Author: csDevTeam

Your bushes, shrubs, and other assorted plants make for important components of your landscaping in Tucson, so it helps to understand how to care for them. Fortunately, with an eye on the weather channel and a few simple materials, you can keep your plants in top shape all year long. Continue reading for help in protecting your plants in December weather.

Protective Materials

Your plants might need a little extra protection throughout the winter. Fortunately, you can typically find the materials you need within your home. Your aloes and citrus could use some help in getting through the colder months, and this assistance comes in the form of blankets and frost cloths. This extra protection becomes more important when temperatures dip under 30 degrees, so be sure to have the materials on hand. You can also use Styrofoam cups to protect the tips of your columnar cacti.

Watering Schedule

Although your garden and softscaping requires water in order to thrive, it might need less during certain times of year. Make sure your plants get the water they need throughout the winter, but slow down your irrigation whenever possible. Wildflower seedlings, for example, only need to be watered every week or so. If you are looking for trees that can handle minimal amounts of water, consider mature trees like mesquite and palo verde. 

Weather Forecast

The way you care for your plants will not only change from season to season, but even from day to day in certain circumstances. Be sure to check your local weather forecast regularly to judge how you should be taking care of your plants. Pay close attention to the weather and help your plants thrive all year long.

See the information from the ALCA in the document below for more detailed ideas on protecting your plants from freeze damage:

12-1-15 Landscaping Tips – Frost Protection

Would you like additional tips on protecting your plants from December weather? Contact Santa Rita Landscaping or visit our website. We specialize in landscape design and landscape maintenance in Tucson. You can find out much more about our services by calling us at (520) 623-0421 today.

The Villa Taranto Gardens, or Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto, are botanical gardens located along the western shore of Lake Maggiore in Pallanza, Italy. The gardens sprawl over 16 hectares and are open to the public daily. Throughout the garden, guests can explore a variety of exotic plants with more than 20,000 plant varieties representing 3,000 species on display. There are many distinct areas of the gardens, which include a fountain and sculpture garden, herbarium, dahlia garden, mausoleum, and Valletta. By looking to the Villa Taranto Gardens, you may find some exotic inspiration for your own landscape at home, where you might capture the romantic and whimsical nature of coastal Italy in your own private retreat.

Garden history

The Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto was established between 1931 and 1940 by Scotsman Neil McEacharn, who had purchased a villa and neighboring estates to clear the landscape for the development of the distinctive features that define the gardens today. The gardens did not open to the public until 1952, and they were taken over by a non-profit organization in 1964 following McEacharn’s death.

Unique features

The villa within the gardens is not open to the public, but there are many features to explore across the sprawling gardens. There is a pond filled with a stunning variety of lotus plants, colorful terraced gardens, and an artificial valley under a single-arch stone bridge that houses a rare handkerchief tree. Through the months of April and May, guests are delighted by the presence of a myriad of white blossoms on the branches of this rare tree.

Visit the garden’s official website at www.villataranto.it

This article is part of our collection of The Most Spectacular Gardens in the World!

When most people think of the desert, they envision a barren wasteland of little more than sand and tumbleweeds. However, dwellers of the Sonoran Desert know that the desert landscape is a diverse and unique biome bursting with distinctive plant and animal life. At the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona, visitors can explore the amazing array of plant life that thrives in the hot, dry desert climate not unlike that of Tucson. This garden spans 140 acres and is a designated Phoenix Point of Pride that attracts visitors all year long. Read on to get to know more about the Desert Botanical Garden and get some inspiration for your own desert landscape at home.

Garden History

The Desert Botanical Garden was formed when a group of local Phoenicians began conservation efforts to protect the fragile desert environment with the Arizona Cactus and Native Flora Society. One member of the society, Gertrude Webster, became invested in seeking financial support through her social connections, and her contributions led to the establishment of the park.

Special Garden Features

The most notable features of the Botanical Garden are an extensive collection of agave totaling 176 taxa and cacti totaling 1.350 taxa. In addition to an array of plants native to the Sonoran Desert, the garden showcases plants from deserts of less extreme climate conditions in shade-protected areas. These include an Australian, Baja California, and South American collection, which represent the mesquite bosque, semi-desert grassland, and upland chaparral ecosystems. Visitors can explore these exhibitions through a series of trails that wind throughout the gardens.

This article is part of our collection of The Most Spectacular Gardens in the World!

Temperatures are falling in Tucson, and that means winter is just around the corner. But unlike lots of other places in the country, wintertime in Southern Arizona can still be quite sunny and warm, which means there’s still plenty of opportunities to enjoy your lawn. Unless you want to look at a dry, patchy lawn for the next couple of months, you should think about planting a winter lawn. A landscaping company in Tucson can help plant and maintain your winter lawn, but here are some important things you should know upfront.

Mowing Height

Before seeding rye grass for the winter, scalp your lawn to a height between ¼ and ¾ of an inch. Scalping helps the new rye seedlings absorb maximum sunlight, water, and fertilizer nutrients. You can start mowing a rye winter lawn when it’s two inches high. Perennial rye laws should be mowed to a height between ¾ of an inch to 2.5 inches.

Watering a Winter Lawn

As a general rule of thumb, water your lawn every three to 10 days for about 15 minutes. You don’t want to overwater a winter lawn; in reality you should underwater to slow its growth and encourage stronger and deeper roots. You can tell if you are overwatering by using a screwdriver to measure soil penetration. After watering, push the shaft of a long screwdriver into the soil. If the screwdriver goes deeper than six inches easily, you’re watering too much and should cut back on how long you run the sprinklers.

Winter Lawn Fertilization

Winter lawns should be fertilized every three weeks with a 21-7-14 fertilizer. This fertilizer formula is high in nitrogen, which promotes blade growth, and potassium, which promotes cell function and helps roots absorb trace elements in the soil. Fertilization can be tricky, so consult with your landscape maintenance company for more tips and advice.

If you care enough your landscaping to plant a winter lawn, you obviously take great pride in how your landscape looks—and so does Santa Rita Landscaping, Inc. Our goal is to make your outdoor living space unique, personal, and one that you’ll be proud to show off to friends and family. Call us at (520) 623-0421 to learn more about our custom residential landscape design services in Tucson.

Throughout the various ecosystems of the world, there exists a multitude of exotic plant life, much of which is threatened by human activity and development. Tropical regions are among the most highly threatened, as tropical ecosystems hold a number of valuable resources that attract human intervention. The Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is a unique botanical garden in the Miami area with the mission of saving tropical plant diversity and researching the sustainability of the amazing plant life that thrives in tropical climates. The garden is a huge tourist attraction with more than 45,000 members and 1,200 volunteers.

Forming the Fairchild Garden

The Fairchild Botanical Garden was established by Robert H. Montgomery in 1936. It was named for Montgomery’s friend, David Fairchild, who was a plant explorer and collector, who brought more than 20,000 plant species to the United States. The garden was first opened to the public in 1938, and it has grown to cover 83 acres of land with a variety of tropical plant life.

Extensive rare collections

One of the distinguishing features of the garden is the rarity of the plants within the collections of palms, cycads, flowering trees, and vines. The garden’s newest exhibit, the Wings of the Tropics, shows off the exotic butterflies that dwell in tropical regions.

Research and conservation

While garden is a privately owned attraction, it also serves as a conservation center for tropical plants facing extinction. The garden maintains active partnerships with Florida International University, University of Florida, University of Miami, and Miami Dade College to facilitate active research and conservation programs.

This article is part of our collection of The Most Spectacular Gardens in the World!