Iris are enchanting flowers and are just starting to flower now in parts of the Southwest. I appreciate iris because the plants are tough as nails, and grow well in the alkaline soils of the Southwest. They will need more water than a cactus to keep going, but they need […]
Is this a plant in my yard a Lysiloma or an Acacia? That was the question from a Substack newsletter reader of mine. Complete with two pictures of the plant in their front yard. Feathery leaves, creamy pale puffball flowers. It could be a Lysiloma or is it an Acacia? […]
Castor is a pretty garden plant with an oil that has been used for millennia. But did you know it got it’s common name from a beaver? When I wrote about growing colorful castor (Ricinus communis) in the warm season garden I started wondering about this whole name thing. Long […]
Folks seem to think that Latin-based scientific names are hard to learn and unpronounceable. If you take it one step at a time – they can be easy! A few centuries ago, Europeans started exploring this globe, and it became a much smaller place. One thing that happened was all […]
