High Elevation Gardening Web Log "Blog"

Tour will showcase gardens that highlight landscaping practices that are environmentally responsible such as water conservation, correct mulching techniques, and water harvesting systems. All gardens feature native plants. Here’s a sample of what you can see on the tour.

One garden in the Timberline neighborhood is a shady oasis that blends the surrounding environment with the cultivated landscape using blue elderberry, a mix of native grasses, yellow coneflower and more. A pond with sedge and horsetail provides a sanctuary for mammals and birds.

At least 130 native species can be found in a garden in Cheshire. Native wildflowers and clumps of Arizona fescue and blue fescue look at home among lichen-covered rocks. Big tooth maple, a gorgeous bristlecone pine, pussytoes, and native clematis are a few of the plants that highlight this garden.

A garden in Sinagua Heights, which was an honorable mention in the 2006 Xeriscape Contest, features a blue grama grass lawn that looks as good if not better than a traditional Kentucky blue grass lawn. Next door, a corner lot brims with penstemon and native grasses. A rocky wash drains rain water away from the house.

In Pioneer Valley, a naturally landscaped front garden is a magnet for hummingbirds with an eye-catching drift of western columbine. Masses of the endemic Sunset Crater penstemon and showy desert four-o’clock provide plenty of color.

Another honorable mention from last year’s Xeriscape Contest is an inviting cottage garden full of color, texture and fragrance. The owner has created several garden nooks that are designed with people in mind yet are lush, low maintenance and use little water.

The tour is free of charge. To attend, you need to pick up a map of the gardens at City Hall, either branch of the Flagstaff public library, the Coconino Cooperative Extension office, or at the Flagstaff Visitor’s Center. Maps will be available on August 22.

The tour is made possible through the partnership of the City of Flagstaff Water Conservation, the Arizona Native Plant Society Flagstaff Chapter, Coconino Cooperative Extension, the Flagstaff Xeriscape Council, and the contest participants.

In addition, you can attend an award presentation for the best native plant gardens on Tuesday, August 21, 7-9 p.m. The program will be in the Liberal Arts Room 135. Enter front door of Liberal Arts Building and walk all the way down the corridor to Room (auditorium) 135 on left. Parking is at southern most end of Beaver Street. Walk west around Biological Sciences Building, past attached green house and LA front door is on right. Photos of the gardens will be shown and described by the judges and the gardeners. Awards will be presented and proclamations signed by Mayor Donaldson and the Coconino County Board of Supervisors proclaiming August 21 to be "Native Plant Gardening Day" and the month of August as "Native Plant Gardening Month" will be read.

And if you can’t attend the garden tour, be sure and stop by the Floriculture Building during the Coconino County Fair to see photos of the all of the native plant and xeriscape gardens in the contests. These photos will also be on display at the main branch of the Flagstaff Public Library during the month of September.

With 15 gardens on the tour, only the most energetic attendees will be able to visit all gardens. The map contains short phases about each garden to help you choose which ones to visit. Or visit the gardens on your side of town to get ideas that will work in your neighborhood.

Information tel. nos.: (928) 527-3702/774-1868, ext. 19.

Elaine Ferris is a Master Gardener volunteer for Coconino County Cooperative Extension and a member of the Arizona Native Plant Society Flagstaff Chapter. Hattie Braun is the Master Gardener Program Coordinator for Coconino Cooperative Extension. If you have a gardening question, call the Master Gardener hotline at 774-1868 ext. 19 or visit our Web site: highelevationgardening.arizona.edu.