Native Plants for Summer Interest in the Southwest

Got pests? Encourage native ladybugs to inhabit your garden instead of buying wild-harvested ladybugs to manage unwanted insects. Purchased ladybugs are expensive and potentially disease-carrying, threatening native bug species already living in your garden and the surrounding area. Your best bet is to attract and encourage native ladybugs to thrive and flourish, which will responsibly deter unwanted pests.

Growers in cold climates often utilize various approaches to extend the growing season or boost their crops, including cold frames, hoop houses, and greenhouses. Greenhouses—typically glazed structures— are often expensive to construct and heat throughout the winter. But, they have their benefits, which is why underground greenhouses can be viable alternatives.

Native plants, as the name indicates, grow naturally in an area or region. There is a growing shift among many people away from a manicured garden with non-local species in support of more natural areas, and especially, for embracing native plants.

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Maybe you’ve already been living your best brat summer, or maybe you’re finally hyped up enough to give it a go—either way, we’ve got the plants to make all your techno-tinted dreams come true. Lime green is definitely having a moment, and if you aren’t familiar, Charli XCX’s hit album, “Brat,” has inspired everything from memes to fashion trends to presidential campaigns to countless TikTok videos. But we’re here to turn pop culture into plant cultivars, so get ready to infuse the now world-famous album cover’s green hue into your plant palette. Read on for the leafy lovelies you can add anywhere from bookshelves to backyard borders that will wrap up your summer with a botanical banger.

Espresso martinis have dominated drink menus for several years now, but a new coffee cocktail might be challenging their spot at the top of the happy hour list. Carajillos have arrived on the scene, and they’re a simpler, smaller-sized cousin of espresso martinis (tiny cocktails, anyone?). Made with just two ingredients, this espresso-based cocktail is just as tasty as an espresso martini, but much easier to recreate at home.

“Impossibly unaffordable” are two words that Californians are probably less than thrilled to hear. In a recent report from Chapman University in Orange, California, and the Frontier Centre of Public Policy (FCPP) in Canada, that’s exactly how four California metros are described. The 2024 edition of Demographia International Housing Affordability shows San Jose, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego listed among the top 10 least affordable housing markets—not just in the United States, but worldwide. 

Asclepias incarnata

Cunila origanoides

Penstemon eatonii 

Asclepias verticillata

Amy Pigliacampo / Interior Designer: Amy Pigliacampo