# Growing Nice Things in Hades



## imp (Sep 13, 2015)

5 years ago, spending our first of two consecutive winters here in Laughlin, rented a condo, we took to walking the "River Walk" daily which fronts the river, 1-1/2 miles one-way from the Riverside Hotel to the River Palms (now River Lodge) then back. We were amazed by the lush, flowering plantings maintained along the way by the hotels. A very attractive yellow or red flowering bush was located at both the Pioneer and Riverside Hotels, covered with seed pods, which I gathered and took back with us. My wife provided little plastic cups of various kinds, squirreled away for (?), as she does. Evidently, I found, the plants must produce either enormous numbers of seeds, or most are not capable of germinating. Failed to produce anything, but kept trying. The pic below is of the bush whose seed produced a result, transplanted by our garage, 2nd. pic.






Now 2 years old, finally established, it was loaded with yellow flowers all summer, a constant battle with the desert wind, disheveled, but new growth all over. We learned it is "Mexican Bird of Paradise"


I love dates! Started saving, drying, and planting the pits. Below is what one looks like, it's first single, tiny frond coming up out of the dirt, then a second. This one is about a month old.





These next two are date palms out back of our house, grown from the pit, now almost two years old.








Following two, Pomegranate, rescued from Wally-World's "death heap", it's been struggling since last fall. Right now, it has a tiny fruit forming, blurred image, the wind shaking it so much!








Creosote bush grows naturally around here, unless watered by other than Ma Nature, it is scraggly-looking, sometimes resisting many months without water. In arroyos, washes, where water appears more frequently. They bloom with beautiful yellow flowers in the Spring, and we learned there seed is blown everywhere. Around Christmas last, a tiny green sprout appeared, obviously a seed had taken root, I started giving it a spray when I watered the other stuff, it turned out to be Creosote, which I decided to try to "train" into a tree of sorts. It loves the unexpected water, I guess, is now 4 feet high! "Over-watering" is often said to be a cause of plants failing. Over-water a desert plant, and it goes nuts.





Last, Star of the Desert, a type of Palo Verde, has almost invisible leaves, very tiny, on very long "whiskers" My wife got a foot-high sprig from a lady giving them away, we planted it Fall 2013. It is now at least 12 feet high, the trunk is over 3 inches in diameter! Graceful, as it sways in the heaviest winds, unfazed by them. Well, a guy's gotta do SOMETHING, when he gets old and decrepit!     Thanks fer lookin'!    imp


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## Warrigal (Sep 13, 2015)

Imp, that last plant is very similar to our casuarina trees. They are adapted to growing in dry places and to save water loss from transpiration the leaves are reduced to almost nothing. Photosynthesis occurs in the stems. They are an indicator of underground water as they tend to grow where the water table is closer to the ground surface.


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## imp (Sep 13, 2015)

Thank you! We learned in Engineering Geology that such plants are called Phreatophytes. No idea why I would remember that! Many here are similar, our annual precip. here is on the order of 5 inches per year.     imp


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## tnthomas (Sep 13, 2015)

Imp,

Thanks for sharing your desert gardening / planting pics; we live abt 3 hours west of your place, near Victorville.


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## imp (Sep 13, 2015)

Yer most welcome, tn! I think I went through Victorville once, taking a northward route heading for Sylmar; possible? Some cowboy's ranch was located in V'ville, Roy Rogers, maybe? Do you ever come over to Laughlin?
Yer not obligated to answer all my danged questions, ya know!     imp


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