Desert Messenger

10 www.DesertMessenger.com February 16, 2022 Quartzsite Events Online: www.QuartzsiteCalendar.com Gardening with Dennis www.QuartzsiteVideos.com Watch Quartzsite Council meetings @ Music Jam Schedule Schedule Jam Schedule Jam Please contact Desert Messenger to list your jam session Please contact Desert Messenger to list your jam session www.QuartzsiteVideos.com Please contact Desert Messenger to list your jam session www.QuartzsiteVideos.com Please contact Desert Messenger to list your jam session 928-916-4235 Editor@DesertMessenger.com 928-916-4235 Editor@DesertMessenger.com 928-916-4235 Editor@DesertMessenger.com QUARTZSITE, BRENDA, LA PAZ VALLEY SUNDAY: 1:00pm Wagons West RV Park, 1:00pm Wagons West RV Park, Brenda 6pm Black Rock Resort Park, 6pm Black Rock Resort Park, Brenda 6:30pm. Gold Star Gospel, Acoustic with Lee Black MONDAY: 88 Shades 6:30pm TUESDAY: TUESDAY: 1pm Brenda RV Park, Brenda 1pm Brenda RV Park, Brenda 7pm. Desert Gold, Brenda, Gospel WEDNESDAY WEDNESDAY: 6:30pm. Holiday Palms RV Park, 6:30pm. Holiday Palms RV Park, Country Country 6:30pm Gold Star 6:30pm Gold Star 6:30pm 1st Baptist Church 6:30pm 1st Baptist Church 6:30pm 1st Baptist Church Gospel THURSDAY: 1pm Split Rail RV Park 6:30pm. QIA Jams 1st & 3rd; Watch Quartzsite Council meetings 6:30pm. QIA Jams 1st & 3rd; Watch Quartzsite Council meetings Country; 2nd & 4th Gospel Watch Quartzsite Council meetings Country; 2nd & 4th Gospel Watch Quartzsite Council meetings 7pm. Brenda RV Resort, Brenda @ 7pm. Brenda RV Resort, Brenda @ FRIDAY: 6:30pm JR's RV Park 6:30pm Mountain Quail RV Park SATURDAY: 1pm Desert Gold RV Park, Brenda 4pm Mt. Quail #2 RV Park is here for you! BONDED NOTARY PUBLIC • PICK UP & DELIVERY SERVICE • Courier Service • Mobile Notary Service • Professional Correspondence • Proof Reading • Copies Year Round Quartzsite Resident 562-682-7283 USE WHAT YOU HAVE By Alex Taft There is an area in my yard where I would like to have a green barrier/ fence and I was outside looking at the area trying to decide what to do and getting nowhere with it. Then I realized I was looking straight at nine creosote bushes pretty much in a row with some spaces. I had failed to notice the obvious. I remembered a conversation with Dennis about planting creosote for a fence around the park storage fa- cility. We opted for a security fence at the time but the conversation included a discussion about how durable creosote are. Once they are established, they do not require wa- ter. If you want them to grow faster, occasional watering, as in once a month or during a drought is help- ful but they do not respond well to too much water. It is such a com- mon plant that it is easy to overlook, as I did. So, I did some research and dis- covered that some creosote that grow twelve feet tall and twelve feet wide are likely to be one hundred years old or more and can live up to 11,000 years old. Creosote bushes have a reputation for killing plants that are next to it. That is an exag- geration. It is simply that they have learned to endure by being effi cient water gatherers. They don't grow close together for the same reason. The older plants are also capable of cloning themselves when the center of the plant dies and surrounding it are new plants identical to the origi- nal plant. Clearly, these plants are survivors and like the ironwood tree can witness centuries of history. Creosote plants are available in some nurseries or you can gather the seeds in late summer. The seeds do not germinate easily. It is neces- sary to remove the hull of the seed and then cover them with boiling water and soak them overnight be- fore planting them. The seeds are also available, like everything else, on the internet. Creosote or larrea tridentata (botanical name) is also part of what I refer to as the edible landscape. It can tolerate freezing tempera- tures down to 5 degrees and the in- sane heat of 120 or more degrees, which explains why it is everywhere. It has medicinal properties and uses. "Topically Creosote bush has been used with success in resolving psoriasis and eczema, particularly in combination with deeper liver therapies and removing dietary and environmental allergens", Herbal Medicine of the American South- west, by Charles W. Kane. In this same book, there are instructions as to how to prepare it. By many, creosote is considered a weed. They mitigate fl ooding because they are effi cient water users; they are me- dicinal; they grow best by being ignored; and they are evergreen. They will also solve my green bar- rier/fence problem by using what I already have. Note: for those who did not know Dennis, he was a part-time employ- ee of the Town of Quartzsite Parks Department, a Master Gardener since 1985 and instructor for the Master Gardener Class. He left notebooks fi lled with what he learned and observed about plants. He passed away in 2018. DEADLINE DEADLINE : WED. WED. MAR MARCH CH CH MARCH MAR MARCH MAR MARCH MAR MARCH MARCH 4 TH TH TH for for MARCH MARCH 16 16 16 16 th 16 th 16 16 th 16 th edition edition Desert Messenger News Email: editor@DesertMessenger.com 928-916-4235 www.DesertMessenger.com , 2022 It can tolerate freezing tempera- Creosote Creosote

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