Sizing Up Your Desert Landscape

Let's face it, we all go to the nursery and get super excited about all of the beautiful desert trees and plants they have to offer. Oleanders, bird of paradise, citrus trees and date palms line the walkways, just begging us to take them home and turn our boring gravel backyards into resort-style paradises. While this is wonderful and encouraged, there is a very big factor to consider: the size of your yard.

Think about the physical size of your desert backyard. While it might look beautiful to have a baby Canary Island Date Palm in your 7,000 square foot property now think about 5 years from now. The span of a mature Canary can reach 25 feet wide or more! For those of us in the valley that could be the entire width of our backyard. Before you know it your lovely little 4 foot tall red oleander bush (pictured to the left) could become a 20 foot tall tree that blocks all of the sun from your yard.

I know patience is hard sometimes when you just want an instant, gorgeous yard but over-planting takes up more water than you need, produces green waste that will need to be disposed (think of all the trimming) and over time the roots from over-planting can choke out some of your more delicate plants and flowers. Plant sparingly, see how things go over a season and if you still feel as if the yard could use a little more, consider smaller perennials to fill in the gaps.