Beloved by butterflies and hummingbirds, this beautiful little ground cover is one of the first perennial flowers to bloom in late winter and early spring, lasting into summer. They grow easily in full sun and even partial shade, although they tend to produce more blooms in full sun. Be sure to work the soil enough to insure good drainage. They would rather not sit in wet, soggy soil, especially all winter.

This particular Veronica (pictured) will cascade over rocks or the edge of containers, but there are many types and shapes of Speedwell, from low growing mats, to taller plants with spiked flowers good for cutting and arranging. Leaf textures and flower shape and color are quite diverse. They can be used in the garden for many types of accents. Try them as border plants, ground covers, and accent plants in rock gardens or along walkways. Plant them in mass to produce an intense eye catching stretch of color. You can also plant the low creeping "steppable" varieties between pavers.

In certain parts of the world, Speedwell can be invasive, but that's not a problem here in the high desert.

Incidentally, there's also a girl band named Veronica Speedwell.

This beautiful purple-blue sedum lives in a ceramic pot on a west facing patio deck in downtown Reno. It dies back to the ground each year and begins to emerge again, usually in early March. The color of its leaves is only one of its attention grabbing attributes. As the growing season unfolds, it grows into a think cover, stems reaching up, out and over the rim of the container, cascading down, contrasting with the color and texture of everything around it.

Perennial and annual sedum varieties are popular here in the desert. They are amazingly easy to grow, easy to propagate and a good choice for rock gardens and xeric landscapes. Many have interesting flowers that add autumn color and winter texture. Coming in many colors, shapes and sizes, common names like Autumn Joy, Chocolate Ball, Dragon's Blood and Purple Emperor gives some suggestion as to how this succulent can contribute to your garden's Western aesthetic.

Each year, Drycreek offers a wide variety of perennial sedum.

There has been local song bird action around this Perry's Agave and Hairy Yucca. It seems the Kinglets and other small birds like to snip the filaments for nest making.

Both of these pictured plants are cold hardy for our area (approximately zones 5 - 9). The yucca will grow to about twenty inches high with an almost three foot spread. The agave will grow to about 9 inches high. Both are beautiful plants and are great for rock gardens and other types of xeric landscaping.

The flower pedals of many different types of yucca are edible and some are considered to be delicious (no guarantees...). You can try putting freshly picked flower pedals into your summer salads. You can find recipes that call for harvesting the entire flower stalk as it emerges in late spring, early summer. The tips resemble the look of asparagus tips, but you won't get to see the flower stem bloom with this technique. Many types have long lasting flowers, some extending into late summer.

Apparently, especially in earlier times, many native American tribes utilized the yucca for food and for weaving, making baskets, weapons and clothing and also for making soap (hence the common name, Soapweed). Many Yucca types are incredibly easy to care for. Most do not uglify during the winter. They are natural born bird feeders and they will make your garden landscape look like you know and love the environment within which you live.

Joshua Trees are able to endure what humans would consider to be extremely harsh conditions. And yet, places and conditions humans consider to be sublime, Joshua Trees would find uncomfortable, unlivable. In their homeland, in the winter, the Joshua Tree easily endures subfreezing cold, snow covered, hard packed and rocky soil. But what they don't like is shade and they will die fairly fast if their roots stand in water.

This plant is a favorite of many, but it is truly a plant for adults. Adults Only. Their sharp dagger like leaves are unforgiving. The inevitable winner in any chance encounter, the spines can easily harm you. They can easily draw blood.

It's a good rule to be smart and respectful of the Joshua Tree. It is a fantastic plant that demands a well drained spot in the sun. It needs room to grow away from foot traffic and well away from kids and clumsy adults.

You can avoid the danger and still have the beauty and interest. We usually stock several hardy Yucca varieties that are much more child and clumsy person friendly and can safely and softly satisfy the Joshua Tree aesthetic. Many are also prolific producers of fantastic, long lasting, hummingbird loving flowers. We do occasionally stock Yucca brevifolia, but don't pass up varieties that are just as desert wonderful and not nearly as mean.

Is this a Sharp-shinned Hawk? It sat in the apple tree for awhile recently, came to startle the usual birds, the Stellar Bluejay and the Robins reappearing again now that it's spring. Hanging out by the dripping water, there have also been a few Kinglets and the Lesser Goldfinch. There are no bird feeders close by, but the water attracts the song birds. It makes sense that the Sharp-shinned Hawk and other birds of prey come looking round the water source for some small treats to eat. It's fortunate that there are trees in and among the landscape of yards in the city for all the birds to use. Life in the menagerie.

The body of the Sharp-shinned Hawk is especially shaped to hunting and catching prey in close quarters, inside and between trees. According to Wikipedia, their numbers greatly dwindled during the late 1960s and 1970s, most likely due to the accumulative effects of the widespread use of poisons such as DDT. After DDT was banned, numbers of all three species have come back strongly in the United States and Canada, back to the point where, if the right habitat still exists or is renewed, the Sharp-shinned Hawk is expected to re-localize and re-integrate.

This particular bird had the habit of perching with only its right claw. It's left claw was kept tucked away, used occasionally to fuss with feathers. It sat in this spot for almost five minutes.

Along with news of social trends moving toward small things -- from sporty fuel efficient autos to recycled lumber and tiny houses, comes a story from Los Angeles about a group of neighbors in one of the super super rich canyon areas of L. A. banding together to try to stop a new mystery neighbor -- they suspect perhaps a foreign prince -- from building a residential compound the size of a Wal-Mart: 86,000 sq feet across several adjacent lots. The lots themselves are worth millions each. There will be a 42,681-square-foot house, a 27,000-square-foot villa, a guest house somewhere around 4,000 sq feet. It's as if Reno's new American Gothic mansions and Tuscany styled villas have suddenly become appropriate only for weekend guests. If it's inevitable that a superstore sized residential compound be built in the already compacted hills around L. A., the hope would be that the landscaping plans accommodate birds like the Sharp-shinned Hawk and California's amazing song birds.

Homemade Friday night pizza is always threatening to become a tradition, a delicious delight, made with miniature yellow pear tomatoes that were grown in 12 inch containers on a sunny deck in the Old Southwest section of Reno. There were plenty of yellow pears for summer salads and kabobs, and plenty to freeze for many winter evenings when comfort food seems to make the fires glow brighter.

Plan for some space for tomatoes. We do contend with a short season, so John and Nancy make it a yearly goal to provide several short seasoned heirloom tomatoes. Several varieties do very well here.

Yes, it's always fun and usually very productive to grow tomatoes. Some years are better than others, and some plants enjoy our climate more than others, but they can do quite well, especially if you give them the basic, loving attention they deserve.

It's not too early to start dreaming about tomato plants. It's not too early to sketch them into the garden plan. Be sure to come visit the nursery when the tomatoes begin their arrival. It will be soon. Dry Creek always has a divergent selection of heirloom and short season varieties. Get the plan ready. The tomatoes go fast like the pizza.

The high Sierra is known for its winter snow. We've seen the photographs from the 20th century: big cars on winding, narrow roads through passes with walls of snow 20 feet high. This year is approaching one of those phenomenal snow years, something that has happened only a few times since the late 19th century. According to the Colfax Record, Squaw Valley stands today at 250 inches. That's nearly 21 feet. In the deep pockets, skiers and snow boarders are talking about the open space and sense of freedom because the brush and boulders have disappeared under the snow.

Since the winds died down last night, the Nectarine Tree sits with several inches of snow topping its bud studded stems. The snow was wet and formed icicles that encased whole buds and stem lines. We wait to see how that turns out.

Thinking about the nectarine, a quick Web search reveals some great things about this delicious fruit. The nectarine is naturally low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium. It's high in vitamins A and C, niacin, potassium, and is a good source of dietary fiber.

Because the skin is often eaten, it is recommended that nectarines (peaches, plums, apples, grapes, berries, etc.) be grown by organic means. Without residual poisons, the nectarine is to be considered one of the basic foods to help maintain health and proper weight. For example, the heart-healthy Mediterranean Diet recognizes the nectarine as a member of the most basic and important food groups with low fat, low calorie, essential vitamins, minerals and fiber. It's a health food. It's a perfect snack. It's a salsa. It's a dessert topping. It's a jelly. It's a jam. It's a smoothie. Definitely, the nectarine is a real food, one we humans can eat often and with good results. And it's a dieter's good friend, too, with only a single point ascribed by the Weight Watchers Points System. What could be more perfect and delicious, ripe off the tree on a warm summer's day?

It seems there have been some major rumors circulating about the nectarine. Are nectarines some sort of freakish hybrid, perhaps a cross between a plum and peach? Is it the result of some 1950s scientific experiment designed to remove the fuzz? Was the nectarine bankrolled by fruit tree growers betting consumers would perfer a fuzzless peach?

Truth is, loved by all, the nectarine is its own fruit. That is, it's a peach. A fuzzless peach: Prunus persica var. nucipersic or Amygdalus persica var. nectarina, a cherished member of the Rosaceae family, originally from China. By the end of the Dark Ages, peaches and nectarines had moved to England. According to Wikipedia, they were introduced to the U.S. by David Fairchild of the Department of Agriculture in 1906. Many varieties moved to California with varieties migrating to Nevada and surrounding states. Overall and when the conditions are right, peach and nectarine trees do very well here with vibrant color in the spring flowers. Hanging fruit can be heavy and deliciously sweet as you would expect a tree ripened peach or nectarine to be. Providing the perfect growing conditions can do wonders. Come in and talk to John and Nancy about growing local fruit.

Yesterday's snow has melted from the branches. No visible damage to the buds. High winds expected today, and more snow falling by tonight.

Wake to heavy snow in the morning. The Nectarine Tree is covered with melting snow, its opening buds peeking out like tiny pink lights.

If the air doesn't freeze with a hard snap, all this good moisture makes the humans happy. But not just us. The fruit trees in town also look happy and full of life; ready to flower with a tree's promise to produce an abundant crop this time around. Surely, no doubt the trees are eager to make up for last year when a late hard freeze crippled the prospects for banner production of local tree fruit. But now again, the buds are coming. The Mojo is back, seen taking the form of flowers already opening. Is it too early? We always wonder as the days are not quite warm enough and the nights are still down right shivering. But what is right in a land where nectarine trees would not normally grow? Hope to have, perhaps the lucky dynamic of a close southern wall of light and mid-day warmth -- just enough of a heat collecting microclimate to keep the buds safe from some short lived, lingering bud killer. But is that warm wall confusing the tree into budding too early? Is the microclimate a good match? Perhaps the March snow convinces the buds to slow down somewhat. Once the cold has passed, and if events unfold well without damage, the tree can produce enough for summer, canning in the fall, leaving tales to tell of a banner year. If there's room and the conditions are right, fruit trees are definitely worth a try. Certainly, in this place, there are chances of failure as the transition from winter to spring is erratic, always exciting, unpredictable, challenging.

Today the streams coming down from the Sierra are silt colored and flowing above their usual waterlines. There are flood warnings in California and amazing amounts of snow in the high mountains. It is exciting. The little Kinglets have come down closer to town. It feels like a natural, serendipitous goodness coming into spring. It is, in spite of the crazy universe, a hopeful year with the surroundings, the wet, snow covered, saturated ground, the perennials showing green. Maybe, hopefully, it will be a good wildflower year and a good vegetable year and a wonderful gardening year all around.

Everyone hopes for a good year. Of course! Of course! Who can not hope for an abundant and juicy sweet food for the summer to prolong the hope for an even more abundant harvest come fall? And thus, the relationship between the weather and the land and the birds -- the unpredictability of so much seasonal mortality -- energizes the heart. Spring wakes us, a result the body feels immediately like the crisp clear air enough to incite the mind to wondering. It's true, the snow is high and such a necessity for where we live. How great to be living in a place where the end of a drought coincides with the beginning of the growing season, even as always temporary as it is in this arid landscape, this scarcity of erratic and uncertain moisture. So much snow. It hearkens back to other memorable winters here. The summers always followed with hiking the high country delayed, due to snow packed passes, high water creeks and roaring rivers. We can live with that. We want to live with that.

The snow melted fast on this south facing city slope. It seems to be a friendly, symbiotic relationship between the Tulips, the Kinnikinnick and the Colorado Gold Alyssum. This photo is from a southern exposure in Reno. It took a while to get the Kinnikinnick to establish itself, more or less on this angled spot. After watching eight plants take root here, it seems they take to living in close quarters with other low growing perennials and annuals. They like sun, but they like to lean against other plants. They like to mingle and meander and share the density. That sort of incidental cooporation allows the autumn and winter mat to collect enough material to keep the plants and critters a cushion to battle the cold.

We leave a partial layer of last year's leaves well into spring.

This soil was hard pan, and needed to be worked. The soil was removed, sifted, then reworked with a variety of soil enriching ingredients, including compost, organic chicken manure, recycled potting soil. The springtime bulbs will thank you for the softer conditions that allow room to expand. The Kinnikinnick will have a better chance of digging deeper in its woody way. It's exciting when loved plants thrive.

Last Fall, we decided to fight off the late August aphids that attack our Kale plants each year. In past years we would try to get our fill of Kale before the aphid attacks began, but this past year we decided to confront their inevitable season.

When watering, I began to notice the aphids' arrival. Each day there were more. I found a nice warm afternoon to harvest the entire crop. I washed each leaf individually with some good water pressure to make sure all the aphids were removed. I then rewashed and bagged the leaves and found a shelf in the deep freezer.

Kale freezes as well as spinach and is great for soups, fries, bakes. Like this Stromboli. Or pizza. It's delicious. It's good for you and your family. It's easy to grow. It's beautiful to look at. From a small plot - 4 x 4 feet -- we had Kale to eat all summer and winter, along with tomatoes that we grew in containers on the deck.

And we have organic Kale seeds. We have many other organic garden seeds and starts for your vegetable garden this year. It's time to get gardening.

What a delight, with last night's snow and the big moon light breaking through from time to time. Shimmering and frosty, it was a sight to see. Here we are again approaching the very moment when the sun moves across the equator with equal time for day and night for everyone on earth, and then the swing for more warmth here.

For the Truckee Meadows, the thin layer of snow is another springtime drink for the soil and perennials just beginning to stir.

Saturday's moon is a Big Moon, a 'Supermoon' with its closeness to the earth making people excited about astro-logic, about the circle of life, about big changes when the future pulls the tides and we dream of the prospects of growing things, of helping the garden grow.

We welcome snow on the eve of the Vernal Equinox. We welcome the moisture and the worms awakening. Where do we go from here? Into Spring. Soon we will see much more greening.

The nursery is open. We have seeds, potato starts, compost, organic fertilizers and soil enhancers. Our first springtime shipments of lawn and garden ornaments have arrived. We have some amazing, hand carved, hand polished thick granite bird baths. These will go quickly. We have a good supply of evergreen and deciduous trees for early spring planting. Come in and say hello. Let's talk about this year's gardening plans.