Backyard Beauties, Plant 101

INSIDE : Easy Backyard Beauties (plants) for homes in the High Desert, Southwest. Check out my favorite plants that grow with ease in New Mexico as well as a few Southwest backyard plant tips.

This post contains affiliate links. See my full disclosure.

This post has been updated since it’s original September 2013 publish date.

Today I am sharing some of my favorite Southwest Plants. You might be also interested in my
5 Must Do tips for updating your Back Patio or how we are slowly transforming our entire backyard from desert and rock to luscious and green (see below).

You can see the entire backyard timeline here…

–Simple Outdoor Stone Wall Repair
–How to Cut Patio Concrete
–Removing a Concrete Patio by Hand
–Prepping Soil for Sod
–Installing a Small Turf Irrigation System
–How to Install Sod
-Installing Bistro Lights in your Backyard

Living in New Mexico, we still have quite a bit of sunshine and hot weather in September and through October. So, my back patio / deck area is always full of potted plants in simple arrangements.

Southwest Potted Plants

We spend A LOT of time outside every single day, so it’s nice to have green plants all around where we spend our time most in the backyard. Potted plants can also be brought indoors if a random freeze occurs, which in New Mexico isn’t until quite late into the year.

Foxtail Fern

One plant I always love having in our backyard is the Foxtail Fern. It is a popular ornamental plant with unique, plume like leaves resembling a foxtail.

It’s not a true fern, but rather a member of the asparagus family. Foxtail ferns are relatively low-maintenance, adaptable to various conditions, and can be grown in both containers and garden beds.

Foxtail Fern, southwest plant — *Foxtail Fern*

It’s smart to use potted plants near the area you spend the most time. I have found if you are adding potted plants to the areas you spend your day, it is the easiest to give those areas daily care and tending to.

It should be noted that all of our plants in pots are in filtered-shade provided from an overhead structure.

I often plant annuals in my pots. There are fewer pots so I am okay with needing to change them out each year. Plants and shrubs that you put in the ground, typically, should be perennials. This helps cut down on the cost of replacement each season.

Jade

Gollum jade, scientifically known as Crassula ovata ‘Gollum’, is a succulent plant with unique tubular leaves that resemble fingers or “gollum” fingers, hence the name. These leaves often have reddish tips, especially when exposed to bright sunlight. It’s a relatively low-maintenance plant, popular for indoor and outdoor gardening.

NM Olive tree

I was gifted a small NM Olive tree and knew the perfect pot I wanted it to live in. This nice large black pot was great for a smaller tree. However, as the years went along the tree continued to grow and I had to do at least a yearly trimming to keep it all contained. These trees can get up to 15-18′ however keeping mine in a pot, helped to keep it much smaller in size.

Jade, southwest plant — *NM Olive tree + Jade plant*

Potato Vine

Potato vine, both in the purple variety and the neon green, need at least 6 hours of direct sunlight per day. While they can tolerate partial shade, full sun promotes more robust growth and vibrant foliage color.

Because of the length of nice weather in the southwest, you can create many small sitting areas within your yard. This is sweet little spot down at the grass level helps so that I can enjoy some afternoon shade while my children play.

Hens and Chicks

And adding small potted succulents like these hens and chicks helps add interest to any table, am I right?! I also wrote a blog post on Hens and Chicks plant care as they are great outdoor and also indoor plants!

I’ve been a long time Hens and Chicks fan, I even had them in my wedding bouquet! I don’t know if it because they are such easy plants to take care of or the fact that as they grow, the little baby “chicks” become “hens” right before your eyes!

This rosette-shaped clusters of succulent leaves makes me smile every time.

Sunflowers

Gorgeous bold pops of color help draw your eye around to the many different areas of your backyard. I used these yellow sunflowers to help create a visual wall between our yard and our nearby back neighbors.

And I’m not sure anything feels more southwest to me than big bold sunflowers. I’ve grown these small yellow ones, Mexican sunflowers – which are smaller flowers but bright bold orange and even a dark ruby sunflower, which was lovely.

Morning Glory Vines

I love having Morning glory vines in a few different spots in my yard. They can quickly take over because once the flower is done and dried out, the seed can drop and easily reseed. However, it is always worth it to because of their stunning purple flowers.