Rainwater-Fed, Native Sonoran Desert Landscape in Tempe
Tyler P. | Tempe, Arizona
Tyler first approached Galaxy Gardens about 2 years ago, and our partner designer Nancy Blakley produced a beautiful & functional design of Sonoran Desert worthiness.
When Tyler reached back out this year with funds ready to execute, we decided to expand the design’s shade canopy and rainwater harvesting potential given his increased budget!
We designed a two-tier rocked basin system to maximize the rainwater harvesting potential given the space in the front yard. Both basins are surrounded by native Sonoran Desert nitrogen-fixing trees like the Velvet mesquite (Prosopis velutina) and Desert Ironwood (Olneya tesota), as well as perennial flowering shrubs that help re-wild Arizona’s suburban areas and bring pollinators to Tyler’s home.
Note: the Desert Ironwood leaves in these designs are not accurately portrayed by our design software, which has its limitations!
The east strip of driveway also presented a narrow but promising opportunity to slow, spread, and sink some rainwater coming off his garage flat roof with a rocked arroyo snaking through some smaller, but still shady, Sonoran Desert trees like the Foothill Palo Verde (Parkinsonia microphylla) and Mexican Bird of Paradise tree (Caesalpinia Mexicana) and companion desert plants.
We also removed a large slab of concrete from their front porch to build the soil there while they prepare more funds to re-pave the patio with beautiful ceramic pavers. From the roofline, two aluminum downspouts convey over 1,000 square feet of rainwater catchment into our two-tier rocked basin system, shaded by our Desert Ironwood and Velvet mesquite.
Tyler’s overall system will collect around 1,000 gallons of rainwater for every 1" of rain and over 6,000 gallons per year. It will also create seasonal fireworks of native wildflowers like desert milkweed, chupa rosa, globe mallow, Angelita daisy, Baja red fairy duster, and Gregg’s mistflower, and the diverse native pollinators they attract and feed.
It is, we believe, a powerful testament to how the balance, grace, and quiet beauty of the Sonoran Desert can function even in more modestly sized suburban front yards here in the Phoenix area.