Sorry so long between posts…I’ve been tied up in the garden.  Sigh…it makes me want to hire a landscape professional!

Knowing more about desert gardening means that I want to do more and more.  But if you’re strapped for time or less than knowledgeable about desert landscape maintenance, you might want to hire the appropriate professional.  Trouble is…where do you find them?

Well, Phoenix has a boatload of people who do what we call “blow ‘n go.”  These are the guys who sweep in with jet packs on their backs and tote chainsaws for a Texas-sized massacre of your plant life.  From what I can tell, they’re either paid by how much noise they make, how much dust they blow around, or how many shapes they can form from your shrubs.  Or all three.

Wouldn’t it be nice if they focused instead on testing and fixing your irrigation system?  Or on cleaning up your trees a bit, and doing some selective pruning on your xeriscape plants?   How about if they came in and did their work without disturbing the peace…or provoking an allergic reaction?

Lucky for us, these landscape professionals DO exist here in Phoenix.  Smartscape Certified Landscapers receive training in design, renovation and maintenance of desert-adapted xeriscape plants, drip irrigation design and installation, water management and irrigation controllers, and solutions to plant problems.

You can also contact the Desert Botanical Garden for a list of Certified Desert Landscape Professionals.  These Desert Landscape School graduates have completed a minimum of seven months of intensive training in landscaping with desert-adapted plants.

With a little digging, you’re sure to find someone who cares more about helping you manage your desert landscape than about operating a power tool!

I’d always thought of Duluth Trading Company as my husband’s workwear store.  They’re known for their durable and tough workwear made from the same material that wraps around fire hoses.  And their “crouch without the ouch” ballroom jeans for men.  (It took me awhile to figure out why they call them “ballroom” jeans…they’re not for dancing!)

So imagine my surprise and delight when I received their “Garden Gear-Up” catalog in the mail the other day!   The cover sported a garden utility vest with enough pockets for loppers, scissors, blades, and our other desert garden tools…12 inall!  There’s a long-sleeved version, too, although I’m pretty sure that that would be overkill in our Phoenix desert landscapes.

There’s pants with knee pads built in and shorts and shirts and garden totes and and hats and gloves and shoes.  Oh my!  They even have a cool leather pruning sleeve so you can tackle the thorny, prickly stuff without looking like you got into it with a feral cat.

I haven’t purchased anything yet, but I”m definitely taking a closer look.  You can check out Duluth Trading Company’s garden gear, too.

Image Credit: AMWUA

Well, April 1 came and with it, a no-joke wind that could topple a small tree…especially a water-starved desert dweller!  We happened to be out at Boyce Thompson Arboretum (must go, must go!) enjoying the spring sights, but a couple of times that wind threatened to blow us off our feet!

The wind is right on time, actually.  April, May, and June are the hottest, driest, windiest months here in Greater Phoenix, making our plants the thirstiest.  They need more water!

For drip and sprinkler systems, this is the time to change the frequency of your watering.  (Remember, the AMOUNT you water should stay the same, but how FREQUENTLY you water should be adjusted seasonally.)

If you’re at all confused about watering xeriscape or other plants–as well as turf–in your desert garden, download the Landscape Watering by the Numbers booklet.  This is THE go-to resource for watering desert landscapes here in Phoenix.