Extreme heat summer, freeze in winter

14 years ago

Hi desert gardeners,

I am just joining this forum as I am about to move to Ticaboo Utah. For those of you who are not familiar with this thriving metropolis it is 10 miles north of Bullfrog Marina on the north end of Lake Powell.

I am just learning about gardening in this area. While I am somewhat familiar with xeriscaping my concern is our freezing winters where it can occasionally hit 19 or 20 degrees F. We are at about 5300 feet. Fair amount of wind, less than 6" precip a year including snow. Sandy soil.

I realize most xeriscape plants tolerate the heat but am not so sure about how they really tolerate the cold. For example bougainvillea, oleander, Mexican grass, star jasmine, and orange pincushion.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

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Comments (7)

tugbrethil
14 years ago
I live in the furnace, but I went to college in the mountains, and southern Utah is one of my favorite vacation spots (Viva Canyonlands!). Without generating a huge list, my best advice is to get a Sunset Western Garden Book, and look in the encyclopedia section for plants listed for both zones 2 and 12. The Sunset Plant Finder at plantfinder.sunset.com could also be useful, though it still has a few glitches and omissions. There is a lot bigger plant palette than you would think!
Good luck! : ])
desertlvr
14 years ago
High Country Gardens in Santa Fe, NM is good source of plants and plant info. Try their website. The more cold tolerant varieties of oleander should do ok there, along with star jasmine, Mexican feather grass. Bougainvilleas will need to be kept in pots, wintering over inside in South facing window. If you are a solid zone 8, you should have lots of choices for a beautiful drought tolerant, yet lush garden. Have fun. DL
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Heavens!! No one was trying to twist your arm....only to let you know that it is possible to grow these in your location. FWIW, there's lots of places in the US where it hits above 100F in summer and these hydrangeas are extremely common across the country. If you don't want to risk it, don't grow it. Comparison of heat zones to USDA hardiness zones are really meaningless - one has nothing to do with the other. They should be used together as a guide (only) as to what should be able to grow successfully in your locations. If PeeGee hydrangeas are listed to heat zone 9, that means they will grow where they receive as much as 120-150 days of temperatures above 86F. Luis, I don't have an answer for you but I do have a theory :-) In areas that have mild winter climates, like zone 8 and above, the focus by nurseries seems to have been on those hydrangeas that are best suited to quite mild climates - macrophyllas, asperas, serratas, etc. Arguably, these species tend to be less sun and heat tolerant than do the paniculatas, yet you see them sold frequently in very hot climates - Texas, SoCal, the southeast. Until just recently, when all the new cultivars began flooding the market, you couldn't find paniculatas in my area either. Now they are sold as frequently as other, less cold hardy species.
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Join the club, gwhext; you are not the only one with hydrangeas stressed out and-or partially dried out. Even at the Dallas Arboretum they are suffering. Some of those dried out stems may still leaf out so I would just let them be until around mid-May 2012 to see if anything happens. Expect some leaf out from the base when stems dry out. If you just cannot wait to tell if the stems are dried out or not, prune them in 1" or 2" increments but stop either when you get to the bottom or when you hit green. Make sure the shrubs are well mulched, with 3-4" of mulch as this reduces the amount of waterings needed. So instead of watering twice a day say, you may need to water every "X" days instead. But I think you are watering too much (twice a day). If your soil drains well, that may be ok but otherwise they could develop root rot due to the clay soils so just be careful. Oakleafs will croak if left in wet soil for too long periods but mopheads are more forgiving. You basically do not need to water if the soil is already moist when you insert a finger into the soil to a depth of 4". If they wilt -as mine do- during the day, that is ok. It is a form of defense mechanism and they usually recover by next morning. Water if you see an extreme looking wilting episode; otherwise check the soil moisture using the finger method. About 1 gallon and half per watering should be enough. When the temps go down and stay down, you can go down to about 1 gallon of water per watering. If the shrubs are getting sun past 11am or so, consider moving them to a more shaded location or temporarily using shade cloth. You can wait until winter to move them since the plant will then be dormant and it will be less stressful for the plant. Expect poor bloomage in Spring 2012 as result of all of these problems. Rebloomers may be in better shape; blooms from old wood may be toast but blooms from new wood in late Spring should be fine. Of course, I am assuming we do not go thru another repeat of 2011 next year. And that we get some rain and water rationing does not get worse... Good luck, Luis
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mojave_patti
14 years ago
Except for the elevation, Ticaboo sounds like my neighborhood. (I'm at 2900 ft.)

I second both tugbrethil and desertlvr's suggestions. I've purchased stuff from High Desert Garden and it's done fine with my climate (my rodents are another story).

There seem to be a lot of websites and books about desert gardening in Phoenix and Tucson. It can be downright depressing -- low desert stuff can be really beautiful.

Sometimes you can get some of the less cold hearty stuff to work where it's blocked from the cold some. I've also observed that it may get real cold sometimes, but it generally warms up later in the day. (It's only 17 for about 2 hours.) However, I lived at rental once where the owner had put in iceplant. It lasted for two years before we had a wierd three days that it never got warmer than 45 degrees. That killed it all off.

I've found that web sites about gardening in Las Vegas are of some help to me. Although I don't think the valley floor there gets quite as cool as where I live and they don't seem to have the wind issues. They do have plants they recommend.

Best of luck!!
User
14 years ago
Xeriscaping does not mean a certain group of plants. It means using plabnts that are adapted to survive on little or no extra water wherever you happen to be. What is "xeriscaping" in Florida uses a different plant palette the we do in Phoenix.

Get a copy of the Sunset Western Garden Book and find the low water plants that thrive in your new location, surviving the freezes and the summers.

Here is a link that might be useful: xeriscaping explained
wantonamara Z8 CenTex
14 years ago
So many high country salvias that will do well there. Desert willow Tree, hesperaloe, Nolinas, Many plants from Northern mexico are good for zone 8. I love the salvia regla. It is a Big Bend (7b) salvia. Salvia dorrii. My girlfriend orders from this place and says it is great. I think they are in Utah. I have a lot of seeds that could work for you. I would imagen things like Sphercalcea ambigua , snake weed, and several others would work for you. Plants of the Southwest and Southwesternnative seeds are both good sources.
http://www.plantsofthesouthwest.com/
http://www.southwesternnativeseeds.com/

Here is a link that might be useful: Great Basin Natives
flattie
14 years ago
I would run not walk from High Country Gardens. They put their plants in very tiny pots which have so few roots the plants often do not establish and die. I am at about 50% mortality with the plants I bought from them and will never buy from there again. Word to the wise.

Great idea for a nursery. Poorly executed.
txmeggie
14 years ago
Read my experience in Dallas; we can get down to 20s in winter, and it is HOT and DRY in summer

Here is a link that might be useful: Lush but Xeric in Dallas

Extreme heat summer, freeze in winter

Comments (7)

tugbrethil

desertlvr

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mojave_patti

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wantonamara Z8 CenTex

flattie

txmeggie

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