OK. This is likely to become a rant ... Deep breaths ...

I began gardening here pretty much for ecology. I wanted to replace invasive, poisonous Myrtle Spurge, which covered my lawn, with drought-tolerant natives. There were lots of public awareness campaigns at the time, promoting water conservation and other environmental goals. The instructions were consistent: Draw a plan, prepare the site and then buy the plants. But it turns out the most widely recommended plants are not available anywhere! For 5 years, I have been discarding the best-laid plans for whatever is available at Millcreek, Western, Glover's, Smith's and Home Depot. Nearly every book and pamphlet recommends buckwheats: silver, sulphur, or fiesta. Or shadscale. Or sand sage (artemisia filifolia). Or cliffrose. Where do I find this stuff? Even things I can find -- like mountain mahogany or pinon at wonderful suppliers like Growing Empire and Sun Mountain and High Mountain -- only seem to come in little sizes that won't mature until I'm long dead. Cactus and Tropicals has many interesting things, but at best I'll find one or two of my selections there and they cost a lot.

I'm just glad my property looked like crap from the beginning. At least I didn't tear out a bunch of turf only to find out none of the recommended plants in my xeric plan were available.

Am I missing some super supplier of natives in the valley?

This post was edited by mudhazerustsalt on Tue, Oct 29, 13 at 10:44