I think in the desert you have to be more creative when it comes to picking flowers that are heat and drought tolerant and 'look like' they come from a cottage garden. Im trying the same thing in southwestern utah. Im sad not to be able to grow foxglove, but I can grow lots of roses, daylilies, alyssum, larkspur AND I can start them earlier and keep them later than many other climates :) Theres an advantage you know!

I have my desert rose in a clay pot.. I do not water it until it is dry about an inch down. And cut back on water in winter. It is in a south window and gets lots of light in the winter. It goes out on my covered front facing south after all chance of frost is over. It loses some leaves in winter. I have had it for three or four years. I took a cutting alert it dry out on the end put in spot of regular miracle grow potting soil and it has started putting on leaves.. I would love to try planting from seeds.. My cutting even got water logged and started to turn mushy on the end and I cut it off jammed it back in soil and it started leafing out again. I think over watering is what kills most cactus roses.. I also fertilize with mirical grow and alter with blooms fertilizer in summer.

I order from them at least twice a year and since I live in NM I can drive to their nursery occasionally. Always top-quality plants and outstanding customer service. All plants shipped in pots, always on time and some perennials with 18" stems. Every plant I've ever received has been healthy with a good-sized root system. Plants are guaranteed and you will ALWAYS get an answer on the phone or email. After reading about some of the nightmares some folks have gone thru with mail-order plants it's good to know there's a nursery out there that DOES care about customer service and quality.

I'm a transplanted gardener from the Midwest as well, and had to get used to gardening in the desert. It was tough at first. Now I'm loving it! The others are right: compost and mulch are your friends. I've added it, along with the proper organic fertilizers, and watched the plants I've inherited come to life! A lot of people don't plant with compost, and use rocks for mulch. That's fine. You can put rocks over shredded bark. It works. Just a little more work to removed the rocks when you want to add compost. The plants will love you for it. I'm slowly turning a dull landscaping into a green and healthy one. Getting the drip system fixed was important too! But don't forget that some plants just do better with a good soaking every 2-3 weeks in the cool months and as much as once a week, or at least every 10 days, in the really hot months. I have some hybrid Tea Roses that I'm coaxing back to health, and they are doing beautifully. I trim about a third off every year -- there's no taking them down to 2 feet in this climate, or you'll kill them. So I'm keeping them shaped, and cutting off dead wood. They were sorely neglected, but have responded to the pruning, compost, fertilizer, and tender loving care with more blooms, and are they beautiful! Hybrid tea roses are a species that will do well down here as long as they are properly cared for. Check out "High Country Gardens", and you'll never again feel that there are no beautiful plants and flowers you can have down here. The place is LUSH with flowers. You just have to get the right kind. There are even plants from the midwest that can handle living on much less water, as long as they have a bit of compost and mulch. And there are many, many plants not at that site, that are both beautiful and hardy here. Check out the local Nursery! Once you've become acclimated to the gardening here, you'll be glad you moved! It's still gardening. It's just different. And in the summer, when it's so hot, and you don't want to work outside, just wait for evening. It cools off then in all but the hottest month. You can garden outside until 9-10:00 PM, and NO BUGS. That's big when you're from the Midwest, I know. Best of luck to you! MacThayer