Spadefoot Nursery

10/23/2026

Desert lavender (Condea emoryi) is not a lavender at all—lavender is a Mediterranean native (several species) and can be a bit harder to grow in our region—though desert lavender and Mediterranean lavender are both in the mint family (Lamiaceae). Our own desert lavender is native to desert washes and on rocky hillsides from 500-4,000 ft. in Arizona, California, Nevada, and northwestern Mexico. Desert lavender is usually a small shrub, but in protected locations can grow up to 10’ tall! Temperatures below 25°F will damage stems. This plant is best in full sun and can even thrive in reflected heat, so long as there is moderate water provided. In warm weather tiny lavender-colored flowers attract butterflies and native bees. This plant has a wonderful smell like Necco wafers, or yes, kinda like lavender. This plant used to be used like moth balls to repel moths away from clothing. It smells a heck of a lot better. Larval host for the gray hairstreak butterfly (Strymon melinus). Formerly known as Hyptis emoryi.
We have one gallons now.

10/22/2026

This is sound advice, though we would add that most people barely water a few inches deep. Especially in our region, most of the important roots that take up water and nutrition are in the top foot or so of soil. But these roots reach out much further than we often imagine.
The advice here is sound, but you still have to water deep enough to pe*****te a foot or so, and it’s a good idea to water at least to the canopy, not all right next to the trunk.
In our region, we have even less of those deep “tap roots” because there is no longer a reachable water table. In past times, moisture could be found just by digging a hole—roots could easily reach the ground water. This is no longer the case. But even when we had a reachable water table, the low oxygen, and decreased biology of the deeper levels don’t lend themselves to providing the tree what it needs. These tap roots were for survival when the upper layers dried out.
Water about a foot to a foot and a half deep. Try to make sure you don’t compact your soil. The oxygen is as important as the water for the proper microbiology to develop around the roots, which helps roots get water, helps them secure nutrients, and even protects them from pathogens—we call that aerobic biology, which fosters plant growth much better than anaerobic biology (lack of oxygen). Most (though not all) pathogens thrive in anaerobic conditions.

The trees with the biggest canopies, and the healthiest trees, are those with more frequent, regular, and shallower irrigations.

The moisture in the deep soils is useful for sheer survival, but relatively unimportant to good growth and/or sheer productivity.
The upper layers of the soil are the most aerobic, with the highest population of air-loving bacteria. It is these bacteria that are most responsible for the liberation of mineralized (unavailable) nutrients into a soluble form that the plant can absorb. Thus, the upper horizon of the soil is where the greatest amount of nutrients is liberated. The plant can only absorb these nutrients by taking them in as compounds in a water solution. If the soil is too dry to allow for moisture absorption, than nutrient uptake is inhibited. Allowing the upper soil to dry out between infrequent irrigations means that nutrient uptake also "dries up".

Image below: 100cm equals three feet. More than 50% of the roots are in the top 18 inches.

Via Rober Kourik

10/22/2026

Hartweg’s Sundrops (Oenothera hartwegii) is better known as Calylophus hartwegii in the trade. We haven’t had them in a while but we have some now in one gallons!

Herbaceous perennial growing to about 1’ tall and spreading 2’. Yellow flowers most of the warm season. Foliage turns reddish in cold weather.

Grow in full to part sun, moderate water, hardy to -15°F.

Larval food plant for the white lined sphinx moth (Hyles lineata), and flower moths (Schinia spp). Tortoises love this plant.

This plant is also known as Calylophus hartwegii.

Oenothera is from Greek oinos, w**e and thera, to imbibe. The species hartwegii is named for the German plant collector Karl Theodor Hartweg (1812-1871).
Found in deserts, plains, and foothills, from 3,500-7,000 ft. in Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, south into northern Mexico.

Photo by Sally and Andy Wasowski, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

10/22/2026

Once you get a turpentine bush (Ericameria laricifolia) established, it’s iron-tough. Evergreen shrub growing 2-3’ tall and wide with intensely aromatic foliage. Flowers mostly in the fall with bright yellow flowers. Best in full sun, moderate to low water, good drainage, and hardy to -10°F. Flowers are irresistible to many pollinators, like native bees and butterflies. Several selections including ‘aguirre’ which is a clone from southern New Mexico, chosen for its showy flowers and rich green foliage. Larval food plant for the brown hooded owlet moth (Cucullia convexipennis).

10/22/2026

Alkali sacaton (Sporobolus airoides) is a tufted perennial grass growing in hard and dense clumps usually about 2-3’ tall or more with open, airy seed panicles. A little wider than tall. This grass is semi-deciduous.

Full to part sun. Can exist off irrigation once established in areas where water collects but best looking on irrigation. If the plant goes dormant in winter (depending on how much cold it experiences) cut back in about February.

Fair to good for large grazing animals, poor when dry. Large seeded and loved by granivorous birds. This large grass is very important habitat for many organisms. Larval host for countless butterflies and moths.

Seeds used as food by various Native American groups; ground and mixed into a porridge, combined with with corn meal or used for flour.

Sporobolus is Greek for “seed-caster”, while airioides means it is like Aira, a genus of Old World grasses. There are 226 species of Sporobolus which grow in tropical, sub¬tropical, and warm-temperate regions throughout the world.

Found on sandy plateaus, washes, bottomlands and flats, often in alkaline soils from 2,500-6,500 ft. in most of western North America: British Columbia south to California and east to Texas; south into northern Mexico.
Photo by Sally & Andy Wasowski

10/22/2026

SHRUBBY SENNA (SENNA WISLIZENII)
Deciduous shrub growing to about 6’ tall and up to 8’ wide. Full to part sun, moderate water, hardy down to at least 10°F. Yellow flowers in summer. Flowers are nectar rich and visited by many butterflies, bees, and more. Butterfly larval plant for the Sleepy Orange (Abaeis nicippe), Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae), southern dogface (Zerene cesonia), Mexican Yellow (Eurema mexicana), Boisduval’s Yellow (Eurema boisduvaliana), and moth larval plant for the Genista Caterpillar (Uresiphita reversalis), Salt Marsh Moth or Acrea Moth (Estigmene acrea), and the Black-tipped Rudenia Moth (Rudenia leguminana).

We have one gallon and five gallon plants now.

10/22/2026

Some of yall know the desert milkweed (Asclepias subulata) but do you know the giant white-stemmed milkweed (Asclepias albicans)?
This succulent upright plant might remind you of desert milkweed, but picture a much more giant version. On average it gets to about 5-6’ tall, but in favorable conditions it reaches an incredible 10’ tall or more! Flowers anytime between winter and spring, usually in response to winter rains, with creamy-white flowers with black anthers, sometimes with a pink blush, fading yellow in ball-like clusters near and at the ends of tall stems. It seems to do most of its growing in the cool season—it is native to the western edge of the Sonoran Desert and the Mojave Desert which get most if not all of their precipitation in the cool season.

It can be distinguished from its close kin, A. subulata, by its fewer, longer, thicker, more noticeably waxy-blue stems, the very short nectar cups of the flowers, and its preference for rocky uplands rather than fine-textured substrates on playas, dunes or low sandy hummocks. There are known natural hybrids of Asclepias albicans and A. subulata, as well as a few hybrids in cultivation. We have a few of the hybrids in stock now too.

Full sun, low water, good drainage. Established plants are hardy to 20°F but young plants should be protected from frost.
As with most species of Asclepias, it is a larval food plant for the monarch and queen butterflies, and the flowers are nectar rich, attracting a multitude of nectar-seeking insects, especially tarantula hawks.

Used as a cathartic, an emetic, an eye medicine, for stomach disorders, for many other ailments, but it is also considered poisonous.

Asclepias is named for the Greek god of healing Asklepios, referring to the common medicinal use of plants in this genus, while albicans means white, referring to the white waxy coating on the stems of this species.

This desert milkweed prefers rocky, north-facing slopes of granitic ranges, although it also occurs on the walls of volcanic craters.; below 2,500 feet in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of California, Arizona, and Baja California and coastal Sonora with a disjunct population in Sinaloa.

10/22/2026

Betony (Stachys coccinea) is a great plant for hummingbirds and can bloom in even the shadiest parts of your yard. Herbaceous perennial growing to about 2x2’. Older leaves may turn purple in winter. Red tubular flowers almost any time of year. Plant in full sun to shade, regular water (more water in sunnier spots), hardy to 0° F. Cut back as necessary. Loved by hummingbirds and other nectar-feeders. Larval food plant for the painted lady (Vanessa cardui).

10/22/2026

Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) is one of our favorite native grasses. During the growing season it has a blueish green hue and attractive shape. In the fall, foliage turns red and blooms with sickle-shaped seed heads that absorb light like fiber optics. Native grasses are very important for native bees which use them in nest building. Granivorous birds consume the seeds, and this is a larval host for a lot of butterflies: Ottoe Skipper, Indian Skipper, Crossline Skipper, Dusted Skipper, Cobweb butterfly, and Dixie skipper. Native grasses make great companions with flowering perennials and help improve the soil.

Cespitose to rhizomatous bunchgrass reaching about 3’ tall usually but can get up to 5-6’ tall in prime conditions. Blueish green in warm season turning scarlet red in fall. Oak and juniper woodlands, pine forest, and mountain meadows, from 5,000-8,000 ft. Full to part sun, best on irrigation.

10/22/2026

Damianita (Chrysactinia mexicana) is a low growing, evergreen, aromatic shrub up to about 1-2’ tall, spreading about 2’. Yellow daisy flowers can occur almost any time of year but especially in hot weather.

Full sun best for good flower show, moderate to water with good drainage, hardy to 0°F. Although it is somewhat cranky about pruning and can die if pruned back too severely, pruning lightly in early spring will promote denser new growth.

This plant attracts tons of pollinators with its nectar-rich flowers. Tiny seeds of Chrysactinia mexicana may possibly be eaten by birds and small mammals.

Tea is made from the leaves. Called damianita because it resembles the odor and flavor of damiana, a plant used to make a traditional Mexican liqueur (damianita is the diminutive form of damiana). It is used in lieu of triple sec in margaritas. Mexican folklore claims that it was used in the “original” margarita. The damiana margarita is popular in the Los Cabos region of Mexico. Though this. herb is not traditionally used to make this liqueur, it can be substituted.

Found on caliche and limestone outcrops in the southern half of the Hill Country. Well-drained sand, loam, caliche or limestone. Limestone sites in desert plains & mountains in New Mexico, Texas, and south into Mexico.

Photo by Patrick Alexander, SEINET