Keep Your Landscape Healthy

Time is flying this year and the summer season is already coming to an end. Now that people are coming home from vacation, kids are going back to school, and everybody is falling back into their regular routine, it’s time to check on your yard! Follow the tips below and make sure your yard is looking great and ready for any last-minute pool parties or a family get-together.

Watering Tips

Arizona, especially Central Arizona, is now officially in the middle of monsoon season. We have had enough rainstorms come through southern Arizona and the Phoenix area that every day feels a bit more humid than we are accustomed to for this area.

The extra rain over the last few weeks has helped our landscapes through some hot temperatures. It may have also severely thrown off your watering schedule for your yard.

If you have turned off, or paused, your sprinkler system, be sure to examine your lawn, trees, and plant material. Resume your watering schedule as you have been throughout the summer months. During more rainfall, monitor your landscape in case of potential instances of overwatering of any plant material.

For more watering information and instructions for new and mature trees, click here.

Fertilizing Tips

Between the hot days and the tough storms, your lawn and landscapes could use some extra pampering and attention. This is exactly why we created, and love to use, our Super Charged Moon Juice.

Super Charged Moon Juice is a custom blend that contains a one-of-a-kind liquid technology. Moon Juice works great for all trees and plants in your landscape by boosting growth from the root system and helping plant material recover quickly from seasonal stress.

If your landscape consists mostly of palms, ask about our Super Palm Juice that was made specifically for the needs of palm tree varieties. It contains the same custom liquid technology as our Moon Juice. Palm Juice also contains a full nutrient profile perfect for all palms and other tropical varieties. This fast-acting liquid gets nutrients to the palms quickly for immediate optimization.

Tree Trunk Protection

Young trees, especially citrus, need protection from the sun during the summer months, when the sun is hotter and out longer! You can protect the trunk of a new tree from sunburn with a coat of paint or with specific protective tree wrap.

Click here to watch a Moon Valley Nurseries expert demonstrate both options properly.

Mulching Tips

Adding mulch to your trees and plants is perhaps the easiest thing you can do right now to give them a little help through the heat. If done right, a layer of mulch can even add to the curb appeal of your yard. Adding a few inches of mulch can help keep your soil cool during the warmer summer months and warm during the cooler days. Mulch is available at any Moon Valley Nurseries location. 

August Landscape Design Tips

Crape Myrtle Tree

At Moon Valley Nurseries, we offer many varieties of Crape Myrtle trees that come in a single-trunk or multi-trunk form. The Crape Myrtle trees grown at Moon Valley Nurseries are superior thanks to mildew resistance, which you will not find anywhere else outside of our nursery.

In addition, the Crape Myrtle's foliage will turn a showy bright orange during the fall season. The flowers bloom throughout the entire summer with color options from red, white, purple, and pink ready to fill your yard.

Tipu Tree

The Tipu tree is one of the most popular trees we offer at Moon Valley Nurseries, and it is everywhere around the Phoenix Valley, from Chandler/Queen Creek to Glendale/Peoria. Tipus are fast-growing trees that have an upright growth pattern creating a large shaded area to the surrounding landscape or home.

These trees are also drought-tolerant, once established. They can handle even the hottest summer days. It produces a unique show of golden blooms from late spring and into early summer that contrasts beautifully with its feathery green foliage. If you are looking for shade, color, and a tree that needs minimal assistance to flourish, the Tipu is your tree!

More Moon Valley Nurseries…

Click here to learn more about some of our favorite desert trees to plant and which ones are exclusive to Moon Valley Nurseries.

Click here to find out which hedges might be perfect for your home for ultimate privacy.

Click here to find out how Moon Valley Nurseries can help with any Monsoon damage.

Desert Trees are the Best Trees to Plant this Summer

Our Trees are Acclimated to the Desert Regions

It’s a common misconception that you are not able to plant trees in your yard during the summer. With the scorching Arizona heat, it’s a rational assumption to make but we are here to tell you that it is absolutely not true! Moon Valley Nurseries custom-grows all our trees, including our desert trees, to adapt to similar climates that they will be planted in, which means while our competitors might not be excited to plant anything in the summer, we are! 

(Fruitless Olive Pictured)

In nature, our native trees such as Palo Verdes, Mesquites, Ironwoods, Joshua Trees and Ocotillo are already accustomed to our dry heat year-round. They will even repopulate all summer long because they have adapted to our environment and can handle the high temperatures and little water that the desert provides them. When grown at Moon Valley Nurseries farms, our desert trees grow under the exact same conditions but with custom fertilizer and advanced care that helps to enhance plant health, as it matures.

Overall, desert trees love the heat, need less water than most trees, and grow quickly with supplemental water (hose, irrigation, etc.) since they’re naturally used to low-water environments. Do not feel like you are nailed down to the native trees though! Moon Valley Nurseries has TONS of awesome desert trees to choose from such as:  

Fruitless Olive – Gorgeous evergreen shade tree that thrives in the desert sun and blooms cream-colored flowers from spring to fall.

Jacaranda – Exotic flowering tree with vibrant purple blossoms and fern-like foliage.

Vitex – Usually grown in multi-trunk form, this smaller-sized tree offers show-stopping bluish-purple blooms.

Sissoo – Fast-growing tree that creates tons of shade and loves growing in full sun and hot conditions.

Mulga Acacia – An evergreen that can be used as a small tree or a large bush, offering fern-style foliage and occasional yellow flowers.

Texas Ebony - Desert tree with unique twisting branches that add dramatic shadows throughout a landscape.

African Sumac – An evergreen that provides vigorous green growth all year and is easy to prune. Extremely durable to all weather conditions, once established.

These are trees that grow naturally in environments very similar to ours here in the Southwest. Since we grow all our trees here in the Southwest, they have lived their whole lives in the desert, which has acclimated them to our weather and made them even more resilient.

(Vitex)

Our Desert Trees are Cleaner than our Competitors

Something that makes people shy away from these beautiful desert trees is the tendency for these trees to produce thorns or seed pods. Luckily, Moon Valley Nurseries offers hybrid forms of popular desert trees such as the Chilean Mesquite and Desert Museum Palo Verde.

These desert trees are seedless and thornless varieties that are only found in our nurseries. Being seedless AND thornless makes them a much cleaner tree than older varieties of Palo Verdes and native mesquites, so you don’t have to worry about poking yourself with any thorns anymore. In addition, some of our trees such as the Fruitless Olive, Mulga Acacia , and Willow Acacia are naturally clean trees!

Desert Plants for your Yard

Want to add to your landscape but just don’t have the room for a tree? We have TONS of cacti, agave, aloe, and desert shrubs that are just waiting to be planted this summer! We have all the typical favorites such as Golden Barrels, Saguaros, Century Plants, Mexican Birds of Paradise, and Aloe Vera.

We also have more unique desert plants such as Yucca Pendula, Sticks on Fire (pictured above), and Gopher Plants! Want a cactus but don’t want the thorns? Try a Totem Pole!

Create a Colorful Xeriscape Landscape

Do you like the xeriscape look and a waterwise yard but worried it might be too bland? If you’re not a desert native, you might be surprised to hear that most cacti do actually flower, bringing that needed pop of color!

Make sure to check out Arizona’s crown jewel, the Saguaro (pictured below), which gets a beautiful crown of flowers around the late spring through early summer every year. That flower is the official state flower of Arizona and an awesome addition to any Arizona landscape.

Visit Moon Valley Nurseries

If you’re looking to get the yard of your dreams, don’t wait until the fall, come in now! My name is Patrick Freytag, and I’m a landscape designer with years of experience helping customers in the West Valley at our Peoria location, just off 83^rd Avenue and Pinnacle Peak.

I have a passion for plants, and I love helping people find the perfect designs to suit their needs. If you live in the area, come see me and I’d love to help you design your dream yard! If you’re on the other side of town, head down to your nearest Moon Valley Nursery and ask for one of our very knowledgeable landscape designers to help you find the perfect plants for your landscape this summer!

Homeowners know that owning a home means that there is always something to do! Sometimes those projects are not fun, like replacing gutters or upgrading the washer and dryer, and sometimes they are, like upgrading your television sound system.

Just like the rest of the house, projects outside can range all over the “FUN ‘O’ METER”, but it doesn’t make any of them less important than the others.

We put together a list five projects for you to think about this time of year to increase your landscapes overall health, such as fertilizing and watering properly. We also have some awesome suggestions for how to upgrade parts of your yard, such as planting some of our favorite trees, adding privacy, and much more!

Our favorite part about all these project suggestions is that they all get you outside and running around! The weather is perfect for you to get some sun and fresh air while improving your yard.

Let’s start with one of our favorite things to do at Moon Valley Nurseries – Planting!

There is still plenty of time to plant Moon Valley trees

It is essential to take care of what you have in your existing yard, but it is also fun to start thinking about new trees that you can add to your existing yard. We love helping our customers figure out the best trees and plants that fit into their yard AND make it better. Right now, we have some favorites that we cannot stop talking about to our customers that come visit us.

The gorgeous Museum Palo Verde can produce a dazzling display of color thanks to their thornless green trunks and large yellow blossoms that appear in spring. Homeowners looking for a low maintenance and waterwise tree will love the Museum Palo Verde! (pictured above)

The Jacaranda tree is one of our best-selling flowering trees, and it is easy to see why. These colorful trees have outstanding features – exotic, trumpet-shaped purple blooms and soft-feathery, fern-like foliage. These are fast-growing trees that can provide filtered shade. We like to plant them near patios, courtyards, and decks. These are stunning specimen trees, whether we plant them in a waterwise yard or urban garden. They are also excellent street trees and front-yard flowering trees that can add instant curb appeal.

The Arizona Ash is a beautiful deciduous shade tree with attractive velvety, gray-green leaves that turn to a bright yellow color later in the year. They are cold-hardy and heat-resistant, so they look lush and full, even in adverse conditions. This seedless variety is an ideal tree with a spreading canopy that casts the right amount of shade.

Our Evergreen Ash tree is a favorite throughout Arizona, and the Southwest, where they are known for growing a large canopy that can cast a considerable amount of shade. They have a fast growth rate, so you won’t have to wait too long to enjoy the benefits of a mature Evergreen Ash.

Add some privacy to your home

We all want to be able to fully enjoy our homes, and that includes our yards! One way to transform your yard and create privacy between you and your neighbors is to block unwanted views with trees and hedges.

You can build a fence or make your existing fence taller, but none of those ideas sound as fun, or pretty, as building a “living wall”! One of our favorite ways to create privacy for our customers is planting a row of Ficus Nitida Columns.

Ficus Nitida Columns look their best when planted close together to create an instant privacy screen. You can see these low-maintenance trees lined up in yards throughout the Southwest. They not only act as a living privacy fence, but they also create vast amounts of shade and can work as a windbreak to protect from those high blowing winds.

Do a quick check-up on your yard

Continue to fertilize your landscape

To keep your yard as healthy as it can be, you should focus on important things such as fertilizing and proper water irrigation. These areas are the foundation to your healthy yard, so we want to make sure you know the benefits of our top products.

Right now, Moon Valley Nurseries is currently offering a deal on ALL fertilizer products. Find out how much you can save on the products that are best for your yard below. 

Supercharged Moon Juice

Supercharged Moon Juice increases nutrient uptake, promotes new growth, helps improve fertilizer efficiency, and enhances the ability to ward off disease for your plants and trees. Supercharged Moon Juice also contains the three most essential micro-nutrients required by nearly every tree and plant - Iron, Manganese, and Zinc.

Moon Dust

Moon Dust provides vital nutrients to your plants like Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium. These are essential elements in the perfect horticultural ratio that will benefit all the trees and plants in your landscape.

Moon Royale

Moon Royale has a super concentrated formula that lasts long, and we like to use it for greening up all types of lawns quickly. Easily apply this turf fertilizer to your lawn using either a drop or broadcast type fertilizer spreader. For best results, apply every four to six weeks!

Check your watering system

This is a piece of advice that should always be mentioned! The transition between early spring and into the summer happens during a wide temperature range, so it is important to check your irrigation system.

Make sure that your automatic sprinklers are working without issue. If you see any problems, such as a broken sprinkler head, fix them now before they become a headache!

Also, be sure to keep adjusting your water schedule, so your plants and lawn continue getting the right amount of water. Going into the summer, it’s good to get into a routine of checking your landscape weekly to see if adjustments are needed.

Now for the fun projects to upgrade your home!

Add a tropical twist to your backyard

Everyone enjoys a nice refreshing dip in the pool during our Arizona summers. And we can help make that pool area even more enjoyable! By adding trees around a swimming pool, you can create much-needed shade, privacy, and a beautiful view. 

We usually recommend planting palms near pools to create an instant tropical backyard. Our nursery pros also love planting a mixture of different palms to add height, depth, and texture – all in one space!

Our Moon Valley Exclusive tree, the Piru Queen Palm, is one of our favorite palms that we grow ourselves IN Arizona. Our Queen Palm variety has a thicker crown, greener fronds, and a thicker trunk than older varieties of Queen Palms found in other nurseries. (pictured above)

The Pygmy Date Palm is a dwarf palm that grows in single and multi-trunk varieties. This palm is ideal for smaller areas and tight spaces. We often plant these under taller palms, such as the Queen Palm trees, to fill out empty space or to add more greenery to a bland area. 

Update your front yard with new pottery and plants

The front yard can sometimes be overlooked by homeowners when they consider adding small upgrades to their home. Since you are probably spending more time in the privacy and tranquility of your backyard, you might not be paying enough attention to the front of your home. After all, your front yard is the first impression.

The front yard is an integral part of your home that would benefit from some type of focal point such as an ornamental tree or large flowering bushes.

Our nursery professionals especially love seeing eye-catching plant material in front yards, especially when they are planted in eye-catching pottery or containers. Some of our favorite designs often incorporate plants and trees planted in pottery of every size!

Potted plants and small trees can be used as a unique way to create a barrier around your yard or to create a dramatic entrance into your home as they line up your driveway or entryway.

One of our favorite plants to plant in pots and containers are our oleanders. The intense color of the oleander bush will stay in bloom from spring through fall, which means the flowering show has just begun!

Learn more about our pottery and current deals here.

MOON VALLEY NURSERIES 

FREE PLANTING ON ALL SPECIMEN TREES

Not only do we have the best trees on Earth, we can deliver them to your home and plant them for you too. We offer every service that you might need when designing a new yard or redesigning an existing landscape, whether its two trees or 200, Moon Valley Nurseries has you covered!

Make sure to ask us about free planting when you stop by your nearest location.

Did you know that April is National Lawn and Garden Month?

Seems fitting since we have probably spent more time outside this month than in January through March combined. Our gardens, lawns, and landscapes have been keeping us busy these past few weeks and it’s a great thing! Not only is it good for us to spend some time outside getting some fresh air, but it’s good to spend time taking care of our yards too. Click here for more ways to celebrate this April.

At Moon Valley Nurseries, we encourage routinely taking care of your yard and keeping all your landscape materials as cleaned up, watered, and trimmed as they should be any time of the year. Whether you do the yard work yourself or have a professional come out and do it for you, consistent care of your yard provides important benefits every homeowner would want to capitalize on.

Three Benefits of Taking Care of Your Home’s Landscape

Your Home Will have Massive Curb Appeal

The first thing that comes to mind when you think of curb appeal is probably a gorgeous house that immediately catches your attention as you drive by it. This is certainly a big reason that it is so significant when you are considering selling or renting your homes.

The house with the green, cut grass is probably going to look more inviting than a house with an overgrown lawn.

Taking care of the exterior of your home is not always for how other people might view your property. Many of us take immense pride in our homes and our landscapes and see them more as our personal retreats.

Regular Yard Maintenance makes for a Healthy Yard

I am sure we all know that in order for things to look nice and last for a long time, we have to take care of them on a regular basis. Our cars need an oil change every few months, our air conditions need tune-ups at least once a year, and our yard needs monthly care. Without it, avoidable problems start to appear and cause a lot of financial mayhem.

Staying on top of a schedule for a yard helps you better understand what your landscape needs season by season and you will be able to start taking care of things before they are ever serious problems.

Adds Financial Value to Your Home and Neighborhood

The last and most common reason people want new landscape designs or new landscape materials is because of the increased financial value that comes with the upgrade to your yard.

A whole new landscape will have the most effect on increasing the value of your home but even small changes such as colorful shrubs, new mulch, flower containers, or trimmed trees can help make a positive difference.

It is obvious when a yard has been meticulously taken care for over the years and the payoff is large. Not only does it increase your property value, but it can also boost the homes around you!

When to Call in a Landscape Professional for Your Home

For homeowners that do all their landscape maintenance themselves, cheers to you! For the most part, many of the tasks that need to be completed when doing your own yard are manageable for 1-2 people. However, there will be times when you run into issues and you don’t have time to figure out yourself.

Some issues include damaged trees or plants from heavy storms, dying trees or plants due to sudden frost or sudden heatwave, and major pest damage. Not every homeowner will be able to catch these issues while they are still small and will need the help of a professional service to fix them.

Why You Should Let the Landscape Pros Handle Your Yard

Using a landscape service consistently has extreme benefits for your yards. A landscape professional has experience and knowledge about your specific lawn, trees, and plants and also a good understanding of our region and how it affects the plant materials in your landscape year-round.

With the assistance of a professional, your landscape will get consistent and thorough attention. This extra TLC will keep all your trees and plants in top health as they will be trimmed and pruned, fertilized, and properly watered.

Consistent Trimming Stimulates Consistent New Growth

When a landscape pro is monitoring and taking care of your landscape on a regular basis, those trees and plants are getting trimmed and manicured for visual appeal and to help stimulate newer growth from the plant.

Constant Observation Means Your Landscape Pro Won’t Miss a Thing

Constant observation also allows them to see any discoloration in the leaves, issues with the bark, or holes in the foliage that obviously came from some hungry pests. Noticing these types of issues sooner creates a speedy recovery from the plant.

It is extremely important to make sure that everything in your landscape is being watered properly. Depending on what type of landscape you have, this alone could be a daunting task full of trial and error. (By the time you start to figure out what works, the weather has probably started to drastically change again.)

A landscape professional will be able to handle this without a problem and you won’t have to worry about it at all!

Moon Valley Professional Tree Care Services

Giving your trees a trim or fertilizer injections that go straight to the root will have them ready and healthy when the heat skyrockets in these next few months.

Click below to receive a special offer on all tree care services.

Call our tree care team today and ask about which of your trees should be trimmed and fertilized now!

Moon Valley Nurseries Featured Tree

STONE FRUIT TREES

Stone fruit trees can produce some of the loveliest flowers and are excellent landscape trees for privacy screens or for merely adding beauty to your landscape. Moon Valley Nurseries sells low-chill variety stone fruit trees that have great fruit production in our climate. Below are some of our recommended stone fruit trees for Arizona.

Nectarine Tree

These easy-to-grow trees can bloom a lovely sight of light pink flowers, creating a lovely backyard scene through the spring season. Nectarine trees are small deciduous trees that are ideally suited for growing in a small yard or patio garden. Their smaller size also makes them ideal for group and row planting in larger yards.

Peach Tree

These peach trees love to grow in the Phoenix area! They can bloom showy, light pink flower bouquets before bearing mouth-watering, juicy fruit! In addition to the tasty fruit and their beautiful flowers, we also like to use them to create a screen that can block unwanted views.

Plum Tree

These low-chill fruit trees are easy to grow and can enhance the look of any landscape, with or without fruit! Plum trees are self-fruitful and have a stunning show of white flowers. These flowers will create an extra allure to your trees while they are blooming in the months of spring. Plant them in full sun and watch this tree flourish in fruit and flowers for years.

Not sure what to do for your landscape in April or where to get started?

The April landscaping chores are a lot like what you were (hopefully) doing last month, except you may have noticed more growth in your yard, good (flowers) and bad (weeds)!

If you have been keeping up with your yard as we went into spring than you are doing great! If you have not, you should definitely jump on it now and get control of your landscape.

Not only will your yard look better, it will be healthier. Spring is the time for all your trees and shrubs to be at optimal health to have a great summer growing season.

Pull Those Weeds

Unfortunately, most of us don’t have time to pull every weed that emerges from the ground, so our yards have been taken over by all different types of weeds. Some might even be getting so mature they are blooming into tiny flowers and giving you mixed feelings about ripping them out of the ground. Don’t be fooled, they are the worst!

Nobody wants to be pulling weeds in the summer with the sun beating down on them or in the dark, trying to avoid the sun. Using pre-emergent products that we carry at all nurseries will keep your yard weed-free. Be sure to ask our experts about how to use them and which product is best for your landscape.

We know it’s not fun, but it only gets worse from here!

Fun suggestion: If you have kids (or can borrow some kids), pay them a quarter for each weed they pull out (root and all).

Problem solved!

Plant! Plant! Plant!

With new seasons coming in and more focus on your landscape in the last few months, now is a great time to take a look around and see what might be missing in your yard. Look for areas that might need more shade during the day. This could be a great place to plant a tree with a large canopy. Pay attention to rooms in your home that might be hotter than other rooms. The sun is probably shining on those walls longer throughout the day. Some extra cover from trees and plants just outside the wall will make a noticeable difference!

This time of the year creates perfect conditions for planting from healthy soil that is just the right temperature to healthy trees that can handle being transplanted and adapt to their new environment at a much quicker pace.

Always be Watering

You will need to keep watching your plants and trees to know if you should adjust your watering schedules this season. The weather is constantly changing in the springtime and the temperatures can rise quickly here so you should also be checking and changing your watering schedule every few weeks.

We cannot stress how important it is to look at the temperatures. You might need to water for longer intervals soon but in just a few weeks you might also need to start watering an extra day out of the week.

When watering, allow the hose or drip system to apply the water slowly over a longer period of time. This allows the water to penetrate beneath and reach all areas of the roots. For more information, check out our watering guide.

Feed with Fertilizer

We know we say this a lot but that should show just how important it is to fertilize and stay on top of a fertilizing schedule for all your landscape materials. Fertilizer is food for your plants. It is the difference of surviving another season malnourished or thriving in it like a champ!

Fertilize the material in your landscape to give your trees and shrubs a boost and capitalize on the prime growing season.

Moon Valley Nurseries has developed highly specialized blends of fertilizer like Super Charged Moon Juice and Super Palm Juice, which are designed to trigger and stimulate growth responses. These fertilizers also supplement the essential micro and macro nutrients that plants need to thrive in our climate.

Trim and Prune

You will want to give your trees and plants a nice trim before it gets too hot outside. Pruning not only helps develop strong crowns and branches but also promotes strong root growth.

After pruning, be sure to fertilize with Moon Juice to get much-needed nutrients into the tree. Because when you prune, you're essentially wounding the tree, so feeding it with fertilizer is a great way to make sure the tree will bounce back sooner and stronger.

Now is still the best time for tree care services for your yard. The weather is perfect for your trees to get taken care of and be strong for the summer.

Featured Tree - Purple Leaf Plum

The Purple Leaf Plum tree is a great addition to a yard for its many qualities. Their dark red/purple foliage, whiteish/pink flowers and medium-sized growth rate makes this tree an awesome ornamental choice for front and back yards.

With full sun, the leaves will turn a rich purple throughout the seasons, but the leaves may grow green when planted in the shade.

For design purposes, the unique coloring will add exciting contrast to a greener yard. Keep this tree in mind when you are planning a Japanese or contemporary design.

Let Moon Valley Nurseries help you with your Yard!

Landscape Consultations

Click here to check out what our team can do for your landscape.

Call the designer for your area or fill out the form at the link so we can reach out to you.

Let us do all the hard work! 

Moon Valley Nurseries Yard March To-Do List

It is kind of hard to believe that it is already March, especially since Arizona was hit with lots of rain, and even snow! From Flagstaff to Scottsdale to Tucson and many other areas of Arizona - we either saw the snow with our own eyes or saw plenty of pictures all over Instagram!

None the less, spring is just a few weeks away and warm days are on the way. This is usually the time of the year where we recommend putting in a bit more effort toward your yard now. We are especially excited because all the rain that dropped on our yards is a bonus for helping our yards succeed sooner and stronger.

(As we recommend using our SuperCharged Moon Juice after a rain storm, I personally can’t wait to use it in my yard!  Anybody else excited? You will be! More on Moon Juice later in the post.)

Below are a few tips and tricks every yard can benefit from this month…

Landscape Clean-Up

Weeding

While you may not have seen too many weeds growing in your yard during the winter, the warmer weather (and all that rain) will give them the boost they need to pop out of your soil and grow inches overnight.

When weeds are young, it is a smart idea to remove them before they become established. Once they have grown, they can start dropping seeds and that leads to more weeds! Most people do NOT want to pull weeds ever, but I am sure they would rather pull them now, while it is still cool outside, than later.

When you pull all the visible weeds in your yard, using pre-emergent products will help keep your yard weed-free. Consistently using pre-emergent herbicides will make your yard a piece of cake to take care of, which you will be thankful for as the temperatures hit triple digits.

Every Moon Valley Nursery has pre-emergent products available for you to purchase and nursery pros that can help you pick the right products for your specific needs.

Pruning/Trimming

This time of the year is the best time to prune your trees for shape and shade before they experience spring growth. Pruning not only helps develop strong crowns but also promotes strong root growth. After pruning, be sure to fertilize with Moon Juice to get much-needed nutrients into the tree as it recovers from its haircut.

Arizona Tree Care Service

If you are looking for some tree care advice, suggestions, or need some professional tree care help, check out our Tree Care page.

Right now, we are even offering a discount off any of our tree care services such as trimming, removal, soil fertilizer injections, and more!

Recover and Regrow

Our certified Tree Care team can help your landscape recover from the recent storms and any frost damage your trees may have sustained in the last few weeks. This is the best time of year to focus on your trees, so they are healthy and booming this spring! Click below for more information.

Landscape Prep

Fertilizing

Fertilize your landscape to give your trees and shrubs a boost and capitalize on the spring growing season. I am sure you have already started to notice the changes in your yard, or you will be seeing them very soon!  

Moon Valley Nursery has developed highly specialized blends of fertilizer like SuperCharged Moon Juice and Super Palm Juice which are designed to trigger growth responses and supplement the essential micro and macro nutrients that plants need to thrive in the Western United States.

(Print coupon and bring to your nearest nursery)

Check out all our fertilizer products here and learn more about which ones are right for your yard.

Planting

With all the rain that has fallen across Arizona, it is a great time to plant new trees and shrubs. The soil is hydrated and enriched from the recent rains, which makes planting easier and creates a calmer transition and less shock for your plants as it grows accustom to its new home and becomes established in your soil.

Landscape Maintenance

Watering

This time of the year usually kicks off the start of longer and warmer days. It is important to keep an eye on your current watering schedule and start to transition from winter to spring as everything on your landscape will probably need more water soon, if not already! 

For specific information on watering schedules, click here to learn more about the watering needs for your new and mature trees.

Lawn Care Tips for your Yard

If you let your grass go dormant through winter, you have probably noticed it is slowly coming back. If you haven’t seen any new growth, there is still time! If you planted winter grass, you might be noticing that it is starting to die away and that is okay! The transition in your lawn is starting, whether it’s visible yet or not, and the little things we do now will make a big difference (and save you lots of work later) in the long run. It will also give you more time to enjoy your yard and entertain more this year. We have put together a few tips to help you focus some attention on your lawn this month.

• Removing and preventing weeds from your lawn is the first step to bringing it back to perfect health.
• Remove any thatch on your lawn that you can see to help get water and nutrients deeper in the soil and grass roots.
• Aerate your grass to loosen the soil and allow for water, nutrients, additional grass seed, and fertilizer to get all the way to the roots.
• Fertilize your lawn with our Moon Royale Turf Fertilizer to bring back that healthy green lawn that has been dormant all winter.
• Water your lawn, as needed for your yard. Be sure to start paying attention to your lawn this time of year so you can adjust the watering schedule depending on how quickly the weather starts to change.

Suggestions for Trees to Plant in March

Flowering Pear

This vigorous tree can add fantastic color to any type of landscape. This tree produces white flowers in late winter and early spring and grows as a small to medium tree, so it can be planted almost anywhere. Even without blooming flowers, this tree has a unique look that everybody will notice. 

Palms

Almost every palm is ready to go and get planted this time of year. Our Mexican Fan Palm and Date Palm trees are perfect examples of palms ready for planting now! These palms are easy to care for all year and add instant tropical vibes to your landscape, especially if you have a pool! While it is not illegal to own a pool with no palms, it’s just not fair to the pool.

Majestic Ash

This highly sought-after shade tree is easy to maintain and grows fast, so you will be covered in shade in no time! Our Majestic Ash trees are grown specially by Moon Valley Nurseries as a seedless variety, which means no mess! This will definitely impress your neighbors that have to deal with seeds all over the driveway.

Citrus and Fruit Tree

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Ready to start growing your own food? Planting citrus or stone fruit is the best way to start. These trees are easy to take care of and yet they give you so much! Citrus and Stone fruits handle March planting like champs. Some of our favorite citrus and stone fruits to plant now are oranges, lemons, peaches, plums, and apples. I can go on and on, but we recommend just coming to a nursery and seeing all the varieties with your own eyes. We will even let you pick some and taste it yourself!

This deciduous tree produces an abundance of showy light pink flowers in spring. It also features dark purple foliage that helps to make it an ideal accent tree. We like to plant them in front yards, where they are sure to attract all the right attention, or in rows as an eclectic border option. These ornamental trees can make a bold and beautiful color statement no matter how we choose to plant them!

THE MOON VALLEY DIFFERENCE

We love that we can offer our customers a one-of-a-kind experience at our nurseries. We truly do it all from growing the trees to helping you create the best landscape to making sure that landscape stays in perfect shape for you to enjoy for years to come.

Visit us this weekend to check out all the trees we have to offer and find the best fit for you.

SPRING LANDSCAPING     

As much as it feels like the year has just barely begun, the weather is getting warmer every day and the outdoors is calling your name. Now is the time of year to start taking a good look at your yard and check on how well your lawn, trees, and other plants are doing and if they need some extra help getting back to optimal health.  

Because of the stress that the winter puts our plants under, spring is an important time to make sure your landscape is ready to transition into the warmer months ahead and the even warmer months after that!

Now is the time of year when everything on your landscape will need the essential nutrients to help them thrive all year long in our native soils. It doesn't matter what types of plants or trees you have on your landscape as palm trees, tropical plants, fruit and citrus, shrubs, and evergreen trees all need these nutrients to grow healthy and strong.

MOON VALLEY NURSERIES - FERTILIZERS/SUPPLEMENTS

With so many fertilizers on the market, it can be overwhelming trying to find the right one for your landscape. Fortunately, the nursery pros at Moon Valley Nurseries have eliminated the headaches and struggle for you. We have developed highly specialized blends of fertilizer and supplements designed to trigger growth responses for our native soils.

These fertilizers have been tested time and time again. Our pros have been growing and planting trees and shrubs in our region for more than 30 years. We use all our fertilizer and supplement products on all our trees and plants in our nurseries, grow yards, and our hundreds of acres of tree farms. We have seen the amazing transformation our plants went through once we developed these products and are proud to be able to offer them to our customers at all nursery locations and online. Keep reading to see which products will work best for your yard!

Be sure to click above and get your coupon for big savings on all our fertilizing products today! 

TOP FERTILIZING PRODUCTS FOR YOUR YARD

SuperCharged Moon Juice
Our SuperCharged Moon Juice is a growth-enhancer that utilizes a patented Furst liquid technologies mixture, which includes an exclusive blend of organic enzymes and amino acids that stimulate growth signals within the plant. Environmental signals regulate plant and tree growth cycles. Applying Moon Juice will help stimulate these signals in your plants and trees – helping to boost growth at any time of the year and lending a hand to a speedy recovery from seasonal stresses caused by extreme heat, freeze, wind damage,  and transplanting.

There are other great benefits when using Moon Juice, including new root hair growth and its ability to help plants ward off diseases, and possible infestation or infections from outside sources.

Moon Juice also makes watering more effective because it helps open the plant roots to uptake more water and nutrients. This can help reduce the amount of water your plants will need making them more waterwise.

Used as directed, Supercharged Moon Juice is extremely easy to use – all you have to do is mix the appropriate water amount and apply to the root area. With Moon Juice – a little goes a long way!

When to Use:

• New transplants
• Weather stresses such as heat, freeze, wind damage

How to Use: Recommend monthly applications. At minimum, apply once per season: Spring, Summer & Fall.

TREES & PALMS - Mix 5 tablespoons per gallon of water. Saturate entire root area with mixture. (Max. 5 gals)

SHRUBS & VINES - Mix 4 tablespoons per gallon of water. Saturate entire root area with mixture. (Max. 2 gals)

BEDDING PLANTS - Mix 3 tablespoons per gallon of water. Saturate planted area with mixture. (Max. 1 gal. per sq. yard)

POTTED PLANTS -  Mix 3 tablespoons per gal. of water. Saturate potted soil until medium wet. (Do not over saturate potted soil)

Moon Dust

All trees and plants need Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potassium as their primary nutrients for healthy living.  Moon Dust provides the essential elements in a perfect ratio that will benefit virtually every plant in your landscape. Just spread it on top of the soil, water thoroughly and it will feed your plants for months!

Feed all your trees and plants no matter how big or small they are! Citrus and Fruit trees love Moon Dust, producing larger, juicier and tastier crops after application. It also helps flowering shrubs achieve longer and more abundant bloom cycles.

It is easy to see why this custom organic blended Moon Dust is one of our top sellers for an all-purpose fertilizer. Not only does it supply plants with needed nutrients, it also helps stabilize the soil your plants grow in. This makes sure that your trees and plants are taken care of in every way.
When to Use:

• Vigorous root growth
• Rich green leaves
• Strong new growth

Super Palm Juice

The best way to keep your tropical landscape looking lush and healthy is by using Super Palm Juice. Palms have special nutrient requirement needs compared to other trees that may be in your yard. Palms use a variety of different macro and micronutrients including Potassium, Manganese, Iron, Sulfur, Zinc, Copper & Boron.

Super Palm Juice is a super easy-to-use liquid formula containing all these essential nutrients. It can enhance the appearance of your palms, keep them healthy and able to thrive in intense summer heat and make them much cold hardier than weak, malnourished palms.

Using as directed will produce thicker, stronger trunks while maintaining the healthy, dark green appearance that results in lush, dense crowns. Just give the juice a good shake, mix the appropriate water amount (varies by palm), give the palm a good amount of water after you pour the mixture, and you are done!

When to Use:

• Transplanted palms
• Stressed or yellowing palms
• Weather stresses

How to Use: Shake well before mixing with water. Mix Super Palm Juice with water at the rate of 1 Cup (8fl. ounces) of Super Palm Juice per 1 Gallon of water. Thoroughly water each palm after applying the mixture.

FOR YOUNGER & DWARF PALMS - Apply 1 to 2 gallons of mixture evenly around the entire area where the palm gets watered.

FOR MATURE PALMS - Apply 2 to 4 gallons of mixture evenly around the entire area where the palm gets watered.

Moon Green

Our Moon Green is a liquid iron and soil acidifier. It was created as a super easy and safe solution for correcting yellowing trees and plants. Iron Chlorosis is what causes the yellowing of plants and is a problem for many homeowners in our region. Moon Green helps reduce soil alkalinity, neutralizes tight clay type soils, and promotes darker and greener leaves and grass.

Infusing Moon Green with Furst liquid brings the critical organic enzymes and amino acids to the tree and plant that helps stimulate growth signals from the roots. These nutrients help stimulate root hair growth and stronger cell development, allowing water and essential micronutrients to pass through to stems and leaves much more efficiently.

When to Use:

• Reduce soil alkalinity
• Neutralize tight clay soil
• Create fuller hedge plants
• Correct yellowing foliage

How to Use: Shake well before mixing with water. Mix Moon Green with water at a rate of 4 ounces per 1 gallon of water. Best to mix in a large bucket or watering container. Water thoroughly after applying the mixture and be sure to wash any of the mixture that may have splashed on to the foliage.

FOR SHRUBS - Apply 1 to 2 gallons of mixture to the root area.

FOR LAWN/GARDEN PREP - With sprayer, apply mixture evenly at a rate of 1 gallon per 500 sq. ft.

FOR TREES & PALMS - Apply 3 to 6 gallons of mixture to the root area.

 
Soil & Water Conditioner  

One of the most challenging aspects of growing trees and plants is trying to grow them in hard, compact soil and the high pH imbalance often found in soil and water in our region. Our Soil & Water Conditioner is used to help break up the hard clay/alkaline soil present in our area.

This conditioner contains sulfur and gypsum which counteract salt buildups and helps to loosen tough, hard soil. Sulfur can reduce the high pH and allows excess salt buildup to be flushed out of the root system, creating a soil base that converts nutrition easier. Gypsum can work its way into hard, compact clay, loosening the soil, which leads to better drainage and healthier soils! We recommend several applications per year.

When to Use:

• Reduce effects of salt present in water and soil
• Encourage deeper root growth
• Loosen the tight/heavy soil

How to Use: Spread the fertilizer evenly underneath the entire tree or plant. Do not allow fertilizer to pile up against the trunk or branches near ground level.

Water all trees and plants immediately after fertilizing. Using a hose to saturate the entire fertilized area is recommended to improve fertilizer efficiency.

FOR LAWN APPLICATION - Apply directly over the top of existing lawns or mix into soil before installing new lawns at a rate of 10 to 20 pounds per 100 square feet. Thoroughly water after application.

FOR TREES & SHRUBS - Spread over entire root area and lightly mix into the soil. Thoroughly water after application. 

• Trees – 2 to 4 cups every other month
• Shrubs – ¼ to 1 cup every other month 

Not seeing a product for your landscape needs?

For Desert landscapes, lawns, and additional palm supplements check out these products below! 

• Desert Juice – Perfect for succulents, agave, cacti, and more
• Moon Valley Palm Supplement – Best for palm trees in need of nutrients
• Moon Royale Turf Fertilizer – Great for bringing all lawn types back to health

Moon Valley Nurseries Tree Care Division

Moon Valley Nurseries is one of the biggest tree nurseries in the country and we offer many services to help you keep your Moon Valley trees in the perfect condition for years of enjoyment. Our tree care team can help you with trimming, removing, fertilizing, and more.

For a limited time, we are offering an amazing deal for our tree trimming services just for you, Phoenix residents! Contact us now to set up a free estimate on your trees today! Click the button above to get your coupon now. Print it out or save it to your phone!

For the best trees on Earth, go straight to the Moon

Moon Valley Nurseries does it all. You name it, we got you covered. We are the growers of thousands of varieties of tree and plants. We are the nursery with the biggest and best trees. We design landscapes and make it come to life when we deliver, plant, and set up your perfect yard! We even offer free in-store design and free planting! Come by your nearest nursery and see why we are the best on Earth!  

The Month of Love and Loving to Work on Your Yard

It is officially February, and if you have lived in Arizona long enough you should be familiar with the fact that the “Arizona Spring” is right around the corner. The last month brought us some cold temperatures, even a few freezing nights, but the days are getting warmer as the sun stays out a bit longer each day.

There is no better time than now to start getting your landscape ready for spring. This is also the beginning of another great planting season for new additions to your yard. Taking care of your yard now with weeding, pruning, and fertilizing will ensure a healthy and full landscape for the rest of the year. Our nursery experts have shared a few tips, tasks, and ideas for your landscape this month. Continue reading below…

Weeding

With grass and plants starting to come back to life after a few cold months, it also means that weeds are going to start popping up. The sooner you can handle any weed infestation, the better. As weeds grow, they drop more seeds that will turn into their own weeds within days. We recommend taking care of them before they are even an issue. Using pre-emergents now will keep your yard free of weeds.  Keeping weeds from showing up is important so that you aren’t spending the next few months pulling weeds while the temperatures soar into triple digits!

Fertilizing

With everything in the landscape about to enter back into growing season, this is the right time to give those trees, shrubs, palms, and other plants a boost with an all-purpose fertilizer from Moon Valley Nurseries, like our SUPERCHARGED Moon Juice.

Our fertilizers are formulated to promote vigorous growth and can help your landscape recover from any stresses that may have occurred over the winter season. You can purchase our Moon Juice and other fertilizer products, such as our Landscape Soil Conditioner and Moon Royale Turf Fertilizer at all Moon Valley Nurseries locations.

We recommend using our custom blended fertilizers for your landscape needs as they are specifically formatted for Arizona soil and weather conditions.

Watering

As the temperature starts to slowly get higher, it is important to monitor your landscape for proper water usage. In the winter, cooler temperatures and less sunlight allow the soil to stay moist for a longer period of time, so watering schedules could be stretched out by a few days. Now that the sun is out longer, your soil may dry out faster, which means you will need to update your watering schedule.

Click here for a more detailed water guide:

Good Rule of Thumb: Check the soil up to 3 inches deep. If it is dry, then it is time to water.

Planting 

Luckily, we live in an area where it is planting season all year, depending on what you indent to plant! Winter is often a slower time of year for landscapes as most things go dormant. Over this time, many homeowners start to think about how to improve their yard.

Those landscape plans you have been saving for the spring can finally become a reality. Planting just before spring season is ideal because it will give your trees and shrubs plenty of time to establish their root system before the spring and summer months!

What to Plant Before Spring Arrives

Brazilian Pepper

This vibrant evergreen is certain to give any landscape year-round attractiveness. The silky, dark green leaves create a wide-spread awning that creates an abundance of shade. This is a perfect choice for the Arizona desert environment due to its love of heat and its drought tolerance. Available in both single or multi-trunk varieties, Brazilian Pepper trees are water-wise and require little water once established.  The Brazilian Pepper tree attracts butterflies and hummingbirds looking for a snack, so sit back in the shade of your Brazilian Pepper and appreciate these incredible visitors.

Ficus Columns

Indian Laurel Columns are an excellent choice for creating a living wall no matter the reason. Need privacy or shade? Look no further. These drought-tolerant Ficus Columns have dense evergreen foliage that works well for blocking unwanted sights and sounds as well keeping your yard and home cooler, thanks to these fast-growing trees. They are easy to prune, so you can keep them on the smaller side for topiary purposes or tall and majestic – whichever fits your style and landscape needs. Grown to thrive in desert environments, Ficus Nitida Columns are sure to add greenery to our arid Arizona landscapes and get attention from your neighbors.

Queen Palm

Specially grown at our tree farms, the Piru Queen Palm is unlike other Queen Palms around. Our Piru Queen Palms feature thicker and hardier trunks, denser and greener fronds, and produce fuller crowns. Our Queen Palms can handle hot summers, cold winters, and windy days. The palm is supported by a thick trunk which makes it ideal in tight spaces around your pool, but it does require overhead space as the palm grows to statuesque heights.

Date Palm

These palms will create a luxurious feel to any property! Not only do they look great, but they are able to handle any weather conditions without any problem. Around pools, the Date Palm provides excellent shade due to its wide large umbrella-shape, fronds and extremely minimal litter. The Date Palm looks great when planted in clusters of 3 to 5 palms and is hardy to cold, heat and drought tolerant. Date palms will add a resort-style feel wherever they are planted!

Majestic Ash

This Majestic Ash tree is an evergreen seedless variety that stays greener than other ash varieties. They feature large, glossy green leaves and its narrow, upright shape makes it an ideal shade tree for any potential planting locations. Because these trees are low-maintenance and virtually pest-free, it makes them ideal for a yard or street plantings.  If you are expecting and hoping for a large canopy of shade to provide a play area for your children or for a way to escape the afternoon sun you will not be disappointed in the Majestic Ash.

Moon Valley Difference

Moon Valley Nurseries is your one-stop shop for all your landscape needs. Our experts have decades worth of experience and they will be able to assist you with any projects or questions you may have regarding trees, shrubs, design, and more! Come by and check out the amazing trees and deals we have to offer our Arizona community.

For the best trees on Earth, Go straight to the Moon.

Apply Pre-Emergent Herbicides

Pre-emergent herbicide works by putting a chemical barrier down, in granular or liquid form, over the top of the soil. This will stop the weeds from germinating above the soil line. To reduce the number of weeds or eliminate them completely, a pre-emergent should be applied at least twice a year. We recommend applying in the beginning of spring and fall.

Applying a pre-emergent herbicide is an easy way to spend less time working in your yard and more time enjoying it! Keeping your weeds in control not only ensures an attractive landscape but creates a much healthier environment for the rest of your plants and gardens.

COUPON ALERT  

Save $$$ on all Pre-Emergent products in stock at any Moon Valley Nurseries near you! 

COUPON ALERT

Below are pre-emergent herbicides we recommend and sell at all our Moon Valley Nurseries locations. Come in and get yourself ready to fight those intrusive weeds once and for all!

AMAZE Grass & Weed Preventer

Recommended as our top choice for granular grass & weed prevention. It's easy to apply and extremely effective against the common unwanted weeds and grasses in Southwestern gardens. Easy-to-follow instructions are found on the bag.

Weed Impede - RTU

This RTU (Ready-to-use) herbicide is a pre-mixed concentrate that can be applied straight from the bottle through the attached nozzle. Weed Impede is our top choice for liquid herbicides, as they work great against common weeds and grasses.

Weed Impede Concentrate

This is the concentrated form of the Weed Impede RTU - this contains a full-strength concentrate. So, while it's not ready to use right out of the bottle, you will get a more potent concentration of herbicide. We recommend the concentrated form for large yards with a massive weeds issue.

Weed Impede 2 in 1

Unlike other pre-emergent, this not only kills existing weeds, it prevents new ones from forming for up to 6 months. This means you can apply this product before having to pull out the weeds yourself and is by far the easiest solution to weed control.

Come in to your nearest Moon Valley Nurseries location and save up to 20% on all pre-emergent herbicide products. Bring in the coupon below for this amazing in-store only savings!

Remove Existing Weeds

Every second you let a weed stay in your yard, is a second that more seeds could be falling into the ground, ready to become its own weed and take up more space in your yard. So, what’s the best way to gain control of your landscape? Spray regularly at peak growing times to be pro-active against the infestation.

This is never how you want to spend a weekend morning (or the full weekend, depending on how many weeds have crept in). However, it does need to get done and the sooner you do it the better. Each day allows the weeds root system to grow deeper and stronger, while the flowers have more time to pollinate and spread EVEN MORE weeds around the yard.

All you need is a pair of gloves, a bin/bucket for all the weeds you pull, some knee pads/towel to give your knees a bit of protection, and, if you ask nicely, a friend to help you out!  Remember to remove the entire root from the ground. For additional assistance, a hoe or shovel can help remove the roots that have gone deep enough to withstand being pulled by hand.

Additional Ways to Keep Weeds Far, Far Away

Mulching

Weeds, like every other plant, need sunlight to survive. The mulch acts as a barrier to keep the weeds seeds from getting any sunlight, essentially smothering them. If using mulch to suppress weed growth, be sure that the mulch is at least 2 inches deep. Replenish the mulch, as needed. For added protection, cover the ground with newspaper or cardboard before adding the mulch. 

Close Planting

Close planting is exactly what it sounds like - It’s the concept of planting shrubs, ground cover, or grass materials close to each other. Some people enjoy close planting due to the overall aesthetic. This is also a great way to keep weeds from growing since they will not have the space or sunlight to succeed.

Moon Valley Nurseries Weed Prevention

Weed prevention with pre-emergent herbicides will keep your landscape looking healthy and beautiful and may inspire you to plant more things that can add more beauty to your landscape! Visit your nearest Moon Valley Nurseries location. We have got you covered for all your landscape needs!

What a Lovely Thing a Rose is...

...And with the weather changing yet again, it is time to see how well our roses survived the winter and help them get back to prime shape for the fullest blooms in 2019! At Moon Valley Nurseries, we support our roses-loving community in Arizona and make sure to always have the best, and most variety of, roses. Now is the time to start getting ready to plant new roses and getting your existing roses ready to start producing in abundance any time now!

January Rose Care Guide  

Pruning

Make sure to prune all the roses back about one half of its current growth and remove foliage. Clean up all debris, including leaves and petals and discard them in the trash. If you have roses that are the climbing variety, pruning will not be needed.

Watering

While this might vary depending on what type of weather we are experiencing this month, we recommend deep watering your roses at least once a week. Continue to monitor the temperature and pay attention to your plants.

Weeding

Examine the area where your roses are planted, or will be planted, to make sure there are no weeds around the roses. Remove all weeds that you can see, no matter how small they might be.

Planting

Because we live in a warmer region than the rest of the country, we can start planting roses as early as January. Be sure to keep newly planted roses moist while they are transitioning into their new location.

Moon Valley Nurseries Roses Selection

We take roses seriously because we know how serious our customers are about their roses. At Moon Valley Nurseries, we make sure to have a large selection at every location. We carry 100’s of different varieties of roses for customers to choose from whether you are looking for a unique informal hedge, plants to climb all over trellis’, or just to have a beautiful section of roses to enjoy in your yard, we can help you!