What to plant in the springtime in Phoenix, Arizona

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It's mid-April, and here in the Phoenix, Arizona area, it's a good time to plant some things, and a bad time to plant other things. That's because, brace yourself, summer's coming. And it doesn't just get hot here, it gets brutally hot. Ridiculously, crazy, hot. You could get a nasty burn on your hand from just touching one of the rocks in my garden in July, and August. Heck, we've had a preview of high temperatures already, so summer will probably be here in just a few weeks. And if you're wandering around a garden center, there are things you want to walk past, and other things you do want to plant in the spring.

So sorry, but no delicate plants like annuals. The petunias you see there were planted last fall and are already feeling the strain of the desert heat. If you're tempted to buy petunias in the spring you might as well save yourself the trouble of planting them and watching them die, by tossing them in the garbage right after you buy them. Better still, don't buy them now - wait until the fall. And that goes for any delicate-looking plant that you see for sale, like coleus, or, well, just about everything that isn't what most people would consider a desert plant.

That being said, this is a great time to plant palm trees, or just about any tree (you'd really be better off planting a desert-adapted tree, you know!). It's also the time to plant agaves, and cactus, and cycads. Plants that do well in the desert heat are best planted when the soil is warm, which is springtime. Planting them when the soil is cold can cause their roots to rot. So go get those agaves!

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