My Rare Fruit Tree Collection
The full walkthrough — every unusual tree in the yard, what it's doing, and what's worth growing in the desert.
Watch on YouTube →
Queen Creek, Arizona · Zone 9b
Rare tropical fruit trees, tested in the desert.
One backyard. 120°F summers, intense UV, surprise freezes — and an ever-growing collection of longan, jujube, citrus, and other unlikely fruit trees. This is what actually survives here.
Gardening where "they" say you can't.
Touch Grass Gardening started the way a lot of obsessions do — sprouting avocado seeds in a small California apartment during the pandemic. After moving to Arizona, the experiment got serious: could rare tropical fruit trees actually thrive in one of the harshest growing climates in the country?
Years of trial and error later, the answer is yes — with the right varieties and honest expectations. Every video documents what worked, what died, and what the trees actually tasted like. No generic advice. Just results from this yard.
Read the full story
The channel, by the numbers
Real videos, real trees, real harvests — as of September 2026.
45+Long-form videos
21Shorts
3,900+Subscribers
438K+Lifetime views
Start with these
The videos that define the channel — garden tours, variety showdowns, and survival reports.
Garden Tours
Full Garden Tours
Numbered episode tours through the seasons — see the whole collection change across spring flush, summer stress, and fall harvest.
Watch on YouTube →Survival Reports
What Survived the Summer
After weeks above 115°F: which trees shrugged it off, which ones crisped, and what the damage teaches about variety selection.
Watch on YouTube →What you'll find here
Three things this channel does that most gardening content doesn't.
🌡️ Tested in 9b, not rated for it
Hardiness zones are a starting guess. Every variety here has a track record in Queen Creek heat, sun, and caliche — reported honestly, including the failures.
🍈 Cultivar-level detail
Not "longan" — which longan. Kohala vs. Sri Chompoo vs. Diamond River, tasted side by side. Same for jujube, starfruit, citrus, and jasmine.
🌵 Desert-first techniques
Deep mulch basins, drip strategy, sun protection for young trees, and working with flood irrigation — the unglamorous stuff that decides who lives.