Hi Jessica, glad to see you searching around for info. My name is Sheryl, I lived in Phx for about 6 years before moving to Tennessee - land of the iris, hosta, etc. - that I will now be leaving to return to Phx. So I completely understand the zone-shock, lol.

There are some great resources that I'm sure folks will point you to. One that I used to use extensively is Mountain State's (wholesale nursery) pages - but it helps to know what you're actually looking for to get to it.

The Extension offices also have some great information on-line - probably best for the planting calendars, too - I don't know if you do edibles at all, but the planting is almost completely opposite of what you did in Ohio.

Oh, you *have* to go to the Desert Botanical Gardens. They have a biannual sale that is both crazy and wonderful - tons of *great* plants. I wish I was there for it, I think it's coming up any minute - www.dbg.org

I'm at a loss for time here, but will post later with some links. I'm betting your dark pink vining thingy is Bougainvillea - *great* for color, and several different colors, as well. They bloom best when not over-watered, a great bonus. Can be a little messy, but worth it IMO.

More later, welcome to the blast furnace!

Hi Jessica,

You didn't mention what city you live in. In the Phoenix area most cities have FREE landscaping workshops that will help you learn about the plants that thrive here (there are hundreds not including cactus) and how to care for them. The most critical element is irrigation and there are classes for that too. Our drip systems may be foreign to you but it's pretty easy to figure them out.

I've included a link to the AMWUA web site. They have great plant and watering information plus a list of the various city water conservation offices that offer the classes.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Landscape classes and plant / watering information

Great resource, I might need to do one or more of those classes again, too. Thanks Cathy!

Jessica - this is a very basic site giving some really basic desert plants from a Tucson landscape co. A good place to start.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tucson landscape co.

Welcome to the forum, and to Arizona gardening! I think this is the MOST fun, interesting, and festive gardening climate in the U.S. Great stuff!

The first thing I'd suggest is that you get your hands on some of the many good, LOCAL gardening books. They will really help give you a lot of information on different styles of gardens, and their plants, and then what those plants need. They'll also remind readers that our long, easy gardening season is autumn, winter, spring and early summer, not the way folks did things "back home". You can search this AZ forum for recommended books, and I'm sure folks will chime in with suggestions too.

You'll be happiest growing plants that do well here (that applies to any climate of course, LOL), and there are TONS of leafy and non-leafy plants, plus citrus and all sorts of fun shrubs, vines and trees. Just remember that not everything here wants rich loamy soil. Most desert plants don't want a ton of organic materials in their soil, though things like roses, veggies etc do.

There are a lot of great books for this area that will save you heartache, most are available at large local book stores, and all are available at the big online book sellers too, and again search the forum's archive to see various lists of books folks have suggested.

Just off the top of my head here are a few:

"Arizona Gardener's Guide" by formerly-local author Mary Irish

"Desert Gardening" by George Brookbank. He's a bit of a curmudgeon, but the advice is great and really helps explains to gardeners how the soil, climate, watering and plants work here.

"Desert Landscaping: How to Start and Maintain a Healthy Landscape in the Southwest" also by G. Brookbank. It's really great if you can get over the B&W photos. Good information that is timeless.

"Plants For Dry Climates: How To Select, Grow, And Enjoy, Revised Edition" by Mary Rose Duffield

"Native Plants for Southwestern Landscapes" by Judy Mielke. Don't let the "native" part discourage you--most of these plants are now very popular in the nursery trade (and can even be found at the Big Box hardware stores, plus local nurseries too). Great information on where these plants are found in nature, and how to keep them happy.

If you're concerned about a plant's tolerance of our warm summers (and warm summer nights especially), check out "Heat-Zone Gardening: How to Choose Plants That Thrive in Your Region's Warmest Weather." It's a fun, interesting book that helps us weed out plants that just won't make it here (and it highlights and confirms the many that thrive here).

If you want a lot of fruits and veggies, "Extreme Gardening: How to Grow Organic in the Hostile Deserts" by David Owens is good, if a bit slapsticky at times. Good information though, especially for veggie growing.

Those are just some quick thoughts, but spending just a little money and time on some or all of these books will give you tons of information and entertainment, and will get you get up for a wonderful Arizona garden.

Plus being on this forum will be really helpful too, and fun! So many folks here have wonderful, wonderful gardens, and there's no substitute for hands-on experience from real gardeners of course. Just for fun, I'm putting a link to my little garden's pics from this month. All of my garden photo albums are viewable, so you can scroll through them to see what's blooming when (I organize them by month and year). So many great gardeners here will be willing to help out too. Oh,and we love pics too! :)

Happy gardening!
Grant

Here is a link that might be useful: March 2012 garden pics

Jessica -
Get a copy of Sunset's Western Garden book. It had maps to tell you which of their zones you are in, and the plant descriptions tell you what zones it will grow in.

They have their own zone system, which takes into account the heat, winter length, rains, etc ... the USDA zones have Tampa Florida and P_hoenix AZ as the same zone ... not good enoough.

And many iris LOVE it here ... if you ever lusted after arilbreds, you can grow them easily here. Afternoon shade and controlled water (not in summer) it the key.

Be careful about planting things that have differing water habits. Roses do well here in morning shade, and so do iris ... but enough water to keep the roses alive in summer will rot the iris.

Don't worry about amending the soil, just look for desert natives for now.

You can grow okra, Armenian cucumbers, and eggplants all summer.

Tomatoes tend to sulk all simmer, then erupt in the fall.

Erupting tomatoes??? Oh my!

(Duck!)

(Yes, Lazy, I'm back!)

Agreed on the iris--lots of types really love it here. There have been many long-term iris companies here in the Valley. I always have a few bearded iris in my gardens--they're surprisingly drought tolerant once they're done blooming in spring. Roses are great autumn, winter, spring and early summer too (and they survive the summers but don't look great). Just switch your expectations of when to do what, and you'll have tons of fun. A lot of the leafy things folks grew "back home" are good here in winter. And don't forget our friends the hollyhocks, they are awesome performers here, blooming in late spring instead of mid to late summer. There are lots of great, fun choices. There aren't many places where you can grow an agave surrounded by petunias!

Post often and best wishes!
Grant