Services
Planting a desert yard
Alice draws the plan, lays the plants out in their pots for you to see, and the crew plants to her drawing.
What the job includes
A plant list with sizes
Plants laid out before planting
Spacing for the grown size
A drip emitter at each plant
A written settle-in watering schedule
How it works
- 01
Step 1: Choose for the spot
We match each plant to the sun, the soil and how much room it has once grown.
- 02
Step 2: Lay it out
Plants go on the ground in their pots first, so you see the spacing before anything is dug.
- 03
Step 3: Plant and water in
Each plant goes in at the right depth, gets its emitter and is watered in.
- 04
Step 4: Settle-in schedule
You get a written watering schedule that steps down as the plants root in.
What decides the cost
Written after the walk-through, never from a photo.
Drivers
Number of plants
Container size of each plant
Mature trees or large cacti that need a crane or a lift
Soil that needs to be broken up or amended
Shade cloth or protection for the first summer
Rebate programs belong to your water provider. Check with your city.
The desert calendar
When each job happens
A general guide for the Phoenix valley. Your yard and your program's dates decide.
Jan – Mar
Planting window
A comfortable time for most desert planting
Prune shrubs and trees
Audit the irrigation zones
Book turf removal for spring
Apr – May
Last easy planting
Finish planting before the heat
Set shade cloth for new plants
Move the controller to a summer schedule
Jun – Aug
Heat and monsoon
Take grass out and build gravel, paths and edging
Hold most planting until fall
Check drip emitters after monsoon storms
Sep – Oct
The window reopens
Planting opens up as nights cool
Winter ryegrass overseeding is for lawns, not for these yards
Good time to start a turf removal job
Nov – Dec
Plant and light
Planting continues
Holiday lighting goes up on the trees
Adjust irrigation for shorter days
Questions about this job
Which plants do you recommend?
It depends on sun, space and what you like. Alice walks the yard and gives you a short list with the size each plant reaches.
Do you plant in summer?
We can, but most desert plants settle in better in fall through early spring. In summer we usually do the removal and the gravel first.
What if a plant doesn't make it?
Tell us. We look at the emitter and the schedule first. Any replacement terms are written into your estimate, so ask us to point them out.
Book a walk-through
We measure, look at the valves and send a written estimate.