Our Terrible, Awful, Horrible, Stupid, Nutrient-Deficient Soil
I’ve mentioned this before but I think it bears repeating that our soil quality is about as bad as soil quality can get. Frankly, using the words ‘Las Vegas soil’ and ‘quality’ in the same sentence is a little ridiculous. There’s nothing quality about the barren mix of rocks and …
Native Mojave Desert Plants Profile Project: Psorothamnus fremontii
If you head out into the desert around Las Vegas, there’s a good chance you’ll come across a pretty nondescript plant commonly known as Fremont’s dalea. It has small silver leaves on a spindly form that even a gardener with a generous spirit might describe as underwhelming. I certainly wouldn’t …
Pruning For Laughs
Sometimes bad pruning is funny though. True confession: this post was mostly started just to show you all some funny tree pictures. I think I make a solid point about shade at the end but it was honestly secondary to the part where I get to make fun of goofy …
Flowering Plants for Shady Spots in Vegas
Got a spot that doesn’t get much sun where nothing seems to bloom? You might be surprised by what will actually work in some shade here in Vegas. Remember, a little bit of our sun can go a very long way so sometimes just a couple of hours of direct …
Dying Young: A Plant’s Tale
It’s a story for the ages, really. Your first glimpse of a beauty so striking it takes your breath away and you think to yourself, ‘Yes, that right there! I must see that beauty again and again forever! I’ll never grow tired of gazing at such exquisite exquisiteness! Never, I …
How to Plant a Tree So It Will Actually Live
Here’s the thing. Life as a tree in Las Vegas is already pretty stressful. It’s absurdly hot and then it’s cold and the soil’s about as nutritious as a box of chocolate donuts but minus the delicious taste. You couldn’t pay me enough personally to stand out there in the …
Native Mojave Desert Plants Profile Project: Larrea tridentata
Creosote (Larrea tridentata) is easily one of the most ubiquitous plants in the Mojave desert and I think that might ultimately be what makes it so endlessly fascinating. There’s a pretty short list of plants on this planet that can not only tolerate brutal temperature changes and near-barren soil …
The Origins of My Eye Twitch
Okay, early apologies because I’m honestly getting a little cranky so I’m about to go on a minor rant here. It’s just that the problems I’m going to call out are all so totally avoidable that it makes me crazy when I keep seeing them over and over and over …
Native Mojave Desert Plants Profile Project: Encelia farinosa
If you’re inclined to notice these sort of these things and possibly even if you’re not, the earliest of the spring wildflowers in Vegas have probably started to catch your eye over the past week or two. Pretty much without fail, the first flowers you’re likely to see are the …