RE: Article on Desert Plants for So Cal?

--- Nan Sterman <nsterman@plantsoup.com> wrote:
> David, I am working on an article on exactly this
> topic and have been 
> in touch with Mtn States.  What plants do you
> recommend in addition 
> to texas ranger and dalea?
> 
> Nan
>
Nan, 
 
I assume that southwestern/Sonoran/Chihuahaun 
Desert plants from Arizona/Baja California/Mexico/New
Mexico/Texas is your topic, but I'm not sure from your
e-mail.  I could tell you of some of the plants at the
Tucson Botanic Garden and the Las Vegas Water District
Demonstration Gardens, and hotel landscapes in Cabo
San Lucas which caught my eye while visiting there
over the past several Decembers and in March/April,
but I haven't tried many of these plants in my own
garden, for several reasons; lack of heat, lack of
full sun, difficulty to procure them locally, and most
of all, an already overflowing garden more slanted to
the subtropical and montaine cloudforests, with
accents of desert cacti and succulents in the few
sunny spots, and no space, (except the roof!) to try
new large growing things.

I have had occasion to specify them in a project that
I designed in Las Vegas, but the conditions don't
compare to coastal southern California, and I don't
have the direct experience to be able to say how they
might perform in your area.

Some Plants which have caught my eye over the past few
years:

Acacia berlandieri, A. willardiana, Agave bovicornuta,
A. bracteosa(I do grow this one, and love it), A.
vilmoriniana, Baccharis x 'Centennial'(I also have
grown this, and love the deep green color and dense
groundcover growth on a 3 foot tall spreading plant),
Breynia disticha 'Roseopicta'(can be grown in full
blazing sun in Cabo, and also has served well as a
spring/summer/fall outdoor plant here in Berkeley, not
lasting beyond the January wet and cold, however),
Calylophus hartwegii 'Sierra Sundrop', several of the
Australian Cassia spp, Cordia boissieri, Dalea
bicolor, D. frutescens, D. greggi(a great winter
blooming low spreading ground cover with silvery
foliage, which I spec'd in Las Vegas, and then was
defeated by someone else within the office designing a
spray irrigation system rather than drip, which it is
not adapted for...), D. pulchra, Dasylirion longissima
and D. wheeleri(both of which do fine here in the Bay
Area), 
Dalea frutescens, D. greggii, D. versicolor,
Eremophila spp, Eucalyptus microtheca and E.
spathulata and E. woodwardii, Euphorbia xantii(I can't
seem to keep this showy, winter blooming species going
here in the Bay Area, but it does beautifully in so
cal), Hesperaloe spp(seem to need the hottest,
sunniest spots to bloom well here), Justicia
spicigera,  Leucophyllum candidum varieties, L.
frutescens varieties, L. laevigatum, Mascagnia spp,
Meremia aurea, Muhlenbergia capillaris(not really a
desert plant, but from the south east USA, and I first
saw this in Arizona, where it was gorgeous pink plumed
accent when backlit by afternoon sun, also does
equally well here in the Bay Area), M. dumosa(common
enough here, not as popular as it was 4~5 years ago),
M. pubescens, Opuntia basilaris(this purple flowered,
purplish cast to foliage cactus does well here in the
Bay Area with container culture), Opuntia violacea
'Santa Rita'(stunning when it retains the purple
foliage coloration, but needs heat or drought or
cultivation stress to maintain color in coastal
conditions-which I have managed to do with my plant :)
), Prosopis alba "Colorado', Prosopis glandulosa(a
very beautiful weeping form, with good non desert
appearing foliage color and texture, much like a
Gleditsia), Sophora secundiflora(beautiful fragrant
blue spring Wisteria like flowers, but fails to
perform here in the Bay Area, even in hotter inland
areas), Sphaeralcea ambigua, Tagetes lemmoni and T.
lucida(both common enough here in the Bay Area),
Tecoma stans cultivars, Ugnadia speciosa,, Verbena
rigida(does fine here), Zephranthes grandiflora and Z.
citrina.

This list is by no means complete, but are just some
of the things that caught my eye while in Cabo San
Lucas(Decembers), Tucson and Las Vegas in early
spring, (March and April), and do not include many
things like the Cercidium spp, Agaves, Penstemons, etc
which are so typical of the Sonoran Desert.  I wish I
had been able to use many of these things on the
palace landscape I worked on last year in Saudi
Arabia, as well as using things from the seasonal
deciduous scrub forest belts of Mexico and Central
Mexico, but desert appropriate landscaping was not the
concern on that project, just as many people over
there failed to see that subtropicals could perform
better than temperate zone plants more appropriate to
a colder desert climate such as Las Vegas.  ( I don't
know why this was such a stretch of the imagination,
as they already were growing many tropical trees and
shrubs such as Roystonea regia, Plumeria, Delonix,
Cassia fistula, etc in Riyadh).  

Hope this was along the lines of what info you may
have been seeking for your article.  Possibly the list
of things I mention gives more insight into what
attracts me in a landscape setting than what may be
the most useful plants for California conditions... 
All of these plants were observed in planted and
maintained garden settings rather than out in the
wild.    

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