Hello:

I bought my first home in Tucson with a barren yard last year. I am a sentimental kind of guy, so I decided to buy 50 pride of madeira seeds and a bunch of butterfly bush seeds.

I've already germinated the pride of madeira seeds, which I bought on Amazon three weeks ago, and have transferred them to individual pots. They are just now getting their first leaves so I have them in seedling soil protected with sphagum moss.

My question(s) are,

a) I have not seen either of these plants in Tucson. Will they fare well outdoors once ready to be transplanted?

b) I intended these to be garden bushes to line the outside of my house. I have since read that they tend to live for two years, bloom, then die. Is there a way to keep them alive, e.g. cutting the flower spikes off as soon as they begin to wilt?

c) what is the best time of year to plant these outdoors? I intend to slowly introduce them to the summer heat when they have developed their main leaf structure and have a decent root system for a few hours, and a few hours more, each week.

Thanks.

I am new to Tucson and find desert willows, palo verdes, and the like to be extremely bland and boring. I want a load of color!