Once we had the yard dug up, it was time to add visual appeal: the garden plants!
Mexican Blue Sage, Desert Marigold, Red Yarrow, Rock Verbena, Dwarf Blue Ruellia, Indian Mallow, Cobalt Sage, Prostrate Germander, Tagetes. Back row: Feather Grass, Blue Fescue
After doing a little more research we decided to ditch the type of Tagetes (French Marigolds) as sometimes the leaves can be irritating, so that will go in our front garden.
We already had 2 hibiscus, a globemallow and some tarragon planted when we went to the Desert Botanical Garden’s Spring Plant Sale, where we got the above plants. We also got a few smaller herbs from the “rescue” bargain bin: more sages, a Brilliant geranium, wormwood and English lavender. And a pineapple mint for myself. 
Then a trip to Home Depot netted us some more verbena and a bunch of succulents: Echevaria azulita, Zanzibar aloe, Portulacaria afra ‘variegata’ cv, Sedeveria hybrid, Echeveria mazarine, Echevaria ‘perle von nurnberg’ cv.
Installing the new plants!
Desert plants and succulents
More desert plants, sub-tropicals and succulents
The hibiscus are looking kind of sad and yellow, but I think it’s mostly from the stress of transplanting. If they don’t do well, we’ll pot them up and relocate them.
Globemallow, a favorite of Desert Tortoises
Geranium, verbena, echeveria, sage
Blue fescue grass, a tortoise favorite
Newly transplanted aloe, parent and pups
We also seeded the following greens, wildflowers and shrubs, most of which are tortoise favorites or other edible plants:
Nastursiums (Tropaeolum majus)
Germander (Teucrium laciniatum)
Borage (Borago officinalis) *
Sweet Mignonette (Reseda odorata) *
Lamb’s lettuce / mache / corn salad (Valerianella locusta)
Orach (Atriplex hortensis) *
Miner’s lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata)
Garden Cress (Lepidium sativum)
Salad Burnet (Sanguisorba minor)
German Chamomile (Matricaria recutita) *
Bergamot/Bee Balm (Monarda spp)
Yellow Evening Primrose (Oenothera hookeri)
Missouri Evening Primrose (Oenothera missouriensis)
Mexican Evening Primrose (Oenothera berlandieri)
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica)
Chia (Salvia hispanica)
Drummond’s Phlox (Phlox drummondii)
Purple Aster (Aster bigelovii)
Flower-of-an-Hour (Hibiscus trionum)
Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
Zinnia (Zinnia spp)
Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus)
Sweet Annie (Artemisia annua) *
* denotes a Uromastyx native plant substitute
Only a few sprouts so far, but we’ll reseed again in a week and then followup in the fall for better germination of the cool season plants. We’ll post more later as the garden grows!
