PODCAST · education
Growing Native with Petey Mesquitey
by Petey Mesquitey
Petey Mesquitey is KXCI’s resident storyteller. Every week since the spring of 1992 Petey has delighted KXCI listeners with slide shows and poems, stories and songs about flora, fauna, and family and the glory of living in southern Arizona.
Episodes
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Aldama cordifolia
I’m pretty sure when I first learned heartleaf goldeneye it was a Viguiera and the same with the showy annual called longleaf false goldeneye. But hey, some molecular botany in 2011 led to changes and a lot of Viguiera species were assigned to different genera. And soo, the annual and very showy...
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Official Tree of the Borderlands
Repercussions from the environmental, the sociological, the cultural and spiritual damage done by the building of the border wall will haunt us for a very long time. Many thanks and so much gratitude to all the people who have fought and continue the resistance to the madness. And a personal…
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Threadleaf Groundsel
Threadleaf groundsel (Senecio flaccidus var. flaccidus) is really an attractive shrub with its grey foliage and yellow flowers. The variety, S. flaccidus var. monoensis, is quite nice as well with its green foliage and yellow flowers. We’ve found that variety growing in the desert and low hills...
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Hummingbird Trumpet
Hummingbird trumpet (Epilobium canum) is one of my favorite late summer into fall wildflowers to see in the wild. And, in the wild is wonderful, but this wildflower can be found in nurseries too, so get one for your personal habitat to remind you of those wild plants you saw. Yay! The photos are...
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The Long-nosed Leopard Lizard (Gambelia wislizenii)
Here are some clarifications…the scientific name for the long-nosed leopard is Gambelia wislizenii honoring the naturalist of the 1800s William Gambel and Friedrich Wislizenus, an army engineer and plant collector also of the 1800s. I’m surprised that there is no alluding to the leopard like…
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Change is Afoot
Well, alleluia, it’s feeling “fallish!” Okay, lemme see…the photos are mine of a box turtle track (see the plastron print?), a snake track with the ventral scutes, nicely landscaped kangaroo rat mounds and a Wright’s buckwheat (Eriogonum wrightii). Oh, and I forgot to tell you that the kangaroo…
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Purshia stansburyana
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...
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Fall Festival of Blooming Asteraceae
It’s true that every year I get excited about fall blooming plants in the Aster family (Asteraceae) and proclaim that there should be a festival to celebrate these wonderful fall bloomers. How fortuitous to come across clumps of Gregg’s mistflower (Conoclinum dissectum) on a fall day out in the...
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Spreading Snake Herb
Here is the full botanical name of spreading snake herb: Dyschoriste schiedeana var. decumbens. Someone (Asa Gray?) had fun putting the Greek words together to form the genus meaning difficult to separate, referring to “ the valves of the capsules which adhere tightly to each other.” The specific...
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Mala Mujer in the Mules
I’m pretty sure I first encountered the plant called mala mujer in the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson over 30 years ago. And I’m also pretty sure that I turned that encounter into an episode of Growing Native and I mispronounced the genus Cnidoscolus. “The C is silent,” my...
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Arizona Buttercup
In 1881 botanists John and Sara Lemmon were collecting and botanizing in an area called Rucker Valley in the Chiricahua Mountains. And, they were staying at a military camp called Camp Rucker. I mention this because the old Camp Rucker site is very close to where Ms. Mesquitey and I were hanging...
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Crimson Sage
The first time I saw and identified crimson sage (Salvia henryi) was years ago just outside Paradise in the Chiricahua Mountains. ..”just outside Paradise” is a wonderful line… anyway, Marian and I were checking out a native mulberry when we saw the bright red flowers of crimson sage on the same...
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Beautiful Rank Senna
It’s a little bit of a leap from talking about a plant in the aster family to talking about Senna in the pea family. It’s the way my mind was working at the time I guess. Senna species are found around the world. If you were to purchase the herb senna in a store or online it would probably be...
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Asclepias involucrata
An episode written and recorded amidst the cluttered space that I call “books and bones.” Asclepias involucrata has a wide range in the southwestern US and into Mexico. I’m thinking It would be a fun addition to a wildflower pollinator garden, so ask about it at your favorite native plant…
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The King of Klutter
Arizona white oak is Quercus arizonica. I’ve come across some magnificent ones over the last 30 years of living near them. We planted a few in our yard as well, grown from collected acorns. Those oaks have stories too. The photos are mine of some of my clutter and that’s Ms. Mesquitey’s hand on…
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Magical Monsoon Moisture
The photo is mine and taken from our place looking west toward the Dragoons. I call the photo, “Come to Poppa.”
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Mexican Hog-Nosed Snake
I first learned this snake as the western hog-nosed snake (Heterodon nasicus). It’s now called the Mexican hog-nosed snake (H. kennerlyi). And this is neat, well at least for me; a snake of my Kentucky youth was the eastern hog-nosed snake (Heterodon platirhinos). It has all the same crazy...
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What's Going On Quest
Spotting Wyoming paintbrush (Castilleja linariifolia) with those bright red inflorescences out on that gravelly plain in a thicket of Apache plume was so cool. Our “what’s going on quest” was a success. Paintbrush is what’s going on! The photos are mine. Do you see the beaks? Pretty cool.
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Burs in My Flip Flops and I Don't Care.
The distinctive odor of canyon ragweed (Ambrosia ambrosioides) is so Sonoran Desert. Hey, burs in your flip flops is a very Sonoran Desert thing too and some of those burs could be from kissing cousin Ambrosia deltoidea. Oh, I forgot to mention that canyon ragweed has medicinal uses, so you may...
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Amphibians and Reptiles, Oh My!
This episode of Growing Native is a rambling reminiscence about amphibians and reptiles. With the monsoon starting up here in the borderlands I think we’re going to be seeing some of those. Yay! The photos are mine. That’s a pile of wonderful field guides. I love the old 1966 Peterson Field by...
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A Jaunt to the Woodlands
The common name Firecracker Bush is a good one for Bouvardia ternifolia with its clusters of glowing scarlet flowers that look like small floral explosions, but it can also be one of the many common names for the plant Russelia equisetiformis. Yikes! Sooo, how about the combination of the flower...
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Scruffy Grassland Report
Some spring time banter about the soaptree yuccas (Yucca elata) and pale wolfberry plants (Lycium pallidum) found in the scruffy grassland surrounding our home near the banks of the Ol’ Guajolote. The photos are mine.
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Urban Renewal, Wild Escape and Shindaggers
The little urban park in Tucson where part of this episode takes place has always been nice renewal before hitting the road for the two hour trip home. The rocky hillside described is in the Dragoon Mountains and is pretty good for renewal as well. Shindaggers (Agave schottii) have yellow flowers...
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Penstemon Stuff!
It’s funny how irritable those relic Parry penstemons from an old roadside hydro seed make me. For goodness sake, why weren’t more regional seeds used in that revegetation job? Short diatribe over. Penstemon species are fun to grow in your personal habitat and seed or plants are readily…
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Drive-By Bebbia in the Borderlands
Fans of borderlands’ flora will tell you there is nothing better than spotting an interesting plant out the window of your truck as you rumble by and shouting, “What was that? Wait, stop, pull over!” A drive-by turns into a stop and go. The sweetbush (Bebbia juncea) that Marian and I saw on the…
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Ubiquiticola
I love following drainages out of the mountains and across the deserts, observing all the plants and animals that follow them as well. Do I always tell you that? Having wild turkeys come out of the nearby mountains and wander by our little homestead reminded me about the magic of canyons and...
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Phlox in the Same Old Woodland.
I like to say the name Phlox. I think it’s the letters p, h and l that make it fun, and yes, it’s probably just me. The name is from the Greek for flame and the specific epithet nana for the plant in this episode is also from the Greek and means dwarf. With that in mind, I suggest a common name…
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Bluedicks of Spring
The plant Dichelostemma capitatum (synonym Dipterostemon capitatus) has at least two subspecies and is found all over the west. For me this lily-like plant announces spring in the desert and uplands. Marian and I felt so lucky to catch the emergence of hundreds and hundreds of Bluedicks in that…
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Floriferous State Trees
Initially the two Arizona state tree palo verdes were the genus Cercidium. That’s the way I learned them and that’s the genus name you’ll find in all the older floras and field guides. Well, not that older, and anyway, Parkinsonia (the Linnaeus name) was the genus of just the Mexican palo verde,...
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Coral Bean in the Borderlands
If it wasn’t for the Gadsden Purchase, coral bean or Erythrina flabelliformis wouldn’t be found in southeastern Arizona or southwestern New Mexico and so we are in its northern most range out of Mexico. It has so much to love…amazing bright red flowers on naked branches followed by fan shape…
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Regional Crayons and Calliandra
Ms. Mesquitey and I like the idea of regional crayons. The colors of your home place, of your own biotic community. When we saw the fairy dusters (Calliandra eriophylla) blooming on that rocky slope we realized that maybe it would need a few different crayons. Yay! I don’t know it this interests...
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Brittlebush
Brittlebush, (Encelia farinosa) loves rocky hillsides and gravelly desert. And though this native shrub has a large range showing up in the Mojave and Great Basin Deserts, for me the bright yellow flowers atop the silvery foliage shout, “Sonoran Desert!” If you’re interested in ethnobotany (why...
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Spring Primrose
A spring wildflower in the primrose family Onagraceae, Oenothera primiveris is always a delightful surprise in our yard. And thank you Carl Linnaeus for the confusing generic name Oenothera. Jeez! I’ve come across quite a few interpretations of the meaning and I liked this sentence I found in my...
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Every Spring Rumex
I was wondering if I talk about dock (Rumex hymenosepalus) every spring, so I looked though my notes. Well, not every spring, but almost. If you’re interested in Rumex in an ethnobotanical sorta way, here is a good place to start your research: Food Plants of the Sonoran Desert by Wendy Hodgson....
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An Object of Interest
When I sat down to put this episode together I thought it was going to be about the flatheaded wood borers I find when I’m splitting fire wood. Somewhere after talking about sauntering around our homestead I wandered off to another topic. Did I even mention wood borers? So gray fox skull it is....
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Many Languages Spoken Here
The photos are mine and taken in my office, Books and Bones.
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Arizona Sister Personal
Twenty-five or thirty years ago I learned the scientific name of this butterfly as Adelpha bredowii. Then the sister butterfly of the Arizona woodlands got listed as Adelpha bredowii ssp. eulalia. Now…ta da…the Arizona Sister is Adelpha eulalia. Yay! And, eulalia does not mean “you go girl.” The...
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That Land Is Not Vacant, Robert
The clearing of land, of biotic communities, feels like a southern Arizona affliction doesn’t it? ” We need a housing development, we need a mine, we need a wall and the desert is in the way.” Jeez… Arizona walnut (Juglans major) is the only native species of walnut in Arizona. The species J....
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Desert Willows in Winter
After I produced this episode, Marian (Ms. Mesquitey) and I were driving in the desert outside Bisbee, AZ marveling at the silhouettes of viscid acacia (Vachellia vernicosa) and I realized I had written and jabbered about winter silhouettes of many deciduous trees and shrubs several times in the...
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Killing the Blues
I love desert honeysuckle (Anisacanthus thurberi). It’s a favorite plant and I think that’s because of seeing it growing and flowering in that arroyo along the road to Gates Pass way back in the olden days. My gosh doesn’t a drive to the Sonoran Desert through Gates Pass sound like fun. I haven’t...
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Worry O'Clock
The photos are mine and taken at our home.
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Karoo Bush
I mention that the US Soil Conservation Service introduced and used Pentzia incana for erosion control back in the 1930s. And, I remembered that in 1980 at my first nursery gig, karoo bush was in the horticulture trade. Back then I thought that it was a pretty plant. Well, it is a pretty plant…
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Mild Winter Butterflies
The Dainty Sulfur (Nathalis iole) flies year round all over Arizona, especially on mild days. The western pygmy blue (Brefidium exile) is the smallest butterfly in North America. It’s found flying year round as well, all over the Borderlands and beyond. The photos are mine. The flowers are a zany...
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A Mesquitey Tradition
Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) is found from central California, up through the Pacific Northwest, throughout the Rockies (variety glauca) and southward down into our sky islands. We are so lucky to have it as a part of the mixed coniferous forests in the mountains of the borderlands. What a...
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Sycamores on a Gravelly Plain
I’ve written a few Growing Native episodes about sycamore trees over the years. There is just something about these large riparian trees. Oh, and if I mention sycamore trees in a conversation with friends I get wonderful sycamore stories. Yup, there is just something about these trees. It is...
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Milkweed Pod Glistening in Sun
In the summer it’s easy to spot a stand of horsetail milkweed (Asclepias subverticillata) along the side of the road with its slender leafed stems (almost whorled) and white flowering umbels, but also because of the butterflies that flutter out of the stand as you drive by. Maybe a good plant in…
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Bush Muhly Along the Border
I remember now that I had recorded an episode about bush muhly (Muhlenbergia porteri) several years ago, so it must have been time to revisit this beautiful native grass. From late summer into the fall this tangled grassy mound sets seed and the stems change color. I said light purple in this…
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My Girl Friend Hanna
Doing an episode about desert broom (Baccharis sarothroides) is a November tradition. And, so is singing a verse of an old hymn that I like to fool around with by.changing nouns and pronouns. The melody of the song has had quite a journey from a Dutch folk song of the early 1600s to the early…
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Feral Persimmons
Seeing persimmons in an abandoned orchard at the Chiricahua National Monument pulled up a childhood memory and later I found myself pulling books off shelves and reading about the genus Diospyros and some of the worldwide species. With all my new knowledge I probably could have rattled on for...
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Dysphania graveolens
When I was making the “dried seed to collect for display” list for you I should have said “screwbean mesquite beans”, not “seed,” but the twisty twirly clusters of beans that hold the seed. You probably already have those on a shelf, right? Also, can you believe I forgot wild cotton, Gossypium...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Petey Mesquitey is KXCI’s resident storyteller. Every week since the spring of 1992 Petey has delighted KXCI listeners with slide shows and poems, stories and songs about flora, fauna, and family and the glory of living in southern Arizona.
HOSTED BY
Petey Mesquitey
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How many episodes does Growing Native with Petey Mesquitey have?
Growing Native with Petey Mesquitey currently has 50 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Growing Native with Petey Mesquitey about?
Petey Mesquitey is KXCI’s resident storyteller. Every week since the spring of 1992 Petey has delighted KXCI listeners with slide shows and poems, stories and songs about flora, fauna, and family and the glory of living in southern Arizona.
How often does Growing Native with Petey Mesquitey release new episodes?
Growing Native with Petey Mesquitey has 50 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
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Growing Native with Petey Mesquitey is created and hosted by Petey Mesquitey.
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