Pelecyphora asseliformis

Echinocereus triglochidiatus – Claret Cup Hedgehog

Echinocereus triglochidiatus – Claret Cup Hedgehog Cactus

Carnegiea gigantea – Saguaro

Carnegiea gigantea – Saguaro

Size: columnar up to 50′; branching after ~50 years
Flowers: open day and night, with bell-shaped in late spring, edible fruit follow
Site: Full sun, well drained soils
Uses: Specimen or focal point
Foliage: numerous areoles, spines in dense clusters gray to blackish, tissue grayish green
Native: areas of Sonoran desert in AZ, S. CA just west of the Colorado River and into Sonora

Ferocactus cylindraceus – Compass Barrel

Ferocactus cylindraceus – Compass Barrel

Size: 2-10′ barrel shaped usually single
Flowers: Funnel shaped, yellow sometimes tipped with red.
Site: Full sun, well drained
Uses: Specimen, native design, goes well with boulders
Foliage: Central spines flattened, curved or hooked, reddish radials hair like to stout, spine color variable from white-red-yellow to brown.
Native: SW US, Somora, Baja

Calliandra eriophylla – Pink Fairy Duster

Calliandra eriophylla – Pink Fairy Duster

Size: 3-4′ tall and wide
Flowers: Light pink to rosy pink puff-ball-like abundant flowers late winter through spring and with summer rains
Site: Full Sun, withstands reflected heat and sun, well drained soils, root hardy to 0*F
Uses: naturalistic planting, informal hedges, erosion control, hummingbird & butterfly gardens
Foliage: small bipinnately compound leaves green to green-gray, can be winter and summer deciduous
Native: washes and gravelly slopes at elevations of 1,00 to 5,000 ft from SE CA through AZ, NM, West TX and from Sonora to Coahulia and Jalisco, Puebla and Baja CA, Mexico.

Castilleja exserta – Purple Owl’s Clover

Castilleja exserta – Purple Owl’s Clover

Size: 4-18″ tall annual
Flowers: Pink-purple blooms Deb – May
Site: Full sun, well drained soil
Uses: Mixed with other perennials, seasonal color
Foliage: Thread-like lobes
Native: Open areas CA to S. AZ, NW Mexico

Penstemon parryi – Parry’s Penstemon

Penstemon parryi – Parry’s Penstemon

Size: 1-4′ tall w/ flowering stalk and 1′ wide perennial
Flowers: hot pink blooms late Feb to April
Site: Full Sun to partial shade, well drained soil
Uses: mixed with other perennials, seasonal color, hummingbird garden.
Foliage: Smooth, bluish green, lance shaped broader at tip.
Native: Slopes and canyons in Southern AZ and Sonora, Mexico

Penstemon eatonii – Firecracker Penstemon

Penstemon eatonii – Firecracker Penstemon

Size: 1-4′ tall and 1′ wide perennial
Flowers: brilliant red blooms Feb – April and again in Fall
Site: Full sun to partial shade well drained soil
Uses: Mixed with other perennials, seasonal color, hummingbird garden
Foliage: Dark green, shiny lance shaped to ovate
Native: Rocky slopes eastern CA, southern UT, SW CO, NE NM, Arizona.

Melocactus

Melocactus matanzanus - after flower before fruit

Melocactus matanzans

Melocactus curvispinus

Melocactus curvispinus

Melocactus pachyacanthus

Melocactus pachyacanthus

Melocactus conoideus

Melocactus conoideus

Cool Caudices (plural for Caudex)

Dioscorea elephantipes

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Bombox ellypticum

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Calibanus hookeri