Mexican Lobelia

Mexican lobelia laxiflora-image courtesy of Wikipedia
When full grown, it creates a tall and wide grassy look to the garden. 

Spring is here and with it comes lots of great ideas for gardening. I've been working the El Presidio gardens now for 6 years.   Soon I will be giving up those duties and it's not easy.  One of my last duties is to finish off our fountain area.  With this planning comes a bit of responsiblity.  I want plants that will attract butterflies, lizards and birds.  They must also be drought tolerant.  Our focus today is on the Mexican Lobelia.

It's a native plant of Southern Arizona, Mexico and Central America.   This plant is attractive to our wonderful hummingbirds here in Tucson.  Generally, plants with long red/orange tubular flowers let these birds know that they are welcome to feast. Mexican Lobelia is a plant that offers both drought tolerance and food for our local fauna to our garden.

Broad-billed Hummingbird.  Taken at Rich Hoyer's place during  the December CBC

It's a great plant used near water features....such as El Presidio:) Great for oasis gardens. It's root hardy down to zero degrees.  Now since I've lived in Tucson, I've never seen temps drop that low.   It will grow to 2 or 3 feet tall.  It's a perennial.  It freezes to the ground in winter like Lantana or Bougainvillea. Before spring arrives, or around March 15th, trim off all the old foliage to allow new growth to begin.   The more water this plant gets, the more it will spread out. With moderate watering, it will still look good.  I've planted these under the large canopy of our Live Oak trees.   This plant appreciates some filtered shade with less water.  With sufficient water, it will handle full sun. It will tolerate heat and poor soil.

This space used to be a pool.  This plant will be used around the rock foundation.. The rock was used to create lizard habitat at El Presidio. We have them here in smaller numbers and it would be great to help increase the numbers to make the garden come alive.  We've quartered the area to make it easier planning around the area.  Remember to use the same plants to create a uniform pattern. 

For my gardening blogger friends, I apologize for my lack of writes about the El Presidio Garden.  If you can believe it, I'm still working our gardens here while running around chasing birds.  But this weekend,  I attended several plant shows happening around Tucson. Take a look at some of the color today provided from several gardens around town.

It was a much needed break.  Spring has arrived at the Old Pueblo.

Drought Tolerant Plants for Tucson

Feather Cactus

We've arrived.  June is here!!!  Where do we begin??!!!  Well this is a great month to get things done early in the morning or late at night.  There isn't that humid or muggy monsoon air....yet.  But it's the perfect time to get your cacti and palms into the landscape. 

Drought Tolerant plants are important for our landscape because it cuts down on the use of water(xeriscape) and your water bill.  But most importantly, it frees up some time in our busy schedules.  Most of us who love gardening would love to be outside the entire time doing work in our yards.  However for many of us, this is not a realty.  Drought tolerant doesn't mean that your place can't be beautiful or lush....quite the opposite!  If you plan with the right plants, your place can be gorgeous, xeric AND cut down on yardwork.

This is a great guide to help you choose the best plants for your landscape.  They can found at TEP etc.  While some of you love to garden and water, you may not feel this way down the road.  I am at that stage in the property restoration of El Presidio.  I don't like watering plants and I really don't like being outside during the hot temps.  And I've watched a lot of people go through these stages in their own yards.

Many have commented to me about our property and say that they are surprised at how lush and green El Presidio is.  Yes.  That is the biggest compliment ever.  I have researched hours and hours on plants to make our property water friendly and GREEN like back home in Wisconsin......but with a desert twist.   Obviously I don't plant Wisconsin things here, but I find similiar looking plants that have been adapted to our desert or native plants that will thrive in our climate.  They also must function to feed humans and wildlife.  The above shot is the beloved Persimmons tree located at El Presidio. This pic was taken in October of last year.  Some fruit trees love our climate like the Mulberry, Peach, Apricot, Fig, Pomegranate or Persimmons.  It's all about placement and lighting.

I also try to use color when I can......and BAMBOO!!!  Several types of bamboo grow very well here like the Buddha's Belly Bamboo.  Once it's established, it only needs watering once a week.  I have the bamboo placed around our buildings where it catches the extra rain from the roof.

Save yourself work and find plants that will lower your water bills and outside time this summer.  Keep your potted plants near the entrance to your home as it will be easier to water them with a hose.  Everything else should be watered once or twice a week.  June is hot and typically rain free.  Mountain Laurel and Texas Ebony are lush and extremely XERIC plants.  In fact, there are so many great choices.  Find the above guide and get started.  It's fun once you get going.

I found this guy in our garden last July during monsoon.  More tomorrow....

Red Yucca

"It's about time you feature this plant!", some of you desert lovers may exclaim.  While others of you may be thinking, "Ugh!  This ugly plant?" And yet other people may be thinking, "I don't even know what you're talking about."  If you're new to this blog, welcome. There's a lot of information on here about desert gardening/landscaping.  I've mentioned this plant several times in previous posts but nothing specific.  Essentially, it's one of the perfect plants for our Tucson climate.  "But why are you writing now about this plant?"  Well I've established a lot of the larger plants and now I'm working on the borders and mid layers of the gardens.  Some of you do not like this plant AT ALL!  For some, this plant can grow like a weed around our yards and get out of control. Like Jake Sully said from the movie "Avatar", "I See You."  Haha.  For many years I struggled with this plant.  Should I plant it?  Well after years of debate, I've decided that this is a cool plant for your desert landscape and here's why......

A special thanks to David Cristiani at the desert edge for his pics.

1. It's sun proof and flourishes in full sun.
2. It's tolerant of our clay soil.
3. Once it's established, it requires very little water/drought tolerant.
4. It has attractive red flowers.
5. Attractive red flowers ATTRACT hummingbirds...and lots of them.  Wildlife magnet.
6. Makes a nice patch of vegetation in your garden.
7. Once established, you don't have to do practically anything with it.
8. Adds structure to your garden.
9. It to be around 4 to 5 feet high and about as wide.
10. Moderate and clumping growth.
11. Best of all, it survived our Tucson freeze.  I highly recommend this perennial beauty.   When blooms are spent, you can remove them.  That's about all you have to do besides removing new clumps of red yucca from invading other spaces of your yard...but that takes several years before it happens. Zones 6-11 Frost hardy to about 10 degrees.

More tomorrow....