Native Plants
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Ask Mr. Smarty Plants
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Tuesday - August 12, 2014
From: Bullhead City, AZ
Region: Southwest
Topic: Drought Tolerant, Trees
Title: Shade Trees for Bullhead City, AZ
Answered by: Larry Larson
QUESTION:
We have a patio with 2 old (unused) fire pit cut-outs; about 4 ft wide each. The cut out is not lined with concrete or brick: just rimmed with the concrete on all sides. The center of the cut-outs is natural sand, I would LOVE to plant shade trees in these two squares and will make sure that the drainage is adequate. What do you recommend that is the most dense, yet no larger than about 15 ft high. We really need a relief from this bare concrete and the reflected heat/sun on the patio.ANSWER:
I’ll give you some recommendations, that’s easy and direct, but it sounds like a pretty hard situation to keep a tree [even an AZ adapted tree] alive in a cutout in a concrete patio. Be ready to give the tree lots of support!
The Wildflower Center keeps lists of recommended species for all the States and many of the contained ecoregions. This link is to the Recommended Species for Arizona. When I searched this list for trees, 12-36 feet high, then considered the resulting 14 trees, these seemed the best choices:
Prunus virginiana (Chokecherry)
Acer glabrum (Rocky mountain maple)
[Feel free to consider the whole list yourself, or to do modified searches as you see appropriate]
Another resource I often check is the other questions & answers on Mr Smarty Plants. There isn't much on shade trees in Arizona, but I did find these two discussions that are pretty close to you and your question:
From the Image Gallery
More Drought Tolerant Questions
Due to drought is pruning live oaks beneficial from Houston
December 07, 2011 - Would it be beneficial (presuming a continued spring drought) to prune live oak trees more severely than usual this winter? I'm thinking that it might help them to have less mass to support.
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Replacing St. Augustine with native grass in Austin
February 24, 2012 - We are renting a house our Sister-in-law owns- the St Augustine is in tough shape, drought and lack of care over the years. Could we plant a native grass or do we have to pull up the remaining St. Aug...
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low-growing evergreen shrubs for thin soil
March 05, 2012 - Thanks to the winter freeze, we'll be starting fresh with the plants in the bed along the front of our house. The bed is about 13' long and faces the west, so it gets afternoon/ evening sun but no ...
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July 02, 2012 - What kind of grass to replace "Kentucky grass"? It uses too much water. Need drought tolerant grass for the Rifle, Colorado area ("zip code is 81650"). Water bill is way too high, pushing over $10...
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Plants for a hillside in WI
February 18, 2012 - I live in Wisconsin and am currently doing a research project on plant variation on the north and south sides of a hill. I was wondering you could suggest any books to me that would address this issue...
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