Long Lasting Types of Desert Landscaping Plants

Desert Landscaping Plants Are Simple to Grow

The folks in the Southwest part of our country get to like the beauty and ease of gardening with desert landscaping plants.  They need little water, are hardy and also easy to transplant. They come in many interesting types, some with beautiful blossoms and others with very special shapes.

The various varieties of the cacti, with their sharp thorns, have been used as a fence to ward off predatory animals and other uninvited guests.  They have the ability to also be used to protect a vegetable from animals that enjoy stealing your prized tomatoes.  The short and stout “Barrel Cactus” would be very uninviting.

While creating a look using desert landscaping plants, you might find that you’ve some areas of the property or perhaps a side of the home with lots of shade.  Obviously, this would require you to use landscape shade plants, those that will handle the hot and dry climate but also do well growing in shade.  Again, the possibilities are tremendous, giving you great coverage and beautiful blooms during the year.

Listed below are just a few of the hundreds of varieties of desert landscape plants as well as a few landscape shade plants.  The hot and dry climates produce many beautiful and hearty plants to select from.

Opuntia Varieties, or superior known as the prickly pear due to its colorful fruit-shaped flower bud.  The bud blooms into the most beautiful, almost rose like flower.

Opuntia phaecantha variety discata, This is a very hardy plant that can survive in cold weather and will produce a beautiful deep yellow flower in the spring and summer months. It does tend to crawl along the ground and root as it goes. It has very sharp long spines that can be perilous if planted around kids.

The Agave or “century plant,” so named due to the flower stalk that is said to only bloom every one hundred years. In reality, the flower stalk appears at the end of its life, which can be as long as twenty to thirty five years. It has been used for ropes with the fiber, some for tequila, and baked and eaten.

Desert Landscape Shade Plants

Astilbes: These plants have wonderful, plume like flowers of red, pink, and white that’ll bloom for a long time.  As a perennial, the flower will grow back year after year while growing perfectly in a shaded area.

Hostas are another shade variety that blends in well with desert landscaping plants.  They’re perennials that come in several types, some with solid green or variegated leaves.  They produce flowers white, pink or purple flowers and can grow in full or partial shade.

Another type of shade plant is the Liriope Spicata.  This plant resembles grass and is sometime called border grass.  It has flowers the turn from white to purple when it is blooming then a dark berry grows on the plant in the fall.

Often labeled a day lily the Foxglove is extremely versatile and grows equally as well in the sun as it does it the shade.  The flowers produced by this plant are striking and vary in color depending on the species.  It is however a poisonous plant and should not be exposed to children and pets.

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Source: Desert Landscaping