Q: Is it possible to grow sour or bitter orange in Las Vegas? It’s becoming almost impossible to find at the local markets, and we use it in so many recipes. I was curious if that was something that might grow here. When should I plant it?
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.
Our desert is a great place to grow strawberry guava. Pick a non-windy place in your landscape for planting. This protected location should get at least six hours of direct sunlight.
Chilling injury is due to cooler or cold weather (above freezing) temperatures to tropical plants growing outside of — or close to — the fringes of their normal range.
After a tree is damaged during a windstorm, healing can take two to three years if the tree is kept in good health. To do that, clean up the wound and apply management practices that encourage it to heal.
A deep watering once a week in the winter should be all that is necessary for sago palms in most soils and locations except the hottest.
Yellowing of bottle brush leaves oftentimes occurs when the soil is low in nutrients and organic matter content. Fix yellowing leaves by applying a landscape fertilizer every year in the spring and combine it with an annual application of chelated iron.
Big trees use quite a bit of water. The cost of watering these trees must be balanced with the need for cooling.
The Extension Botanic Gardens feature more than 1,500 species of plants, including many found nowhere else in the Las Vegas Valley.
In our Mojave Desert environment, most artificial grasses get over 165 degrees any time when in full sunlight and air temperatures are over 100 degrees.
Tree roots are lazy. They grow best where water is easiest to get. And tree roots absolutely love fertilizer.
In the hot desert, loss of shade from an irrigation problem leads to attacks by borers.
Q: I planted a sweet lavender plant last year and it grew great until this August and then suddenly died. It was getting about 2 gallons per watering via two emitters. I would like to replace it with another lavender. It gets morning sun and afternoon shade. What variety of lavender would you recommend we try?
Branch dieback in citrus, particularly lemon, is very confusing. Most likely it is a disease issue called “shoot and twig dieback” of citrus.
This is the Mojave Desert. Las Vegas and the high or middle deserts can have cold winters, unexpected early spring frosts and winds. Depending on the type of citrus, fruit trees can survive cold temperatures ranging from the mid to low 20s all the way to no freeze at all.
Selecting a fruit tree that gives you improved tolerance to freezing winter temperatures may be a better idea in the long run