My heartfelt sympathies on having to leave your garden. I know that after 12 years here, I would be heartbroken to leave mine too. You listed a lot of tropicals (of course, being a Florida garden, that's logical) and I don't know much about those but there is a website, desert-tropicals.com, that could give you good info on those. Several of my neighbors grow loquat but that's as much as I know about tropicals. As far as an edible garden goes, that's been a goal of mine too so I can tell you what I have had success with. We grow peaches (babcock and dwarf bonanza), plums (santa rosa), apples (anna and ein schemer), pecans, grapes (thompson seedless and red flame),pomegranates, oranges, grapefruit and lemons. As far as I know, this is a fairly common list of fruit and nut trees that will grow here. I know there are many, many more (pears, avocadoes, guava, blackberries just to name a few) but the list I mentioned are the only ones I've had personal experience with. Yes, it does take a lot of water to grow them but drip irrigation and soaker hoses can mitigate some of that. I know the Arizona Cooperative Extention office will have lots of info. although I admit I haven't explored their website very much yet. I seem to learn better by doing that reading. One thing to keep in mind is shading; morning sun is best and filtered light under a desert tree is also desirable. There's lots more to know and I would recommend any book by Mary Irish as a very good place to start. It's very different gardening here and it will never look like Florida but it's also very beautiful in its own way and satisfying. I wish you the best.

Oh Katerina, you are breaking my heart. I'm so sorry you have to leave your garden behind.

I would suggest that if you are looking for a house in Phx, you look at the central part of the city and older neighborhoods for an irrigated lot. Many lots in these older neighborhoods have irrigation rights out of the central canal, and watering can be very cheap in these districts. Basically the lot is slightly sunken with small berms marking the property boundaries - you open your irrigation gate on the appointed day, and the water floods your property to a depth of several inches. The water sinks in over a day of two.

Arcadia is best known and most expensive, but there are others, so ask your realitor about irrigated properties. You can get almost tropical lushness out of a lot like this.

Try out www.deserttropicals.com to get an idea of how things grow here. You'll be surprised at how many things you'll be able to grow here in the Phx area! Take plenty of pictures to capture memories of your Florida garden, then get ready to make new memories here!!!

My deepest sympathy on leaving your garden behind. I spent much of my childhood in SW Florida, where my father had an amazing garden. I was able to grow many of the same plants he grew when I lived in Southern California. I just moved to Sedona six months ago and had to leave my garden in California behind, so I know how traumatic that is. Sedona is not quite the same as Phoenix, but there are a few things that are the same all over Arizona. Drip irrigation lines, soaker hose, and lots of mulch will enable you to grow many of your favorite plants. If you can, buy a house that doesnÂt have a gravel landscape over plastic sheeting. I have this situation and it will be a pain to get rid of. I would suggest you take up composting when you get here, because you will need lots of mulch to amend the soil if a previous owner hasnÂt already done if for you. Good luck, in a few years you can have a nice garden with many of your current favorites, plus some plants you will fall in love with that you currently are unfamiliar with. A garden that is comparable, though a bit different from your current garden is well within reason. Many of things you want to grow may be unfamiliar to your new neighbors, so they will be unable to tell you if you can grow them here. You will need to experiment to see if you can grow them.

Philip

Thank you very much everyone for your wonderful suggestions and advice and your kind words. I really appreciate them all. It is great to find out that so many plants grow in Arizona . And it also have wonderful people and successful gardeners like you. Thank you!!
I think it would be exciting to plant another beautiful garden with my girls once more( I hope this is the last time we are moving... ah-h-h.. :) )
So wait for me, I hope to be there by fall and I'll try to make one more spot of Arizona very green...and hopefully very delicious.
What are your favorite places there for buying plants??? Hard to find fruit trees for Arizona area???
I am already thinking of what I want to plant right away and
what I want in my new garden. I wish I could bring some of my plants with me, but afraid that it would be very stressful for them and for me since we do not know where we are going to live yet and how soon we will find our little nest.( My husband's company is in Scottsdale. We looked at the housing prices there---it is unbelievably expensive. We are not going to afford anything there.(around $200,000, that is all we can, at this point) Phoenix or other close by cities, that is where we are going to be searching for our home I guess.)
Thank you again
Katerina

I couldn't resist one more response. It IS getting more expensive here and the above comment from rocket girl got me to thinking that my area might be a good one for you. We don't, alas, have irrigation but ours is an older area. It's lush, near central Phoenix, and near very nice, more expensive neighborhoods even though ours is comparatively reasonable. There's a house across the street from me going for $259,000 (no, I'm not the realtor!) and it's been on the market for a while (a widow lady who's lived there for probably 40 years- it's neat as a pin.) Anyway, we're bordered by 19th ave and 15th ave and Glendale and Northern. I know everyone loves their neighborhood best and Phoenix and the surrounding areas are full of lovely places to live but I thought you might like a place to start.

You really need to talk to the 'Rare Fruit Growers'. I know for a fact that most of what you have mentioned can be grown in Arizona. We have a good sized white sapote and a mango, plus some other tropicals that most people say you cannot grow here. We have created a canopy with vegetation which makes it easier to grow these plants. Here is a link to Dick Gross, President of Rare Fruit Growers. "Dick Gross" rkgross3@cox.net, Email him, he will give you a real good idea of what lies ahead for you and your garden

Thank you tspagg and jane1802. Your advice is very helpful.
Katerina

I couldn't in good faith, advise any unkowing soul from out of state to move and spend that kind of money to move into the central Phx area. There are a lot of safer areas way out north, west or east of Phx. Or even NW Phx or Peoria that aren't quite as bad crime wise and not too expensive. You should check the crime rate and schools in the area you plant to live in. Read the online newspaper (AZ republic), drive through the nieghborhoods at night and during the day etc. before making any decisions. Talk to your 'potential new neighbors'.
I moved out of the central Phx. area 10 yrs ago due to the crime: constant gunshots at night, drugs, gangs, police helicoptors shining lights overhead practically every weekend night searching for thugs. Many people in the nieghborhood were harboring illegal aliens (having them living in campers and trailers behind thier houses) and the INS swept a home a few houses down from us, pulling out guns while our children played in our front yard.
When I grew up there it was a nice quiet area lots of older folks and families. My MIL still lives near there and says it is way worse now. My mom owns a home there but she does not live there anymore either.
The last straw for me was when I went to pick up my son from kindergarten and they were letting the kids out of school while at the same time several cop cars pull up and pull out rifles, and other weapons etc. and all go running down the street toward a house on the same street as the school to bust a drug house and chop shop.
Please check carefully before making any decisions.
~SJN

Katushkin, How heartbreaking to have to leave your wonderful garden after all of the blood and sweat (and now tears) you have put into it only to start over again in a different climate. Phoenix (The Valley) has several sub-climates so depending on what part of The Valley you'll be locating to, you may indeed be able to grow most of what you're leaving behind. Care and location of the plants may be different, but the results should be the same.

I have my own gardening webpage with a list of plants I have. I'm sorry mine are not edible, but I can certainly refer you to those in another gardening forum that are growing citrus, etc. After you view my garden page, go to my main page at my website below (erase everything after the .com) and email me directly. I'm happy to help if I can! I've lived here since 1970 and just love it!

All the best,

Robin

Here is a link that might be useful: AzRobin's Garden in AZ

A few thoughts:

"Tropical" gardening: "tropical" and "subtropical" are some of the most fiercely debated terms in horticulture. Many tropical climates are dry ones. There is a continuum of "tropical looks" in gardening based on average precipitation. Florida is on the wet end. A Mediterranean climate such as San Diego would be in the middle. Phoenix has been called a "subtropical desert", but it is on the VERY dry end of that continuum. You have created a satisfying garden in Florida by working with the climate, not trying to defy it. The same holds true for southern Arizona. If you can adapt your tropical tastes to cacti and succulents, and trees that have small grayish leaves and handle drought well, you will find that there are many "tropical" plants that will succeed in the Phoenix area. A few of them may even be old friends that you have in your current garden. Desert gardening can be very rewarding, but it is limiting. Come prepared to adapt, not to conquer.

The desert: Since I lived there for 17 years, I occasionally get asked about living in southern Arizona from friends who are contemplating a move there. My advice is this: how do you feel about the desert? The sere look of the land...the dryness of the air...the creatures that live there...the relentless heat and powerful sun (after a year in Phoenix, you will wonder how Florida ever earned the motto of "Sunshine State"). Many anti-desert Phoenicians live in gated communities or subdivisions with artificial lakes and green grass in an attempt to deceive themselves about the nature of their immediate environment. But triple-degree temperatures and single-digit levels of humidity come anyway. I don't think southern Arizona is a good prospect for anyone who doesn't like the desert per se. There are a lot of quality-of-life penalties for living in Phoenix. The love of the desert is one of the prime payoffs. But if it won't be a payoff for YOU, then the penalties will be all you notice.

Phoenix: Phoenix has one of the highest rates of resident dissatisfaction among America's larger cities. At the very least check out the Phoenix forum at city-data.com to see what people who live there are saying. I love the desert and I miss the climate of southern Arizona, but had to leave Phoenix because overpopulation in the Valley had pushed the quality of life issues beyond my threshold of tolerance. I work in land-use planning and the Phoenix metro area is always on everyone's short list of city-planning nightmares. It is really just an interminable sprawl of development that gobbles up the desert with no growth boundaries and little sense of community. On the one hand, it has been one of the fastest growing areas of the country for the past three decades, but on the other hand, 60% of the people that move there leave within 5 years. Many areas now have an overinventory of housing, yet prices have not come down to meet the oversupply.

Here is a...

I do have some tropical plants here. They are things like monstera, tropical fruit trees, bananas, night blooming jasmine, brugmansia, jade (strongylon) vine, BOP, bromeliads, ti plant,etc. It really is a chore to care for these in the desert. You can grow them here- no doubt about it.. but mother nature won't take care of them the way that she does in a more humid less intensly hot climate. You have to do it and it does get tiring during the summer months. It was 110 here yesterday :D
Here the sun burns the leaves so the term "full sun" translates to afternoon shade or the large tropicals leaves' will fry. I spent the last 4 yrs or so in S. Louisiana and it was nice to grow stuff where I didn't have to water constantly and worry about sunburn and too much heat stopping the growth. I guess since I grew up in the desert, I knew what I was in for when I moved back here though lol. I do miss the lushness of the south though. Hate to admit it but I do miss the humidity too.
Most people here end up resorting to desert plants that can thrive on thier own. You can grow citrus and bougainvillea fairly easily. You should try to take a couple weeks and visit different areas here to see if it is somewhere you would like to try.

Katerina: I just joined the gardenweb a few days ago and just saw your post.

I, too, moved from Florida to Arizona about 2 years ago. Altho, I'm way north of the Phoenix area and have the snow to get use to.

I always had many types of citrus trees where I lived before and I so miss picking a fresh orange off my tree. I'm even thinking about growing some dwarf citrus trees in a green house next year.

I was wondering if you made the move to AZ and if so how are you, your family, and garden doing?

Arizona newbie

Hi fellow gardeners. Some of you were wondering if I ever moved to Arizona or not. Yes, we are here now, in North Scottsdale...and we live in an apartment for right now. But we hope to buy a house again and start our new garden with the girls and build new memories. I still miss my Florida garden very much, but a thought about planting another garden is very encouraging. Hope we can find our dream home in Glendale or Deer Valley area by summer since prices are so good there. I can not wait... and already plan to start some young trees and bushes in the pots on my patio, so when we do move to the house I already have some things to work with in the garden....

Check out Tropica Mango nursery, they have everything!

http://www.tropicamango.com/

If you haven't already, stop by the Subtropical Demonstration garden at the Maricopa County Extension office on Broadway a 1/4 west of 48th street. You will find a mango tree, black sapote, white sapote, plumeria, starfruit, macadamia, longan, guava, papaya, loquat, banana, sapodilla, and some others.

welcome to the valley of the sun . i live in festival foothills and love it. i dont mind the drive to 35th and cactus area where i work. the clean air and quiet desert surrounded by mountains. new homes very good prices. i started my back yard with dwarf orange, Myers lemon, semi dwarf ruby grapefruit, a wonderful pomegranate, and Thomson seedless grape. a veggie garden. some bougainvillea and a red bird of paradise. oh a don jaun rose. with 2 lantana. enough this spring. ill pick up again in sept. good luck i love it here. been here 4 yrs from r.i. via ca. via r.i.

LOL I just read this post , and its making me very nervous. Is AZ really that bad? ...from a few of the posts I cant tell ..

Thank you everyone for the great suggestions. I appreciate them. I do enjoy Arizona very much and love the climate. I am a little worried about my vegetable garden that I started on the patio because of the approaching hot summer. "Orangedragonfly" I just wanted to say that I have been here for a whole year now and I really like it here. I have not done much gardening yet...but I keep hearing about very successful gardeners who grow many different plants here (vegetables mostly in the fall, winter and spring ). I really look forward to plant some drought tolerant trees in my future garden, something like jujubes, various figs, Pomegranate,Mulberries,citrus and etc. Black Monuka and Flame Sedless grapes supposed to be great here also. Anybody grows Apricots, peaches and Apples successfully ? Any gardeners in Phoenix Deer Valey area? We were considering area of the opposite side of hwy 101 and hwy 17 toward Happy Valley RD, between 30 ave and 35 Ave? I could not find much of the negative things about this area and visited the place few times, researched crime, looked at the newer houses, so far it is not bad. We really want to avoid HOA since I dream of having chickens and bunnies in my future back yard and HOA might give me a hard time about it... I think. Phoenix regulations actually allow you to have the chickens if your neigbours do not mind. I love this law !! I could not have any chickens in Florida at all! I really hope we will find something by August...and then I can start digging :) LOL

Peaches and apricot trees are not a problem here. Just do your research and find the right variety for the valley with the correct cold hours. There are many different varieties of each to choose from, there is also a yearly Peach festival in Chandler (got canceled last year due to a late frost, not sure what it is doing this year). Apples...I've heard that there MAY be a couple of varieties that do well here, just not as big a selection (not enough chill hours).

I'm glad you like Arizona.

That area is very nice. There are pocket neighborhoods where people have livestock near there too. Horses etc. A friends mother lives a very close to 35th Ave and Deer Valley Rd and has chickens and an amazing garden and gorgeous desert landscaping in front. IF you end up near any desert/vacant land make sure you prepare for coyotes. They live near open desert/desert parks and they have had losses of chickens. You need a secure coop for nighttime. Their acre is surrounded by a block wall but the coyotes still get in. They lost a cat too. Now don't get scared, where they live was wild desert just ten years ago and is surrounded by wild desert areas. There aren't coyotes prowling the entire Valley.

I would not plant a mulberry but other than that your list is fine. Mulberries are not desert adapted and though thousands were planted in Phoenix in the 60's and 70's most have died off from Sooty Canker a nasty disease. They are also water hogs. There are some apples that will fruit but you can't grow apples like you can in Oregon and Washington.

I'm shocked to see someone post that Central Phoenix is crime ridden. Their idea of where Central Phoenix is and mine must not be the same. I have friends and family in various locations in Central Phoenix who live in gorgeous safe neighborhoods.

Long long LONG time Phoenix area resident here, there are some downright GORGEOUS neighborhoods in central phoenix just north of downtown area... i hope you've enjoyed your stay in Phoenix, AZ so far... just to keep your spirits for tropicals alive i wanted to let you know what I have in my backyard... all kinds of citrus, I have oranges, tangerines, lemon, limes, and red grapefruit. I also have banana that produced fruit last year for the first time... you give anything water out here and it will grow!! I have a variety of lantanas, pigmy palms, bougainvillea, african daisies, oleander, a sub-tropical tree called "tipuana" which is a beautiful tropical looking tree with nice canopy for shade... my front yard is pure desert xeriscape... rocks and cactus. But I transformed my backyard into a lush green paradise with just minimal water usage with the automatic drip. You'll have to contend with an occasional frost warning but that's about it... enjoy your desert gardening experience!!

Katcushkin: First of all, apples do fabulously well in Arizona. I tranformed my .25 acre into an eastern style garden - front, sides, backyard and the easement. Gardening is fantastic in AZ and I don't know what you are waiting for!!

Plant your trees in the fall. Apricot, plum and pluots do well. I have a fabulous Mimosa tree (feather pink flowers, deciduous), Chaste tree (blue flowers, deciduous). And of course, there is no end to the kind of desert trees!

We have some wonderful native flowers here too: penstemons, salvias, zinnias, ruelas, lantana, mallows, cleveland sage, rosemary, honeysuckle and roses do really well. Jasmine is great in the shade. Fill your garden with these types of things and add eastern stuff for accent. I plant petunias and pansies in the fall - light shade.

Do not believe what you are told about sun and shade. Most everything does better with some shade. Plant your trees near where you will want flower gardens and plan for morning sun.

You can grow almost anything if you pick the right time of year and create the right kind of conditions. You will have a 9 month growing season for most plants. Use drip irrigation and you can even water ever day without a big dent in your water bill if you get a pro to help you set it up.

I love AZ. I was born here, so that might make a difference:)
I can grow flowers all year...I can grow things that many gardeners in other parts of the world drool over (citrus for ex). I have lived elsewhere, and there are not many places in the world as fascinating as AZ. The only thing we don't have here is an ocean (but it's still not too far away). My front yard is desert landscaped, but it is still quite lush...I have lots of trees and plants...doesn't need a lot of work either, just once or 2x a year, cut things back from the sidewalk...

Magicgarden: what types of apple did you plant...I'm curious. And where did you obtain them? Locally or mail order?

Katcushkin:If you need some seeds to start out or something...would be glad to help. Oh and the DBG (Desert Botanical Gardens) has some wonderful ideas for plants and their biyearly sale are pretty good too.

Jolmos: One of my apple trees is a Jonathan and I got it at Home Depot. Don't recall what the other one was but I got it at Lowes. Bought them as 5 gal., planted in the fall. They had lots of time to become acclimated to the climate. The Jonathan is 3 years old now and the other is going into its 2nd growing season. It is really fast growing and give lots of delicious apples - and its really just a baby!

The pluot is going into its 2nd growing seasong too - lots of fruit. The Asian pear is doing well. Haven't gotten much in the way of flowers of fruit from the Sansuma plum or the appricot trees - but they are beautiful.

Wow. It is almost the end of August !! Time is really flying !! Thanks again for all the advice and for the seed offer. I would love to see your gardens someday and get very jealous... Hope you all had a great summer !
We are still stuck in the apartment and can not get the house yet since we still own our Florida house. With all the economy problems, we are just scared to make another purchase at this point. With all the real estate changes our Florida house really dropped in price and we can not sell it now without loosing a lot of money...Ah..hh. My garden had grown sooo much and we are not there to eat the goodies and trim the trees the "right" way. With all the tropical rain that Florida gets in the summer, my garden became a jungle... I am worried about the garden more then a house I guess...isn't that weird ? We have a nice lady renting it for now, but I wish I could just swap my house in Florida with a similar one here. Is that possible at all ? Did anybody hear anything like that being done ? Or is it just one of my silly dreams? Any of you gardeners want to relocate to Florida to my Eden garden and let me happily take over yours? :) I catch my self day dreaming more about my lush green garden there while it is so hot here in Arizona. I started to propagate my Chaya plants (perennial Spinach bush) that my friend sent me from my garden. So far it made tru the summer and got bigger. I will get another package of Chaya cuttings and Lemon grass suckling from Florida in the fall. If anybody wants to have a Chaya cutting, I might have some to spare. I can ask my friend to send extra if needed. It is a very rare and wonderful plant to have in the garden. It is also very delicious when cooked, very nutritional and healthy. It supposed to grow here very well because it is not picky at all. I looked at many nurseries here and could not find these plants, which were my favorite in the garden.
Hope everybody's gardens made it well thru this very hot summer, which is not over yet as I understand. My patio garden is not happy at all and many plants burned. I can not really move my heavy boxes much and some of the plants got too much sun and decided that they did not want to live any more. I planted my favorite jujube from the seed and it is doing well. It is about 1 foot now and I have good hopes for it. It is a very tasty variety from my garden and I hope it will come true to the seed. We will see. I could not find any of the Indian jujubees here either. They are very hardy and can stand sun and poor soil and very fast growing. Talk to you later my fellow gardeners :)

I live near Deer Valley, 35th ave and Bell rd. Ive got mango, avacado, loquat, longan, lyechee, banana, passiflora, jujube, grand duke jasmine, sweet olive, guavas, champaca, starfruit, bamboo, and a million plumeria. Dont let anyone tell you otherwise, you can make almost anything grow here. And I am a complete amateur!

katushkin I just did a google search on Chaya and I would love to have a cutting or two. I can pay for shipping and or trade you for some fig cuttings later this Fall or pay for shipping and send you some fig cuttings this Fall. I could even give you a potted fig tree if you can come by and pick it up.

What is the best way to make a Chaya cutting take root and grow?

katushkin you might find some of these links of interest.

Deciduous Fruit and Nuts for the low desert
http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/az1269

Home Orchard Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcB10...eature=channel

Home Orchard Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xflTY...eature=channel

Home Vegetable Gardening Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wZes0AnFKA

Home Vegetable Gardening Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYAO5...eature=channel

Plant Disease Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwQFc...eature=channel

Plant Disease Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYE4f...eature=channel

How to plant a fruit tree
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tttq3M739YA

Understanding Pesticides Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuSZF...eature=channel

Understanding Pesticides Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fny3q...eature=channel

High Density Fruit Trees in the Las Vegas Desert Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIgYrrIG_UA

High Density Fruit Trees in the Las Vegas Desert Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVzXX...eature=related

How to thin a Fruit Tree
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7oyV...eature=related

Grafting Fruit Trees
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuSYbmSgRcY

A Word about Rootstocks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cC454a6b8Dk

Growing Blueberries in your backyard
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3TzYSn3_s8

TomÂs Picks 14 Low Chill Winners
http://www.davewilson.com/homegrown/.../tomPicks.html

Fruit Trees for Arizona
http://www.gardeninginarizona.com/FruitTrees2.html

GeorgeÂs Pruning Demo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_ZS7COZDiA

Hello Katushkin. If you still want to "swap" properties, let me know. I think you'd love our garden in AZ and we would love yours in FL.

Hi,Nick-9. Sorry I got to your email so late. Where is your house in AZ ? Are you still interested ? If you want to talk more, you can contact me directly. Thanks

You will find it very different than Florida, we moved from Peoria Az 6 years ago.It gets very hot in the summer it reached 120 one year they grounded the planes, you will need a pool and covered parking for sure, you should look in Moon Valley it's in Central Phoenix a wonderfull Community and close to Scotsdale. Scotsdale is wonderful for shopping but as you said expensive.
They have sand storms there which are a pain to drive in, and they get sand in your home and everywhere.
Growing plants are a challenge, you will have to water everything except native plants like some said, Peaches grow wonderful and like you have never tasted.
The one thing i found hard was there are no clouds in the sky, just sun all the time.
We are moving to Florida in August hope we like it better than AZ.
Good luck in your move don't take your plants they will not take the heat.

I am so sorry that you have to move here. It is like hell on earth 6 months out of the year. See if you can take a lot of vacations