Get some backyard inspiration, tips from Tucson’s garden experts

The Desert Oasis garden at Dave Williams’ home has beautiful drought-tolerant plants around a pool, along with a veggie garden and a demonstration plot of native grasses. As an added bonus, he has highlighted five local botanists, including Sara Plummer Lemmon. Local author Wynne Brown, who wrote “The Forgotten Botanist,” a biography of Lemmon, will be at the tour with her book for sale. Other featured botanists on the tour will include Josiah Gregg and Charles Christopher Parry.

Williams originally had a design created in 1998 for his backyard by a landscape architect who put in the pool, hardscaping and various plants. However, not all of it worked out, due to microclimates in Williams’ yard.

“He did not take into account that we’re only 300 yards from that wash,” Williams said, pointing to the wash running behind his yard. “So after the first winter, half the stuff died that he recommended, and we then had to kind of start over.”

He’s chosen plants that are drought-tolerant, some native, some not. “It doesn’t have to be native to be useful and good,” he says. He has a wide selection of cacti with spectacular blooms. He also has a small veggie garden, which he had to redesign after a nearby mesquite’s roots invaded the garden plot. He’s also learned to deal with various desert critters, like pack rats and ground squirrels. Williams recommends keeping prickly pears near the house in a more upright growth habit to discourage packrats from creating burrows.