May Gardening Tips for the Desert Southwest
- Annuals, perennials, shrubs, and trees can all go in the ground this month. Purchase container or balled-and-burlapped plants.
- Attract butterflies by planting chaste tree (Vitex), oleander (Nerium), Texas sage (Leucophyllum frutescens), or butterfly bush (Buddleja).
- For trees, consider mesquite, desert willow (Chilopsis linearis), palo verde (Parkinsonia), Chinese pistache (Pistacia chinensis), or live oak (Quercus).
Tuck gladiolus corms into the ground at two-week intervals to ensure a long season of continuous bloom.
Add cannas to your garden to savor striking foliage. Look for solid green or burgundy foliage, or try one of these colorful cultivars:
'Pretoria', which offers leaves striped with green and creamy-yellow
Tropicanna, which has vibrant stripes of chartreuse, pink, yellow, gold, red, and green on the foliage
'Stuttgart', which bears white blotches and edges on otherwise solid green leaves
These are all eye-catching underplanted with asparagus fern and/or sweet potato vines.
Test Garden Tip: Plant drought-tolerant red yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora). Its blooms stage a summer-long flower show that beckons butterflies and hummingbirds.
Continued on page 2: Irrigation Secrets
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