Q: When is the best time to cut back my winter jasmine? A: The best time is during the spring. Ideally, prune back once all blooms are spent. Winter jasmine blooms on older growth so if you cut it back in the fall, you will have fewer blooms in the winter.

Peony Peony x 'Bowl of Beauty' Zone 4-8 Ultra delicate pink and crème colored flowers appear in mid spring. This quick grower starts from almost nothing in late winter to a 2 foot tall plant by with flowers by mid to late spring. Plant in full sun and water regularly for best growth. Cut down to a few inches in late fall once the foliage has browned. Prefers slightly acidic, well drained soil. Try and protect peony's delicate flowers from getting wet when watering as it wil

Are you ready for Spring? We sure are :) Time for Transformation Tuesday: This transformation will be a two part series because of the size of the project. The before and after picture will have you taking a double look because it doesn’t look like the same house. There was a lot of changes to this house: a contractor added larger windows to the back of the house, a sliding door and poured the slab of concrete. Our client called us after all of above was finished and discusse

Staying on the Rose theme from Tuesday, here's our question of the week Santa Fe! Q: My favorite rose didn’t do as well last year as it did previous years. Is there anything I can do now to help it do better this year? A: If a rose isn't doing well there are many factors that are involved. Powdery mildew, aphids, lack of water, lack of nutrients and lack of sun are all things that can cause a rose to not do well. The first thing to check - is it getting enough sun? When you p

Snapdragon Antirrhinum majus Zone 8-9 Comes in a variety of colors including purple, peach, orange, violet, yellow, pink, red and white. Blooms resemble pea-like flowers. Prefers well drained soils but is adaptable to a wide range of soil types. Blooms once in spring and again in fall. Plant in full sun to partial shade and water regularly. Can reach 1-4 feet tall depending on variety. Can winter over but sometimes may not. For best results, do not prune flowers until after

Ready for roses this year? Roses are sensitive to winter frost and the rest of the year are attacked by dozens of fungi, insects, molds, and bacteria. Each year, roses grow a lot of wood and each year a lot of it dies. In short, there will be a lot of dead wood to remove Ripping suckers wounds the rootstock, making it less likely to re-sprout at that point. Note: this step doesn’t need to be done in spring, so if you can’t be sure that the sucker is truly a sucker instead of

Q: How and when do you cut back bulbs after they are done blooming? A: Although it is tempting to cut back bulbs once they are done blooming it is not the ideal thing to do. Once the flower is spent it is a good idea to cut the stem but to leave the foliage. The foliage is still photosynthesizing and storing up energy for the bulb to have enough nutrients for the following year. The general rule of thumb is to cut back bulbs to the ground 8 weeks after the blooms are done. Ho

Kinnikinnick Arctostaphylos uva-ursi Zone 2-8 This low growing evergreen is great for erosion control, as well as a carpet of ground cover. Thick, waxy leaves stay on year around and are accompanied by pink flowers in the spring. Once the flowers are spent, bright red berries begin to appear which is a great food source for birds. Plant in partial to full sun. Water regularly especially during extreme heat. Can spread up to 4 feet wide and 6 inches tall. Prefers well draine

If your location isn’t prone to heavy snows or is prone to drying winds, supplemental winter watering is vital. Although your plants are dormant, they’re not dead-during dormancy. They still have some basic metabolic functions that must be driven with water collected from the soil. Roots are prone to drying in the winter, causing permanent damage to perennials. As long as you water early in the day, the water you give your plants can actually be protective against night time

Happy February from Desert Rose! In this month's blog we are going to explain the reason why we use certain parts and materials in our irrigation systems and how they are chosen to better serve the customer. Every company has their own way of installing irrigation systems and their own reasons why they select certain materials. Here at Desert Rose, all of the parts we choose have the customers’ best interest in mind. We hope that this blog will be informative and give you a b