Spring is a time when many flowers start to bloom, and it’s the perfect time to fill your garden with plants that will bring your yard to life. In Arizona, there are plenty of unique plants blooming during the spring season, so you can’t go wrong with any number of choices. To keep things brief, however, we would like to highlight four amazing spring blooms to plant in your garden in Arizona. The four plants highlighted today are Mexican poppies, firecracker penstemons, fairy dusters, and apricot mallows.
One of the more common blooms you may have noticed in Arizona is the Mexican poppy. This bountiful spring bloom can be seen on the side of roadways, but it is also the perfect flower to fill your garden with. With their long green stems and bright yellow petals in the spring, they bring life to your garden, almost like it’s been kissed by the sun. They are pretty low maintenance—only requiring light, fast-draining soil and plenty of sun. Because they are drought-tolerant plants, they only need a little water in the winter to germinate if the rains are inconsistent. These plants are perfect for larger landscaping beds and rock gardens.
Another spring bloom that is popular in Arizona is the firecracker penstemon. This sprawling plant with its small, scarlet red, trumpet-shaped petals growing along its stem is perfect for your garden. When deciding where to place the firecracker penstemon in your garden, you’ll want to consider a spot with at least two feet of space around it to allow it to grow upward and outward. This lavish plant requires fast-draining soil. The firecracker penstemon performs best in the full sun, but it can also tolerate some shade. You don’t need to water it too much either, making it another low-maintenance spring bloom that could be perfect for your garden.
Your local landscaping company will be able to work with you to help you select the perfect plants for your property!
This spring bloom is a little different from the others. Instead of a flower, it is a small shrub native to Arizona. And instead of focusing on the petals of the plant, the beauty of the fairy duster comes from the fluffy, pink filaments blooming on the stamens. These delicate displays resemble an ensemble of feather dusters—hence the name it was given. These plants have a slightly slower growth rate than the other blooms on this list, but much like the others listed, it requires a fast-draining soil to perform best. You’ll also want to make sure it gets a lot of sun, and while it does not require a lot of water, it does need a bit more than your standard desert plant.
The fourth and final spring bloom we want to highlight for your consideration is the apricot mallow. With their unique bowl-shaped petals, they would make the perfect addition to your garden. In spring, when this flower blooms, you’ll see this flower take on an apricot or dark orange-red color—a sight to behold when the setting sun makes these flowers glow in the evening. Being another Arizona native plant makes it easy to maintain as well. They require a good amount of sun and only a little bit of water. The optimal soil is one that drains quickly, but it is adaptable to other types of soil as well. Like the firecracker penstemon, the apricot mallow also requires at least two feet of space for it to spread out and grow. When caring for this plant, you’ll want to make sure you prune it after blooming to prevent it from getting too woody.
These four amazing spring blooms are only a fraction of the beautiful plants available to you. Arizona has a plethora of amazing plants waiting to be installed in your landscape. If you’re in Gilbert, Chandler, Mesa, or in one of the surrounding cities in Arizona, give us a call at to schedule our plantings and softscapes service.
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