pruning mirabilis multiflora

Mirabilis multiflora is a pretty aggresive plant. I have planted only a couple plants. The first one was a little over twelve years ago. We got four or five truck loads of soil that was removed from a ditch the began to be clogged by the sediment that came in the irrigation water out of the canyon. We built three berms with this soil. That is where we began planting our natives. We planted one Mirabilis in the month of May, and with a little water, it grew to the diameter of five feet. We collect seed. The next year there were a few more plants and now there are many. They do have a problem. They will cover up every small plant that is close by. They grow over the top of large rocks. So when you plant one, give it plenty of room. There are times that you will have to prune it. You can cut as much off as you like. I would not recommend shearing, but just cut some branches off. The photo shows one of our plants that has plenty of room.

More Mountain Lover

Pictured are the some seed pods of the Mountain Lover. There are two pods centered near the bottom. There are two more pods just above the horizontal branch a little right of center. Each pod has one seed. I have been watching these for nearly a month now and have yet to see a ripe seed.

Native perennial Sunflower

On June 3, I found this native sunflower in the foothills about ten minutes from home that had just barely started to bloom. I was looking for penstemons in that area a couple of days before the Penstemon Festival. I found Penstemon watsoni in this same area.
June 23. very impressive floral display. I hope to get seeds from this and have it growing at my nursery a year from now. This plant looks good from the time the snow melts and the new growth appears to full flower. I don't know how it will act with some dead heading, but I will be finding it out and report it at a later time.




Close up June 23, 2009. This is a very impressive plant. It may look better this year than other years because of the good spring snow and rain that we have had. Elevation is around 6,000 feet.

Paxistima myrsinites

The Paxistima myrsinites, called Mountain Lover, is located in many areas in many states. There is a large population in the shade of Gambel Oak along the upper Cal Valley road. It is about 25 minutes from my nursery. I went back there after the Penstemon Festival to collect some seed from a very short Pussy Toes. While there I checked the Mountain Lover for seed. I have seen it flower numerous times, but never saw any seed. It was was really shady and all I could see were the flowers. I cut several stems to bring home where there was more light. To my surprise the were a number of seed pods in different stages of development. The mature seed pods were oval in shape and 1/4 inch long and about 1/8 inch wide. The bottom photo shows one seed pod that is turning brown. It is about half way up on the left side of the right stem.
The Mountain lover is evergreen an looks great in the shade.

Penstemon Festival

The penstemon Festival is now over. It was very succesful. There were not a whole lot people there but the few that were there had a good time. We were looking at five penstemon along the Cal Valley road. After we got there we found some palmer Penstemon that we had not seen before. And on the way back to the nursery we stopped near the Scipio pass to see the Penstemon Watsonii that I had found a couple of days earlier. It is the one that is pictured. Pictured also are some of the people that were there.

Fallugia paradoxa APACHE PLUME

Almost every day in the garden and nursery that is something new that is blooming. I have notice the Apache Plume blooming the last several days. I got a chance to take a picture today. I think that you will enjoy this.

Check the earlier posting for information about the Penstemon Festival. The furthest walk will be about 200 feet from the road.

Penstemon Festival

It starts Friday, 5 June at 7pm. The program will be at our home just west of the greenhouses at Great Basin Natives 75 West 300 South. If you are coming in on I-15, take exit 174. follow the road into Holden and turn west on 300 South. We are looking forward to seeing you. Saturday we will meet here so we can leave at 8:30 am. It will take about 25 minutes to drive to the Cal Valley Road where there are five different penstemons and many other wild flowers. We will meet back at the city park just east of the church for lunch. After lunch we will come back to the nursery to see the penstemons and other native plants there. There will a free penstemon and a free native annual for every one. Thanks

Penstemons 2009

This morning, Robert and I visited the wild flowers on both sides of the Cal Valley Road. This is where we will be going on the penstemon festival June 6, 2009. The Program Friday night will feature a slide show of the penstemons pictured and the other wild flowers at this location. Pictured are the different penstemons that we will see.
P. comarrhenus, is not blooming. Pictured is a 2008 photo
P. eatonii
P. humilis
P. confusus
P. tidestromii
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The unknown penstemon is P. Humilis

Erigeron flagellaris TRAILING DAISY

This is an amazing plant. The photo is looking down on the plant that is in a Terra cotta pot. It is a nice ground cover that has been growing in full sun. It sends out runners in all directions which root in as they grow. Under cultivation it is green all summer. After runner root in they will soon flower. The flowers close at night and then open again. The are flowers and emerging buds on the same plant. Flowers are on top of six inch leaf less stems.

Penstemon watsonii

The seed from this particular penstemon was collected near the top of West Mountain west of Payson, Utah. I found this plant in 1989. There was only one large penstemon in the area. It was surrounded by sage brush. The mountain is very dry, so I thought the plant is unique. There was a lot of seed the first time I went back. I planted some in the fall and got good germination. I got some nice plants. and planted one. It did not survive to the next summer. I found the seed some years later and planted a thousand seeds or so. No germination. The next year I planted most of the seed and got two plants. One is pictured here. Last fall I planted the rest of the seed. I have about five plants. I hope to use these plants for seed production of this very drought tolerant penstemon. I have not not looked for the original plant for about five years. If it is still there, it will be at least twenty years old. I hope to see it this summer. I have to go when it is blooming and again to collect some seed.

Unknown

The penstemon is blooming. Robert may be here today and he will be able to key it out. It is about eight inches tall.

Here is the picture for this week. Size of the plant is not changing, but the buds are larger. There is considerable change between this photo and the first photo. other photos

Wednesday again

This plant is not getting and bigger. It looks a lot healthier than the first picture after transplanting. Buds are beginning to develop. The size looks similar to the plants where I collected the seed. Robert said it is Penstemon humulis.

Unknown penstemon

There has been some change since the last picture was taken. Some flower buds have began to develop. Once it blooms I will be able to determine just what penstemon it is. The penstemon flower has five stemons.

Unknown Penstemon Post II

It has been seven days since the last picture. The first picture show transplant shock. This picture shows that the pensteman has recovered from the shock and is looking pretty good. We will follow this plant until it blooms. It is in a one gallon pot, which is less than a gallon, but called gallon anyway.

The Unknown Penstemon

In the summer of 2007 I was looking at the wild flowers along the Cal Valley. There are five different penstemons along that road. Penstemon humulis, eatonii, tidestromi, comarrhenus, and one unknown. I collected seed from a penstemon that I didn't know. They were planted in the late fall of the same year. I plant my seeds in a 1020 germination tray in the early winter of each year. They are placed in a cold frame for the winter. the doors are screened to keep the birds out. I have to water them once a week during the winter. Then I have to blow the water out of the lines to keep them from freezing. I didn't notice any germination of the unknown penstemon last spring and summer. I was looking at last year's trays and discovered that the unknown penstemon was germinating, and there were five plants from last year that were growing quite large. There were numerous seedlings that had emerged this spring. I transplanted the five into gallon pots and put the tray back on the bench to wait for more transplanting. When the five bloom this spring, I will be able to identify them. I think that they are humulis, but we will see. The picture is of the repotted penstemon. It is suffering a little from the stress of transplanting. I will be showing its progress with a weekly picture.

Penstemon eatonii FIRECRACKER PENSTEMON

This penstemon grows in well drained gravel soil. There are five different penstemons that grow in this area. They were very attractive during the summer of 2008 because of the higher than normal snow fall the previous winter. There were more populations of this penstemon than any of the other five. It does well in the landscape, but is somewhat short lived. In my garden it has reseeded itself. It grows upto two feet high and about 18 inches wide. Butterflies and humming birds love it.

Sphaeralcea coccinea SCARLET GLOBE MALLOW

This mallow is only about eight inches tall. There are some colonies of plants that are quite large. A single plant looks pretty lonely. They are very drought tolerant and usually are the first mallows to bloom in the spring. The smaller picture is a close-up.

Sphaeralcea munroana MONROE GLOBE MALLOW

The Monroe Globe Mallow blooms in the Spring. This grows mostly just below the juniper/pinion area. During a wet spring large plantings are visible. There are some that are only 8 to 10 inches tall and some grow to 30 inches tall. They will do well in a landscape with a monthly watering. They will bloom again if they are cut down. I have seen them grazed in the western Utah desert They are easily reseeded. I have some in my desert landscape and I thin the some each year. There is not enough water from the sky if they grow to thick.