shrub for both shearing and soft natural shape in your planting areas. Since it’s mature size is 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide, its also just right for planting beneath windows and close to the street. There’s no need for harsh shearing annually to maintain the view.

The star shaped white blooms are open and charming, creating a lovely contrast to the rich deep green foliage. They will be borne quite abundantly in all day sun, followed by bright cranberry red fruits that are edible. The flowers are nice sized at 2 inches wide and the fruit will be that long when ripe. As the season progresses there will be times that both blooms and berries are present together, heightening to color in the yard.,

The flowers of this Carissa are sweetly fragrant like orange blossoms and the scent is strongest at night. Be sure to find a spot in your Glendale landscape design that’s close to the patio, in the courtyard or beneath the right windows to enjoy the perfumed evening air to the fullest. You won’t want to plant this shrub next to the walkway or pavers though. It has less thorns than most Carissas, but they are there nonetheless, so be sure to place them where they won’t accidentally come into contact with those passing by.

Many people make jams and jellies from the Natal Plum fruit. They’re delicious eaten straight off the shrub with a sweet cranberry type flavor. Unless you’re going to plant a lot of these Arizona landscaping shrubs, its best not to plan on whipping up a batch of jam. Enjoy them as periodic treats from your easily managed desert plants.

Image courtesy of briweldon, CC by 2.0

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