Regional Picks: Uncommon & Unfussy Plants – Southwest

Woolly butterfly bush

Name:Buddleia marrubifolia

USDA Hardiness Zones:9 to 11

size of it : Up to 6 pes magniloquent and wide

Conditions : Full sunlight ; well - drained soil

This Chihuahuan Desert indigen has ash gray - greenish evergreen plant leaf . Woolly butterfly stroke bush will spring up up to 6 feet tall but , with pruning , can be keep more compact to fit in small spaces if need be . It creates a nice direct contrast when pair with interesting succulent and cacti . This butterfly bush does not blossom regularly in the dispirited deserts but does answer to a summer rainfall with abundant blooming .

Candelilla

Name:Euphorbia antisyphilitica

Zones:8 to 11

Size:2 to 3 feet tall and 3 to 5 feet wide

Candelilla is another Chihuahuan Desert native that grow naturally along the Rio Grande . This succulent works best in partial Lord’s Day in the low desert . The stem are a sick blue - green color and take shape a healthy clunk , offering a gracious contrast to agave , yuccas , and cacti . Candelilla is resistant to wildlife due to the white whitish irritant it emits when damage .

Desert mallow

Name:Sphaeralcea ambigua

Zones:9 to 11

Size:2 to 3 foot marvellous and wide

Desert mallow , a Sonoran Desert native , is a outstanding outpouring blooper . It flower in many colors , include white , pinkish , and lavender , but orange is most common . This plant looks well embed in drift and when combined with strong morphological plant , like agaves and yuccas . Desert mallow lives for only a few years but will readily ego - seed and down up throughout the garden . It should not necessitate any regular pruning . Butterflies habituate this plant as a larval host , and bees are appeal to it , as well .

Parry’s penstemon

Name:Penstemon parryi

Zones:8 to 10

Size : Up to 3 substructure magniloquent and wide when bloom

weather condition : Full sun to light shade ; prolific , well - drained ground

This Sonoran Desert native is an evergreen plant perennial that create beautiful little potato of silver-tongued - green leaf with spike of rose - pinkish flowers in fountain . This plant can be quite showy when a large pigeonholing erupts in spring here at the Desert Botanical Garden . Parry ’s penstemon is tolerant of many desert climates up to 5,000 feet in height . Another welfare is that this plant will promptly reseed itself and can become a fixture in your garden for many year , which the hummingbirds will love .

Brian Kissingeris manager of gardening at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix , Arizona .

Fine Gardening Recommended product

A.M. Leonard Deluxe Soil Knife & Leather Sheath Combo

Fine Gardening pick up a commission for item purchased through links on this web site , admit Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertizing programs .

Get our latest tips , how - to articles , and instructional videos institutionalize to your inbox .

Signing you up …

Regional Picks: Uncommon & Unfussy Plants - Southern Plains

Regional Picks: Uncommon & Unfussy Plants - Northwest

Regional Picks: Uncommon & Unfussy Plants - Northeast

Regional Picks: Uncommon & Unfussy Plants - Midwest

link hunky-dory Gardening for a free engaging live webinar sport Dr. Janna Beckerman , a noted plant pathologist as well as professor emerita at Purdue University and the ornamentals technological coach …

When I spotted a particular guts clam cactus ( Astrophytum asterias ) at the Philadelphia Flower Show a few months ago , I know I was in trouble . With a delicious coloring pattern …

When we only prioritise plants we want over plants our landscape painting needs , each season is occupy with a never - ending list of chores : pruning , pinching , watering , treating , amending , and fertilizing , with …

Regional Picks: Uncommon & Unfussy Plants - Southwest

Video

Touring an Eco-friendly, Shady Backyard Retreat

You must be careful when you come in the backyard of garden designer Jeff Epping — not because you ’re probable to turn on on something , but because you might be dive - bombed by a pair …