Spadefoot Nursery

09/06/2026

Cliffrose has had quite a few botanical names. Remember when the botanical was Cowania mexicana var. stansburiana? Okay, I’m old. The current botanical name is, at least for the time being, Purshia stansburyana. Cliffrose is a beautiful and tough native shrub. And, it is so fragrant that usually y...

09/05/2026

There IS something you can do about depressing news like this. Start gardening for THEM more than for aesthetics. Drop your favorite colors. Abandon those non-native plants that don’t do anything but “look pretty” and even start buying so-called “ugly” plants that have beautiful relationships with insects. We cannot live without them so, if you need a more selfish reason, garden like your life depends on it. Because our lives depend on insects.

Butterfly populations across the United States are in alarming decline, according to a 2025 study in Science, with total abundance falling by 22% in just 20 years. ⁠
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Such widespread and worrisome losses portend broader environmental threats and emphasize the urgent need for conservation action. “Our national-scale findings paint the most complete—and concerning—picture of the status of butterflies across the country in the early 21st century,” write the authors.⁠
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The authors also note that butterflies have the potential for rapid recovery under favorable conditions, highlighting the importance of proactive conservation strategies to prevent further declines and to support long-term population stability.⁠

Learn more on : https://scim.ag/3QPauC7

09/03/2026

Every day we see people concerned about white fuzzy stuff on the tips of branches of many, many plants. We also see much in the way of bad advice and misidentification. Most often that white fuzziness are eggs of bugs in the Cixiidae. It is usually a species of leaf hopper. Worldwide Cixiidae consists of approximately 247 genera and 2,582 species making them the largest family of planthoppers. Cixiidae is diverse throughout the United States, with the southwest (particularly Arizona and California) having the most species.
These guys aren’t “bad guys”, their feeding is inconsequential on plants in our region. And they are a food source for birds and other critters. People often erroneously assume this is mealy bug or cochineal, but it’s not. Just yet another reason for you to relax and let nature be nature in your yard.

09/03/2026

Blackfoot Daisy (Melampodium leucanthum) is a low growing perennial not reaching more than a foot, spreading about 2’ wide. White daisy flowers with yellow centers can bloom almost anytime there is warm weather. This plant is sometimes confused with Desert Zinnia (Zinnia acerosa) which has similar flowers.

Grow in full to part sun, with moderate water, hardy to-20° F. Cut back occasionally to encourage new bushier growth.

As with most plants in the daisy family, because of the composite flower, this plant has a lot of nectar in the flowers and attracts numerous pollinators. Granivorous bird eat the seeds. As a ground cover, its a good cover plant for small creatures like lizards.

Melampodium comes from Melampus, a soothsayer of renown in Greek mythology; leucanthum comes from the Greek leukos, white and anthemon, flower. The common name for the genus refers to the base of the stems being darker-colored, and is not a reference to the Blackfoot people.

Found on dry slopes, open sites, grasslands, along roadcuts, and in shrublands, often on limestone, from 2,000-5,000 ft. in Arizona, New Mexico, southern Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas; south into central Mexico.
Photo by Sue Carnahan, SEINET

09/02/2026

Bladderpod (Cleomella arborea) is an evergreen shrub growing up to about 5’ high and wide, rarely a bit bigger. Yellow, nectar rich flowers bloom January through May consistently and then sporadically the rest of the year. The fruits are inflated pods. Foliage has an intense aroma.

Full to part sun, moderate water with good drainage, hardy to 15°F.

Great nectar plant because it can bloom in any month of the year and can sometimes be the only thing blooming in the landscape. Larval host for the Becker’s White (Pontia beckerii), the Western White (Pontia occidentalis), and the Checkered White (Pontia protodice).

The Diegueno Indians used the seeds and flowers for food. The flowers were eaten boiled or sunbaked by the Kawaiisu.

The genus Cleomella has 22 species of native to North America, ranging from southern Mexico through the western and central United States to western and central Canada. The genus The word Cleomella is a combination of the words “cleome” and “-ella”, which mean “little cleome”. The species name arborea means “tree-like”. This species has changed botanical names a lot! Formerly known as Cleome isomeris, Peritoma arborea, Isomeris arborea.

Commonly found along roadsides, desert dry washes, and flat areas up to 4,200 ft. in the western Mojave Desert and Colorado Desert; south to the Baja California Peninsula.

Photo by Matthew Harvey, iNaturalist

09/02/2026

Tobosa (Hilaria mutica) is a rhizomatous perennial grass reaching about 2’ high and spreading. H. mutica distinguished by lacking stolons, having thick rhizomes and robust, thick, rigid leaves and leaf bases. The culms are not felty pubescent as in H. rigida and the glumes are conspicuously widened toward the apex, unlike H. jamesii.

Full to part sun, can exist off irrigation especially in areas that naturally collect water, but will look best on irrigation. Very drought tolerant, this species has the ability to become totally dormant as soil moisture drops.

This is a great grass for tortoise enclosures because it spreads fast, keeping up with the tortoise appetite (if watered correctly). Native grasses are extremely important plants for wildlife: as nesting material for birds as well as native bees and other insects, as habitat for many organisms, and as food: adult insects eat the foliage, granivorous birds depend on many species for seeds, and most grass species are used as larval hosts for many species of butterflies and moths, especially skippers. Many bee species collect the pollen of many species of grasses.

Hilaria is named for Auguste St. Hilaire (1779-1853), a French naturalist; the specific epithet honors another French naturalist, Charles Paulus Belanger (1805-1881). There are 10 species of Hilaria found in the Southwestern United States, Mexico, and Guatemala. Sometimes known as Pleuraphis mutica.

Found on dry, exposed, sandy to rocky slopes and plains, from 2,000-6,000 ft. in California, Arizona, New Mexico, western Texas; south into central Mexico.

Photo by Max Licher, SEINET

09/02/2026

Velvetpod Mimosa (Mimosa dysocarpa) is a deciduous, cat-claw thorned shrub, reaching proportions of about 5x5’ rarely 6’ tall. Bright pink, nectar-rich flowers appear summer, sometimes into fall followed by legume seed pods.

Grow in full to part sun, with moderate water, hardy to at least 15° F. In the low desert, it’s a good idea to avoid too much reflective heat.

Flowers are attractive to numerous pollinators, including hummingbirds. Moth larval food plant for the cecrops eyed silkmoth (Automeris cecrops), geometer moths (family Geometridae), the mystifying black witch moth (Ascalapha odorata), the bizarre mesquite clearwing moth (Carmenta prosopis), various bagworm moths (family Psychidae). Butterfly larval food plant for the reakirt’s blue (Echinargus isola) and the mimosa yellow sulfur (Pyrisitia nise). Being a thorny plant, this species provides shelter for small animals and birds. Many ground feeding birds including Quail eat the seeds.

The genus name Mimosa is from modern Latin, apparently from Latin mimus ‘mime’—because famous members of this genus have leaves that respond to touch with movement, seemingly mimicing the sensitivity of an animal. The species epithet dysocarpa may be from the two Greek words “dys”, meaning “bad or with difficulty”, and “karpos” meaning “fruit”; together, likely a reference to its’ fruit which has 4 sharp prickles. There are 628 species native to the Americas, from North Dakota to northern Argentina, and to eastern Africa as well as the Indian subcontinent and Indochina.

Found along arroyos and washes, from 3,500-6,500 ft. in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, south into Sonora where it is most common, and continuing south into Nayarit.

Photo by Stephen Hale, SEINET

09/02/2026

Asclepias subverticillata or Horsetail Milkweed is one of the many milkweeds we sell.
Deciduous, slender perennial growing about 3x3’. Flowers May through September with white flowers followed by skinny pods that burst with downy floof and seeds.

Grow in full to part sun, but avoid reflective heat. Provide moderate water (good drainage), hardy to 15° F.
This is an important genus of plants that has gained attention in recent years because of the enthusiasm behind the monarch butterfly, which species of this genus serve as a larval host, as well as important nectar plant. But the plant is host to other lepidoptera, like queen butterflies and tussock moths. As a nectar plant, countless pollinators are dependent on milkweed. Plants readily grow back from larval hosting, so don’t worry if the plants get eaten to the ground.

The silky floof produced to use wind disperse the seeds is used by many bird species for nest building.

Milkweeds often have aphids and this is something you should ignore—let the aphids be; they attract ladybugs, lacewings, hoverflies, and a multitude of other predator insects that you want to encourage in your landscape since they eat the aphids as well as mites, whiteflies, and many other problematic (to people) insects. The aphids don’t harm the milkweed and they won’t spread to other plants (aphids are host-specific).

In Arizona alone, there are something like 30 species of milkweeds.

Asclepias is named for the Greek god of healing Asklepios, while subverticillata means not quite whorled.

Found in open areas, generally in woodlands, grasslands, to disturbed areas from 3,000-8,000 ft. in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah and parts of some nearby states; south into northern Mexico.

Photo by Liz Makings, SEINET

09/02/2026

Shrubby Senna (Senna wislizenii) is a deciduous shrub growing to about 6’ tall and up to 8’ wide. Yellow flowers in summer followed by slender seed pods full of small seeds. Much woodier than most sennas.

Full to part sun, moderate water, hardy down to at least 10°F.

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).

The ethnobotany of this plant is mostly undocumented.

Formerly known as Cassia wislizeni. The genus epitaph, Senna, is derived from the Arabic name “sana”, which refers to the name of plants found in that region; the same word referring to the medicine made from such plants. The specific epithet is named after Dr. F. A. Wislizenus, a botanist who studied Mexican flora in the mid-19th century.
Chihuahuan scrub and desert grasslands on plains, dry slopes and mesas; 3608 - 5577 ft. in southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, southwestern Texas; south into central Mexico.

09/02/2026

Doll’s Head (Lagacea decipiens) Is a semi-deciduous shrub growing to about 6’ high x 4’ wide. Flowers can occur anytime in the year if there is warm weather.

Grow in full to part sun, moderate to regular water water, some damage occurs at 20-22°F but the plant has recovered from as low as 15°F. Prune back as needed. Does not seem to like container growing.

Incredible nectar plant for butterflies, bees, and other nectar-seeking insects. Seeds eaten by granivorous birds.

Though this species has no reported ethnobotanical history, there has been work on the chemistry of this plant. According to some studies, due to its biochemical components and antioxidant activity, the leaves and flowers of this species has potential for use in the food and medicinal industries.

There are 11 species of Lagascea mostly native to Mexico, though a few make it to Central America. This is the only species in the United States. Lagascea is an honorific for Marianio La Gasca y Segura, a 19th century Spanish botanist, while decipiens means deceptive, in some sense not what it appears to be.

Found in canyons from 3,000-4,000 ft. in southern Arizona south through western Mexico to Michoacan.

Photo by Douglas Danforth, SEINET