Love in a dry climate

Garden design in the Arizona desert is a matter of adapting to the weather and the terrain and being clever with cacti. The spectacular results fill Kendra Wilson with awe

- Kendra Wilson

THE wildlife out here is not particularly friendly,' the cab driver says, as we head to Paradise Valley from suburban Scottsdale in Arizona, US. 'If you go off the trails, you have to deal with scorpions, rattlesnakes, javelinas...' Javelinas are a type of wild pig, she explains.

"They're pretty aggressive.' Plant life, too, has a spiky armoury here in the south-west and it's not difficult to understand the basic appeal of smooth lawns and high hedges, the default position of designed landscapes across this continent. With the motorised hum of trimming, cutting, fertilising and weedkilling in every neighbourhood and on every day that is not winter, it's a polluting, as well as a noisy response to the wilderness.

There are signs that things are changing, however, and it's the surrounding landscape and native plants that are providing the cue.

The natural topography of the Sonoran Desert is breathtaking. Valleys edged by distant mountains are intercepted by lumpy red hills that seem to have been modelled from clay. Rocky terrain is strewn with saguaro (the cartoon-like cactus with upright arms) and more succulents of every shape and texture can be seen along roadsides. On the opulent streets of Paradise Valley, indigenous plants combine in a more purposeful way with shade-giving, deciduous yellow palo verde (Parkinsonia microphylla), trees that are also native. Clearly, cacti are used by tastemakers, but they are not universally loved; the conventional idea is that native plants are dull, but, for the visitor, desert plants look spectacular out here.