Using a misting system in your tropical desert garden

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One of the tricks that I use here in my garden in Glendale, Arizona (a suburb of Phoenix) is a misting system. This is in addition to the low-pressure drip watering system.

It's just an ordinary misting system like the kind that you see on patios of restaurants, except that instead of being mounted above, it's buried underground. The trick to getting it to work is to use risers (like the one in the foreground). I started with cheap plastic ones and then invested in copper ones that start out shiny and then dull down to become practically invisible (I know - I've stepped on them more than once!). The line itself, which is plastic, runs all around the garden and is attached to a battery-powered timer and a filter.

It's late March now so I'm going to increase the frequency that the misting system comes on, which lasts for about fifteen minutes each time, several times a day. In the middle of the summer it comes on a lot more often, and in winter it's off.

By the way, you can see the riser for the watering system there in the photo towards the right. The heads are bright blue. I kind'a wish they weren't, but that's what they sell.

Anyway, this area is prime real estate as it gets the shade of the olive tree and afternoon shade from the house. I've added more plants here, because I'm experimenting mostly, and these are the ones that successfully made it through the cold, and now all they have to is to make it through the heat. The misting system will help.

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