Low Desert Blooms for Pollinators in February 2023 is starting off as a promising wildflower bloom season in the desert, but what’s blooming in the garden as pollinators begin to celebrate the warmer weather? You may be surprised!Some of the following plants, by the book, are early to flower, but keep in mind that even small changes in elevation, sun exposure, and heat absorbing walls and stone can create microclimates that enable exceptional results.Aloe spp – Attracts HummingbirdsAngelita Daisy – Nectar plant, seeds provide food for birdsArizona Foldwing – Great nectar plant for bees and butterflies. Host plant for the Texas CrescentBaja Fairy Duster – Attracts Hummingbirds, great nectar source for bees and butterflies, host for the Marine Blue.Blackfoot Daisy – Nectar loving insects like bees and butterflies love the flowers, and seed-eating birds eat the seeds.Bottle Brush – Great nectar plant for bees, butterflies and HummingbirdsBrittlebush – The nectar and seeds are consumed by local wildlife and the shrub provides shelter for animals. Host for the Painted Lady and Bay checkerspot butterfly, a threatened species.Cape Honeysuckle – Nectar plant for Hummingbirds and bees.Cascalote – Nectar plant for bees, attracts hummingbirds.Chuparosa – Nectar source for Hummingbirds and bees. Host for Tiny Checkerspot, Texas Crescent, Pearl CrescentDalea spp – Host for Reakirt’s Blue, Southern dogface, Gray Hairstreak. Nectar plant for bees and butterflies.Desert Lavender – Nectar plant for bees. Host for the Gray Hairstreak butterflyDesert Marigold – Nectar plant. Host for Dainty Sulphur butterfly. Special value to native bees.Dogweed – Great nectar plant. Larval host for the Dainty SulphurEmu Bushes – Nectar plant for bees and hummingbirdsBuckwheat – Special value to native bees. Host for the Bernardino Dotted-Blue, Lupine Blue, Mormon Metalmark, Behr’s Metalmark, Nut-Brown Hairstreak, Ceraunus Blue, Rita Dotted Blue, Acmon Blue, Brown ElfVerbenas – Nectar plant and host for Fine-lined Sallow moth, Verbena mothLantana – Excellent nectar plant for bees and butterfliesMexican Honeysuckle (Justicia spicigera) – Attracts HummingbirdsPerennial Rockcress – Host for Spring White, Cabbage White, Desert Marble, Pearly Marble, Sara Orange Tip, Checkered WhiteSalvia spp – Cleveland Sage has Special value to native bees. Nectar source for bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. Host for Alfalfa Looper Moth (Autographa californica), Bilobed Looper Moth (Megalographa biloba), Wavy-Lined Emerald (Synchlora aerata), the geometrid Pherne subpunctata, and the plume moth Anstenoptilia marmarodactyla Spreading Fleabane – Host for Hooded Owlet moth, Flower mothSuperstition Mallow – Host for the Arizona Powdered Skipper, Northern White Skipper, Common Streaky Skipper, Common Checkered Skipper, several species of moth
Musings from a Phoenix Pollinator Garden A creative photo of a sunflower with beeTiger’s Eye Sunflower with Litigated Furrow Bee
Musings from a Phoenix Pollinator Garden 10june22 Yellow-legged Mud-dauber Wasp, Bee Fly (genus Geron), Queen butterfly, White-winged Dove, Bee Fly, Fiery Skipper, Smoketree Sharpshooter.It’s been a hot week, with temps of 110 degrees F and above. Can’t remember the last time it rained, but forecasts are favoring an average to above average monsoon season this year, yay!In the mean time plants are requiring extra water to carry them through this oven dry period. Water is becoming a scarce resource here in the southwest US, so I’m glad that all plants are being watered by drip irrigation, and swales are in place to retain rainwater in the garden, when, in fact, it rains again.Down the road I see water conservation becoming more front and center, possibly leading to policy enforcing reduced water usage. The landscape is about 2 years old now, with some new plants added this year, so the watering schedule is geared towards less frequent, deep waterings to promote deeper roots that will hopefully make the garden more resilient to reduced waterings down the road, if necessary.Anyway, on to some photos of interesting insects in the garden, and the plants they like to visit.Yellow-legged Mud-dauber Wasp on Cascalote, feeding on Psyllid honeydewBee Fly, Genus Geron, on LantanaQueen butterflies on Gregg’s MistflowerWhite-winged DoveBee Fly on ZinniaFiery Skipper on LantanaSmoketree (Glassy-winged) Sharpshooter on SunflowerFound a most unusual insect on a sunflower today: Homalodisca liturata (Glassy-winged Sharpshooter). Considered a pest, and a major vector of the bacterial Pierce’s disease of grapes, phonypeach disease, plum leaf scald, and oleander leaf scorch in southern United States and northern Mexico.The glassy-winged sharpshooter is an extremely polyphagous insect, feeding on the xylem fluid of over 100 known species of plant, in at least 37 different families. The actual feeding on plants causes little damage.
Musings from a Phoenix Pollinator Garden 7June22 Plants in the garden, and sharing plants from the neighbor’s gardenMost urban and suburban lots are small relative to the natural tracts of native habitat, so there are limits to what we can plant, both in size and variety.And, it turns out, putting your yard into context with the nearest forage/host area is quite important because many insects are limited in how far they can travel for food and lodging. To some, a football field of length can push limits of mobility.So if you are close enough to a natural area that you can leverage it’s resources, fantastic! Add one or two specimens of various native plants can still get you to critical mass if considered as shared resources with the natural area. Same goes for sharing other resources, like water and nesting habitat.Similarly, you can view the plants and other resources in your neighbor’s yards as something to be shared by the pollinator web of animals.The neighbor behind us has a large Sissoo tree (not a tree that I would recommend), and the birds love the height and cover it affords. Good thing, because our backyard is only 2 years old, and even our fast growing mesquite and palo verdes need a bit more time to become truly comfortable perches.Other neighbors have citrus, hibiscus and Arizona Yellow Bells to share. Let’s look at how some of the plants in and around the garden are looking on this 109 degree day.Desert Willow in our garden is loving the heatRush Milkweed in our yard is a great nectar source this time of yearPeacock Flower in our garden has come back from a cut-back in the springHopbush is a great low water screening plant in our gardenThe Brittlebush finished their late-winter and spring flowerings, providing much needed foodFirecracker Penstemon is still showing a will to flower, but has mostly gone to seedDesert Marigold is in its second bloom period. Finches love the seedsPeaking over the fence, a beautiful hibiscus (thanks neighbor)Another shared resource, loved by hummingbirds, host to Painted Lady and Gray HairstreakArizona Yellow Bells, another great nectar plant (thanks neighbor!)And Sunflowers have turned out to be a great addition to the vegetable gardenI’ve found some interesting bees on the sunflowers, but no butterflies so far. On the non-pollinator side of things though, the sunflowers attract a wide array of insects from lace bugs, psyllids, long legged flies, assassin bugs and lady beetles! Oh, and birds eating the insects off of the leaves.
Musings from a Phoenix Pollinator Garden 7June22 Blood-colored Milkweed Bug, Tarantula Hawk Wasp, Queen Butterfly, Ceraunus Blue Butterfly, Great Horned OwlThe beauty of a pollinator garden is a two-edged wand:The reward of knowing you are contributing to the health of the ecosystem that you inhabitThe treasure hunt of discovering the web of characters that visit your paradiseIn the previous installments of this post I presented the blank slate layout of our garden along with the ideas that drove the implementation of the garden. In these next installments I’ll be sharing the visitors to the garden, and in the process also showing the plants and structures that define the spaces.Blood-colored Milkweed Bug on Desert MilkweedThere have been discussions about whether milkweed bugs are a friend or foe in the garden, but personally I haven’t found them to cause significant harm and I consider them part of the self-balancing ecosystem of the garden.Although it may appear that your garden has only one or two varieties of milkweed bugs, closer observation is likely to reveal more diversity. Our garden also has Large Milkweed Bugs, Water Small Milkweed Bugs and Southern Small Milkweed bugs.New World Tarantula-hawk Wasps on Desert MilkweedThese wasps can be quite intimidating, flying like military helicopters in the garden, but they take little interest in humans. They do seem to love the Desert Milkweeds (Asclepius subulata) and Desert Willows. As the name implies, these wasps hunt tarantulas, and there must be a lot of tarantulas around because the garden is currently a-buzz with these wasps. I love tarantulas, so I’m keeping the faith that eco-balance is holding steady. Queen on Desert MilkweedSo if there is any doubt about the versatility of milkweeds in the garden, it should be apparent at this point that they serve as more than host plants for Monarch and Queen butterflies.Queens are aptly named, so regal and beautiful! Last year I “rescued” a caterpillar right before a cold snap and raised it indoors: The Making of a Queen. Ceraunus Blue on Baja FairydusterBlues are tiny wonders in the garden, and you need to be up close to appreciate their beauty and differences. The top side of the wings are blue for males, but females vary from blue to silvery-blue to brown. Host plants for the Ceraunus Blue include legumes like Mesquites and Acacias.Great Horned Owl in a Sissoo TreeAlso known as the “tiger of the air” this owl primarily hunts rabbits and hares, rats and mice, and voles. One look at those talons and it’s clear this is a very capable predator, and it will hunt whatever it can overtake.I was very excited to see this owl swoop into the tree during daylight hours, and even more fortunate to have camera at hand. Local nesting birds were pestering the owl, trying to protect their nests I would guess, but the owl was unflappable and stayed in the same spot for hours.
Musings from a Phoenix Pollinator Garden Design: TJ’s framework drawing for pool and landscape. This is the third post in this series. You can read the first post here.Bucking the trend of right angle, manicured modern design, we decided to go with organic shapes to soften the landscape and align with the natural shape of the plants. Have we waited long enough for this to come back into vogue? That has yet to be seen, but, of course, it’s a moot point since we’re designing the yard for ourselves (and then, ultimately, pollinators too!)It’s worth noting that every pool designer was only offering rectilinear pool designs. In fact, our pool builder said he had not built a freeform pool in about a decade. Fortunately for us, TJ is a true landscape artist and provided a framework that we loved.Landscape Framework (tjfitzloff@gmail.com)On the left side of the drawing is the North Side yard. As previously mentioned, this area was defined as a xeriscape with walkways, with a strong need for privacy in the east corner, and a requirement for water retention and control for roof runoff.On the right side is the South Side yard, which was defined with oasis elements around the pool, a strong need for privacy at the south wall, and a requirement for water retention and control for roof runoff.I added drip irrigation infrastructure in four zones:South side yardNorth side yardNorth side along the houseCacti and succulentsThe final implementation of this plan varied from the foundation drawing, as is often the case with the best laid plans. Considerations affecting change included:A 3 year plan for privacy, which required choosing faster growing plants at a higher density than shown in the drawingPlant availability – I don’t have a landscape license so couldn’t buy wholesale, but did almost all of the purchasing and planting. Some plants called out in the drawing were not practical to procure and plant given the desired size or function.Cost, of course. As anyone who has planned and completed large projects is likely aware, you can cost, labor and time, but not all three at once.Coming up next: Planting, Phase 1If you want to be notified of future updates to this blog, please sign up for email notifications.
Musings from a Phoenix Pollinator Garden Design: North Side YardWelcome back! This is the second installment in this series – in the previous post I presented the history of the project and the design considerations for the South Side Yard – you can view that post here. The side yard on the north side of the house has two separate microclimates. The area near the house gets sun in the summer, including late afternoon sun, but during the late fall until early spring, no sun hits the landscape because it’s shaded by the house. Selecting plants for this area can be a challenge, but with some judicious selections the summer sun can be moderated. This area will also be responsible for retaining and controlling water runoff from the roof.Towards the block fence the sun exposure is more consistent, especially for taller shrubs and trees. The goal here is to have a xeriscape and walkways, similar in design to a botanical garden.Northwest Side YardOn the west end of the side yard there is a mild need for privacy screening, but a much stronger need for shade since the late afternoon summer sun comes blazing over the front gate. You can almost feel the heat radiating from the dirt in this early afternoon picture. So we’ll be using trees and shrubs to create some microclimates for plants and people.Northeast Side YardThe east end of the side yard has two large 2-story homes, both with second story balconies, so privacy is a big consideration. Screening will be accomplished with trees and shrubs. Coming up:Working with TJ for a pool design and landscape frameworkDigging into the photo archives to show the landscape taking formIf you want to stay up to date on this blog series: Add a Comment (you can just say “Following”)Complete the Name and Email fieldsCheck Notify me of new posts by emailClick Post Comment You will receive an email asking you to confirm your subscription, please click Confirm now.
Musings from a Phoenix Pollinator Garden Blank SlateLandscaping a bare earth tract home backyard into a taste of paradise, then evolving it to support pollinators and the web of characters that support an ecosystem. This is the first of a series of posts to share the story of discovery and a labor of love.It’s 2019, and after 9 months of searching for a resale home, we ended up purchasing a new tract home further out than we wanted, but availability and price aligned to a relative sweet spot, and we made the leap.(A View from the Rearview Mirror: A great bit of luck, that leap. Who knew a pandemic was on the horizon, and home prices would begin to see upward price pressure that was unimaginable. In fact, when the pandemic first hit, the developer began discounting homes due to lack of demand.)We had just moved to Phoenix from the midwest and I had taken some landscape classes at the Desert Botanical Garden to learn about plant selection, irrigation and water conservation, so this project would put the newfound knowledge to good use.I wasn’t, however, yet aware of the importance of native plants to support pollinators in the yard. So the foundational landscape that we designed and planted was focused on a botanical garden style xeriscape with oasis elements. Tuning the landscape for pollinators came later, after the pandemic hit and I became involved with the MetroPhoenix EcoFlora iNaturalist project (more on that later) and the Maricopa Native Seed Library.South Side Yard DesignSouth Side Yard (A/C wall of house faces 191 degrees South)A blank slate can be daunting, as shown above in our initial “scorched earth” yard. This side yard faces slightly off from 180 degrees south, so it gets lots of winter sun. Because of the way the sun travels, however, it also gets late afternoon summer sun, which is the hardest on plants.A two story home with a second story balcony, and a next door home that’s close to the fence, guided us to design for privacy along the fence line. Another design element would be a pool to make the summers more enjoyable and to add an oasis in the desert aesthetic. We also wanted walking paths to give the yard a botanical garden feel.And of course, water conservation is a necessary and practical aspect of the design. To efficiently deliver water to the plants I decided to use multiple zones of drip irrigation, and since rain water (hopefully the monsoons will return in 2022!) is the best hydrator for plants, the design will incorporate swales to retain water shed from the roof, which drains along the wall with the A/C unit.Coming up:North Side Yard photo and design considerationsWorking with TJ for a pool design and landscape frameworkDigging into the photo archives to show the landscape taking formIf you want to stay up to date on this blog series: Add a Comment (you can just say “Following”)Complete the Name and Email fieldsCheck Notify me of new posts by emailClick Post Comment You will receive an email asking you to confirm your subscription, please click Confirm now.
