We’ve got a thing for botanical oddities….plants that only a mother could love, and the spikemosses certainly fit that bill. We currently grow 19 different winter hardy species, which include 10 North American native species, and 9 from other lands. Current taxonomic trends are splitting the spikemosses into an array of different genera, making it
Wright’s Spikemoss Read More »
Looking good as we head into winter is our patch of Echinocactus texensis, aka: horse crippler cactus. These Texas and New Mexico natives are loved by gardeners who grow winter hardy cactus, but equally despised by ranchers who have to deal with horses, and farmworkers, who step on them. Their low growth profile, along with
Eysenhardtia is a small genus of only 13 species in the pea family, Fabaceae, native from the Southwestern US, south into Central America. The star of the genus in our climate is Eysenhardtia texana, in particular, a winter hardy Patrick McMillan collection from Uvalde, Texas. For us, this small, deciduous, dryland shrub, is adorned with
Flocking to Eysenhardt Read More »
Big hair comes and goes in fashion, but Panicum virgatum ‘Ledbetter Blues’ takes big hair to a whole new level. This exceptional form is a Wade Roitsch (Yucca Do) selection from Lee County, Texas. This cultivar defies the current trend toward narrow selections, by being yuuuge. Although the size of our 3.5 year old clump
Really big, Texas-sized Hair Read More »
We are thoroughly enchanted by a little-known Southeast native ornamental grass, Schizachyrium divergens, and in particular, a ZZ-Top like, super hairy version, named Schizachyrium divergens ‘The Fuzz’. We say little-known, because it was formerly dumped into the widespread Schizachyrium scoparium, which seems an unconscionable taxonomic stretch. Some taxonomists now consider it a Texas endemic, while
Looking absolutely dazzling in early August is our plant of Leucophyllum frutescens ‘Silver Spirit’. For decades we tried to grow this Southwestern US (Utah, Arizona, and Texas) native, but failed over and over again with winter survival, until Patrick McMillan shared cuttings of his Uvalde, Texas collection. After five years in the ground, it’s still
Silver Spirit Texas Sage Read More »
Just finishing it’s flowering for the year is our specimen of Cylindropuntia kleinii. This North American native to the Chihuahuan desert regions of Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, forms a 5′ tall, gnarly specimen, composed of long, jointed sections, that break away as they become attached to anything that tries to pass to near. Many
One of the easiest of the evergreen desert ferns we grow if the North American native, Astrolepis sinuata, better known as wavy cloak fern. This year, we’ve introduced spore grown plants of Astrolepis sinuata ‘Jeff Davis’, from our 2000 spore collection in the West Texas county by the same name. In that desolate region (population
It’s just hard to walk by our amazing specimen of Forestiera ‘Woodlanders Weeping’ without snapping a photo, but since it’s been several years since we mentioned it on-line, it’s time to share our most recent shot from this week. Forestiera angustifolia, better known as desert olive, is a Texas native from the Southern part of
Can’t see the Forest for the Forestiera Read More »
Long ago, we gave up our red plastic hummingbird feeders for a more natural way to attract hummers to the garden, and one of the best is the Southwest US native Anisacanthus wrightii. Starting for us in August, it continues to be a blaze of glory through September. Texas firecracker prefers full sun and dry
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