Cargill & Bradley Families
Desert Living Courtyard The Desert Living Courtyard is divided into ten distinct garden vignettes, featuring a variety of landscape themes, each created to offer the community a variety of ideas for using water-conserving, native plants in colorful, creative and natural settings.  

Want to learn more? Download descriptions and layouts of our beautiful gardens!

Download introduction and overview layout of the Desert Living Courtyard.

Down load Barrio Garden description and layout Peek behind the walls of one of Tucson ’s traditional barrio gardens filled with bright colors, rusticated, recycled materials, and unique containers;

Download Container Garden (description & layout) – for the homeowner with limited space, containers provide many alternatives to in-ground plantings, including a “potted” water feature;

Download Moorish Garden (description & layout) – reflecting the sensual tranquility of a shaded Moorish-inspired garden laid out around a cooling fountain in colors of blue, white and yellow;

Download Xeriscape Garden (description & layout) – a demonstration of the classic principles of Xeriscape design clearly defining the “zone” concept and blending into the surrounding landscapes;

Download W ildlife Garden (description & layout) – this boulder-strewn desert landscape features a shallow “natural” pond. Plants are selected for minimal water use and attractiveness to small wildlife;

Download Dry Shade Garden (description & layout) – for those gardens with less than abundant sunshine, the spotlight here is on native and arid-adapted plants that thrive in partial or total shade;

Download Winter/Summer Garden (description & layout) – garden beds filled with plants that bloom in either of Tucson’s most extreme seasons – the cold of winter or the heat of summer;

Download Meditation Garden ( description & layout) – inspired by the simplicity of a Zen garden, this smallest of the ten vignettes demonstrates that even a tiny space can become a peaceful refuge with carefully chosen plant material and hardscape symbolizing the natural environment;

Down load Outdoor Living Garden (description & layout) – here architecture and plants combine to create a sense of place that is informal, comfortable, adapted to our desert surroundings, and inviting for year-round outdoor family living;

Download Utility Garden (description & layout) – a practical demonstration of gardening basics from tool storage and potting benches, to composting and low tech water harvesting, including a kitchen garden in a cattle tank

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(updated 3-7-07)