Hello every one!
My name is John Weiser.
I garden in Reno/Sparks, NV
I have been gardening for the past forty years. First in North Dakota, and now in Nevada for the past ten years. My main focus has been the cultivation of native western plants.
We are in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada Range, on the western edge of the Great Basin, and considered a high desert steppe environment. It becomes obvious that my gardening methods and choices must conform to a drier regiment than is often found in literature about rock gardening.
It has been my goal to plant suitably adapted hardy plant selections, from the high desert steppes and desert mountain ranges of the world.
I currently grow a modest selection of Mediterranean, Asian Steppe, South African and west coast South American species. By in far the majority of my selections have come from the Inter-Mountain West, Great Basin and Northern Great Plains of North America.
Since we have a limited supply of moisture (six inches annually) I need to to do a modest amount of irrigation. I accomplish this using seasonal drip irrigation on about half of the species I grow. The critical time to irrigate is in late summer and early fall as the plants are preparing for dormancy. Storing energy reserves to see them through. Once they are going dormant the irrigation is discontinued.
I consider my garden to be a dry land rock garden.
From the High Desert Steppe
of the Great Basin and the Eastern
Escarpment of the Sierra Nevada Range
Located in Reno/Sparks,NV
johnpweiser@yahoo.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sierrarainshadow/
John P Weiser