Desert Messenger

10 www.DesertMessenger.com August 17, 2022 Gardening with Dennis GROUND COVERS By Alex Taft I was asked the other day whatever happened to the stuff around the planes. Years ago, the Quartzsite Garden Club, including Dennis de- cided to plant groundcover around the planes. They also planted trees where they would not interfere with a view of the planes at the town park. The name of the ground cover is myoporum parvifolium often re- ferred to as simply myoporum. It is a trailing groundcover from Aus- tralia that does well on slopes and is a low water use plant. It is bright green and has small white fl owers in the spring. It is also frost resistant, tolerating temperatures as low as 20 degrees. It is fast growing and pro- duces little to low litter. It is a pleas- ant relief to the eyes when the land- scape resembles a scorched earth in the middle of summer. Trailing Dalea, another groundcover, is not as fast-growing as myoporum and it tolerates tough conditions. It is na- tive to the Chihuahuan Desert. Its leaves are silvery and its fl owers are lavender -purple that bloom from spring to summer. There are other groundcovers that do quite well here that are low water use plants. Lantana hybrid is anoth- er groundcover that does really well. There is the gold or red lantana that thrives and blooms most of the year. The Mountain Quail Café landscap- ing has lantana and it is a good ex- ample of how pretty the plants can look. There is also trailing lantana which is purple to white. Trailing lantana is native to South America. It requires a little attention and monitoring. All lantana attract but- terfl ies. Trailing rosemary is an- other pretty ground cover that does really well in the heat, is evergreen with little blue fl owers that bloom in the winter to spring. The added benefi t of rosemary is that it is ar- omatic and can be used as a spice or you can make a wonderful tea out of it. Saltillo primrose is a fast- growing groundcover that grows in a clumping rather than trailing fashion. It blooms from spring to fall and has sweet-scented yellow fl owers that open in the morning and close at night. They are native to north-east Mexico. As is usual with gardening ques- tions, the answers turn into a wind- ing path of choices. Deciding what works best for you can involve a lot more than what you like, what you are willing to take care of and what would make you feel good when you look out your window or roam your yard and what would not only sur- vive but thrive. All of these plants Desert Messenger News offers FREE Classifi ed Ads! Here's the small print: Items for sale under $1000. Private Party Only. 1 per month. Yard/Garage/Craft Sales, Wanted, Give-a-ways, Free, Lost & Found, etc. (non-commercial) For more information, contact Rain at 928-916-4235 or Email: Editor@DesertMessenger.com Town manager meetings have changed! The Quartzsite Town Manager's Meetings will be held at 1:00pm on the Wednesday immediately fol- lowing the FIRST Town Council Meeting of every month. The meet- ing will be held at the Quartzsite Li- brary Meeting room, 465 N. Plym- outh Ave. For more information contact Town Hall 928-927-4333. Town Manager meetings A severe thunderstorm that blew through the Quartzsite area Friday morning damaged homes, over- turned sheds, blocked roads with toppled trees and knocked out pow- er to many residents in town. The storm came on quick and hit the eastern area of town the hardest. The heavy rain and strong winds toppled dozens of trees, fl ipped travel trailers, blocked several roads with debris, and left many homes without power in the area. The storm took out multiple sections of block walls, tore sheds apart, ripped awnings and damaged portions of roofs. One woman was injured when caught by fl ying debris, but did not require hospitalization. The winds blew down the very old saguaro at Quite Times on E. Main Street. The storm knocked down a signifi cant amount of trees along N. Central Blvd. The storm also caused damage to one of the planes at Town Park, ripping the cowling. Strong thunderstorms blew through Quartzsite most of last week, causing many power outages for customers in the area. On Sunday, August 14th, APS re- ported power outage affected 2664 customers in Quartzsite & La Paz Valley. Service interruption was due to damage to a major power line. ROAD CLOSURE: Due to storm damage, the portion of West Kuehn Street at the Tyson Wash Crossing will be closed until further notice for repairs. Starting Monday, August 15, at 12pm the Town of Quartzsite will be providing temporary dump- sters at the following locations: 560 E. Coyote and Northeast corner of Moon Mountain & Quail Trail See photos on Page 23 and more photos are online at https://www. f a c e b o o k . c o m / D e s e r t M e s s e n - gerNews. Storm topples cacti, trees and trailers that are groundcovers and many more are adaptable to container gardening. Lantana and rosemary adapt to pots really well. So do oth- er groundcovers such as ice plant which is native to South Africa or Bush Morning Glory from southern Europe. Groundcovers are alter- natives to what the former La Paz County Extension Offi ce educator, Lyle Browning, used to call "ugly dirt". There are several varieties of groundcovers that can enhance your yard and create a low water use oa- sis that can provide a welcome feel- ing despite the summer heat.

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