Emory's Globemallow

Year-round

Emory's globemallow is a desert shrub built for heat and sun, so growing it in San Francisco means working around the city's cool, foggy summers rather than the plant's home climate.

• Water regularly to establish for the first season, then cut back sharply. It wants low water and can rot in San Francisco's damp, foggy conditions if overwatered.
• Plant in fast draining, mineral soil with no compost or rich amendments. Heavy garden soil combined with SF's fog and winter rain is a fast path to root rot.
• Use rock or gravel mulch only. Wood mulch holds moisture against the base, which this desert plant does not tolerate well.
• The most common mistake is treating it like a typical garden perennial with regular water and rich soil. In San Francisco's climate that combination usually kills it within a season or two.

Its silvery gray foliage and orange flowers can read as a tidy, low water accent in a front bed when it is thriving, but because it tends to be short lived in this climate, plan on it as a rotating feature rather than a permanent fixture.

Fall

Fall is often San Francisco's warmest, sunniest stretch, and usually the best bloom window for this plant here.

• Take advantage of the fog lifting in early fall. This is typically when growth and flowering pick up the most.
• Prune back by about a third after flowering slows to keep the plant compact and prevent it from getting woody and sparse at the base.
• Keep watering minimal. Fall rain has not usually started yet, but this plant still wants very little supplemental water.
• Allow some self sown seedlings to establish if you want replacement plants, since individuals are often short lived in this climate.

Winter

San Francisco's wet, mild winter is the highest risk period for this plant, since standing water in cool soil is what actually threatens it here, not cold.

• Stop all supplemental watering. Winter rain alone is more than enough and often more than this plant wants.
• Make sure the planting site drains well. Consider a raised mound or bed if the soil holds water, since root rot from wet winter soil is the main threat in this climate.
• Cold itself is rarely an issue in San Francisco's mild winters. Root rot from moisture is the real concern.
• Expect this to be a shorter lived plant in a coastal fog climate than in its home desert range. Do not be surprised if it needs replacing every few years.

Spring

Spring is the best planting window in San Francisco, before summer fog sets in.

• Plant out after the winter rains taper off, giving roots a head start before fog season arrives.
• Choose the sunniest, most fog sheltered spot in the yard. Spots away from the immediate coastline work better than exposed western exposures.
• Cut back any winter dieback or leggy growth to encourage a fuller shape.
• Hold off on regular irrigation. Spring rain is usually enough.

Summer

San Francisco's summer marine fog is the single biggest obstacle for this plant, since it comes from hot desert habitat and does not take to it.

• This species dislikes heavy summer fog, so plant it in the warmest, sunniest microclimate available in the yard rather than a foggy west facing spot.
• Water sparingly. Established plants want very little water even in summer, and SF's cool damp air already keeps soil moisture higher than in its home desert range.
• Prune lightly after the first flush of bloom to encourage a second round and keep growth from getting leggy in the lower light.
• Expect slower, less full growth here than in a hot inland garden. That is normal for this plant in a fog belt climate.

Year-round

Emory's Globemallow is a tough low-desert forb that wants full sun, fast-draining soil, and very little water once it settles in. Give it a gravelly spot and mostly leave it alone.

• Plant in full sun in decomposed-granite or gravelly soil that drains fast, the same alkaline caliche ground common around Phoenix at about 1,100 feet.
• Water deep and infrequent, soaking the root zone then letting the top few inches dry out before the next soak, rather than short daily sprinkles.
• Top the bed with a thin layer of decomposed granite or gravel, never wood bark, which looks out of place here and traps moisture the wrong way.
• Skip fertilizer completely, this desert native resents rich soil and gets leggy and floppy when it is fed.

A single tidy globemallow ringed by decomposed granite reads as intentional desert xeriscape, which is the expected HOA-friendly front-yard look in Phoenix and helps you avoid a violation letter for an unkempt bed.

Fall

Fall is the prime season in Phoenix. Cooler weather brings a reflush of bloom, and it is the best time both to plant new globemallow and to tidy the old one.

• Do your main planting in October and November so roots establish through the mild winter well before next summer's heat, this is the best window of the year.
• Water a new fall planting deep but infrequent, soaking it in at planting then letting the top of the soil dry before the next soak.
• Cut the plant back by about a third after the summer bloom fades to keep it compact and encourage a fresh cooler-season flush.
• Refresh the decomposed-granite mulch layer while temperatures are pleasant, keeping it thin and gravelly, not wood bark.

A clean cutback after bloom and a freshly raked decomposed-granite bed read as intentional and cared-for at the curb, which is the HOA-friendly desert look and keeps a leggy post-bloom plant from drawing a violation letter.

Winter

Winter in the Phoenix core is a mild cool growing season, not a deep dormancy. Globemallow needs almost no water now and shrugs off the light frosts most winters bring.

• Water only minimally through December to February, the gentle winter rains usually cover most of what the plant needs.
• This forb is frost-hardy in the Phoenix core, so on the rare hard freeze a light frost cloth is plenty, and it is often not needed at all.
• Leave established plants mostly alone, the mild winter is when fall-planted roots keep quietly settling in ahead of summer.
• Hold off on any heavy pruning until fall, a light tidy of dead stems is all winter asks for.

Spring

Spring is when globemallow puts on its orange show around Phoenix. Enjoy the bloom and start easing off the water as the days warm up.

• Expect peak orange bloom from March into May as temperatures climb, the front end of its May-through-September flowering.
• Taper the last of the mild winter waterings as spring heats up, giving one deep soak every couple of weeks rather than frequent shallow ones.
• You can still slip a new plant into the ground in early spring as a weaker secondary window, but get it in before real heat arrives, never wait until May.
• Pull spring weeds out of the decomposed-granite bed by hand so they do not crowd the young plant or steal its water.

Summer

Summer is the stress season in the low desert, not the growing peak. Give even this tough native an occasional deep drink in June, then watch for overwatering once the monsoon storms start.

• In the dry brutal June foresummer, when highs run 100 to 115 degrees, give an occasional deep soak in the plant's first one or two summers to carry it through.
• Once the summer monsoon arrives from early July into mid-September, back off your own watering and let the warm downpours do the work.
• Overwatering is the number one killer here, so do not add irrigation on top of a good monsoon rain, let the fast-draining soil dry between storms.
• Never plant globemallow in the May-through-July heat, new roots cannot establish and the plant usually cooks.