Shade is hard to come by in Arizona. Takes planning, planting and patience before we can have our shade. Or, we create a pergola or some sort of shade structure. My favorite part of my small garden is my Japanese Maple planted in the ground. I think it's unusual to find a JP in the ground here. I have seen just one other tree in 17 years. This was given to me 4 years ago, it's been in the ground for 2 and receives just about 2 hrs of early morning sunlight. In the summer that early morning sunlight can bring 90 degree temps.
