ADVICE NEEDED FROM ARIZONA GARDNERS, PLEASE

HELLO,
WE JUST RECENTLY BOUGHT A PLACE IN TONOPAH, AZ. {AROUND BUCKEYE AREA} .. STILL IN ESCROW, BUT I AM STARTING TO GATHER PLANT INFO NOW. I DON'T YET KNOW WHAT OUR ZONE IS THERE, (OTHER THEN "HOT" & "HOTTER") I WILL HAVE TO FIND THAT OUT. SOON!!

I PLAN ON HAVING A 'SHADE-HOUSE' GARDEN, [AND LATER POSSIBLY A GREEN HOUSE] I THOUGHT HERBS WOULD GROW WELL IN A SHADE-HOUSE, IN THAT AREA. AS WELL AS SOME TYPES OF VEGGIES.

WE ALSO WANT A REGULAR FLOWER GARDEN ... A VEGGIE GARDEN AND HUBBY WANTS FRUIT TREES & I WANT A NUT TREE (IT HAS BEEN SUGGESTED THAT PECANS WILL GROW WELL THERE ???).

WE NEED SOME INPUT FROM YOU GARDNERS THAT ARE ALREADY SUCCESSFUL IN ARIZONA, ESPECIALLY IN THE TONOPAH/BUCKEYE AREA {ALTHO, I CAN'T IMAGINE IT WILL BE MUCH DIFFERENT THERE THEN IN OTHER DESERT AREAS OF AZ.} BUT THEN WHAT DO I KNOW??!!

IT WILL TAKE ME A BIT TO GET MOVED, MY HOUSEHOLD SET UP AND ALL, BUT THEN I WANT TO GET AT IT .. HENCE, THE EARLY GATHERING OF SUGGESTIONS, RESOURCES, AND OTHER INFORMATION.

TWO OF MY 'PASSIONS' ARE ... HUMMINGBIRDS ... AND AMARYLLIS. I HAVE SEVERAL OTHERS ... ROSES, LILLACS, TULIPS, PEONIES, AND MANY MORE .. BUT I LISTED THE PRIORITIES ... AND, OF COURSE ... HERBS!!

ANY ADVICE AND OR RESOURCES TO LOOK UP ... WILL WARMLY BE APPRECIATED.

THANK YOU ... AUTUMN16 (SALLY & BILL FAITH

Bumping this up so people can help Autum....you know I can't!!!! LOL JO

Yes, pecans grow well here so do some herbs and roses..... To get a good idea what will grow well, you could go browsing all the garden shops, nursuries, herbariums & botanical gardens in your area. Take notes, and have fun.

Thank you, Xenomorf ... I will do that if I can ever get out of here and over there. I am hoping to do a lot of looking, learning, soil prep, buying and planting.

All advice is warmly welcome. Thanks to Jo she put this Thread in the right place for me ... I am not very Computer Savey ... Learning!!

I apologize for the ALL CAPS ... I forgot that is shouting!! I just was making it easier on my reading eyes so I could see it .. to correct it!

Thanks again for the info ... and any other tid-bits you can offer .. I will make note of.

Thanks again Sally

Sally welcome to Arizona...soon. You're correct our zone is hot & hotter. I grow lots of houseplants, I don't do gardening. I also have a greenhouse, so if I can help you on that end, just ask.

Blessings,
Awanda

Thanks Awanda,
Yes, after all is said and done we do want a greenhouse. We can't wait to get started moving so we can be done with it.
I see you are in Mesa our kids are in Chandler so we may run into you someday.
I may also want to grow house plants for a while anyway until I can get everything else settled and then start all the work it will take to put in gardens, and/or greenhouse.
So thanks again, and I will most likely be taking you up on your kind offer of greenhouse advice ... I surely will need it. Lots of it!!

Sally

Autumn16, You're moving to a blast furnace! But there's a surprising number of plants that don't seem to mind it here. Pecan trees will grow if they have deep soil and deep watering. I've seen almond trees here, too. Some peaches do OK, I have a Bonanza dwarf peach that supplies yummy peaches in June. I've also grown plums though I can't recall the variety. My neighbor had an apple tree with about four different varieties on it, sorry I don't remember which they were.

Forget about lilacs, though the Persian type might do better than my 'Blue Skies' which supposedly could take the heat. It wouldn't bloom. Roses will grow and thrive with plenty of water and will do even better with a little afternoon shade.

I have hummers that nest around here and have 'dog-fights' in the air over my pond. They like the fountains and the waterfall, and I usually have something in bloom.

Irises, jasmine, day lilies, various shrub sages, passiflora, cordia, honeysuckle, cape honeysuckle, gerber daisies, hibiscus, aloes, lots of roses, various flowering vines, rosemary, chrysanthemums,water lilies, probably other flowering plants I can't think of right now, all grow in my Phoenix garden. I don't grow veggies - just not that interested - have grown tomatoes. My best success with tomatoes were cherry-types.

You can grow a huge amount of plants here though many will have difficulty with the afternoon summer sun. So does most every one I know. ;-)

Wow .. judyb, that was a goodlie list of plants .. thanks. We have a pond on our property ... about 100' x 150' +/- or so they tell me. Right now it needs water so it is hard to tell. Yes, I used to live in Az ... many years ago .. I am working on ways to stay out of the heat. As long as I have air moving around me I seem to be able to deal. It is the humidity and heat combo that gets me. But I will watch it and I know plants have to all be watched very carefully. They dry out so easy or if watered from the top or at the wrong time of day they burn (I still remember some of this Az stuff, but not much).
From the look of your list of plants though, with tender care and some thought there is a lot that can be grown there.
I wonder how a Chestnut tree would do .. especially if started under the shade house or under the huge cottonwoods or one of the huge Eucalyptus trees that are there if I could get a Chestnut tree to grow for me.
The folks we are buying from have planted their Christmas trees from time to time and there are 3 or 4 huge pine trees on the property. So who knows what we will be able to grow??
I do appreciate your help. And if you can think of anything else, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks again, Sally

And of course since it is the desert, you can grow cacti, yucca, sotol, agaves, etc. Which some of those require afternoon shading in Phoenix. The pine trees that are really common here are 'Pinus eldarica' and 'Pinus brutia'. And of course all kinds of citrus.

Once again thank you. Some kinds of cacti may be considered in certain areas ... where my goofy dogs won't run into the spikes. I have 2 "City" dogs that will have to learn the hard way.

I am wondering about my Geraniums. In containers probably .. I have a Martha Washington and a deep deep red or magenta Ger. that I am lothe to leave behind. They take full sun here by the coast ... but I am thinking they will put up with maybe early morning sun and more water then they require here ???

Thanks again ... also, do you know anything about Chestnut trees in the desert??
Sally

Autumn,

Here's some Chestnut information that might interest you. Within the text it states that if the soil Ph is high, don't bother trying to grow chestnuts. Ours tends to be very alkaline, so that rules out Chestnuts.

http://www.icserv.com/nnga/faqchest.htm

Great, Thanks Judyb ... I plan on having my soil tested as strongly suggested by my daughter (Sisnow) ... I do know our soil out there is alot of Calachi (spelling) ... I don't know yet how much top soil is over the Calachi .. but we will find out. Think it is 3-4 feet but may be more/less.

Dgt. says take 3 samples to the local extention office and they will test it. At least they do in New York at her extention office ... so we will see. The link you sent me has a lot of information and resources to call ... so when I get over there I will do all that.

Again ... thanks for the Hyperlink, I do appreciate it.

Sally