Arizona Landscape

May 5 2026

Best Plants for Native Pollinators

Robbie Blog Arizona Landscape, ArizonaLandscaping, AZ Landscape, HOA Landscaping

Many people talk about supporting “the bees” when designing gardens and landscapes. What most may not know, though, is that the “Honey Bee” that we associate with “the bees” are not native to the Americas. European Honey Bees (and their “Africanized” counterparts) are, as their name suggests, from Europe. They were first spotted in the Americas shortly after the beginning of European colonization of the New World. They pollinate numerous flowers throughout the Americas today, though in many ways they harm the environment by outcompeting native pollinators and spreading insect diseases.

Arizona alone is home to over 1,300 species of native bees, almost all of which have been ecologically challenged by European Honey Bees. Additionally, there are 300 species of butterflies, 28 species of bats, dozens of birds, and even many flies and other small insects that cooperate with the native plants of our state to create stable ecosystems. Honey bees pollinate some of the plants in the desert, but not all of them. Some plants rely entirely on specific native animals to reproduce. Therefore, if you can install any plants that support native pollinators, you’ll be contributing to their survival in our urban areas. And guess what? Most native pollinators don’t even sting.

Some plants that bring native pollinators to your home include: Desert Milkweed (Asclepias subulata), Vining Milkweed (Funastrum cynanchoides), Desert Marigold (Baileya multiradiata), Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis), Ocotillo (Fourquieria splendens), Desert Lavender (Hyptis emoryi), Chuparosa (Justicia californica), Creosote (Larrea tridentata), Blackfoot Daisy (Melampodium leucanthum), Deergrass (Muhlenbergia rigens), Ironwood Tree (Olneya tesota), Blue Palo Verde (Parkinsonia florida), Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmanii), Parry’s Penstemon (Penstemon parryi), Globe Mallow (Sphaeralcaea ambigua), Velvet Mesquite (Prosopis velutina), Arizona Rosewood (Vauquelinia californica), and many, many more. European Honey Bees will still take pollen from many of these, but the benefits of providing space for native pollinators will be greatly appreciated by Arizona wildlife of all types.

Assuming you already have established trees in your yard, the top three picks for shrubs that support native pollinators would probably be the Desert Milkweed (Asclepias subulata), Desert Lavender (Hyptis emoryi), and Arizona Rosewood (Vauquelinia californica). The Desert Milkweed in particular is special for its role as the main food source for Monarch Butterflies during their yearly migration through Arizona. Please feel free to include as much native plant biodiversity as possible in your yard if you are able! Doing so increases the number of native animal species that can have a safe, survivable haven amidst the sprawl of the Phoenix metro area.

At ELS Maintenance & Construction, we grow and install native plants that we are happy to install in landscapes throughout the valley. If you know of a community or commercial center that needs new landscapers, email robbie@evergreenaz.com and we can get started!

April 2 2026

Check Your Drip Lines for Calcium Crust

Robbie Blog Arizona Landscape, Landscape Management

If your yard utilizes a drip irrigation system and you live in the Phoenix area, you’ve probably had problems with lines clogging over time. What’s clogging the lines, and what can you do to mitigate this problem?

There are multiple potential causes of drip line clogging, including algae buildup and dirt getting into your pipes from leaks, bad filters, or even dirty canals depending on where you are. The most common issue faced in the Phoenix area, though, is salt buildup. Most commonly, this salt is calcium carbonate, most famously known as the active ingredient in TUMS. There’s also calcium bicarbonate and magnesium bicarbonate. All of these come together to form a whitish crust called “scale” or “limescale” on surfaces. This can form on pots and pans, in pipes, or at the emitters in drip irrigation lines.

The majority of scale buildup occurs during the spring and summer, as the increasing contrast between the cold temperature of water and the warm temperature of the surface and air causes the calcifying reaction to occur quicker. This reaction can happen so quickly that the entire openings of drip emitters can be blocked off by a thick crust of calcium. You can also see evidence of this on the surface of the soil. If you see white rings of crust around your drips, then that emitter is at a higher risk of getting entirely clogged at some point during the warm season.

Does this mean you should just have your drip lines completely without emitters? No. Leaving driplines without emitters wastes water by leaving water pressure unregulated and allows more debris to get into your tubes, which can potentially cause much more severe clogs. The simplest reactive approach to calcium buildups is to go through your yard once or twice in the spring and summer with a toothpick or pin. Go to each emitter and break up the scale that may have formed at the opening. If even that doesn’t fix it, the emitter may need to be replaced.

If you want to make more efficient, proactive changes, you have to go to the source – the water itself. The water in Arizona, whether from canals or from wells, is very alkaline, meaning it contains lots of salts. Applying a fertigation injector system to your irrigation and adding tame acids to the water that goes to your plants. These can be purchased at stores as “pH buffers” by individuals, or they can be applied at an HOA-wide scale by landscaping companies using dilutions of sulfuric acid.

This isn’t a “one-and-done” situation, though. Arizona will always have salt problems, whether in the water we irrigate with or in the soil itself. Acid should be added to easily-crusted drip systems at least once a year, though this depends on the severity.

At ELS Maintenance & Construction, we add gentle acids to irrigation systems at a large scale in communities across the Valley to mitigate calcium buildup and improve plant health. If you know of a community or commercial center that needs new landscapers, email robbie@evergreenaz.com and we can get started!

February 27 2026

Why Do Arizona Turfs Need Gypsum and Sulfur?

Robbie Blog Arizona Arbor Care, Arizona Landscape, ArizonaLandscaping, CommercialLandscaping, HOA Landscaping

If you’ve lived in the Phoenix area for a while you know that it can be difficult to keep plants happy. The summers are hot, sure, but the big problem can be found in the soil itself. The soil in the Sonoran Desert is very alkaline. Essentially, that means it’s salty. As salt builds up in our clay-rich soil, it can become impermeable, hardening and preventing air and water from easily soaking in. This is bad for the roots of plants, especially if they are not native to the desert or otherwise accustomed to salty soils. There’s probably no plant where this challenge is more obvious than grass.

Turf in Arizona faces several challenges, but one of the worst is the alkaline buildup in the soil, or more specifically, the consequences of this buildup. Plants have difficulty absorbing important nutrients when the soil gets too salty. Nitrogen and Iron are especially likely to be chemically trapped in salty clay buildup. Both of these nutrients are vital to a plant that gets regularly cut down like grass, and there is very little Nitrogen found naturally in desert soil. The lack of available Nitrogen, Iron, and most other nutrients, makes grass turn pale or yellow. It can also slow its growth, change its shape, or kill the grass altogether in especially impermeable spots. How do you solve this problem?

In addition to proper turf care like aeration and dethatching, substances can be added to turf spaces to break up built-up clay and drastically improve the health of grass. Soil Sulfur is a powder or granular supplement that does wonders on this front. Sulfur is acidic, and when allowed to dissolve with water, it chemically reacts with the salts in the ground and breaks them up. This opens up the previously impermeable soil, lowers the pH level around the roots of grass, and makes Nitrogen, Iron, and the other important nutrients available to be consumed by the roots. Gypsum is also a great option. It acts in a similar manner, reacting with salts and breaking them apart, allowing water, air, and nutrients to reach the roots of turf grass. The only difference is that it is chemically much tamer and has minimal impact on the pH level of the soil as a whole. There are many other products that can be used for similar purposes, called Soil Acidifiers. These are usually liquids that can either be sprayed on turf or injected directly into built-up soil to make it healthier for growth.

While these practices are relatively well-known for keeping grass happy, many do not know that the vast majority of landscaping plants in the desert can benefit from practices like this as well. While native plants like mesquites and cacti are accustomed to our soil type, non-native species of all sizes will likely perform better if the soil around them is amended with Gypsum, Sulfur, or other Soil Acidifiers at regular intervals. Try it on trees and shrubs that are underperforming! Consult a Certified Arborist if you are unsure whether your plants will benefit from these practices.

At ELS Maintenance & Construction, we always recommend soil amendments to turf areas at regular intervals that are best for keeping healthy grass. If you know of a community or commercial center that needs new landscapers, email contactus@evergreenaz.com and we can get started!

February 2 2026

Creating an Arizona Hummingbird Haven

Robbie Blog Arizona Landscape, HOA Landscaping

There are at least 15 species of hummingbird that call Arizona home, and luckily none of them are considered truly endangered. However, the Black-chinned, Rufous, Broad-tailed, and Calliope hummingbirds are on several ecological watchlists due to shrinking habitats. Hummingbirds are extremely important to the Sonoran Desert ecosystem, as they pollinate when they drink the nectar of flowers of all types, especially the tubular and trumpet-shaped flowers of the desert. If you want to bring more hummingbirds to your home, and thereby give them a safe place to eat, drink, and nest, it’s actually pretty easy to do so!

There are several known “hummingbird plants” that you can grow in your yard that will be sure to attract them with time. They absolutely love bushes like the Pink Fairy Duster (Calliandra eriophylla), California Fairy Duster (Calliandra californica), Chuparosa (Justicia californica), Coral Fountain Grass (Russelia equisetiformis), and any species of Penstemon (a great choice is the Penstemon eatonii). These are just a few options, as they love any bush with trumpet-shaped flowers, tubular flowers, or puffball flowers with lots of nectar.

Some trees that hummingbirds love include Desert Willows (Chilopsis linearis), Mimosa Trees (Albizia julibrissin), Bottlebrush Trees (Callistemon citrinus), and to an extent, Velvet Mesquites (Neltuma velutina). Some annual and perennial flowers are hummingbird favorites as well, such as any Lavender (Lavandula), any Salvia (Salvia), Zinnias (Zinnia), Petunias (Petunia), and Cupheas (Cuphea).

Once you have some of these plants installed in your yard, you can actually look into having your home made a Certified Hummingbird Haven! The International Hummingbird Society has a set list of criteria on their website (www.hummingbirdsociety.org), and if you qualify, you can sign up to certify your outdoor space as a hummingbird haven. The requirements include having at least 20 hummingbird-friendly plants, a source of moving water, space for sanctuary and refuge, and avoiding the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides. Funds for their nonprofit go toward research and conservation for hummingbirds and their habitats around the world.

At ELS Maintenance & Construction, many of the plants we install in our communities are hummingbird favorites, and we engage in proper pruning and maintenance practices to keep things blooming for as long as possible. If you know of a community or commercial center that needs new landscapers, email contactus@evergreenaz.com and we can get started!

December 2 2025

Arizona’s Fall Growing Season

Robbie Blog Arizona Landscape, AZ Landscape

Despite the brutality of Arizona’s summers, a huge benefit our region has over others is the rare phenomenon of having TWO growing seasons. Once the temperature has descended consistently below the 100-degree mark and nighttime temperatures creep into the low 70s to mid 60s, we’ve reached the Sonoran Desert’s fall growing season.

This is perhaps the best time of year to install new trees and shrubs, on par with the springtime. Landscape companies throughout the valley will be adding fresh vegetation to communities and homes for the next few months until we approach the cold of winter. The responsible period of fall planting lasts until around Thanksgiving, after which a plant’s acclimation period may overlap with the first frosts of the winter. Deciduous trees have a wider planting window, since they will already be dormant and thus not be damaged by mild frosts in the early winter.

If you’re looking to do some fall gardening, some great crop choices include peas, beans, carrots, spinach, kale, garlic, radishes, and more. Planting these right now is a great way to guarantee that by the time the weather is too cold for them to thrive, you’ll have hopefully made some decent harvests. Of course, the animals are just as happy that the weather’s cooled off as you are, so be sure to protect these crops from uninvited guests.

The cooler weather also invites a change in annual flowers from the summer survivors to plants that thrive in the cooler temperature. Some summer flowers can keep going through the fall, such as vincas, portulacas, and dwarf snapdragons. Some fresh fall flowers include marigolds, petunias, lobelias, society garlic, rocket snapdragons, and many more.

For plants of all sizes, it’s important to keep irrigation in mind. While the duration and frequency of watering may decrease once the temperature has dropped, new installs often need extra water while they’re getting established in the ground. This is a great time to shift irrigation drips further away from the trunks of more established trees and shrubs to inspire them to grow more robust root systems and mitigate storm damage.

The fall is also a great time to fertilize plants of all types, treat root systems with soil injections and soil acidifiers, and add fresh mulch. All of these things will contribute to a healthier yard in the long term.

At ELS Maintenance & Construction, we install new trees and shrubs and complete much-needed biannual work both during the spring and fall planting seasons throughout the Valley. If you know of a community or commercial center that needs new landscapers, email contactus@evergreenaz.com and we can get started!

December 1 2025

How to Water Trees for the Arizona Summer

Robbie Blog Arizona Landscape, AZ Landscape, HOAMaintenance, Landscape Management

The Sonoran Desert summer is known for the powerful “dry heat” interrupted by occasional monsoon storms during its latter half. This heat causes stress to plants of all shapes and sizes, from the most robust cactus to the smallest groundcover shrub. Native plants have evolved to handle this stress in the wild, but in manmade landscape environments even they can fall victim to heat damage if not cared for properly.

Most yards in the Phoenix area use drip irrigation systems. By properly utilizing drip irrigation, you can help the trees and shrubs in your yard establish strong, healthy root systems that will help them withstand the summer heat and resist wind damage in the long term. The duration and frequency of watering is vital to the creation of a strong plant. This article focuses on trees, but the same principle applies for shrubs.

The best strategy to help a tree survive the summer in the long term is to do deep, infrequent watering once the tree is established. Let’s say you have a drip irrigation system that supplies water to many trees and shrubs in your yard. You can keep everything on a regular irrigation cycle, but this cycle should emphasize duration over frequency, especially if your plants are already established for at least a year. Instead of watering trees twice a day for 20 minutes each, water them for, as an example, once a week for three hours. These numbers aren’t exact, as every yard is in a different situation with its soil, sunlight, and slopes, and every tree species has different needs. This idea applies universally, though.

In Arizona’s alkaline, high-clay soil, it takes a high water volume to soak deep into the ground. If you water your trees in a way more similar to the “twice a day, 20 minutes each” style, it’s very likely that the water doesn’t soak into the ground as much as it just moves around. In the long term, that method leads to weaker roots and more wasted money due to evaporation. It may seem overkill, but letting your irrigation run for a long duration, less often, leads to more water soaking into the ground and providing a more consistent water supply for your trees and all nearby plants. This is healthier for the plants and saves money in the long term. Once a tree is established, you can water it manually by leaving a hose trickling for several hours once every week (or even less frequently, depending on the species), and it won’t even need to have drips anymore.

The average nighttime temperatures in the valley have been increasing due to the many heat sources in the city (roads, roofs, parking lots, etc) creating a worsening “heat bubble” around the city. This makes survival more difficult for plants of all types. Thus, creating shade is absolutely vital for the future of the Phoenix area. If you want to create long-lasting, healthy shade trees that won’t fall over in a windstorm, this strategy of long but infrequent watering is pretty much a requirement. It will create healthy trees with robust root systems, which will save you money and improve the health of every plant provided with healthy shade thanks to your efforts.

At ELS Maintenance & Construction, we install trees and shrubs the right way, improving the likelihood of long-term survival and creating the shade that we need so badly. If you know of a community or commercial center that needs new landscapers, email contactus@evergreenaz.com and we can get started!

March 26 2025

How To Properly Dig a Planting Hole

robbie@evergreen Blog Arizona Landscape, AZ Landscape, HOAMaintenance, Landscape Management

How To Properly Dig a Hole for Planting

It’s an understatement to say that one of the most important aspects of a landscape plant’s long-term health is the strategy with which it is initially installed. The manner in which the initial planting hole is dug is vital to this process, along with how that hole is filled in once the plant is in the ground.

The soil in the Phoenix area is highly alkaline and made mostly of clay, making the dimensions of the initial planting hole particularly important. For most plants, especially desert-adapted shrubs, trees, and cacti, it’s important that the planting hole is NO DEEPER than the initial container they came in. In fact, accounting for soil settling and crumbling in the pot, the hole could even be a bit shallower than the container the plant came in.

In these clay soils, width is extremely important to assisting the circulation and root growth of the plant. Typically, it is recommended that the hole be at least TWICE AS WIDE as the diameter of the container the plant came in. Most roots in desert-adapted plants grow much more horizontally than vertically, as that’s where the most water and air will be.

Once the hole is dug, it’s time to install the plant. Once it’s out of its container, it’s often a good idea to gently unravel any roots that are tightly bound. If the roots toward the bottom of the pot are so tightly wrapped up that they could make a basket, you can often pull the matted mess off the bottom. Be warned though, doing this may increase the plant’s initial shock damage. In the long run, it should be better for the plant’s longevity.

While many people like to add fresh compost or other soil to a planting hole, this is actually usually unnecessary, and can even worsen the plant’s chances of survival in the long term. It’s best to fill in the hole with the same soil that was dug out. This increases the likelihood that the plant will adapt to its surroundings quickly. When the hole is filled in, DON’T STOMP IT FLAT! It’s best to water the hole in so the air pockets in the soil are allowed to remain and gradually set naturally while the plant begins to grow new roots. Stomping down the soil can choke the plant’s roots of water and air and give it a disadvantage from the start. If you’re worried about erosion early on, it’s better to use rocks or gravel.

You should be able to clearly see the Root Flare of any plant that is freshly planted. The root flare is the plant’s transition from stalk to root. If all you see is a stalk or trunk going straight into the ground with no visible root flare, the plant is too deep in the ground. Sometimes, a plant may even be buried too deep in its container at a nursery, so be sure to clear out any soil that covers the root flare, even if it’s soil from the original container.

If you followed all these steps correctly, your plant should be off to a good start for its life in your yard!

At ELS Maintenance & Construction, we install plants using the best practices for each species in Arizona landscaping. If you know of a community or commercial center that needs new landscapers, email contactus@evergreenaz.com and we can get started!

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March 4 2025

Turn Your Yard Into a Butterfly Wonderland!

robbie@evergreen Blog Arizona Landscape, HOA Landscaping

With the springtime comes the planting season! While ELS is planting new shrubs, trees, and cacti from our Wholesale Nursery in communities across the valley, residents are planning what to do with their backyards, planters, and private landscape spaces. Adding native plants is always recommended, as it improves the quality of life of the Sonoran Desert wildlife and the ecosystem as a whole, all while being beautiful and fitting into the natural landscape around us. Certain plants attract different pollinators, all of which are beneficial to the ecosystem as a whole. One group of helpful insects that is particularly threatened in the Sonoran Desert is the butterflies, as many of their primary food sources have been displaced by invasive species. To help create a haven for local butterflies, there are annual and perennial options that will look great in your yard this spring, most of them native to Arizona!

Perennial trees, bushes, and groundcover are, in the long term, the best ones to plant to create a desert butterfly habitat. You’ll only have to plant them once and you’ll have years of healthy native vegetation. The first classes of plants that must be mentioned in a conversation about butterflies are the Milkweed (Asclepias) genus and the Milkweed Vine (Funastrum) genus. The Desert Milkweed (Asclepias subulata) is the primary food source for Monarch Butterflies when they pass through Arizona during their yearly migration paths. It looks like a collection of neutrally-colored stalks that occasionally bloom in huge clusters of cream-colored bells. The Baja Fairy Duster (Calliandra californica) is another native option that is frequently covered in puffy red-pink flowers that butterflies and moths love. The Brittlebush (Encelia farinosa) is a great butterfly attractor, but it can be quite allergenic in large quantities. The blooms of any Mesquite Tree (Neltuma), while often messy, bring in pollinators of all sorts. The same can be said for the iconic Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis). Dozens of other choices exist as well that can be found at most Arizona nurseries.

There are also good annual options to plant in garden beds or sow as seeds for the springtime bloom. The Coulter’s Lupine (Lupinus sparsiflorus) makes small stalks of blue flowers that butterflies go crazy for. The Mexican Hat flower (Ratibida columnifera), California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica), Globe Mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua), and Gaillardia (Gaillardia aristata) are other options that you’ll see springing up in the desert every year.

While native plants are certainly preferred whenever possible, there are several non-native options that are beneficial to butterflies as well. Several plants from northern Mexico and the Chihuahua Desert would be the next best thing to Arizona natives: the Wooly Butterfly Bush (Buddleja marrubiifolia), Lantana (Lantana) genus, Passion Flower (Passiflora) Vines, Queen’s Wreath (Antigonon leptopus) Vines, Tecoma (Tecoma) bushes, various Acacia (Acacia) species, Mexican Bird of Paradise (Caesalpinia) species, and countless others.

At ELS Maintenance & Construction, we install plants that are beneficial to the important pollinators in the desert. If you know of a community or commercial center that needs new landscapers, email contactus@evergreenaz.com and we can get started!

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January 31 2025

Invasive Plants Should Be Removed Before They Bloom

robbie@evergreen Blog Arizona Arbor Care, Arizona Landscape, ArizonaLandscaping, AZ Landscape, CommercialLandscaping, HOA Landscaping, HOAMaintenance, Landscape Management

Since the population boom in the Phoenix area in the past several decades numerous invasive weeds have been introduced to the environment which cause severe damage to the ecosystem and make wildfires more potent and frequent. The worst offenders include Buffel Grass, Brome, and, most recently, the notorious Globe Chamomile (“Stinknet”). Removing or killing these noxious weeds whenever possible is beneficial, but, for several reasons, it is much better to remove them while they are young.

First of all, it’s important to remember that blooming means reproduction. Allowing the pollen of invasive species to spread not only makes local allergies worse, but also causes these weeds to produce seeds that are prepared to sprout the following spring. It’s vital to remove invasive weeds while they are young, so that, at least in your area, there will be less of them to worry about next year. If you remove them too late, there’s also a good chance that you are spreading the unwanted seeds while pulling the mature plant material.

Secondly, invasive weeds that are allowed to grow to maturity will proceed to die and dry up. This dry plant material is fuel for fires. In fact, the species listed earlier are likely nearly entirely responsible for the increase in the size of wildfires in the Southwest in the past several years. If you can keep your property clear of invasive species, you lessen the likelihood that your home will be damaged in the case of a wildfire. It’s much easier to remove these weeds while the plants are alive and young and the weather is cool.

Additionally, it’s important to remember that invasive plants steal resources from native plants. If you allow invasive weeds to grow unimpeded, they will steal root space, water, and nutrients from the soil and weaken native plants leading into the summer. This especially applies to cacti, which rely almost entirely on shallow-depth capillary roots for their water. Invasive plants steal that water individually in small volumes, but collectively enough to put an established cactus into a state of drought.

A final note: Study the appearances of invasive weeds before you pull them, or contact a landscaping professional to do the work for you. It would be very unfortunate to accidentally remove a native plant!

At ELS Maintenance & Construction, we do whatever we can to minimize the growth and spread of invasive and noxious weeds! If you know of a community or commercial center that needs new landscapers, email contactus@evergreenaz.com and we can get started!

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December 30 2024

Dealing With Frost Damage in the Desert

robbie@evergreen Blog Arizona Landscape, AZ Landscape, HOA Landscaping

The Sonoran Desert winter is renowned across the United States for how pleasant it is compared to many other regions, however there are often weather patterns that lead to frosts or even occasional dustings of snow. When this happens, it’s important to follow these precautions to prevent causing permanent damage to your plants.

First, it’s important to know that, to a certain extent, frost damage is natural and normal. Simple frost damage can occur even when the temperature is nominally above freezing temperature, even as high as 40 degrees. As long as the temperature doesn’t drop below 29 degrees, simple frost damage should only cause temporary, cosmetic damage to established plants (though recent plantings and plants that are already suffering severe ailments may die). For plants that were chosen for our landscapes specifically for their compatibility with the Sonoran Desert, permanent issues start to arise if the temperature goes below freezing for multiple days in a row, or if snow settles on them for extended periods of time. If these occur, cell death in the bark and roots can cause even established trees and shrubs to lose limbs or, eventually, die.

If you look at the weather forecast and you can see that the temperature is expected to reach within 5 degrees of freezing temperature, it’s best to assume that frost damage is possible. Protect young plants and plants that you don’t want to look ugly for a few months with light blankets, towels, or frost cloths overnight to lessen the impact of the cold. Do NOT leave frost coverings on top of plants all day long, or for multiple days in a row without a break! Plants need to breathe too, and keeping the coverings on for too long can cause more damage than the frost itself would have done.

It may seem counterintuitive, but if you know a frost is approaching, you should give sensitive plants EXTRA water beforehand. A day before the frost arrives, give your plants a deeper watering than normal. This will keep the capillaries, roots, and bark of your plants full beforehand, which actually increases the internal temperature of the plants and lessens that damage to plant cells that do get frozen.

It doesn’t happen often, but if it does snow, and that snow lingers for more than an hour or two, you should do your best to shake or otherwise clean the snow off of desert plants that are covered. The ice can cause cell death in desert tree bark. Also, the plants of the desert, especially trees like the Palo Verde and thorny shrubs like the ocotillo, cannot bear the weight of snow for extended periods of time. During the “Snowpocalypse” of 2019, thousands of trees and ocotillos in the East Valley were flattened and killed by the weight of a strong snowfall that lingered for over two days. This was on a scale that could not have been prevented overall, but if the same happens in your yard you can do your best to mitigate the damage.

Finally, you need to be careful AFTER the frost is over. Shrubs with superficial frost damage should be LEFT ALONE until the risk of frost is over. Some plants go dormant in the winter, and frost can just be the final step for them to shed their remaining leaves – in which case, it’s okay to cut them back for aesthetics. But, if a bush is meant to be truly perennial and it gets cosmetic frost damage, or if a tree experiences severe frost damage, it is best to leave the damaged portions on the plant until springtime. Even if the branches look ugly and dead, they still provide the living portions of the plant protection from the cold. Wait until the last frosts of the spring are over, and then you can cut off the damaged parts. You’ll have to deal with some ugly looks for longer, but you’ll have healthier plants in the long term.

At ELS Maintenance & Construction, we handle the seasonal needs of plant materials and hardscapes alike with care and professionalism! If you know of a community or commercial center that needs new landscapers, email contactus@evergreenaz.com and we can get started!

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