Musings from a Phoenix Pollinator Garden

7June22 Plants in the garden, and sharing plants from the neighbor’s garden Most urban and suburban lots are small relative to the natural tracts of native habitat, so there are limits to what we can plant, both in size and variety. And, it turns out, putting your yard into context with the nearest forage/host areaContinue reading “Musings from a Phoenix Pollinator Garden”

Glamorous Moths #5 – Penstemonia

The way that gardeners feel about moths and butterflies is often quite different, despite how closely related they are. We are happy to grow milkweed to attract Monarchs and allow the caterpillars to devour whole plants. Weed is in the name milkweed, so I think we value the plant more for its role in theContinue reading “Glamorous Moths #5 – Penstemonia”

Meet the plants: Beardtongues

Beardtongues (or Penstemon, the scientific name of the genus) are blooming again in Arizona. With over 50 wild species in Arizona and New Mexico (and more than 270 total), there’s a lot of options for our gardens. We hope you’ll pick up a few of these plants when visiting your local, native plant nursery thisContinue reading “Meet the plants: Beardtongues”