Landscape Maintenance Before Arizona Growing Season
Despite the wild bougainvillea branches twining energetically upwards, winter is not considered one of our major growing seasons. Many shrubs, succulents, and cacti go dormant. Irrigation systems are hibernating because xeriscape plants do better with dry soil during cold weather or a frost.
And yet, we still have plenty to do.
Winter Landscaping in Arizona
Many bulbs, bare root plants, and seeds are ideally planted between December and February.
Properties that wish to transform their landscape during the winter will swap out hot weather annuals for cooler weather favorites. This out with the old, in with the new approach keeps your landscape lively, but consider working with a landscaper who can design property with year-round curb appeal.
Annual flowerbeds draw admiration from winter tourists and snowbirds coming from places where winter means no flowers at all. Pansies, geraniums, snapdragons, petunias, and many more species thrive during Phoenix winters.
Weeds show resilience year-round, so there’s no shortage of weed removal maintenance. Removing weeds that pop up now will prevent them from seeding in time for spring.
Protecting Plants from Frost
The wisest frost protection plan is to design a landscape that naturally places plants in their ideal environments. Hardiness describes the ability of plants to survive in different climates. The most limiting factor determining where plants can and cannot live is minimum temperature. It’s easier to add water, shade, or nutrients to a plant’s environment than it is to change the temperature around it. Frost cloth can only do so much.
Plants we describe as winter plants in Phoenix usually survive a frost or two without significant damage. Other plants will always show damage when the temperature drops below freezing. Depending on the year’s weather patterns and the extent of the damage, we may want to prune frost damage away. However, it’s usually better to leave it until spring when plants can recover quickly.
