A fast, upright native shrub with narrow, glossy green leaves that stay full year-round. It makes a tidy evergreen screen on low water, and it takes clipping as a hedge or a looser, natural shape.
Living with it in the Phoenix Valley
Watering
Follow the shrub schedule in our Landscape Care guide, then keep it lean; it is native to Arizona. Water sets its size: more water makes a larger, tree-like plant, less keeps it a compact shrub. Soil must drain well, since warm, wet soil in late summer invites root rot.
Pruning
It needs little pruning when it has room. It also takes shearing well if you want a formal hedge. Cut out any freeze damage after the last frost.
Cold
Established plants handle a typical Phoenix winter. Young plants can be hurt by long freezes.
How our designers use it
Evergreen screen
Its upright habit makes it one of our designers’ go-to native shrubs for hiding walls, equipment and neighbors’ views in narrow spaces.
Hedge or windbreak
Planted in a row, it can be clipped formally or left natural to buffer wind.
Green backdrop
The fine, bright foliage sets off agaves, red yucca and flowering shrubs placed in front.
Good to know
Around the pool
Female plants shed papery seed pods in summer and fall, and male plants release wind-blown pollen in spring. Keep it a few feet back from the water.
