Growing plants and being involved in horticulture since 1980 meant knowing the USDA’s plant hardiness zones so I could jabber to folks knowingly (Ha!) about plant choices for their personal habitat. To make things a little more confusing Sunset Magazine created their own hardiness and planting zones for the western US. Jeez, Sunset!
During my brief tenure at the University of Arizona I learned C. Hart Merriam’s life zone system created in 1896 and I referred to and preferred that system for many years (see photo below) and it did make me sound pretty smart. Then in 1994 along comes David Brown’s Biotic Communities, Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico (it came with a big map!). Some nights that book still comes to bed with me.
So I’m guessing you’ve figured out that I’m more interested in biotic communities than planting zones. If you plant plants native to your biotic community…well, problem solved. Planting made simple by Petey Mesquitey! For more information and discussion on life zones and biotic communities we’ll see you in the Borderlands Biome Bar. Oh, and that was our new pooch Burley adding his 2 cents at the end of this episode.
Petey thinks pocket gophers are very cute. A huh. Pocket gophers are amazing rodents, spending almost all of their life underground in the tunnels...
I’m pretty sure when I first learned heartleaf goldeneye it was a Viguiera and the same with the showy annual called longleaf false goldeneye....
Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) is found from central California, up through the Pacific Northwest, throughout the Rockies (variety glauca) and southward down into our...