#arid plants

[herbalnature]

Check out this Ariocarpus fissuratus, also known as the Living rock cactus, blending perfectly into its rocky surroundings. Its single vibrant pink flower is a beautiful surprise amid the camouflaged foliage.

[harlequinbutterfly-blog]

Cacti and succulents that were inside a small building on the grounds of Denver Botanic Gardens

[bumblebeeappletree]

We meet a garden guru known for celebrating the diverse and unique flora of arid Alice Springs.

Geoff Miers is a garden legend who calls the heart of Australia home. He's passionate about coaching others to garden in arid conditions, and his career on ABC talkback radio has run for as long as Gardening Australia has been on the air. Over the decades, Geoff's also been growing and selling plants from his nursery and has learned a thing or two about coping with an arid climate.

"It's a desert environment; the climatic extremes are colossal," says Geoff with winter temperatures dropping below -8°C for weeks at a time and summer temperatures reaching 45°C in the shade. "We can have no rain for two months, three months, six months and then the Todd (River) will flow. You never know what's around the corner," says Geoff. "That's the exciting part; it's challenging. But if you understand and respect the environment, and work with the climate, you will have a fantastic garden." The NT has the highest population turnover in Australia and Geoff says, "constantly people are exposed to the new environment, and they need coaching, and that's where I try to play an important role."

In his nursery, Geoff sells citrus and other plants suitable for arid zones. He shows us plants with fine needle-like leaves that don't lose a lot of water through evaporation. One example, Acacia peuce or Waddywood, is a rare tree. Geoff says, "they'll grow for 500 years and once they are old you can't even put a nail in them, they're that tough. They have adapted to the most extreme environment anywhere in the world," says Geoff. The red mulga, Acacia cyperophylla is another one that's similar. Geoff says, "it's a hardy tree and it has this flaking, minni ritchi bark. It's just stunningly red and it's the most outstanding feature." Eremophilas are increasingly popular with many varieties of colour and fantastic blooms. Geoff says, "they are such a fantastic plant for diverse conditions, they are just stunning in terms of the floral display… and they'll grow in sand, they'll grow in even heavy clay." Geoff says his favourite is Eremophila macdonnellii 'Simpson Desert Form' because it has "flowers through spring, summer and autumn, is tolerant of a diverse range of soil conditions."

Geoff propagates thousands of plants each year at home, including 3,000 native lemongrass, 1,500 kangaroo grass or Themeda triandra, and several groundcovers. "They're bird attracting, bush tucker foods, suitable for this environment and the demand for them is endless," says Geoff. His propagation house has over 5,000 cuttings, "all starting to develop roots… before long all these plants will be in tubes and pots, and by next autumn and they'll be out in people's gardens," says Geoff. His own home garden is filled with central Australian plants with a towering ghost gum as the centrepiece. He says this tree "epitomises to me everything about central Australia, it's glorious." When the dog chewed through the irrigation lines 18 years ago, he turned the water off. "I now only water this garden in the first or second week of January and that's it. I give it five inches of water and that recharges the plants," says Geoff, "I try to demonstrate what I preach in my front yard; it's designed to suit this environment."

Appropriate gardens and water conservation is something Geoff has preached and written about for over 30 years. Geoff says, "that's been my message all along. With climate change, it was predicted that we would have greater droughts, greater floods, greater extremes of temperature. We're already experiencing that in central Australia, so you've got to be prepared for that. The best way to do that, is to create a garden that's best suited for the climatic extremes."

[recurrentflights]

The road ahead...

[eopederson]

Landschap van Sint Maarten, 2019.

I have never been attracted to the islands of the Caribbean, and a visit to Saint Maarten (St. Martin) told me why. Nice weather and beaches, I guess, but otherwise without attraction even on a cold and snowy January afternoon at home.

[syncarida]

Some wildflowers from when uhhhh we made a wrong turn and did not go to Bunyip Chasm 👍

[throughthemeadowflowers]

[schistostegapennata]

So my husband told me the other day that I couldn’t be mossifying because I don’t stay hydrated enough and I’m salty about that so rather than hydrate I want to know if there’s any kind of moss that doesn’t require a lot of moisture, or even thrives without it?

Oh no, I've got good news though!! You absolutely can be mossifying on low hydration, there's a whole range of mosses that do well in arid climates :) They're very important to help protect from soil erosion and can also prevent invasive grasses from spreading.

Here are a few:

Syntrichia laevipila does really well with low moisture, notably having a growth structure that allows it to reproduce asexually. This is a particular advantage in dry places because while mosses that reproduce sexually require water for sperm cells to be released to begin the cycle, mosses like Syntrichia laevipila do not and can repopulate themselves from tiny fragments with little hydration.

Then there's silver moss (Bryum argenteum), which is a super common moss that resists just about everything, including full desiccation. Silver moss can live well on low hydration and is frequently found in urban areas as well, growing on walls and in sidewalk crevices. It can also spread by shedding fragments when people or animals step on it and then regenerating in a new location

Ceratodon purpureus, also called redshank or fire moss, loves dry, sandy soil. It has also adapted well to urban areas due to its high pollution tolerance. Fire moss can be found just about anywhere in the world, including in the Antarctic! (fun moss fact: mosses that are drought tolerant are often freeze resistant as well)

Also, most mosses--even those that require lots of moisture--are able to go dormant to wait out a dry spell, and then rehydrate and come back to life once conditions are good again!

[amazingpetenclosures]

kenyan sand boa enclosure by Zoe Renee

[kulapti]

Antilocapra americana, Sept 2023, ink & fountain pen.

I've been thinking about the pronghorn's place in the ecosystem, surrounded by plants that evolved long before its ancestors and having outlived its ancient predators...

Wildflowers shown approximately from left to right: perfumeballs (Gaillardia suavis), dwarf four-nerve daisy (Tetraneuris linearifolia), sundrops (Calylophus berlandieri), woodsorrel (Oxalis sp.), prairie pansy (Viola bicolor), and firewheels (Gaillardia pulchella).

[cansomebodytellmewhatsgoingon]

see the true sad thing about the last of us’ ending is that the giraffes would’ve never been able to survive in post-apocalyptic utah because the winters would’ve absolutely demolished any populations not housed within heated living quarters

[herbalnature]

Nestled among rocks, this Ariocarpus fissuratus cactus blooms with a singular, vibrant flower. Their textured, stone-like appearance truly makes them masters of disguise in the wild!

[triptychofvoids]

deserts are so cool btw. gotta be one of the landscapes ever

[dreameroftheblue]

Can we see your precious mail order son?

you may! :)

though... arpeggio is an ex-son now, since he refused to eat the entire time I had him no matter what I tried, so I gave him off to someone who claimed to be familiar with fixing that sort of thing </3

[majormeilani]

i don't think i said anything about it on here and if i did sorry for repeating myself but--

there actually IS a garden area on the grounds of cassidy's hotel that he has and does tend to on occasion when he can where some flowers are grown. his favorite are his hydrangeas, which are also his favorite type of flower.

[nobylu]

come to my streams

everything is broken and I am perpetually damp