Cathy Cromell, Phoenix, Arizona
After moving to Phoenix, Cathy completed the Master Gardener course offered by the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, Maricopa County Urban Horticulture Department. They offered her a position to create and manage Arizona Master Gardener Press (AMPG), which publishes books and materials specific to Southwestern gardening.

To date, the AMPG has published four books: Earth-Friendly Desert Gardening, Desert Landscaping for Beginners, Desert Gardening for Beginners and Success With School Gardens: How to Create a Learning Oasis in the Desert. The AMPG has won numerous awards including Best First Book by a New Publisher from the Arizona Book Publishing Association.

Cathy was also a writer for the latest edition of Better Homes and Gardens’ New Garden Book and contributing writer for Sunsets’ Gardening in the Southwest. As garden editor-at-large for Phoenix Home & Garden magazine, Cathy enjoys sharing gardening information, especially for new residents confused by desert conditions, in her monthly yard work column.
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Add Scent with Salvias
June 17, 2010
Although Southwestern conditions create many challenging micro-climates, there are bound to be several attractive salvia species that will thrive in your landscape or garden. In addition to luring hummingbirds with their flowers, salvia foliage
Composting Alternatives: Part II
May 6, 2010
Here's another option for enhancing your "green" lifestyle by reducing the amount of kitchen waste sent to the landfill. The Green Cone is sometimes described as an in-ground "digester." It doesn't produce usable finished compost. Instead, nutrients
Composting Alternatives: Part I
April 8, 2010
One effective way to "green up" your lifestyle is to reduce the amount of kitchen waste sent to overburdened landfills by composting it. However, what if you don't have space for a full-blown outdoor compost area, or perhaps you can't physically turn
Inspiration from Fellow Gardeners
March 25, 2010
My favorite gardening activity actually takes place outside my own yard's boundaries. I like to visit other gardeners, enjoy their landscapes and chat about their experiences. No matter how much skill and knowledge any gardener may have, there are
Creating Garden Beds with Minimal Labor
March 11, 2010
My two previous reports described basic desert soil characteristics and how to amend desert soil to create enriched garden beds. This report covers a less laborious method (in other words, little or no digging) for transforming native soil into a
Building Healthy Garden Soil
February 25, 2010
In my previous report, I covered the basic characteristics of desert soil, explaining that native soil is great for growing native and desert-adapted landscape plants, with no amendments needed. However, if you wish to grow annual vegetables, flowers
Desert Soil Characteristics
February 11, 2010
New desert gardeners, especially those who gardened in other regions of the country where rich, dark earth is the norm, are often stymied (or stunned) when they attempt to push a spade into our hard soil for the first time. I hear lots of concerns
Low Desert Flower Gardens
January 28, 2010
One of my New Year's resolutions is to reorganize my bookshelves, which are stacked pell mell with gardening and plant books. This is turning out to be a slow process because I tend to sit down and peruse every other book with a cup of tea. But it's
What's for Dinner?
January 14, 2010
Although humans seldom crave a dish of juicy flowers, many are edible. So what do flowers actually taste like? Here's what my subjective taste buds have to say after random browsing through the years. Remember that different cultivars and cultivation
Protect Tender Plants from Cold
December 31, 2009
Monitor weather forecasts and if frost is predicted, be prepared to cover susceptible plants such as citrus, bougainvillea, hibiscus, natal plum, and annual flower and vegetable gardens at sunset. Native plants are usually okay, as they are adapted
It's Time to Buy Christmas Trees
December 3, 2009
As I was sitting in my car at a stoplight the other day, I noticed the car next to me had a pine tree strapped to its roof. I thought, "how odd at this time of year" and then it hit me -- regardless of our recent unseasonably warm temperatures, the
Grow a Fresh Salad Bowl
November 19, 2009
Salad greens are a fun and flavorful choice for any gardener, regardless of your experience level. They're easy to grow, even in limited spaces. As long as you have a location that receives six hours of sun daily, sow a mix of varied greens into a
Native Bees in the Garden
November 5, 2009
European honeybees and their kin, the Africanized "killer" bees, garner media attention, but many other fascinating native bees are hard at work in the landscape. Arizona authors Stephen L. Buchmann and Gary Paul Nabhan write in The Forgotten
Wildflower Sowing Season
October 22, 2009
Temperatures have been so unseasonably hot in Phoenix that it seems more like summer than fall's wildflower sowing season. Don't let that stop you. It's time to dig out those little envelopes and paper bags of seeds you saved last spring or buy some
Cactus Planting Tips
October 8, 2009
Autumn is a great time to add all sorts of plants to your low desert landscape because they have six or seven months to establish root systems before hot weather returns. Cacti can be transplanted now, and a few tricks make the task go more smoothly
Bulb Combos
September 24, 2009
Pastel shades of yellow, pink, lavender, blue, and white provide a respite from the intensity of desert sun and heat. Bulb combinations are one way to create this soothing color scheme. Rain lilies, also known as fairy lilies (Zephyranthes
Cool Off (or Warm Up) With Trees
September 10, 2009
Summer in the low desert is not a good time for digging a tree planting hole, in my opinion. It is better to lay low with a glass of lemonade and maybe a tiny hand-held fan if you can't find anyone willing to wave a palm frond over you. But summer is
Composting is Easy!
August 27, 2009
Garden beds containing nonnative flowers and vegetables need rich soil. You can purchase organic matter to incorporate into the garden, although making your own compost is satisfying and earth-friendly. Thirty to 40 percent of material trucked to
Insects Support Wildlife in the Landscape
August 13, 2009
I was on my hands and knees, weeding my friend's landscape so it would look good when his family arrived for a week-long stay. Dusk was falling, it was difficult to see, but I was on an obsessive-compulsive, weed-yanking mission. When it comes to
Praying Mantids
July 30, 2009
While brushing away leaves stuck to the top of a barrel cactus, movement from a praying mantid scurrying from my disruptive activities caught my eye. Praying mantids are intriguing insects that can be found in the garden in summer. Adult praying
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