There is no shortage of gorgeous greenery here in southern Arizona, even if this is a remarkably hot desert climate! Everyone knows that cacti are the signature plant species of Arizona, but the Old Pueblo is a terrific host to a large variety of plants that are not only drought-resistant but also make desert landscaping so unique and beautiful.
When you are in the process of building a house from the ground up, landscaping may be the last thing on your mind, but designing and planning for outdoor spaces ahead of time will give you a full picture of how your home will look, feel, and flow. Landscaping might be the last element of your design plans, but it is also going to be one of the most important features of your home.
Thankfully, there is no shortage of desert plants that you can add to your landscape to make it a show-stopping space worthy of spending time outdoors.
In Part One of this blog, we showed you some gorgeous flowering plants including the Texas Ranger, Texas Mountain Laurel, Bee-brush, the Texas Ebony, and the Agastache, all fragrant and perfectly suited to make your front and backyards attractive to both humans and bees alike!
Here are some more fantastic landscaping plants that you should include in your landscape design.
Bougainvillea
Bougainvilleas are so popular in Tucson that they should be our city’s flower! It is easy to see why they are so incredibly popular. Bougainvilleas are hearty little buggers, and they require little maintenance to produce those stunning and eye-catching pink, white, orange, purple, and red flowers. Bougainvilleas create magnificent cascading, climbing, or shrub-shaped bushes, and they are readily available at all local nurseries and home stores.
Cape Honeysuckle
This fast-growing vine is a true beauty to add to any garden, and it is pool-friendly and beloved by local wildlife too! With wild orange flowers sprawling this evergreen all year long (during frost-free winters), the Cape honeysuckle is a welcome addition to any front or backyard design. Hummingbirds and bees alike will find your cape honeysuckle irresistible too, and the plant can be as enormous or as minimal as you would like it to be.
Damianita
If the sight of yellow makes you smile from ear-to-ear (as it does for many people), don’t hesitate to plant some Damianita in your outdoor spaces. This groundcover plant is just teeming with delicate bright yellow flowers. Not only is this a low maintenance option for your landscape, but it requires minimal watering and remains hardy up to 0°F, making it a great all-weather choice for Tucson. This low flowering plant produces great yellow mounds of flowers in the spring and fall, and the evergreen leaves are just as lovely in the winter and summer months.
Chihuahuan Sage
Some shrubs are easy to forget about the moment after you see them. The Chihuahuan sage is not only unforgettable, but it thrives effortlessly in our desert landscape. The Chihuahuan sage has tall spikes loaded with purple flowers and is typically fashioned into tall round mounds that accent the greenery around them.
At full maturity, the Chihuahuan sage can grow to five feet across and four feet high. Blooming through the summer and fall months, this evergreen shrub requires full sun (which we have plenty of to give!), low water, and is as wildlife-friendly as it gets.
These are just a handful of the many types of colorful, attractive, and beautiful types of flowers and plants that will make your landscape spring to life!
