more joshua trees in the area

[DesertZone]

Driving on a crountry road about 7 miles from my house I noticed these growing in someones front yard.

[Bgreen]

That is just to cool!
I see your a zone 5b, what do you do for winter care?

[Jay-Admin]

Good find Aaron. Those are awesome.

[Barrie]

Ya no kidding, nice find. I'll take two if you don't mind.
CHeers, Barrie.

[DesertZone]

That is just to cool!
I see your a zone 5b, what do you do for winter care?

Joshua trees that size don't need any protection, unless it get down like -20f

[Laaz]

Send a few my way, we'll see how they do in SC...

[lucky1]

Hey, the've got the same weeds I do

The tip burn/overwatering? in first pic looks kinda neat!
I know how to do that.
Barb

[DesertZone]

Ya no kidding, nice find. I'll take two if you don't mind.
CHeers, Barrie.

Me to, but the guy did not want to part with them.

[DesertZone]

The tip burn/overwatering? in first pic looks kinda neat!
Barb

That's normal for the sp. The black tip is a sharp spine.

[Alchris]

Pics from Las Vegas in the Blue Diamond area. I salvaged about 50 seed from a couple of seed pods on one of the trees.

I was surprised how nice and green they were.







Allen

[lucky1]

Perfect timing for your trip, Allen.

Man, those are beauties...probably 200 years old?
Barb

[Alchris]

I have no idea how old they are. There is a couple of miles along Blue Diamond Road that has them about 200' apart on both sides of the Road. They start just on the Las Vegas side of Bonnie Springs Old Nevada and continue on until Red Rock Canyon.

I'm hoping to go back next March around the 25th and see most of the Joshuas in full bloom. It will also be just a little warmer and we will be able to explore both Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire without wearing a light jacket.

The whole area is truly beautiful in the spring.

Allen

[lucky1]

I wanted to see the desert when visiting Vegas with three friends a few years ago.
None of them are gardeners and I was outvoted...

One of the geology sites that I read regularly reported "some NEW rocks" were being examined after their recent earthquake.
That'd be neat to see as well.

Barb

[Alchris]

Where are the new rocks? If they are close to Las Vegas, we may be able to see them.

Allen

[lucky1]

Obviously there was some "uplifting" at/near the fault(s).
I'll see if I can find the geology link again.
It must be so cool for a geology-trained person to know what he's looking at...a rock no-one's ever laid eyes on before.
Barb

[lucky1]

Allen, I can't find the exact link, but here's the main one.
It indicates there has been movement that covers 100 kilometres

http://geology.about.com/library/bl/ima ... tfault.htm
Barb

[Okanagan desert-palms]

Those are great pics Allen. I`m going to do some research and see if we can`t get some larger Yuccas for the Okanagan and the West. Those seeds should germinate quickly for you.

John

[Alchris]

I still haven't figured out where I am going to put the seeds. My heated germination chamber is still full and the shelves in the basement are almost full. I also still have some salvia and dianthus to germinate and there isn't room for all of those seeds.

Maybe next year I will cut back on germinating.

Turner Greenhouses, where I got the smaller Y. elata, has yuccas in 24" and 36" boxes. Some of them have trunks up to 2'. I don't know if they could be bare rooted and brought back as luggage. I know that they ship all over the world. I never checked as my wife was with me and I didn't have any experience bringing plants back.

Allen

[Okanagan desert-palms]

Well I called Turner greenhouses and they said they don`t ship outside of Vegas. Allen are you sure you heard right or am I just talking to the wrong person at the nursery. Is there a specific person I should talk to? Maybe you have a name on your invoice from them. Thanks.

John

[Alchris]

There were only 3 people working at Turner, The husband, the wife and a long term female employee. I can't remember their names. When we were there, the husband was busy loading some larger yuccas or palms and I didn't talk to him. The employee helped me first. She was a little clueless. Then the wife took over and carefully bare rooted our plants. When they found out that we were from Canada, both women were very chatty. I didn't hear the wife say that they shipped out of Nevada. She did say that their plants were shipped all over they world. She bare rooted the plants like an expert and had a bin and table just for that purpose. She knew the USDA inspector by name and said that he came out there regularly. I put 2 and 2 together and figured that they shipped internationally. With the number of out of state visitors, they could just be co-operating with the tourists that want to buy and ship or take the plants home. They are definitely not a wholesaler.

If you want to call them back, ask for Mrs. Turner. She may be helpful if you are 'chatty' and ask the right questions.

Sorry about the misinformation.

Allen

[Okanagan desert-palms]

Allen thanks for the reply. From what your telling me the lady on the phone I talked to was Mrs. Turner.I`ll try "Calplants" for Y. rostrata and Y.brevifolia I was just at Bylands nursery in Kelowna and talked to one of the owners about bringing in these Yuccas. She looks in her nursery plant list book and says these yuccas are rated zone 9 to 12 usda .I lost it I snapped "just kidding". I told her that these are a zone 5 or even less . She then says she just brought in some really cold hardy yuccas from California. Well I took one look and they are Y. recurvifolia not nearly as nice IMO or as cold hardy. I am so frustrated dealing with uninformed so called nursery experts. No wonder nothing ever changes. And now back to your regular scheduled programing. I just had to vent.

John

[Alchris]

I know the feeling. Mrs. Turner told me the Y elata would never survive up here. I think that she said it was Zone 8. At least she knew to offer a Y rostrata. She almost smiled when I acknowledged that the Agave Americana marginata would not survive outside. Most nursery people in the warmer areas of the states have no knowledge of what will survive in the cool areas (Z7 & 8 ) let alone the frozen areas of Z5 & 6.

Salisbury greenhouses, the largest retailer of tropicals in our area, won't stock any Yuccas beyond elephantipes and they only know it as 'tips' and 'canes'. They don't know what an agave is. Honest!! They have just expanded their banana selection ( Dwarf Cavendish) to include M. Basjoo.

It is truly sad trying to get co-operation out of nurseries.

Allen

[nlafrance3]

Hey Allen:

I might have a solution to this problem. Cannor nurseries off hwy 60 has become my new supplier for trees. They are smaller than the normal millcreek i go to but also seem to listen a little more. The owners daughter lives in California and had no clue about yuccas living here and are hardy (glauca, filamentosa, harrimanie, flaccida). She was excited about bringing some in and I have no doubt in my mind they can get some trunked ones too if I show her the webshots page from colorado where someone was leaving trunked faxoniana, elata and rostrata uncovered in -10F (-24c) i think and it came through unharmed at all.

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/pho ... 1209VIrPxX

[Alchris]

That's great. Next we will have to convince them to bring in Sabal minors and Sabal Louisianas.

Have them try this website. www.hometown.aol.com/fitzroya/myhomepag ... .html[url]

This site covers the growing of palms in Colorado Springs, Zone 5b over the last 10 years.

Do they know that I have Y. filamentosa and flaccida in my yard which have survived the last 3 winters unprotected?

Allen