Very impressive, Mike. I put 3 P. canariensis at my place outside Las Cruces last summer. One got a fair amount of frost burn, but seeing how yours grew in 2 years is very encouraging. What do you use for fertilizer and how frequently? Do you keep them dry in winter?
I noticed even your B. armata grew a fair amount, considering their slow grwoth rate. Very cool....

Mike:

Are those yucca rigidas you have there?

Thanks Desertlvr,
Many of the P. canariensis around here also show a fair amount of leaf burn. IÂm fortunate that my location has a great microclimate being on the south side of a ridge coming off the west slopes of the Franklins.

I attribute the fast growth and increased leaf hardiness to heavy fertilizing (and heavy watering). I feed all my palms Carl Poole palm food. Starting around the first part of April I give each palm half a cup every two to three weeks. I give my last feeding at the end of August and slowly taper off the watering ending the first part of November.

This will be the third growing season for my palms and desert plants, so if the old adage of, "first year sleep, second year creep and third year leap" applies then I should see some good growth this year. IÂm excepting my little Brahea to push out 10 or more leaves this summer.

Abq Abq good eye. I got that Y. rigida at LoweÂs a couple years ago. It was one gallon size and crept along until this spring when it started taking off.

Here are some closer pictures of my non palm stuff.

Yucca rigida
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Yucca rigida and Creosote (Larrea tridentata)
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Agave havardiana and Angelita Daisy (Hymenoxys acaulis)
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Dasylirion wheeleri
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Brahea armata
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Mexican Red Bird of Paradise Caesalpinia pulcherrima starting to leaf out
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Agave perryi
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Aloe vera
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Here is a link that might be useful: Carl Pool

I like the creosote bush. Lush. Probably doesn't take much water to make it that way. Too bad more people in southern nm, west texas don't use them in landscapes. Did you buy it that size. I don't see it in the original pic.

YouÂre right creosote is way under utilized in the EP area. Although not real common, I have seen it used more in Las Cruces. ItÂs a shame too considering that itÂs a very forging plant for this area.

Like you stated, it takes very little to no water, I donÂt water mine at all it gets more than enough in runoff from the other irrigated plants in the yard. I had another one on the other side of the yard that got too much runoff and died by the end of its first year in the ground.

With very little supplemental water they grow surprisingly fast. The one pictured was one gallon size planted in May 2004. They also take pruning very well, and have a nice yellow bloom (mine is almost at peak IÂll post a picture in a couple days).

Here is an interesting picture of a creosote hedge in Las Cruces.

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Mike ---- thanks for the tip on Carl's palm food. I'll start this weekend. Enjoyed your other pics as well. your passion for gardening--- and sharing your outstanding photos--- is greatly appreciated.