NOVEMBER
PLANT SPOTLIGHT
PLUMBAGO
The southwest landscape is filled with bright purple, pink, and yellow flowering plants. While we love the desert color palate, it can get a little repetitive. Thats why we love Plumbago! It is an evergreen shrub, bursting with clusters of soft sky blue flowers. Plumbago blooms from spring through summer, and sometimes even into the fall. Its flowers are also a magnet for butterflies.
Plumbago can handle multiple soil types, and love full-sun, or partial shade areas. They grow quickly into loose mound shapes and can be planted as hedges, ground cover, potted, or as stand-alone shrubs. No matter the placement, Plumbagos will brighten up any landscape.
FUN FACT! It is believed Plumbago was a medicinal plant at one time, used as a cure for lead poisoning.
HOLIDAYS
AVERAGE TEMPS
VETERANS DAY
THANKSGIVING
HIGH 76
LOW 51
MAINTENANCE
Fall means deciduous trees are dropping their leaves. Common deciduous trees in the southwest include multiple Ash varieties, Elm, Chinese Pistache, Pear, and more. That means we will be busy blowing and cleaning up this festive mess!
WINTER FLOWERS
Our desert winters are filled with color from our seasonal flowers. This time of year you will see geraniums, petunias, snap dragons, and pansies.
GRASS
DORMANT BERMUDA
If you chose to skip overseeding with winter rye grass this year, here are a few tips you can use to make sure your bermuda grass comes back strong and healthy next spring!
WATER: Cut back the water but don’t stop watering completely. It seems crazy to water yellow, dormant grass, but scheduling regular, brief watering will keep your irrigation system lubricated and working properly throughout the winter. It will also prevent the dormant bermuda from drying out too much or getting damaged.
CHEMICAL: An active chemical program will improve the look of dormant grass and keep weeds to a minimum. Spray for weeds as they come up, but make sure the bermuda grass is completely dormant before you apply herbicides to avoid damaging the grass. Pre-emergent can be applied in the fall and spring.
WINTER RYE
For those that did overseed, the winter rye grass seed that was planted in October should really take hold into a lush, green lawn during the month of November.
WATER: Winter rye requires much less water than you might expect. As the temperatures cool down, moisture remains in the ground for several days. Once established, rye grass is typically watered 2-3 times per week. However, in the coldest parts of the winter, and in the right situation, some grass can live with only 1 watering per week... sometimes even less!
CHEMICAL: When the rye grass is fully established, a healthy dose of a balanced fertilizer will keep it growing and healthy with the dark green color we all imagine when we think of winter grass!
CUTBACK: MEXICAN BIRD OF PARADISE
The Mexican Bird of Paradise is a common shrub in Arizona. They are known for their unique, bright flowers in yellow, orange, and red. It is fast-growing, low-maintenance, and can reach as tall as 9 feet. The only maintenance really needed on a Mexican Bird of Paradise is seasonal cutbacks in November. Cutting them down to about 12-18” will promote fast and healthy growth in the spring.
TREES: DECIDUOUS VS EVERGREEN
There are two types of trees - deciduous and evergreen, Deciduous trees will drop their leaves in the fall and winter. They will regrow their leaves in the spring. A few Common deciduous trees in Arizona include Ash, Elm, and Red Push Pistache, which puts on a colorful show of red and orange leaves before they drop.
Evergreen trees, as their name suggests, are green and leafy all year-round. Some evergreen trees in our area are Oak, Eucalyptus, and African Sumac. These and other evergreen varieties will remain green through the fall and winter.
