I've never been to Ohio and I don't know what the average yard looks like there but I did live in Phoenix for fifteen years. I live in Oregon but I miss the desert. My kitchen, laundry room and dining room are very Southwestern. Didn't think of doing the yard..... I think your idea of using a dry stream bed, large rocks, ornamental grasses, Russian sage etc. will work in giving that Southwest feel. There are also pines in AZ so a pine tree would not be out of place. I personally, detest Italian cypress which are the columnar evergreens you see around town but agree that a tall columnar evergreen might give the feel of a Saguaro. Hollywood junipers are very common in Southern CA and would not be out of place. They are very twisted and gnarled. If you build up some mounds from the dirt dug out for the dry streambed that will help too. Most good desert landscapes have them. Decomposed granite is the rock most commonly used in the Southwest as a mulch. I don't think I would use it in Ohio, I think I'd use the wood chips someone suggested above. The rock would just be too out of place. I'm not familiar with Ohio weather so forgive me if plants I suggest aren't going to make it through winter. Lavender and Rosemary can combine with the Russian Sage. Caryopteris too. Flower Carpet roses would be a great substitute for Bougainvillea, especially the magenta ones. Homestead Verbena can double for Lantana and will cover a lot of ground so there isn't so much mulch. I think you should go for a lusher look than many do in the desert. Many just don't realize how much they can really plant or try to plant the wrong things. Lowe's and Home Depot are just as guilty there as having plants that won't grow in the desert as they are having desert plants in colder climates. You need something for accent. A wagon wheel. Drift wood. Pottery. Please not a cement donkey or sleeping hombre.

Hello Everyone, I couldn't stand not jumping in to see how all of you were doing!!! First of all is was so surprised at the lady who had to find homes for her mamy Plumeria,,OMG It a good thing that i didnt know anything about this lady or man for that matter,,, wonder what he had to sell! LOL... Hope u dont mind me stopping buy to say hello to some of my friends as well as some of my new ones too! Hi Toni, Hi Mike Goodnorning to Marquest,,,i love those pics of the chimmneys..i wonder the ages of them? I find them very lovely and you could really have a beautiful area there in the back garden :The Secret Garden!!!) they are so facinating to me and i would love to know what the story is...could it have been a old cooking area away form the original house? Hi Stush!!! Nice to see you .. Sounds like those years in the yard worked on your back and legs... I understand..my DH father worked for PPG in Ohio and they went so far undergound with all of these earth movers and such..his health was not that great either form that type of work..I hope you are feeling better now that your have retired!!! I also picked up on the Plumeria!!! You guys are killing me!!! I am an addict to these babies and to hear that someone was making their wife give them away? REALLY? OMG.... sound like you made a great deat... I love these babies. I will try and help you to get them to bloom if you want Marquest? Just let me know..i will be glad to help you!!! Take care everyone, Laura

Jonqpublic, and anyone else. We had lots of snow and cold, I didn't see a lot of ice on things, but I would say it was freezing temps sometimes, but then one day we had it slushy for one afternoon before the evening froze it all again. Today, I took pics of my 2 older Live oaks, the 2 year olds that I posted above. My most borderline plus some, plants. The bigger one has brown leaves, but they are still attached. The second tree has it's leaves still, and they are less brown, but still pretty ugly. I am happy they have done as good as they have in this horrible and NOT OVER winter. I took the second pic from the porch with the zoom, but with the snow you can see it good enough. After today we will be getting single digits at night and 20's in the day for the next 3 days/nights. Then 20's and 30's after . I would say this winter makes me say zone 6 is fine for these Live oak "late drop". If they last the rest of the winter, which I think they will.

This is a new reply to an old post, but there are native live oaks in the area roughly between Ft. Worth, Abilene, and Wichita Falls, Texas that should work beautifully in your area. For some reason, nobody has developed commercial cultivars from this area. Live oaks, especially along the northern margin of their range, can vary in their characteristics. The ideal would be one with dense foliage that stays dark green all winter on a non-stoloniferous tree that branches With strong crotch angles. For commercial growers, it would probably require two trips to western North Texas—one in February/March to identify trees with the right characteristics, and once again in September/October to collect acorns. Maybe ten years of field trials would be in order after that. Of course this would be more of a long-range project than collecting an annual or perennial, but it could fundamentally change the landscape in Tennessee, Kentucky, and the Eastern Seaboard up to Philadelphia or maybe New York.