If you are like me and have been a little lazy on some of your weeding and you will be using the long weekend to get your yard weed-free, you may want to take a closer look at the grasses and winter annuals that came up. The taller, faster growing weeds can hide baby native plants that have used the wet winter to get established. This year in my backyard, I found dozens of baby creosote bushes popping up, along with tiny cholla and other cacti.
These little “volunteers” are already going to do great where they are at, since mother nature decided to do all the planting for you – you can just encourage their growth with a little water from time to time, and maybe a protective rock ring which can keep them from being trampled.
Native plants are always a great tool to landscape with here in the desert, and I’ll be encouraging the creosote and cacti to naturally spread at my house to hold onto that dirt during the murder winds, and continue to “rewild” my yard and encourage more fauna to hang out in my tiny wildlife corridor.
For native plant lovers, its worth taking an extra look through the weeds before you get wild with the hula hoe.
Links about native gardening:
Desert Gardening, from the Mojave Desert Land Trust
The Water Wise Demonstration Garden at Joshua Basin Water District
