Landscape Management

October 14 2026

Don’t Hose Down Trees in the Summer!

Robbie Blog Arbor, Arizona Arbor Care, Arizona Landscape, Landscape Management

It’s very tempting during the summer to give the trees and shrubs in your yard a little “shower” with your hose while watering them. Surely, since we humans enjoy the temperature relief of cool water on our skin on a hot day, our plants will feel the same, right? Unfortunately for plants in Arizona yards, it’s not that simple. While all plants absolutely love the cleansing they get from natural rain, the water from our hoses does not provide the same benefits most of the time.

Our water supply, especially the non-potable, often reclaimed water that comes from our hoses and irrigation, contains salts and other mineral compounds that rain does not. When this saltier water evaporates, it leaves behind crystalline residues of these salts and minerals. You can see it in your irrigation as a crusty scale on your drip emitters, as whitened rings on the topsoil where water sits, and, if you spray your plants with a hose, as a white crust on the surface of leaves. This crust can have some deleterious effects on leaves, stems, and bark. The most significant issue is that it adds heat to leaves during the hottest part of the day. The salt absorbs heat and it gets concentrated directly on the photosynthesizing surface of leaves. If the salt crust hits the bottom of leaves, it can clog the pores through which plants take in Carbon Dioxide and release Oxygen, which suffocates them. Additionally, many tree species, such as all Citrus trees, have important oils on the surfaces of their leaves that get removed when sprayed. On bark and stems, salt buildup can also clog pores that allow airflow into the vascular structure of the tree, shrub, or cactus. This too partially suffocates them, and can increase the likelihood of rot forming. Overall, hose spraying does much more harm than good.

An exception to this is if you have rainwater collection tanks at your home. In this case, rainwater has sufficiently lower mineral content than non-potable infrastructure water that you could get away with wetting leaves with it. Even then, it’s still not recommended to spray leaves and trunks if it can be avoided, for the sake of preserving those leaf oils. Another exception to the rule is if a large dust storm or haboob hits your area and isn’t immediately followed up with rain. This dust heats up and clogs the pores of leaves the same way salty water residue does. In this case, there is an argument for spraying your plants, but ONLY at night or in the early morning! Do NOT, under any circumstances, spray trees in the middle of the day. Hopefully, the next monsoon season rain storm should arrive quickly enough that the dust doesn’t become a health problem for the trees.

At ELS Maintenance & Construction, we have an entire dedicated Arbor Division that can prevent, identify, and treat health issues in landscape trees using the latest best practices and science. If you know of a community or commercial center that needs new landscapers, email robbie@evergreenaz.com and we can get started!

July 7 2026

Euphorbias are Everywhere!

Robbie Blog ArizonaLandscaping, AZ Landscape, Landscape Management

In Sonoran Desert landscaping, you can find many interesting-looking plants. Some of the most interesting-looking plants are from the genus Euphorbia. Some look like succulents, some look like shrubs, some are weeds, and some are Christmas decorations. One thing is certain: Euphorbias are strange, and Euphorbias are everywhere.

As a genus, Euphorbia is actually one of the most common types of plants in the entire world. In fact, there are over 2,000 species of Euphorbia worldwide. They can be wildly different in their physical forms, bloom in a range of different colors, grow to extremely different sizes, and serve different roles in various ecosystems. One factor that unites them is their white, latex-like sap that pours out when a stem is injured. This sap is almost always poisonous and can irritate skin for those with sensitivity to Latex and similar compounds. For this reason, many people avoid keeping Euphorbias in spaces where curious pets and children may contact them. That being said, Euphorbias are extremely resilient, and many of the species native to Arizona and imported to Arizona are perfect for handling our brutal summers with ease.

The “Firesticks” or “Pencil Cactus,” Euphorbia tirucalli is one of the largest used in Arizona landscaping. While native to eastern and southern Africa, the Firesticks grows rapidly in Arizona, and can turn into a large shrub or small tree if given the space. It’s notable for its bright orange tips that develop during cold weather.

Another common Euphorbia used in Arizona landscaping is the Gopher Spurge, Euphorbia rigida. This is a low-medium shrub that grows bracts of blue leaves and huge clusters of yellow-green flowers. Often after it completes a bloom cycle the old stalks die off and new ones grow in from the root ball.

Others you may find include the Candelabra (Euphorbia candelabrum), Royleana (Euphorbia royleana), Lucky Cactus (Euphorbia trigona), Hedge Euphorbia (Euphorbia neriifolia), Crown of Thorns (Euphorbia milii), Candelilla (Euphorbia antisyphilitica), and many others.

None of the aforementioned species are Arizona-native plants; however, there are Euphorbias native to Arizona. Unfortunately, most of Arizona’s Euphorbias are considered weeds that get removed upon sight. Most of these are known as the Sandmats, in landscaping contexts simply called “Spurge” (especially Euphorbia prostrata). These are mostly low-growing ground cover that rarely exceed 3 inches in height. They bloom with tiny white or pink flowers and have leaves that range from dark green to deep red. They’re very difficult to remove from turf and from the bases of shrubs, as their entire rootball needs to be removed to kill the plant. However, an intentionally-planted and cared-for Sandmat could make for a unique, out-of-the-box floral design.

Lastly, the Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) is famous worldwide for being a common Christmas decoration. They grow with large leaves and beautiful clusters of white, pink, or red flowers, making them perfect for the holiday season. In Arizona, they usually die off by the time the temperature exceeds 90 degrees, but some people are able to keep them alive for years with the right care!

At ELS Maintenance & Construction, we grow wide varieties of plants at our in-house Wholesale Nursery, including multiple Euphorbia species. If you know of a community or commercial center that needs new landscapers, email robbie@evergreenaz.com and we can get started!

June 2 2026

What is Turf Aeration?

Robbie Blog, Uncategorized CommercialLandscaping, HOAMaintenance, Landscape Management

If you haven’t noticed, the Sonoran Desert isn’t known for its rolling hills of bright green lawns. As such, turf areas in desert landscaping need lots of assistance to keep growing healthily. Nitrogen fertilizer gives grass what the soil lacks, gypsum and sulfur break up salts to allow grass to absorb nutrients, and herbicides kill weeds that take nutrients away from grass. Over time, the soil gets so compacted from regular use and watering that no amount of sulfur or gypsum can break open the hard layer of soil to allow water and air to flow. This is where aeration comes in.

Turf aeration is the practice of punching holes in compacted soil to allow air, water, and nutrients to flow in and out of grass’ root space. It also breaks open the hard soil in a way that can inspire the sections of soil between each hole to break apart as well.

There are a few different aeration strategies and tools that can be used on different occasions. The main two methods are Spike Aeration and Core Aeration.

Spike Aeration utilizes a cart or machine with a spiked wheel that pokes holes into the ground as it moves. Each hole poked creates an opening for air and water flow.

Core Aeration involves stabbing holes into the ground at regular intervals with a tool that pulls cylindrical plugs out of the ground. This is generally considered the best aeration strategy, as Arizona’s water is salty enough that soil compaction is extremely aggressive in turf. Pulling large plugs like this is sure to decrease the overall compaction of the soil, while simply stabbing spikes in the soil only negligibly reduces compaction in the long term.

Aeration can be done any time of year, though it’s frequent to see landscapers do it proactively during the spring and fall when the grass typically transitions between summer Bermuda and winter Rye. It can also be done reactively at other times of year, though it’s best to avoid aerating during the hottest months of the summer to avoid overstressing grass when it’s the most stressed.

At ELS Maintenance & Construction, we have been working the turfs of the Sonoran Desert’s landscapes for nearly 50 years. 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!

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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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!

August 30 2024

Preventing Wind Damage in Desert Trees

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

The summers in Arizona are characterized by the storms brought on by the monsoons. Whether or not those storms bring rain, they will certainly bring strong winds. Those winds often yield great amounts of broken branches or even entire uprooted trees. While there’s no way to completely prevent wind damage and nobody’s perfect, here are some of the best practices to minimize it.

Structural Pruning. When pruning trees, especially young trees that are establishing their main trunks and arterial branches, a long-term look at the healthiest structure for the tree is necessary. Branches that cross over one another prime candidates for pruning, as they will rub against one another and grow until one or both break from the prolonged friction damage. If two branches or trunks are co-dominant (equally large and splitting off from the same point), whichever one ends up carrying the most weight will be the one most likely to break off during a particularly severe storm with the wind positioned just right. Single-trunk trees are generally better at surviving the wind than multi-trunk ones, but even multi-trunk trees can be structurally pruned to live as long as possible.
Air Flow Pruning. While structural pruning is about the long-term structure of tree branches and the overall canopy, pruning for airflow is a short-term solution for trees that grow thick canopies very quickly, such as Mesquites and Palo Verdes. Essentially the goal here is to lessen the overall friction in the air by allowing more space for wind to flow between branches. Typically, this involves cutting smaller branches (though with the long-term structural implications in mind) to reduce the thickness of canopy foliage in trees that are deemed vulnerable to strong gusts.
Proper Irrigation. When young trees are planted, they typically have their irrigation drips relatively close to the trunk to make sure that they can properly establish themselves after the shock of planting. However, the drip should not be left near the trunk for long. Beginning about 6 months after the young trees’ first growth cycles, the drips should be incrementally moved further away from the base of the tree, usually proportionally to the diameter of the trees’ canopies. If drips are not pulled away, the root systems will remain small, despite the growth in canopy size, and they won’t be able to support the weight for very long. This causes LOTS of trees to fall over every summer. You can tell if this was the cause of a tree’s collapse if there are barely any roots connecting to the trunk. Often, improper care at their original nurseries can cause root girdling early on and doom trees right from the start, as well, so it’s important to check the quality of the root flare even for trees in pots at nurseries before you buy. While trees that were girdled in their original containers have little chance of surviving multiple decades, healthy young trees can be given the best chance of long-term survival if the drips are carefully and gradually moved further from the trunk as the canopy expands.

At ELS Maintenance & Construction, we have our own Wholesale Nursery where we grow quality stock with healthy roots, and our Arbor Division ensures that trees in your community have the best shot at surviving the summer winds for years to come. If you know of a community or commercial center that needs new landscapers, email contactus@evergreenaz.com and we can get started!

July 9 2024

Summer Watering and Nighttime Heat

robbie@evergreen Blog Arbor, Arizona Arbor Care, Arizona Landscape, Landscape Management

Summer Watering and Nighttime Heat

The trees, shrubs, grass, and cacti that we use in Arizona landscapes are built to handle the heat. At least, they can handle the high daytime temperatures as long as the air and ground cool down in the night. There’s one big problem though: the past few summers have featured extended periods of nighttime temperatures above 90 degrees. Desert-adapted plants rely on cool nighttime temperatures to keep themselves alive. In fact, most desert shrubs and cacti only open their stomata (microscopic holes that plants breathe through) when the temperature is below a certain threshold. To generalize, it’s safe to say that it’s bad for the nighttime temperature to remain above 90 degrees for more than a week in a row. So, if this becomes a long-term trend, what should you do to protect your plants?

Add water, strategically. The best watering tactic in the Sonoran Desert’s dense, alkaline clay soil is to water deeply but infrequently. If you’ve been watering your trees once a week for three hours, they will probably be okay even if the nighttime temperatures pass the critical threshold, as there will be a robust, wide-spanning root system full of water, and water in the soil keeping things cool. Perhaps just slightly increase the duration or add in an extra watering or two during a period of hot nights. If your trees and shrubs are watered every day for just a few minutes, they will be more at risk. By the time the hot nights arrive, you can’t switch their watering schedule immediately and expect things to be okay. Your best bet is likely to keep the daily watering and add an additional lengthy, heavy watering, perhaps by leaving a hose trickling for a few hours to hopefully keep the soil cool enough until the night temperatures sink back to sustainable levels.
Add mulch to topsoil. Organic mulch, such as wood chips, compost, or manure, seal in more moisture than exposed clay and slowly releases nutrients to roots. Inorganic mulch, such as gravel or sand, provides no valuable nutrients but does create a buffer to keep that precious, cooling water from immediately evaporating into the desert air. This can save you money and save your plants’ lives during hot nights.
Add more plants to your yard. Think of your yard in terms of its surface area. With no plants, your yard space would be exposed to the sun all day long, with the only shade being offered by manmade structures, sometimes. Soil exposed to the desert sun all day long gets really, really hot, and that heat can remain even at night. The more plants you add to your yard, the more surface area of soil that is now shaded and thus exposed to less heat. The roots of desert-adapted plants expand very far radially and remain shallow in the ground, meaning these roots are heated up by the sun almost as much as if they were exposed to the air. So logically, if you have more plants and more sources of shade, the temperature on and near the ground will be lower, evaporation will be slower, and the overall root ecosystem will be healthier.

At ELS Maintenance & Construction, we install and replenish granite and other mulches to keep landscapes looking good and to conserve water. Additionally, we design our landscapes to create healthy, cooperative root biomes for trees, shrubs, and cacti alike. If you know of a community or commercial center that needs new landscapers, email contactus@evergreenaz.com and we can get started!

June 3 2024

Dead or Drought-Deciduous?

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

As spring turns to summer, the Sonoran Desert goes from its lush springtime conditions to a state that many would refer to as “dead.” While there are lots of wildflowers and invasive species that truly go through their entire life cycles in a single springtime, the truth for much of the larger plants in the desert is much more interesting. Many, if not most, of the native bushes live a lifestyle known as “drought-deciduous,” and this applies to many of the plants used in landscaping in the Phoenix area.

April through early July is a notoriously rainless period of the year in the Sonoran Desert, and this pattern is recognized by the plants that have adapted here. When the moisture of the winter and early spring rain dries up and the temperature begins to reach that 100-degree range, many desert shrubs will purposefully shed their leaves and close off most of their pores to conserve sugars and stored water. This leaves bushes like Triangle Bursage, Brittlebush, Creosote, Desert Lavender, Chuparosa, and many others looking “dead.” You don’t see it with the naked eye, but cacti also hunker down and essentially pause their biological functions during the day, only opening their stomata to “breathe” at night when the temperature is below 90 degrees. This, too, is a strategy to mitigate water loss during the hottest and driest parts of the year.

If you have these plants in your yard, be sure not to remove them just for looking this way! There are two things you can do for your drought-deciduous shrubs. The first move is to cut them back to just a few main stems close to the ground as they naturally go dormant. This way, they can stay dormant and wait for the water to return without putting too much of a blight on the aesthetics of your yard.

Pink Fairy Duster (Calliandra eriophylla)

The second strategy is to irrigate them. If drought-deciduous plants are given water on a regular basis, most species will keep their leaves, potentially all year round. Keep in mind, these are still desert plants, so don’t give them a lot of water. Just a regular trickle at a good distance from the core of the plant will do. This strategy doesn’t work for every plant, though. Many cacti do not respond well to manual watering after establishment, and Creosote bushes actively dislike being given any water that doesn’t come from the sky. So, make sure you’re not harmfully swamping plants before using this method. Consult a local nursery or certified professional if you have doubts about watering native plants.

Keep in mind that most of the non-native plants used in Arizona landscaping are almost always on irrigation, and if they suddenly start shedding leaves, those ones might actually be dying. Lantanas shed leaves with frost in the winter, but if they lose leaves in the summer, it’s likely due to a lack of water or an increase in reflected light. If a Coral Fountain Grass starts to crisp up, it most likely is dying of dehydration. If a Texas Sage starts shedding leaves in the summer, it could be a sign of Texas Root Rot, especially if it happens quickly.

Most trees are NOT drought-deciduous, with some of the only exceptions being Foothills Palo Verdes and Ironwood Trees, but even they only shed in the summer during particularly hot and dry occasions. If a Mesquite Tree sheds its leaves during the summer, something is definitely wrong. If an Indian Laurel Ficus loses leaves in the summer, it’s typically a defensive reaction to high nighttime temperatures and a lack of sufficient water. If a Chinese Elm, Olive Tree, or Chinese Pistache sheds its leaves in the summer, it could be a sign of verticillium or another fungal disease in the roots.

At ELS Maintenance & Construction, we promote the use of low-water and native plant species whenever possible to save communities money and help the local ecosystem. 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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