Growing Native with Petey Mesquitey

Vines can make a landscape so wild and fermina (Cottsia gracilis) is a great addition to a native landscape, climbing up into a paloverde or maybe an ironwood tree. The flowers of plants in the Malpighiaceae are so distinct and…I dunno…I just love them and if you looked up Cottsia gracilis (Janusia) in a flora it would say that the flowers are dimorphic, meaning they have two forms; one open with petals and one closed with no petals and you learn the word cleistogamous referring to a closed self pollinating flower. Cool? Very cool and now you know! The photo…

photo credits: Marian and Bridgitte

I gathered seed of Ceanothus greggii on a rocky slope in May. Buck brush is what I’m talking about and yeah, it’s easier to say. It got that common name cause it’s good browse, especially for deer. So I put those seed capsules in an envelope very near, where I sit to write down plant lists and sometimes write a check. So I’m sitting there and hear a noise and wonder, what the heck? Capsules were opening and tiny seeds were shooting out! I’m gonna be growing Ceanothus this year, now there is no doubt. So should I scarify or…

It’s hard to believe I didn’t mention the beautiful color of the trunks and branches of manzanita. I must have just assumed everyone knew manzanita had beautiful trunks. I apologize and here ya go: The smooth trunks and older branches are very reddish brown or sometimes more brownish red, or sorta maroonish, but always beautiful. The photos are mine.

I love Toumey oaks…I know, I said that, but we have several planted at our little homestead. I think if I lived in and around Tucson I’d be tempted to try this small native oak. Well, of course I would, cause I love this oak. The photos are mine and taken of Toumey oak seedlings in our greenhouse.

Growing plants and being involved in horticulture since 1980 meant knowing the USDA’s plant hardiness zones so I could jabber to folks knowingly (Ha!) about plant choices for their personal habitat. To make things a little more confusing Sunset Magazine created their own hardiness and planting zones for the Western US. Jeez, Sunset! During my brief tenure at the University of Arizona I learned about C. Hart Merriam’s life zone system created in 1896 and I worked that into my plant blather for awhile. It did make me sound pretty smart. Then in 1994 along comes David Brown’s Biotic Communities…

There are many nations and languages found in the borderlands. The photos are mine.

I grew and sold California buckthorn for several years. Early on I sold it wholesale to other nurseries, but I also sold it at Farmers Markets in Cochise County. I’m a terrible plant promoter I guess and the plant never really got popular, at least in my circles. It’s ironic because in California there are some named cultivars (nativars folks like to say…whatever) sold in nurseries. We’ve had some nice specimens over the years at our little homestead. And birds love the fruit so thanks to them we’ve had some volunteers pop up around the place. The photos are of…

The etymology of the word mistletoe is all over the place and has been traced to Old English, Middle English, Anglo Saxon and old German…a mix of all of the above. I do like the meaning “dung on a twig.” And listen, mistletoe is really an excellent plant for birds, so why don’t native plant nurseries offer Phoradendron californicum for your ironwood or mesquite or catclaw? Ask your favorite nursery person for dung on a twig!

When I would give talks I would always show photos and talk about our regional yucca species; Yucca elata, Yucca baccata and Yucca madrensis… Yucca madrensis, by the way, is the former Yucca schottii, but here’s what’s cool about this resident of the Madrean Evergreen Woodlands; it’s pollinated by a different moth species than Y. baccata or Y. elata. They each have their own yucca moth species doing the pollinating. Cool? Very! The photos are mine.