The Complete Tucson Butterfly Plant List

BUTTERFLY PLANT LIST


Perennials
•Ageratum corymbosum, Flossflower, nectar plant for male Queens

•Aristolochia watsonii, Native pipevine, foodplant for Pipevine Swallowtail

•Bouteloua curtipendula, Sideoats grama (grass), foodplant for Orange Skipperling

•Cosmos sulphureus, Cosmos, nectar plant

•Dicliptera resupinata, Twinseed, foodplant for Texan Crescent

•Eupatorium greggii, Butterfly mist, nectar plant for male Queens

•Eupatorium odoratum, Eupatorium, nectar plant for many butterflies

•Galvezia juncea, Galvezia, foodplant for Tropical Buckeye

•Glandularia gooddingii, Desert verbena, nectar plant for many butterflies

•Passiflora foetida, Native passionvine (vine), foodplant for Gulf Fritillary

•Petroselinum crispum, Parsley (biennial), foodplant for Black Swallowtail

•Senna covesii, Desert senna, foodplant for Sleepy Orange, Cloudless Sulphur

•Thymophylla pentachaeta, Dogweed, nectar plant; foodplant for Dainty Sulphur

Shrubs

•Acacia angustissima, Fern acacia, foodplant for Acacia Skipper, Mexican Sulphur

•Aloysia gratissima, Beebrush, nectar plant for gossamer wings

•Anisacanthus thurberi, Native honeysuckle, nectar plant; foodplant for Elada Checkerspot

•Asclepias linaria, Pineleaf milkweed, foodplant for Queen, Monarch

•Asclepias subulata, Desert milkweed, foodplant for Queen, Monarch

•Atriplex spp., Saltbush, foodplant for Western Pygmy Blue

•Baccharis sarothroides, Desert Broom, nectar (winter) for many, esp. Great Purple Hairstreak

•Bebbia juncea, Sweet bush, nectar plant for gossamer wings and sulphurs

•Buddleia davidii, Butterfly bush, nectar plant

•Caesalpinia pulcherrima, Red bird of paradise, nectar plant for swallowtails and sulphurs

•Calliandra californica, Baja fairy duster, foodplant for various Blues

•Chrysothamnus nauseosus, Rabbitbrush, nectar (fall) for many species

•Dalea spp., Indigo bush, nectar plant; foodplant for Southern Dogface

•Hyptis emoryi, Desert lavender, nectar plant

•Lycium spp., Wolfberry, nectar plant (winter)

•Lantana spp., Lantana, nectar plant

•Senna hirsuta var. glaberrima, Long-pod senna, foodplant for Sleepy Orange, Cloudless Sulphur

•Tagetes lemmoni, Mountain marigold, nectar (fall) for many species

•Tithonia fruticosa, Mexican sunflower, nectar; foodplant for Bordered Patch
Trees & Large Shrubs

•Acacia greggii, Catclaw, nectar plant

•Celtis pallida, Desert hackberry, foodplant for Empress Leilia, American Snout

•Celtis reticulata, Canyon hackberry, foodplant for Empress Leilia, American Snout

•Citrus spp., Citrus trees, foodplant for Giant Swallowtail

•Eysenhardtia orthocarpa, Kidneywood, nectar; foodplant for Marine Blue

•Havardia pallens, Tenaza, nectar plant

•Lysiloma watsoni, Feather tree, foodplant for Agarithe Sulphur

•Prosopis velutina, Native mesquite, nectar; foodplant for Leda Hairstreak, Palmers Metalmark

Source:  Tucson Botanical Gardens

Texas Mist Flower

A weed really in our hot sun, this plant is the secret to all butterfly life on Earth! It spreads naturally and some gardeners in Tucson consider it invasive.  Attractive to the Queen Butterfly, this plant will fill your garden with beautiful fuzzy purple flowers and fluttering orange masses of the Queen. 

I have a link here about this plant and a garden that I visited in Tucson this past September.

http://gardeningandthespanishway-rohrerbot.blogspot.com/2010/09/secrets-of-butterfly-lovemaking.html

I also shot some video on what this amazing plant can do for your butterfly garden.  It did well for me until winter.  It is coming back again with new leaves on the bottom. This is extremely impressive since our freeze was hard this year.  Be aware that it is not an attractive plant in winter and goes through the natural plant cycle.  It loves sun so don't plant this in the shade at all.  For the most part, it's xeric and a great plant for butterflies plus it adds a nice patch of greenery to the garden. Note the height on the video for a better reference of how it will look in your own yard.  Today at 3 PM, I've have a complete list of plants for your Tucson garden.

Butterflies of Southwestern Arizona

So you're crazy about butterflies and want to know more about what you'll see in Tucson.  You'll find a link below that will help you identify a number of butterflies observed in Tucson.  We have several great local resources from not only the Tucson Botanical Gardens, but from Desert Connections, and the Desert Museum.  This link will help you get started with our Sonoran Desert friends that visit during our hot monsoon season.
Here's a shot I took last year during the summer.  I was working on this blog and one of the new Swallowtails came to visit:)  This was taken outside my dining room window.

http://www.tucsonbotanical.org/desertconnections/TBG_butterflies.php

SWALLOWTAILS


Pipevine Swallowtail

Black Swallowtail

Giant Swallowtail



WHITES & SULPHURS

Cabbage White

Checkered White

Clouded Sulphur

Orange Sulphur

Southern Dogface

Cloudless Sulphur

Large Orange Sulphur

Sleepy Orange

Mexican Yellow

Boisduval’s Yellow

Dainty Sulphur



GOSSAMER WINGS

Gray Hairstreak

Reakirt’s Blue

Ceraunus Blue

Marine Blue

Western Pygmy-Blue



SNOUTS

American Snout



BRUSH FOOTS

Gulf Fritillary

Variegated Fritillary

Elada Checkerspot

Texan Crescent

Mourning Cloak

Painted Lady

West Coast Lady

Red Admiral

Common Buckeye

Tropical Buckeye

Empress Leilia

Monarch

Queen



SKIPPERS

Funereal Duskywing

White Common Checkered-Skipper

Orange Skipperling

Fiery Skipper

Eufala Skipper

Pineleaf Milkweed

This is a plant that I purchased later on in the summer.  It reminds me of rosemary and has that same bushy look as well.  Surprisingly, it has done extremely well in the garden and survived our bitter cold spells.  I didn't place this plant in direct sun and it seems to do well with 4 hours of morning sun.  It has nice white blooms and attracts the monarch caterpillar.  I had one in October on the plant and I got really excited about the discovery.  Going through my photos on file, I discovered that I didn't snap a pic like I thought I had so I can't share a pic with you on that wonderful moment.  In any case, this is a reliable plant to have in your garden and it adds a nice look when mixed in with other plants. It's upright and bushy.  It's a good xeriscape plant.  It is considered a small to medium evergreen perennial shrub; green in color, it has leaves resembling pine tree needles. Butterflies are attracted to it...especially Monarchs.

Height: Evergreen succulent shrub growing to 2 - 5 feet tall and about 4 feet wide.
Flowers: The flowers are in clusters that are white in color.
Blooming Time: April - November.
Leaves: Linear, pine needle-like leaves densely line the stems. They bear a 2 inch long, seed tear shaped, seed capsule.
Habitat: Desert washes, creosote bush scrub. An ideal xeriscape landscape plant in Arizona.

Source:  http://www.delange.org/MilkweedPineNeedle/MilkweedPineNeedle.htm

My hope in providing these links is to extend your resources for our Desert Southwest climate.  If it's one thing, I've learned about gardening, it takes a community to educate and share knowledge. Gardeners are constantly learning something new. Until next time.....

Passionflower or Passionvine

Stupid, silly me. When I began gardening in Tucson, I discovered that the passiflora loved our sun and it grew like a weed with some water.  I wouldn't call this plant xeric, but it does like our sun.  It was the perfect vine and I fell in love with its' purple flowers.  Winter would come and it would die back to the ground only to come back in Spring.  For the first year, we had a beautiful relationship, but during the following year, I started to notice furry caterpillars eating the vine and I became jealous.  I killed them all because I was angry.  Who gave these caterpillars the right to eat this vine?  So naive and young was I......and stupid.  Who knew that you planted these vines in Tucson, not for the flowers, but for the beautiful butterflies that fluttered around them?  It was a wake up call for me and how our desert ecosystem works here.  I just wanted a green apartment patio. I hadn't thought about the wildlife that needed these plants in our desert to survive.  Some might call that selfish and ignorant on my part and they'd be right.  Today I use this vine as a background plant for the butterflies and not as a focal point.  If you plant this in Tucson, be ready for the butterfly onslaught.  The caterpillars will eat all the leaves leaving only the vine.  This won't kill the plant, but it won't make it pretty either.  However, this series is about butterflies and how we get them into our gardens.  By placing this vine into your garden, you are guaranteeing success.  What butterfly does it attract? Well it doesn't attract just one type of butterfly as it attracts many butterflies.  Depending on your gardening zone, the number and variety of butterflies will vary.  I've seen three kinds of butterflies around this plant, but the main one, the Gulf Fritillary, is most likely the one you may see in caterpillar form with its' spiky appearance eating the leaves. However with these caterpillars, you'll also see
the parents flying around the plant laying eggs.  If you want butterflies, this is a definite must for your butterfly garden.  Until next time......

Picture Source: Wikipedia

The Butterfly Plants

One of the shots I took at the Tucson Botanical Gardens "Butterfly Magic Display"

I thought I would begin this series as a way to get people excited for summer!!!  This year my focus is going to be on butterfly plants in the planters around the property.  I'll be working at the Tucson Botanical Gardens this week today at 9 AM and on Thursday morning at the same time in the Butterfly Pavilion so if you've got some time, come and join us at the Gardens.  If you haven't gone before, this exhibit is spectacular.  So you want to attract butterflies to your garden?  Who doesn't?  We are very lucky in the Desert Southwest to have these beautiful insects flying around our gardens for a good part of the year.  Plant the right plants and they'll come.  Today at 3 PM, I'll kick off this new plant series and get you thinking about some things you can do to attract these beautiful creatures into our Tucson gardens.  It's not hard to do and you'll be surprised at what plants are out there for you to use around your place. I'll admit that I was intimidated by this idea at first, but after visiting several Tucson gardens, I discovered this was an easy thing to do.  There are some bushier plants and vines that will be featured in this upcoming series.  If you are wanting to know more now, you can check out my previous posts from last year on butterflies by typing the word into the search box at the beginning of the blog.  You'll find some videos and pics that show you what a patch of a butterfly garden would look like. Several butterflies are present in Tucson throughout most of the year. You can often see sulfurs, queens, gulf fritillaries, or buckeyes well into November. By starting your garden now in the warm weather, you'll be promoting an area for butterflies to visit in just a matter of a month!  

Doubt

Today I wanted to write about something that I think gardener's feel all the time.....doubt.  Will it work? What will it look like? How will I go about and accomplish this? How will this plant combination look?  This feeling especially comes into play when you renovate an area like what we are doing here at the El Presidio gardens.  We have two homes for sale and two projects going on simultaneously.  One is our pool getting filled in with dirt while the other is the complete renovation of our side planters.  Old vegetation was destroyed and new material is being added.  Essentially 3 gardens are being revitalized at the property and they are all being handled at once.  As you can imagine, for people looking to buy a new home, this can be an eyesore for everyone including the current homeowners.  Several realtors have come onto the property and are wondering what's going on with the pool and gardens.  A lot of new homeowners only see what's in front of them as I did when we purchased our place here at El Presidio. However what most realtors or new homeowners don't have is the information needed to address the issue of what is going on with the property. Today the president of the HOA told me about a situation that recently happened with a homeowner seeing our pool and upset that we were getting rid of it.  Again, the pool is an eyesore for many people and it was stated at the last meeting that it would be filled in soon or by the end of the month.  This was welcome news to me and for many homeowners here as we look forward to it getting done.

Doubt.  My vision doesn't waver when it comes time to rip things apart.....especially after this property had been neglected for over 20 years!!  It's difficult to do at first because the destruction is so great and vast that it makes you wonder if you did the right thing.  As I am seeing things fall into place, I am reassured that it will all come together.....but it takes vision and guidance for those who lack the imagination.   I plan, organize, write, and do a photo shoot around the property and every year I am seeing the little changes we've made in different places and it's all coming together nicely.  I have found that my job has been primarly to remind homeowners to keep the faith.  The HOA is doing some incredible work right now and saving our place from financial collapse.  By shutting down this pool, hundreds of dollars are being saved a month towards our emergency savings fund and other maintenance issues.  I want to erase people's doubt and tell them that everything will be okay and that we have a plan in place.  By the end of this work, I hope to be in a Tucson magazine talking about the process of how El Presidio Gardens came into being.  Sometimes people can make a mistake in their planning and that's okay.  The important part is that you have a plan for all of it.  If Plan A doesn't work, what is your Plan B?  There is always a compromise between gardener and HOA or homeowner or spouse in our own ideas regarding landscaping.  The tricky parts are patience and finding a compromise to fit the big picture.  Until next time.....

Birds Beware!

Walls have been around the El Presidio Gardens for 30 years.  Today they continue to protect our small community from the dangers of the Miramonte neighborhood.  However over time, this community has seen theft, drug trafficking, and other unsavory incidents.  While the illegal wall hopping has slowed down; the activities still occur with trash and beer bottles outside of our gates as evidence that people were there.   You have to be shot or dead before the police come to help even though I've filed several reports on the issue.  We've cleared up the Eastern Gardens area so that light sensors are not blocked. Our resident's security is important to our community and it's frustrating that nothing can get done to prevent the invasion of meth and other suspicious activity onto our property.  I've reported a city light out on our neighbor's side, but it still hasn't been fixed.   

Pigeon Spikes are rather cheap.

In other news, there has been talk about putting up pigeon wire along that same part of the wall to keep the birds from sitting on it.  It's not surprising that birds or people would cross this part of our wall as there is a grove of mesquite trees on the other side that encourage all forms of wildlife to congregate.  We are concerned about the high concentration of pigeons that hang out in that area as it is a health concern to our residents and their vehicles.  While this Presidio Wall is large, there are only smaller and remote sections that seem to be having these issues.  I'll be looking into pigeon wire as a solution for this problem.  I love birds but I also understand the resident's concerns about their vehicles and health.  The pigeon wire seems inexpensive and easy to install.

Model Kumari Fulbright...a pic taken of her in Tucson for kidnapping and torturing her ex-boyfriend.  She had been going to law school.  Meth is a devastating drug in our communities worldwide. Meth before and after. It makes you do crazy stuff!

I suppose this issue will also resolve the other issue of meth addicts jumping our property lines. One day, I was outside pruning with another homeowner and a huge argument broke out on the other side of the Wall.  The "F" bomb was dropped many times and during these times you wonder....
A.  Will there be a gun?
B.  Will there be a fist fight?
C. When are the police coming?
D.  Will they notice us on the other side?
E.  Are we in danger?

I feel sorry for the residents on that side of the property. Surrounded by two low housing income projects is not ideal.  My plants/cacti soldiers can't grow fast enough to enclose the property!! No one should have to deal with those issues.  The police are busy around town monitoring, arresting, and keeping our town safe.  It's just frustrating that no one cares about PREVENTION.  Today we deal with reactions and consequences....but what if we could prevent? 

This is my summer project before I leave for Panama. This is yet but another facet of gardening we all need to think about when designing our spaces. So Birds Beware!!

                                                 Creative solutions for impossible situations.

Wicked Fun!

This post is a very special one for me.  I have just come off the high from meeting Amy Stewart, author of Wicked , a book about poisonous plants and human interactions with these plants. It was a great day because not only did I get to have lunch with Amy, but I also got to chat with Scott Calhoun who is a locally famous landscaper/writer in the Tucson area.  I'm not sure what the word is to describe the feeling from being around these expert plant people, but I think "overwhelmed" is a term that comes to mind.  There was some really great plant discussion going on and I just listened to it all not wanting it to stop. It was almost surreal.  I had my tablet and pen and took notes. It was really enjoyable to be around such wonderful energy and passion in what these people do in their own lives.  I have to be honest.....I have done the field studies, the historical studies, and the crazy adventures.......but in a different area with language, education, and indigenous peoples.  We are all connected, but I am at a crossroads in my life finding out that I wish I had gone further with my studies in botany like my friend Dr. Heidi did back in our tree hugging society days. Public school education isn't what it used to be and unfortuneatly a lot of good people are leaving the profession in search of a better job that treats people with respect.  Many of you would be shocked by how parents treat our teachers today.   I do enjoy teaching my high school and university students along with my love for the Spanish language (and all the field work I get to do during my summer "vacations")......but there is no denying that the fire that burns within me lies elsewhere these days and in a different direction. Today's meeting and lecture are indications that changes may be coming down the road. There was a quote someone once told me....."Education is a life long process."  I totally agree with that saying today but when I was younger, I didn't want to believe it.  Every 6 years teachers have to recertify in their content area, but the issue I have with this is......what if you want to study something else because we all change after time?  The answer is "No.  It has to be in your content area." Then I ask, "What about those month long trips I take to Spanish speaking countries?"  "No.  Vacations don't count".  People who travel with me KNOW that I don't take a vacation and some of them refuse to go with me(like my other half Pat:) If you're going to spend all that money on a plane ticket, why would you sit at a beach the entire time? My parents recently remarked to my sister who came out to visit that I would keep them busy busy busy.  I do research on language variations, indigenous attitudes vs. the national culture, plant studies, and historical/cuisine(my favorite) visits.  Spanish fluency comes from travel and study.  Knowledge comes from the source. To be authentic in your field, you MUST work and get experiences from these invaluable sources. No district or university can offer that experience to me.  So while I am studying plants on my own time, it's on my own time. :)

Amy Stewart, author of  Wicked and Dr. Ergot Ratbane of the Wicked Plant Display at the Tucson Botanical Gardens.  This picture sums it all up for me and just shows what happens when great ideas come together. Ms. Stewart found a great angle on plants that interested people worldwide and the Botanical Gardens found a way to bring that excitement into the gardens here. PS. Dr. Ergot Ratbane is hilarious both in person and in character and makes me laugh.  There were a lot of kids today coming through his office and it can be overwhelming....but he was ready with crayons and paper:)

I first "met" Amy Stewart through Austin's PBS program, Central Texas Gardening which can be found on YouTube.  She's a very kind and knowledgeable person who, like all of us, has to find time in their day to balance busy schedules.  From our chat, I understood that there were several major things that an author must go through....1)Research for your book 2) Travel time for the research on your book 3)Writing your book 4) Trying out the things that you are writing about(like Amy's poisonous plants) in your own garden  5)Editing and Publishing your book and 6)The book tours that follow while still trying to write your next book....and somewhere in there..... family. Amy was really friendly and great to get to know. 

So let me list what was so "wicked" about  Ms Stewart's lecture....

1.  Alnwick Castle has a Poison Garden on deadly plants and is also where Harry Potter was filmed.

http://www.alnwickgarden.com/home/welcome

                                             2. Around 68,000 people are poisoned every year

3.  Hemlock killed Socrates

4. There is a poisonous research plant in Logan, Utah

5. White Snakeroot killed Lincoln's Mother from Milk Sickness.  The cows had eaten the snakeroot weed and the people drank their milk which was also poisoned and hence, Lincoln's mother was a victim from this poisoness plant.

6. Pallagra is a vitamin defiency of B3 or niacin giving people in the early days the appearance of being a vampire.  This happened because corn was utilized by early American settlers as their primary source of food.

7. The most painful plant may be the Giant Stinging Tree or Dendrocnide Moroides.  If "stung" by this tree, the pain can last up to a year or reignite on the skin from heat or sunlight.

8. There is an animal poison control center for beloved pets....ASPCA

http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/poison-control/

PS.  Lilies are toxic for cats and will give a cat kidney failure....think about this plant before buying a bouquet for your table....especially if you have a nibbling kitty. 

9.  Teenagers are finding other ways to smoke things besides weed. If you hear them using latin, be aware.  Diviner's sage is hard to get; but can be ordered on Ebay type sites. It can also kill.

10. Finally, what do you think is the most dangerous plant in the world?  It's the one that has killed the most people worldwide at around 90 million people.....what do you think it is?  Answer on the very bottom.

On a personal note, I had an amazing day at the Tucson Botanical Gardens and I'd like to thank them for inviting Ms. Stewart.  Her website is:

http://www.amystewart.com/

There are two people I'd love to sit down with here in Tucson and meet during another time....Scott Calhoun of ZonaGardens Landscape Design and David Yetman from the PBS KUAT series “The Deserts Speaks”

Scott Calhoun's website is http://www.zonagardens.com/

The answer to the question above is tobacco

Stay tuned for more.......

Shrubby Yew





Taken from the Monrovia website and I also purchased two of these plants from this same company. The current two plants I have in the ground are a year old at about a foot and a half.

Here's a plant that makes a statement and has history....the Shrubby Yew. El Presidio had an older tree on the property that died during that nasty snow storm event several years ago.  When I moved onto the property, this tree stood dry and neglected.  It made me sad because I loved the look of this plant.  You won't see it as much in Tucson because I think it's a very slow growing plant and people are not patient.  However, it has done well for me and I have planted two as a way to frame the entrance to one of the buildings.  They are located in part shade and will grow, I'm hoping, to reach a height of 15 feet.  They are tall and narrow plants with a unique leaf structure.  Several of these mature plants grow in my neighborhood and look absolutely wonderful.  They definitely add structure and focus to an entrance.  Here is some background information taken from the Monrovia website....
"Plant type: Tree
Garden styles: Asian/Zen, Tropical
Deciduous/evergreen: Evergreen
Cold hardiness zones: 7 - 11
Light needs: Partial to full sun
Sunset climate zones: 4 - 9, 12 - 24
Water Needs: Needs regular watering - weekly, or more often in extreme heat.
Average landscape size: Slow grower to 15 to 20 ft. tall, 6 to 8 ft. wide, larger with age.
Growth rate: Slow
Growth habit: Pyramidal
Special features: Deer Resistant, Improved Pest and Disease Resistance, Waterwise
Landscape uses: Container, Espalier, Firescaping/Fire Wise, Houseplant, Seacoast Exposure, Specimen, Windbreak, Woodland Garden
Problem/solution: Deer Resistant
Blooms: Does not flower.

Attractive pyramidal garden or patio tree takes to shearing well to become an effective accent, screen or clipped hedge. This versatile plant will also thrive in tubs or as a topiary. Evergreen.
Retailers for this plant:
Mesquite Valley, Tucson at Pantano and Speedway
Care Information

Follow a regular watering schedule during the first growing season to establish a deep, extensive root system. Feed with a general purpose fertilizer before new growth begins in spring. For a tidy, neat appearance, shear annually to shape.
Design Ideas

With its dense, upright form, this Podocarpus can become a columnar corner plant. Line them up, with spaces in between, as a repeating element behind traditional perennial borders. Plant as a solid hedge for a manicured privacy screen along property lines and side yards. In warm-winter climates, it makes a great evergreen background that can be shaped to your needs. Excellent choice for front yards needing separation between multistory buildings.

History

This is a valuable plant native to Japan and southern China.This genus was conferred by French botanist Charles L'Hertier de Brutelle, 1746-1800, either from specimens provided by Thunberg from Japan or more likely those sent west by French Catholic missionaries in China. The species was described but misclassified by Carl Thunberg in the 18th century as a yew under Taxus macrophylla. It also went by P. longifolia for awhile. Scots botanist David Don, 1799-1841 accurately classified the plants as P. macrophyllus to describe its notably long leaf shape.
Lore

The tree is grown in China for its religious symbolism related to its appearance which suggests the lohans, followers of Buddha, often depicted on temple walls. Therefore aged specimens of this "lohan pine" tree are frequently found on temple grounds."

Source: http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/plants/1995/yew-podocarpus.php

I purchase a lot of my plants from Monrovia and their products have a great record of success in our gardens.  While their plants may be a couple dollars more, it's worth the price because the success rates from their plants have been at around 85 percent at El Presidio compared to the 50 percent from other places.

This concludes the tree series for Tucson this year. There are certainly more trees out there like the Ironwood or the Arizona Sycamore.  I have observed them in nature and they both are great native trees. In fact my high school is named after the Ironwood because we have a lot of them on our grounds. Of course, there is the Live Oak, but I've already done a post on this tree.    After hours of putting these writings together, it's nice to take a break and do something creative again.  I hope this has been helpful for my desert gardening friends.  The next post will be on a lecture I recently attended with Amy Stewart from her "Wicked Plants" book.  Lunch was served and a lecture to be had.  She's really a nice person and it was a fun day.  We'll take a brief break from the plants for the Tucson plant series.  All of this has to be posted now because people are shopping for plants and there is very little information out there for my Tucson gardening friends trying to figure out what to put in their gardens.  I was frustrated last year because I didn't have the information there for me. I am given money every month to go shopping for plants and other garden items while most people have to be frugal with their cash and can't experiment. So I try to help where I can. We need to know what will work and what won't in the Old Pueblo.  I'll write this now and I'll write it again.  There is a lot of info out there for Phoenix gardeners, but Tucson and Phoenix are very different places.  What works in Phoenix, doesn't always work in Tucson.  We are two different gardening zones.  So stay tuned for much more on gardening in Tucson during this very busy spring.....especially after the nasty frosts we've experienced. Dead plants need to be replaced and pruning must be done. More reports to follow.....