The thermometer is still dancing between 99 and 100 as I write in mid-October, but I’m branding this our “end of summer” update in hopes that maybe wishing will make it so.   Those of you Sonoran Desert dwellers know that calling this summer a challenging growing season is an understatement. Nat... View Post

In the Greater Southwest, El Dia de San Juan (June 24) has long been celebrated as the time of the coming of the summer rains.  A time to celebrate the end of the dry-heat, to rejoice in the crack of lightning, the crash of thunder and the rush of rain that mean it is time to plant.  A time to re... View Post

It's seed-catalog browsing season, that time when many gardeners around the country find a cozy spot to do their garden dreaming and planning. This season our NS/S staff often hear this question: Will this variety grow well in my garden in ________?  Fill in the blank with any town from Wenatchee... View Post

By Laura Neff, Education Coordinator At Native Seeds/SEARCH we are always excited to hear stories involving the arid-adapted crop seeds that were obtained either by sale, or through one of our many seed access programs. In September, Mike Warner, a teacher from Tempe High School in Tempe, Arizon... View Post

By Sheryl Joy, Collections Manager Growing plants, for every gardener and farmer anywhere ever, is a learning experience. That is certainly true here at the NS/S Conservation Center, where every year we are growing different varieties that are often unfamiliar to many or all of us. It is also som... View Post

Last week we were admiring how robust and healthy the plot of Yoeme Blue Corn appeared, it had begun to tassle, and was reaching its mature height of 3-5 feet. Predictably, other community members had also noticed; mostly fig beetles and aphids, but also leaf-footed bugs, striped cucumber beetles, and corn earworm. It’s a veritable multi-generational mixer out there.  View Post

By Michelle Langmaid, Volunteer & Production Coordinator.  There is a bookshelf here in our lab lined with five-ring binders containing hard copies of original collection information for nearly all of the 1,900 accessions in the seed bank. Recently as I dove into these volumes looking for the... View Post

By Michelle Langmaid, Volunteer & Production Coordinator Behind the scenes, the Adopt-A-Crop campaign can feel like an emotional rollercoaster: Starting with small handfuls of rare seeds, we plant them but only some germinate; we worry about having a large enough population size to maintain h... View Post