Anybody else doing wildlife gardening in southwest deserts ?

I have enjoyed reading here of what others are doing in other parts of the country but I live in the desert in the boondocks out aways from Phoenix , Arizona and lush growth and ample rainfall is not something that exists here . Where I live I have to haul water so xeriscaping is something of a rule here . I have planted heavily with native plants , gone heavily into taller grasses for cover . Emphazing shrubs that grow berries/fruits seed for feed . Average rainfall of less than 10 inches .
My zone is a somewhat harsh 9-b , anybody else here living in that kind of zone ?

I don't garden in anything even close to what you've described but I do plant heavily with native plants as you do. I'd love to see photos of everything you've been creating particularly the taller native grasses.

Hi Equilbrium ,

To start let me provide a link to a post that I did over at the southwest gardening forum and I will supplement that later here ;

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/803956/

I am sitting here and you can't see me but my jaw is literally hung up on the keyboard. Impressive would be an understatement.

What you have done to date in and of itself deserves an entire thread of its own complete with how it was that you came to realize there was a need for this type of habitat, where you came up with the design, any supporting publications you relied upon, any websites you visited that helped you along the way, and updated photos of the owls using their new "digs". Do you have any idea how many people are out there who get hung up somewhere along the way and never do anything except look at pretty pictures in books of habitat? The process can be so overwhelming unless broken down into manageable segments as you did. I truly hope you start a whole new thread over here on Burrowing Owl habitat from start to finish so that anyone who is in a position to try a project like this sees there is someone who has really done it! There's nothing better than running into somebody who is actually creating habitat and supporting it. Lonediver, it's one thing for people to read about this type of habitat creation in a book but you took it one step farther and actually did it. Holy moly great balls of fire is about all I can say! That's one labor of love you've got going on out there in your back yard.

Back to reading your thread now... I'm only about 1/4th through it but had to stop to comment because my eyeballs about fell out of their sockets when I realized what you had accomplished.

Yup, I'd like your place that's for sure. Too many people talk about gardening for wildlife, not too many actually take the time to do it. Kudos to you for cleaning up your property and planting back native species.

Loved the Aeolian harp. Had never heard of one let alone seen one before you posted your photo.
Something of a joke over here is that I have not only planted dead trees but I've also left dead trees standing. They don't need to have vines planted at their base to be of benefit to wildlife though. Another person who plants dead trees! Gotta love it!

Really glad you are beginning to focus on native grasses. The vast majority of gardeners out there simply don't realize how many species are dependent upon native grasses, sedges, and rushes for their very survival. The planting of exotic ornamental grasses has really not been in the best interests of wildlife, that's for sure.

I'm with Birdlady_Susie, Audubon is an excellent resource. Do they have any local chapters out your way that you could join? Another thought coming to me would be a native plant society. Great way to get seed indigenous to your area to grow species of plants that feed the little critters that your burrowing owls need to eat to survive.

Say, I'm going to be visiting the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix next week. Maybe Monday or Tuesday. Would you and your wife be in a position to join me and my husband?

In March we're flying back out your way and one of our stops is going to be The Nature Conservancy's Patagonia Creek Preserve. There's a family that lives there by the name of Patton. We'll be spending a day with them. Little blurb about the family starting on page 10 here but there's more out there on this family and their hospitality on the web if you search-
http://www.3rbc.org/newsletters/newsapr05.pdf
I only mention the Pattons as this might be a place of interest to you and your wife. Most people who visit them bring appropriate bird seed or donate a few dollars to help them continue feeding the birds. I have a friend who visits regularly who claims that on any given day, he and his wife will see 30 species of birds.

lonediver, what you are doing on your property is really exciting.

I have always had a tendency to jump into things head first and to hell with details sometimes . Theory is great but expierence is the best teacher and I am a graduate of the college of Hard Knox .
Years ago I lived in more central Arizona at a higher altitude , some 4000 feet plus as opposed to approximately 1200 feet now . A world of difference here , Arizona is supposed to have some 8 different plant - climate zones . Back then the wife and I were trying to live a " mother earth " life style fashioned kind of after the magizine by that name that was popular in those days . I got started into the study of aquaculture and for a time I was a guest speaker at " mother earth " type " Country living fairs " where people would come to learn of back to the land skills . Everything from beekeeping to spinning wool .

I was the aquaculture speaker , I was one of the few to be granted 2 hours for my class , it was a subject that could not be kept down to a single hour . The preface statement that I started my lecture with was ;

" Aquaculture by definition is the farming and husbandry of freshwater and/or marine plants and/or animals and organisms . To be differentiated from hydroponics which is the growing of traditional terrestial plants in a water based medium . If you are here to learn of hydroponics there is the door , please do not let it hit you on the ass on your way out .

( Giving a slight pause here , no one ever left my lecture . Continuing on )

The only reason I am up here at the podium is that I am doing something in aquaculture and you in the audience are thinking about doing something ! "

If you cannot tell , I am a soft spoken guy . After my preface the lecture would be somewhat free flowing , I always brought samples out of my ponds that I would give away to any that were interested after the class concluded .

I have made my share of mistakes but at the same time I have found a great many so called experts don't know thier butt from a hole in the ground . I prefer to learn from others who are actually trying to " do " .

Taking a quick look at weather , I see you being from minn. , I checked Saint Paul and observe that Saint Paul has an average of 30 some inches of precipatation avearage annually . Far different than where I live with less than 10 .

We can still learn from one another but plants you are familar with and use there are not compatible with conditions here .

The burrowing owls being sometimes migratory can range from mexico to canada . Populations of them in Florida as well . Here in Arizona we do have some migratory but we also have a year round population . If you think that there is sufficent interest here , I will do as you suggest and post a list of sources of Burrowing owl rescue groups/rehabbers . Design of artifical habitat , the material list is not that hard .

Are there others here interested ?

P.S. , Equilibrium ,

I see on other threads you speaking of/recommending some books . Have you read these/possess them . Are there chapters or areas within these books that would apply to the extremes of southwest deserts . I would appreciate any reply from you on this . Thanks in advance .

I am a slow typer due to some injuries to my left hand some years ago , a result is that I hen peck with a single finger . Rather slow to say the least , I really need to learn to overcome it better somehow . I think much faster that I type . I see you posted twice since I started my last one .
Equilibrium , Next week would be diffucult . When you come in March it might be better . Weekends are better than weekdays . The wife might enjoy meeting you as she originally came from Minn. If you are travelling around Arizona in March you should check out the Chirachua mountains down in the southeast corner of Arizona . On the southeast side of the mountains are some small towns/villages called Paradise and Portal . There are supposed to be more bird species there than anywhere else in Arizona . They were some time ago supposed to be trying to reintroduce a pine cone eating parrot there . Another area I think is called Ramsey canyon not too far away from Patagonia on the western side of the mountain from Patagonia .

The Aeolian harp is interesting , I found that there is a whole subject on the topic of Aeolian music . I can be a little lazy sometimes . Why should I go to the trouble of doing something when I can let nature/ wind do it for me . I started on making a giant wind spinner that I hope to build some aeolian flutes into . I started it a year ago and got distracted from it . When finished I want it to have motion , light and sound in one . All activated by the wind .

I keep meaning to get a little more involved with Audubon and native plant societies both of which are here . I am not much of a joiner , one reason being is I am rather busy trying to maintain/expand what I am doing on my own place . I do need to contact them at least for information releveant to what I am trying to do . Both are supposed to have something of publications relative to my area .

We seem to have some interests in common , I look forward to some more interaction in the future .

Yes, I own darn near every book I have recommended other than Tallamy's "Bringing Nature Home" which I have ordered and should be waiting for me when I get back home. Although I garden in the Midwest and don't own any publication specifically on southwest desert gardening, some of the books I have do reference same. Not that any particular book is coming to mind right now but I can go stand in front of my books and browse and that should jolt my memory. If there is a book in particular I have recommended that you want to know about, chances are pretty darn good I've got it here and may have read it cover to cover. Must admit that sometimes I skip entire chapters if nothing jumps out and grabs me as being of interest. I have loaned a few out that never made their way back home to me and my Dirr manual comes to mind but there are a few others. When I read a book that I own, I shamelessly highlight, circle, dogear, and attach stickies to entire pages of interest to me. I'm not too good with internet search engines but I can assure you I can find information I've read because of the way I highlight with wild abandon in my books.

Now, I did have a boatload of periodicals that covered the extremes of gardening in the southwestern desert. Bad news is that I boxed up everything that was relevant and shipped it out to my aunt and uncle who now live out your way just a little north of Phoenix. One publication that you might want to consider subscribing to would be The Sierra Club's monthly which you get for free if you join an active local chapter. They seemed to always be chalk full of desert gardening articles and natives were always a focus. A local Audubon chapter would be very good too as they probably have monthly newsletters focusing on your area.

Also too, I found this place for my aunt that you might not know exists-
http://www.southwesternnativeseeds.com/
I bought her a membership to here-
http://aznps.org/html/np_information_az.html
Here are the titles of some books I found for my Aunt that might be of interest to you-
Natural by Design: Beauty and Balance in Southwest Gardens by Judith Phillips
Southwestern Landscaping With Native Plants by Judith Phillips
Native Plants for Southwestern Landscapes by Judy Mielke
I have no idea if she ever ordered any of them or not. Personally, I would think that more information specific to the exact region in which you garden would be available from local native plant and local wildlife societies. Maybe see if the Sonora Desert has any publications or periodicals?

One book I would highly encourage you to read (doesn't cover your Southwestern Desert or my Great Lakes) would be Sara Stein's "Noah's Garden: Restoring the Ecology of Our Own Backyards".
http://davesgarden.com/products/gbw/c/1136/
One doesn't need to be gardening out east to derive substantial benefits from reading her book.

I used to jump into things headfirst and to heck with the details but soon learned that some mistakes weren't fun enough to ever want to repeat. Some were flat out too expensive to be able to afford to repeat. There are a lot of soft spoken people laced throughout organizations such as Audubon and native plant socieites. I've found that joining provides infiniteless network opprotunities and one certainly doesn't need to be an extrovert to enjoy the benefits of membership. The "doers" as you call them, as opposed to the arm-chair warriors, can be found in the ranks of these organizations. You would be shocked at the level of technical assistance you could tap into from those who have tackled similar restoration projects.

One thing you might want to consider would be contacting these people-
http://www.az.nrcs.usda.gov/
Connect with one of your state biologists or ecologists and see if there isn't any grant money out there for a project such as yours. My state has a few that I am just now beginning to check into. More technical support as opposed to financial support for my state but I'm ok with that.

Hmmm, Mother Earth News, eh? I own every book in the Foxfire series and read them all cover to cover in the early 80's.

I speak on invasive species from time to time and allow for a question and answer session before, during, and after. I like active participation and let people jump in whenever they want.

We live year round in Illinois. Northeastern Illinois to be exact. We're somewhat similar to your wife's beloved Minnesota. Our home in the Upper Peninsula of MI which is above the tension zone would be more comparable to MN.

Although I do not know if there is sufficient interest right now, I believe that any thread you can start on Burrowing Owl habitat would be great to have for all the lurkers out there who never post who absorb everything. I also believe it would serve as a great "how to" thread. There aren't too many who have done what you've done.

My husband to this day types with two fingers. He gets by and evidently you do also. I wouldn't get hung up on speed unless you're getting frustrated. I bought him a CD on typing. He never used it. Supposedly, it was one of the best instructional CDs on typing available but if one doesn't bother popping it in the drive, one can't benefit from it. If you are interested, I could dig it up and send it to you. I'm sure it's around here somewhere still in the shrink wrap.

In March we've got a pretty full schedule. We'll do a little bit more of the Sonora Desert and Sabino Canyon but one of the places that we are going that I am really looking forward to is a hike up Aravaipa Creek, the river is the path believe it or not so we'll be getting very wet-
http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/arizona/preserves/art1946.html
We've got our BLM permits in place and are ready to go. We're also going to visit the Grand Canyon in March so we'll be rammed running from location to location... with kids.

I look forward to any "how-tos" you can share regarding your burrowing owls. Those critters are incredibly cute.

I am going to bump this to the top again and ask another time . Is there anyone else here from the southwest desert type area of the country that visits here to compare notes with . I do admire your others gardens here but believe me , what works there does not work here .

Anybody from Texas , New Mexico , Arizona , parts of California ? Don't be lurkers , speak up .