Design and planning is essential in order to have a beautiful and bountiful desert garden. Read about principles of design and maintenance of your desert garden.
Every good garden begins with a plan and a design. In the desert, you're going to want to consider water conservation as part of the planning and design.
A desert garden should be divided into "zones," each with different water requirements. The three zones are an "oasis" zone, a transition zone and low-water use zone.
In creating zones, you should also look for "found" water or water you harvest. This is water that runs off of roofs and pavement during storms (see my previous article, Directing Rainfall).
This water can be used to help irrigate. You can direct roof runoff to your "oasis" or even to other areas of your garden. You're probably going to need to grade your property to channel and direct the runoff; you'll want to include this in your planning process.
THE "OASIS" ZONE
The "oasis" zone is where people spend more time and requires the highest amount of water. This could be your patio or special areas of your back yard, usually closest to the house, and perhaps your entry area. As in any desert, the "oasis" gets more water, and is therefore cooler. The "oasis" will also need more maintenance and, because of the water and care, will probably have the most color.
Perennials that will do well in a sunny "oasis" zone are lily of the Nile, wild hyssop, aster, chrysanthemum, Mexican heather, bat-faced cuphea, gaura, daylily, red justicia, desert honeysuckle, beebalm (bergamot), cup flower, Mexican sage, scarlett hedgenettle, while rain lilly and plains zinnia.
Here are some shrubs you might consider in your "oasis" zone: sand verbena, desert marigold, paintbrush, damianita, shrubby dogweed, golden dogweed, desert buckwheat, Siberian wallflower, blanket flower (gaillardia), broomweed, desert rose mallow, gayfeather, blackfoot daisy, penstemmon, desert zinnia, among others.
If you'd like trees, try box elder, hackberry, Texas redbud, Rose of Sharon, edible fig, Chinaberry, chokecherry, flowering pear, Gambel's oak, honey locust and Japanese pagoda tree.
This is not an exhaustive list. There are many other plants that can do well in an "oasis" zone. Some sources you might want to check out: "Desert Blooms," an interactive CD-Rom which catalogues and cross references hundreds of desert plants (see my blog); Xeriscape Plant Guide, by Denver Water and The American Water Works Association, Fulcrum Publishing; Native Plants for High-Elevation Western Gardens, Janice Busco and Nancy R. Morin, published in partnership with The Arboretum at Flagstaff.
Next: Designing Your Desert Garden: Transition Zone
