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Pro Spotlight: Surround Your Desert Home With Hardy Color
Create a thriving, drought-tolerant garden using these tips from a Tucson landscape architect
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Who: Shelly Ann Abbott of Landscape Design West
Where: Tucson, Arizona
In her own words: “When you live in Tucson, you’re asking plants to do a lot.”
Wondering how to enjoy lush plantings when you live in the challenging climate of the Southwest desert? The good news is that you can surround your desert home with dramatic trees and flowering plants — as long as you pick the right plants and put them in the right places. “The best designs take into account your personal style and use good design principles,” says Shelly Ann Abbott, owner and principal of Landscape Design West in Tucson.
Where: Tucson, Arizona
In her own words: “When you live in Tucson, you’re asking plants to do a lot.”
Wondering how to enjoy lush plantings when you live in the challenging climate of the Southwest desert? The good news is that you can surround your desert home with dramatic trees and flowering plants — as long as you pick the right plants and put them in the right places. “The best designs take into account your personal style and use good design principles,” says Shelly Ann Abbott, owner and principal of Landscape Design West in Tucson.
Desert natives. Growing up in the Southwest, Abbott came to know the native plants as well as the challenges of water and weather in the middle desert region. She began work as a landscape designer in 2002 and went on to get a master’s degree in landscape architecture at the University of Arizona. “I became fascinated by landscapes in this part of the country and wanted to figure out why some were dismal and others abundantly successful,” she says.
Environmental challenges. In the Tucson area, you need plants that are drought-tolerant and heat-resistant, but also cold-hardy when it comes to dealing with chilly desert nights. “Winter is 58 degrees [on average], but it can go below freezing,” Abbott says. “When you pick the right plants, you can get a result that’s dynamic and beautiful.” Designing a garden in areas that get sun only part of the day — such as the east side of a house or under a tree that gives filtered shade — will give colorful flowering plants a boost.
Read Abbott’s tips below to create a rich, colorful desert landscape for your home.
Read Abbott’s tips below to create a rich, colorful desert landscape for your home.
1. Aim for Year-Round Color
Your biggest challenge will be planning so that your yard will provide great color throughout the year. “Be patient,” Abbott says. “The small plants you get from the nursery in the spring will be large plants by fall, and they’ll get larger and prettier over time.” She anchored this home, in the Pusch Ridge foothills above Oro Valley, using plants with architectural interest, including ocotillo, agave and yucca. Flowering native plantings with a range of colors add softness and complexity to the design.
See more of this project
Your biggest challenge will be planning so that your yard will provide great color throughout the year. “Be patient,” Abbott says. “The small plants you get from the nursery in the spring will be large plants by fall, and they’ll get larger and prettier over time.” She anchored this home, in the Pusch Ridge foothills above Oro Valley, using plants with architectural interest, including ocotillo, agave and yucca. Flowering native plantings with a range of colors add softness and complexity to the design.
See more of this project
2. Bring Life to the Garden
Your plants can do more than just sit there looking pretty. Abbott suggests incorporating natives that attract hummingbirds and butterflies into your landscape. “You are providing food and habitat for these creatures,” she says. “And using these large, dramatic plants provides truly amazing results.”
For this home in Vail near the Arizona Trail, Abbott designed a pollinator garden containing globe mallow, autumn sage, blue sage and trailing lantana, a sturdy plant that will bloom through the hot summer. She placed the garden where the house provides shade during the day, creating a cooler microclimate that favors the tender blooming plants.
See more of this project
Your plants can do more than just sit there looking pretty. Abbott suggests incorporating natives that attract hummingbirds and butterflies into your landscape. “You are providing food and habitat for these creatures,” she says. “And using these large, dramatic plants provides truly amazing results.”
For this home in Vail near the Arizona Trail, Abbott designed a pollinator garden containing globe mallow, autumn sage, blue sage and trailing lantana, a sturdy plant that will bloom through the hot summer. She placed the garden where the house provides shade during the day, creating a cooler microclimate that favors the tender blooming plants.
See more of this project
3. Light Up at Night
Lighting brings drama to your landscape at night. Abbott cautions against installing long rows of lights along a straight driveway or path — “you don’t want something that looks like runway lights on an airfield,” she says. She suggests placing lights where they’ll call attention to boulders, branch structures and accent plants.
“Once you install the lighting, you’ll need to go out there at night and adjust each fixture individually to ensure that you’re getting the effect you want,” she says. “It’s hands-on work.” For example, Abbott used lighting to bring out the elegance of a group of desert ironwood trees and boulders at this entrance to a Dove Mountain home.
See more of this project
More: For more information on Shelly Ann Abbott and examples of her work, visit Landscape Design West’s Houzz profile.
This story was written by the Houzz Sponsored Content team.
Lighting brings drama to your landscape at night. Abbott cautions against installing long rows of lights along a straight driveway or path — “you don’t want something that looks like runway lights on an airfield,” she says. She suggests placing lights where they’ll call attention to boulders, branch structures and accent plants.
“Once you install the lighting, you’ll need to go out there at night and adjust each fixture individually to ensure that you’re getting the effect you want,” she says. “It’s hands-on work.” For example, Abbott used lighting to bring out the elegance of a group of desert ironwood trees and boulders at this entrance to a Dove Mountain home.
See more of this project
More: For more information on Shelly Ann Abbott and examples of her work, visit Landscape Design West’s Houzz profile.
This story was written by the Houzz Sponsored Content team.
Landscape Design for Newcomers and everyone!
Shelly Ann Abbott, MLA, ASLA at Landscape Design West, LLC is a... Read More
Review by A Vandenberg:
Shelly Abbott did a fantastic job not only in her diverse plant list, which was exactly what we all wanted, but also her excellent communication skills with our committee and most importantly our Home...More