For great landscape/gardening ideas in southern Nevada, visit the desert demonstration gardens in Las Vegas 3701 West Alta Drive.

Hi Beca,
We have been in Pahrump for seven years. Gardening here is a challenge, what with the high heat in the summer and the cold winters. Not to mention the alkaline/clay soil in most of the valley. Surprisingly, many things do quite well here.
It's just a matter of trial and error, I've killed my fair share of plants...lol.

As for trees, we've planted mondale pines and a cottonless cottonwood that are all doing well. Forget weeping willows, they might be pretty, but eventually they will die here. I planted an Austrailian Willow that's really taken off this year...much better choice.

Roses do well in the right spot, with plenty of water in the summer. I have a row on the east side of a fence so they get protection from the afternoon sun.

Pahrump Nursery on Wilson road seems to have the best plants.

One more thing, the USDA Hardiness map has us squarely in 8A, but I have rarely seen temps below 15 degrees so I settled on 8B for our zone.

Good Luck and Welcome to Pahrump!

Sharon

Here is a link that might be useful: USDA Map of Nevada

Thank you Mark (mark d edington) and Sharon for responding to my post. I just checked back again today...I know it's a bit later but hey...better late then never? I will look into the place in Las Vegas. I discovered Plant World over the weekend. Went to see the Tomato Lady. Interesting way to grow tomatoes...I am doing some and will see how they turn out. I changed my zone to 8b...thanks Sharon...it can be so confusing here. I have grown some vege/flower seedlings and will put them in the beds in a month or so-whenever the weather warms up a bit. I worked with Southside Nursery getting my yards put in...we are almost done. Getting ready for the hot summer.and looking forward to it.

Beca

Love my garden in PA - want to know what I can bring with me. Lilies, lavender, iris, balloonflower, lupins, tradescandia, tulips, nerine, freesia, and so many annual seeds are all my favourites. Don't want to leave them behind. Have bougainvillea, oleander, orange tree, palm, dragontree, peace lily, ferns, impatiens, and others in pots. Will some of these survive outside?
It's a new house - have no idea what kind of landscaping, if any, there will be. From sound of things, it's a challenge to garden there. Any advice will be much appreciated.

Hello maritimer ...

Welcome to Vegas ...

With the bad and ugly comes the good. LOL

Humidity is an often overlooked factor here ... making those ferns a challenge to keep nice. Temperatures are a bit strange VERY hot in summer and just cold enough in winter to make tropicals difficult to grow but not nearly as severe as back east ... oleander though is a natural here one of our old dependable plants .. it likes the soil and heat and our WIND.

Bouganvillea will survive our winters better in pots since they are sensative to our cold and can be moved to a sheltered area. We have about half a dozen or so true palms that do well out here as well as the false palms .. Sago palms .. that do well here too.

There are many annuals you can grow here and some that die out in winter back east just keep growing.

Our soil is a tuff one and when you start digging in it you will think nothing can grow in it .. but take heart .. many plants believe it or not can manage well in it ... raised beds are common and myself I am moving more to grow things in pots.

"Dragon tree" ... that's interesting .. is that in the Scroph family ?? ... I think I tried that once ... I even had a client with a BIG Orange tree.

There are MANY plants that can be grown here in the desert. Take the time to check out the better sources of information to get a head start. Check out our desert annuals and other plants known to grow in our climate ... although you may leave a few plant friends behind there are many new ones yet to be discovered.

Good Day ...

Hi Maritime!!

As the mohave kid has written...there are lots of native plants that grow out here...and some that just don't make it through the hot summer and then the cold winter and then there's the winds!!!! Raised beds are a must out here. I brought one of my favorite impaitients with me...it was in a pot and made it through the summer (under the patio cover with tons of watering) but the winter just killed it. Iris, lavendar do grow here. Salvias love it here....you can ask the master gardeners out here for more information at the Springs Preserve in Las Vegas. (Website is www.springsprederve.org).

Beca

The correct spelling on that website is:
www.springspreserve.org
(can't spell today ;)

Thanks so much for the input on what I might manage to bring with me from PA. Raised beds sound like the best choice, but many things may just remain in pots so they can come in when weather gets colder. (That's what I've always done with bougainvillea, oleander, palm, orange tree, etc. - but I have very sunny windows here).
Checked out the Springs Preserve site...wow, the list of perennials was extensive, everything I was asking about. Big surprise was another of my most favourite - lisianthus. Just realized how many plants I have on my "favourite" list!
Next question is probably silly -BUT, do you put out bird feeders, including hummingbird ones, there? Can't recall seeing any birds when I visited, except for a roadrunner in the Cactus Garden at Ethel's.
PS - dragontree's tag said "Madagascar Dragon Tree", but botanical name is simply dracaena marginata..really a houseplant but it's getting pretty big.

Hey-I moved here from south orange county, California. I had birds of all kinds there...and I have birds here here as well!!! I have hummingbird feeders outside my house...there are different variety of hummers here but they are here! (Remember do not use red food coloring!! It is a poison...a recipe I have used forever is 4 cups water...boil it and then add 1 cup of white sugar to it...let it dissolve...then turn it off and cool. It will fill 2 16oz feeders. Refrigerate for a few days if there is any left after you fill the feeders. I also have several regular bird feeders out and there are plenty of birds eating here-sparrows,etc...so you will find lots of plants that grow out here there are birds and butterflies too. Yes, we have roadrunners and jack rabbits too. People will try and tell you that it is too hot out in Las Vegas and nothing grows but they are wrong. You'll find this out though. I am in Pahrump...it's an hour west of LV. This is my first year of having a garden again. I have a green thumb but it will still be an interesting summer...seeing what plants lives and dies. I have three raised beds to garden with in my yard. I have lots of help so it'll be fun at the very least. When is the big moving day? I hope it goes smoothly for you. (We moved here in August-fun, fun, fun!!)

Hello Beca -
Thanks so much for getting back to me about the birds; glad to be able to continue feeding them (and maybe there won't be the problem with wily squirrels who get at all the feeders.)
Would like to hear how your new garden is growing... what's successful, what didn't make it through the cold. And is your garden train up and running?
I usually have a green thumb, and this year looks to be the best for this garden I started 3 years ago. Of course, I'll be leaving it behind. Expecting to move end of June, early July - if house is done, and this place has sold. Can only bring a few small plants in the car. Rest will have to be in boxes in a moving van for 5-7 days; they'll just have to think it's a long dark week. Don't know if they'll make it or not, but just hate to leave them behind. Any other suggestions about moving them safely?

Maritimer-

Hi again...moving is such a royal drag!! I hope I don't do it for a long time.
I am not sure how to move plants in a moving truck. It will be hot and if not done well they will die during the move. You just need to figure out a way to keep them moist so they won't dry out. Check with a moving company-I am sure they have ideas on how to do this.
I don't think we have any squirrels here. Jack rabbits-yes. I had to leave alot of favorite plants behind and it wasn't easy. I had alot. I think you understand. My backyard looked so good before I decided to move. Oh well-life goes on.
We will be getting the garden train hills finished on Monday. We are having chat put down on the hills facing the house. It'll keep the hills from any kind of eroding. Then my husband Dan will lay the train tracks down. We will go shopping for very small bonsai plants (or something we can train to remain small-haha)and most importantly plants that will be live here in the desert. W Then we will plant them along the tracks. Here is his website so you can see our yard.
(www.emeraldstationstudios.com)
The garden train can be seen along the back of the fence. This is going to be interesting for me to see what stays alive here or not(yes, I will keep you informed so you can learn from me-hehe). We are considering enclosing our back patio into a sunroom so I can enjoy my GREEN plants again without having to deal with winds and heat. We'll see.

Beca

Hello Beca,
I did check out your husband's website to take a look at your terrain. House looks fabulous but the grounds seem like all yuck stuff; not good for growing anything.
You always sound so optimistic about your future garden..I'm anxious to hear just how successful you are with it. Did you bring much with you from Calif. and what did you do with it? Couldn't have planted it in the "soil" I saw in your back garden area.
Think all I try to move will have to stay in pots for quite some time...at least until I can make some of those raised beds someone mentioned. Is that your intention too?
Right now it's wonderful spring blossom time here. Cherry trees, crab apple blossoms, purple sand cherry, tulips, daffodils, forget-me-nots, even loads of flowers on my lilac this year. But I also found the poison ivy already (or it found me!). Not as bad as two years ago, but bad enough to really slow me down. Won't be sorry to say good-bye to that concern.
Do let me know what's going on now with your gardening challenge.

We have replaced all of the yuck dirt here (in our raised beds and container pots with soil/mulch just for this area. All of my plants are doing well. I was lucky enough to have the help of someone who knows the area/land here and helped us with the gardening...the only yuck dirt left is in the areas we have covered with gravel and chat. We put in a drip system and it is working well.
The garden train terrain will also have the holes for plants replaced with soil for this area. We will plant natural plants and keep them small by pruning,etc..it's a fun process but if you work hard at it-it can be done. I am determined to have a garden that I can enjoy for many years here. Green is a color I am striving for-no more beige color here. It is a challenge. Poor thing-poison ivy is very yucky indeed. Hope you are feeling better soon.

Hello Beca,
I've been a long time sending any messages; been busy. House here sold and now packing up for move mid. Aug. Husband is already in new house and sent me photos, leaving me very discouraged about gardening.
It's a community style subdivision with the adobe exterior and there are already some plantings - two trees and some shrubs. I guess they did the "hole filled with soil" thing, and then covered the base with pebbles. I don't think I'm allowed to alter any of that.
As for the back - it's just a big fenced in rectangle of gravel. The only planting I can probably do would be in containers.
Where and how did you put raised beds in? Your property looks much more spacious than ours and I didn't see the front. But you're striving for green....it could never be in the form of grass; wonder if it's even allowed anywhere now.
Anyway, I'm coming with all my pots of things - if they survive the trip, I feel that some of them deserve to be in beds rather than pots. Wondering how you accomplished this?

Hi Maritimer

Good Luck with your move to Las Vegas. I am glad I am done with that-LOL.
I had some landscaping guys help us out with the yard. We could have chosen to put in grass but decided not to. We would spend too much time & money watering it. I know the Las Vegas area cannot install grass these days. The new rage these days is putting in astro turf (plastic grass). My son did it in his backyard and he loves it.

Anyway, getting back to your questions: Our front yard has a dry creek bed along the side with plants here and there...keeping the desert look. A large tree in front of the kitchen area. My raised gardens are on the southeast side of the house. They all get shade by 2:30 pm. The landscape guys dug three separate areas (8x4)...took out about 2' of this stuff they call dirt and replaced it with a mixture of cactus mix and potting soil...raised it 2' feet above ground and surrounded them with cement cinder blocks about 2 high. Soo I got 4' of good soil in the raised beds. We had a drip system installed too-and I put in lots of mulch too...that is what keeps my gardens looking good AND GREEN!! The drip system runs twice a day now. I planted tomatoes, grn peppers, basil, zucchini, yellow squash. We put in a net fence around the beds to keep the dogs out.
I have some plants in the ground (done like you said...holes dug and the soil replaced with cactus mix)...these are around the dry creek bed,etc...they are growing well. I have tons of container plants that grow well too. I don't want to deal with the dirt I have here so I don't. Everything is on a drip system. I have beautiful roses in containers-I couldn't believe they grow in this heat-but they do.

Hope to hear from you soon. We moved here in October 2005 and it is the best time to plant. It'll be cooler then too. Can you re-do your backyard? (I can't remember if you could or not). You will have fun once things get settled down. One thing I learned here is what grows and what doesn't. The extreme heat and then freezing weather and don't forget the winds that blow here either...it'll keep you on your busy.

Beca

Hello to Beca! Just to let you know I'm here and slowly getting settled. It was a long trip mid-Aug. with the temps going up as we crossed the countryside. Had some plants in the car and trunk...didn't do too badly except that I forgot the first day to cover the ones near the back window; leaves got burned. But all survived and are reaching blooming stage again.
Ones in the movers' van had a more difficult trip but I was surprised. My system generally worked. Some lost no leaves at all. A few drooped a lot but they were the ones where my watering system failed. And stuff didn't arrive for two weeks.
Repotted lots last week...know they won't be getting into any flowerbeds for another year (doing the back area is bottom of the list of jobs.) So, I wanted them to have a better chance of getting through the colder weather.
Some desert plants were already in place out front, but found out the drip irrigation system wasn't working all this time. (I started watering by hand when I arrived, figuring that weather was so hot system wasn't able to water enough.) Later realized valves weren't even turned on. Still had problems; maintenance came to check. Discovered that mine was also sprinkling house next door and visa versa. But, since neither system worked properly, we both have dead trees and puny shrubs. Another of those "to be fixed" things.
Realize lots of things do grow here but it won't be the conventional type of garden I was used to. And neighbour told me Oct. is great time to plant - she also said it was definitely fall. (Temps. have to change a lot more for me to think autumn.)
I've no plans to buy any more plants til I know what kind of areas I'll be working with. My husband bought an oleander, some bougainvillas, and hibiscus. They'll all have to stay in pots for awhile...but at least they're growing.
And you weren't joking about the winds! WOW - actually blown some pots over. My concern now is what do I have to bring in when temps get colder? Would bougs., hibiscus, oleander have to come inside? Always brought them in back east. What about my orange tree? Could they just be tucked against the house?
See - I never stop with the questions! But I am ready to put up my birdfeeders and hummingbird feeder (with your good advice about the solution to put in). Still construction going on here but less in our area so some birds are back. And, of course, the windchimes have to go up...hope they don't drive the neighbours crazy.
Still so much to do inside but some garden things just couldn't wait. Have you ever planted bulbs? I brought my favourite tulips with me. Kept them in the house til now. Got a huge pot, layered those tulips with some daffodils and paperwhites - covered all and left in garage. Did this before (but insulated pot with styrofoam and newspaper). In spring, bulbs were showing; simply moved to front, uncovered and let the sun do the rest. Tulips were beautiful but squirrel did get some of them. I've been told there are no squirrels here to worry about.
Let me know how things went with your garden over this hot summer. Sorry I was so long getting back to you, but we've had so many problems with communication because the area is new and farther out. Finally got internet service and a different telephone system. Cell phones still don't work inside very well (dropped calls all the time). It's been frustrating but finally have a workable arrangement.

Hi Maritimer!!

Welcome to Las Vegas!!! I replied to you last night and tried to send it...BUT my computer had other ideas and interrupted and so it did not get sent. Argh-such a long post too. I hate it when that happens.
It sounds like your move was a good one for your plants. I had the same problem that you and your neighbor did with the drip system. I lost some vines on the north side that will have to be re-planted next year. South side vines (honeysuckle & virginia creeper) are doing very well. My vege garden did good for my first time. I still have tomatoes and green peppers, anaheim peppers, TONS of basil growing!! I did lose my first apple from the winds-it ripped off half of the tree in a wind storm-dang it. I also lost my queen yucca tree to the winds too. Next year I will try and put shade cloth over the garden..I don't know how we will keep it on due to the winds here but we have the time to read on how to do it. Garden train is still on a holding pattern. Dan is now building a model train layout in the bonus room now. He is writing a magazine article about it too!! He will take photos as he is building it. Kinda cool. I can't remember which magazine (I will ask him which one). Soo for now the doggies love running along the top of the hills chasing the birds here LOL.
Questions/answers on your plants: as far as I know the oleander will do fine (might suffer from frost damage here)...hibiscus will do fine...orange tree (the mock orange) does good too...bougs...it doesn't look they will grow out here (zone 6 is as close as they come to growing to us..I am in zone 8b). Bulbs do well in containers or soil. Look very beautiful when they pop out!! I have learned that violas and pansies do really well out here all year long. Roses do too.
Before I forget: Plant World Nursery (on Charleston)is the best place for plants,etc...they are very helpful. It is such a cool place. Also Star Nursery is good too. Where are you in Vegas? I am near the Summerlin area (well-about 45 minutes away-LOL).
Glad you are finally here!!
Beca~

Hey Maritimer-go visit the Nevada forom site. It's just for us Nevadians.