Gardening in St. George (Washington: neighborhood, to buy, live in)

[Celesteren]

As I was looking at my container plants that are SUPPOSED to love direct sun but appear to be overdosing, (I live in the LA area), it suddenly occurred to me that St. George is hotter than LA in the summer, but colder in the winter. I'm hoping to spend some my retirement years in the garden - but what can you grow (other than cactus) that can withstand the heat AND the snow? (I'm sure I could look it up, but it's much more informative to hear from people who actually have gardens.)

Do you bother with lawns or mostly have desert-scape type yards? (I've seen some that look terrific, so not having a lawn won't bother me since there are no grandchildren who need a place to play.)

Advice? Hints?

[Buddy2014]

Hi there!
We moved here from long beach area 4 years ago! We learned a lot in the gardening dept.
Grass grows great, from spring to summer with adjusted water. Ours does turn brown in the colder months from late November to March, but then comes right back. This last winter we had a pretty significant amount of snow for this area, which was followed by a freeze. This caused many, many palm trees to die off. We lost a few of our shrubs, and Oleanders, however everything in time began to come back. The sun is more intense and the days are longer during the summer. Most annuals and perrinals do fairly well when following their growth habits and watering etc. I find myself watering more due to wind drying out soil in my Potts etc. one new plant variety that I love is the Sweet Potatoe vines. Many different varieties. Great for Potts, easy to grow and very beautiful! I recomend Star Nursery in St George or Washington. Great selection and advice.
Rock-scape is a great alternative to lawn! Way less maintence and water savvy! In most landscapes rock will be used anyways in and around planting beds. Hope this helps!

[gsw19]

Hi,

I am originally from West Covina and have been here for about 1 1/2 years. I agree that Star nursery is a great place to buy your plants. A lot of the plants I see here are familiar to me from So Cal. And then there are a lot of new ones like the sage bushes with their purple flowers. I put in some fruit trees this Spring but didn't get any fruit on them this summer. Walking in my neighborhood I see a number of peach and nectarine trees, a few apple trees. And a few neighbors have vegetable gardens. I think you just have to be careful of the variety you get so that they will grow here in this environment. I also got a Meyers lemon tree and Key Lime tree from Star nursery this year.

I also have Hibiscus and gardenia growing on my covered patio out of the direct sun.

[leaftye]

Frost can be a problem, but you can handle that the way farmers do. We plan to take care of it by misting the plants when frost is expected. Water has to release a huge amount of energy to transition from liquid to frozen state, so this is incredibly effective. Reference: heat of fusion of water.