Spadefoot Nursery

06/12/2026

Gardening for Busy People: the irrigation

06/11/2026

Gardens for busy people, part 5

06/08/2026

We’re closed for about a month. We reopen Friday, July 10. We’ll still be busy growing cool plants for you. But we aim to see more signs like this one.

06/08/2026

06/07/2026

❤️❤️❤️

This episode of Growing Native is a rambling reminiscence about amphibians and reptiles. With the monsoon starting up here in the borderlands I think we’re going to be seeing some of those. Yay!

06/07/2026

Gardens for busy people.
A quick note on the irrigation clock we’re using.

06/07/2026

It’s that time of year when the wonderful (or terrifying, depending on your relationship with large insects) palo verde beetle emerges to mate. These giant bugs are harmless, and many people are misinformed about their relationship to palo verde trees.
Clearly stated, the palo verde beetle (Derobrachus hovorei) has a long evolutionary relationship with palo verde trees (Parkinsonia spp.) and they do NOT kill them. If they did, palo verde trees would have been eliminated a long time ago, as just about every palo verde tree in the region is probably hosting the grubs of this beetle.
The life cycle begins when a female beetle, after mating with the male, lays her eggs at the base of a species of Parkinsonia, palo verde trees. The egg hatches and the grub feeds on decaying matter, and woody material in the ground, like dead roots. And yes, the grub might nibble on the occasional green root. But just like snipping a branch here and there doesn’t harm plants (and sometimes even helps them) the same is true for roots. The palo verde trees produce compounds in the roots that make the green, live part of the roots less attractive to the beetle, but also, most beetles in our region specialize in dead wood and decomposing materials, not green wood.
Sometimes around a dying tree, which is almost always dying because of a lack of proper water, there will be numerous grubs (of more than just the palo verde beetle sort) taking advantage of a resource, a dying tree providing these grubs their favorite food, dead woody roots.
Eventually the adults emerge after a few years underground and live long enough to eat some floral nectar or overripe cactus fruit, and mate. Their final act isn’t mating though, it’s flying around a restaurant patio, taking out its revenge on people who demonize insects while knowing little to nothing about them. They will find you, in their drunken daytime state, fly into your hair while you scream. And since the palo verde beetle is utterly harmless (oh maybe it can slightly pinch your skin) the terror you feel is all of your own making. To friends, this beetle will land on your shoulder, and say farewell.
We love the palo verde beetle.

06/07/2026

This summer be smart, don’t confuse an Arizona poppy for a goat’s head and pull it! Unfortunately Arizona poppy (Kallstroemia grandiflora) gets mistaken for goat’s head plant (Tribulus terrestris) which is an awful w**d—these plants are all in the same family and look much alike when young. Arizona poppy does NOT get spikey fruits famous for piercing so many bike tires (and the soles of people’s feet).

On the left of the comparison images is Tribulus terrestris, the goat’s head w**d which after flowering forms those spikey fruits. They’re ouchy. On the right is Kallstroemia grandiflora, the Arizona poppy. They’re pretty and not ouchy. The foliage both species is somewhat similar—goat’s head has much smaller leaves and usually more shiny/glossy. AZ poppy leaves are slightly hairy (you may need a lens to see the hairs) and slightly duller green. But if you can’t tell from the leaves for certain, wait for the first flower, and if you see that smaller yellow flower with five, small separate petals, pull that plant up before it forms those nasty spikey fruits. In the picture without flowers, on the left is goat’s head, on the right is Arizona poppy.

Perhaps last summer you saw these poppy-like plants growing around Arizona? Though it resembles a poppy, the Arizona poppy isn’t related to poppies at all. Arizona poppies are warm-season growers (all the other plants called poppies grow in our cool season) and they are related to the creosote bush (in the Zygophyllaceae). Plants usually are low-growing, under a foot, but spreading to about 3’ wide. We’d love to offer starts of this plant but they grow so fast and wide that they aren’t convenient for container growing. But we now have seed from Native Seeds/SEARCH. If you plant these, we advise texturizing the soil and keeping it wet. Remember that most species of desert plants recruit/germinate in the wet years, so mimic that when you try to germinate the seeds. Don’t just toss seeds out and expect them to grow with no help! This species is important to some native bee species. Tortoises love to eat them (and goat’s head).

06/06/2026

We had honey-tailed striped sweat bees (Agapostemon melliventris) doing some stuff in our yard today!