The best time to plant winter-hardy trees and shrubs is during the fall, from around the end of September through mid-November.
Bob Morris
Bob Morris is a horticulture expert living in Las Vegas and professor emeritus for the University of Nevada. Visit his blog at xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com. Send questions to Extremehort@aol.com.
The cycad, aka sago palm, is considered an ancient representative of its kind and has changed very little over the millennia. It is, like pine trees, a true gymnosperms.
Lemons usually don’t ripen until about December. Ripening means the sugar content increases as they reach maturity. December and January are the usual times we see citrus damaged by vermin.
For the most part, limes are harvested green. When limes are harvested too late, they are yellowish, pithy and no longer juicy and light in weight.
Kurapia has worked well in covering highway and freeway shoulders, rooftops, public utility areas, commercial properties and solar farm landscapes. But not much is known how it performs in a desert climate.
When plants are at their healthiest, strong and most resilient, they can better resist the high temperatures and, to a lesser degree, even the low temperatures that surround them.
Probably the easiest palm to grow in our area that can be started from seed is called the California or desert fan palm.
Traditional yew pine is considered a tough mesic evergreen tree but is not a desert plant. It can handle our hot summers if it gets afternoon shade and is not surrounded by surface rock.
Take this quiz and see how you stack up against other desert gardeners.
Never spray a plant that is flowering with anything. That’s a death knell to bees and their colonies.
All desert plants including hopseed bush are prone to this disease if grown in moist soils or in low spots in desert landscapes that accumulate water.
Pepper plant size depends on the variety. The recent trend in vegetable transplant hybridizing for home gardens is for closer spacing and early production.
Kurapia was started from the native plant, Lippia nodiflora, native to the tropical and subtropical areas of South America and the United States. That calls into question its tolerance to extreme desert temperatures and low humidity.
It is important to follow all federal, state or local laws or ordinances pertaining to the use of a pesticide — whether it is used to kill weeds, insects, protect plants from diseases or terminate the life of a critter — and that any pesticide is used as a last resort.
When it is young, a bottletree needs about 20 to 30 gallons each time it is watered. But the soil shouldn’t be continuously wet six days a week. The roots need a chance to breathe.