How to Create a Desert Landscape | Ask This Old House

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Ask This Old House landscape designer Jenn Nawada heads to Phoenix to recreate the desert in a homeowner’s front yard.

Time: 1 day
Cost: $2,000 and Up

Skill Level: Moderate

Tools List for Creating a Desert Landscape:
Shovel
Wheelbarrow
Hand truck
Level
Compacter

Shopping List:
Soil
Boulders
Variety of desert plants
Cardboard
_” stone
Modular pavers

Steps:
1. Dig out the outline of a walkway about 3’ wide and 3-4” deep. Give the outline a slight curve to add visual interest to the walkway.
2. To mimic the hills of the desert, shovel piles of soil onto the landscape into seemingly random mounds.
3. Determine a few locations to place boulders in the landscape. Dig holes in those locations about 4” deep and roughly the width of the boulder being placed.
4. Carefully load each boulder onto a hand truck, wheel it into position, and roll the boulder into its final place. Backfill around the hole to make it look like it really belongs there.
5. Stage the variety of desert plants across the landscape. Things aren’t really clumped together in the desert, so keep the plants spread out. Be mindful of when plants bloom, if ever, to have an even spread of color across the landscape.
6. Once each plant is in its desired position, plant them all with the shovel. Dig down just about as deep as the root ball and twice as wide.
7. To plant cacti, wrap a piece of cardboard around the needles and move the cactus only by holding onto the cardboard.
8. Give everything a good watering.
9. Put down a layer of _” stone on the outlined walkway and level it.
10. Compact the walkway with a compacter.
11. Lay down the pavers over the walkway base in a running bond pattern.

Resources:
In any landscape design, Jenn recommends looking for natural cues in the surrounding area to recreate in a controlled way in your yard. In this case, she identified an abundance of small stones coating the ground, plants spread far apart from each other, and undulating hills. Those cues informed the design in the homeowner’s front yard.

Jenn installed boulders, red yucca, lantana, bougainvillea, a few variety of cacti, and a Chilean mesquite tree. These can be found at nurseries, particularly in the Southwest region of the US and in zones 9 and 10.

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How to Create a Desert Landscape | Ask This Old House
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Hummingbirds love that honeysuckles! They could’ve replant it somewhere-else in the yard!

tamm
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You all have truly inspired with the hard work put in to this landscape. Very pretty variety of desert plants.🌵🌺

mmp
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"This plant is blocking the window and creating a security risk"
*Proceeds to put a tree right in front of said window*
Great job guys

KrakenSlayer
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I'm in high plains desert in Colorado and I just let things naturally grow and pulled what I didn't want and in my opinion it's looking naturally good 😃

bmarie
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Why would you want to put a tree that gets that big so close to your house???

camarorsss
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I live in North Carolina on the east coast and I love this desert look landscaping can I do this in here???

josearana
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Everybody has been the guy at 2:42 at least once lol

justinwaynoka
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I also live in Az. But, I need a dog friendly yard. Any suggests? And what are some of the trees that will live here? Thank you

janettehammons
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Why no poly-sand on the walkway after it was put down?

XLIVLP
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They could have cut back the honeysuckle without killing it. I do it all the time. The fact that they killed it really pisses me off. I have several in my front yard.

tbuff
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The camera guy wasn’t having the best day

dereklull
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Actually, people who know anything about geography understand that mountains cause deserts via the "rain-shadow".

Jemalacane
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….. native?? More like home depot starter pack

PlayerPunisher
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That walkway may be ok for a wheelbarrow but certainly not for a wheelchair.. Bs solution

thinktwice
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I wonder what her girlfriend looks like ;)

joseluissosa
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