It’s helpful to understand your site in advance when choosing plants. Instead of walking out of nurseries thinking, "I hope this plant will work," rush home saying "This is gonna be perfect!"
Wander around your property, taking note of:
- Wind direction to anticipate winter wind chill factor and summer foliage dehydration. Determine the "prevailing wind".
- Sun exposure in different areas and all seasons to determine sun and shade patterns
- Soil texture from loose to hard: sandy, sandy loam, loamy clay, clay, caliche, compacted from development, or rock hardpan. Check out our Soil Basics.
- Areas that hold heat, cool pockets
Go online and look up your zone:
- Find your elevation by entering your address. You can also install, then use an elevation app on your phone.
- Hardiness zone aka Climate or Growing zone. Growers reference either USDA or Sunset zone. Find your spot on both maps.
- Check out the name of your plant community by zip code. ‘Plant communities’ refer to groups of plants found in an area and we have more than one community here in the Morongo Basin. Some native growers reference these groups.
- Drive your neighborhood and hike wild areas. Take a close look at landscapes in your neighborhood or in nearby "wild" lands. See what plants are doing well and note conditions. Is it growing in a sandy wash, a shaded rock crevasse, against a protective east facing wall, or in the reflected heat of pavement or west facing structures?
- Stroll the demonstration gardens at Joshua Basin Water District and the Mojave Desert Land Trust for a sampling of plants and their placements.
- Attend MBCA’s Desert-Wise Living Landscape Tour on April 27, 2025 to see how folks in the Morongo Basin are making it happen.
- Learn from our Desert-Wise Landscape Tours Videos!
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