Were You Ever Called a Manipulator?

Horticulture is the manipulation of plants to get them to do what we want them to do. A basic horticultural premise that I operate from is the concept that as we deviate in our plant selection further and further from those plants which are desert adapted, the more time, energy and money we must devote to their care. There is nothing wrong with that. But it becomes a problem when we don’t realize it and we expect any plant that we put in our soil to behave the same way as any other plant. We also don’t realize that these “out of place” plants require more of our time, energy and money to perform well.

Faculty from the University of Sonora (USON) in Hermosillo visiting our nopal plantings at the UNCE Orchard

Then Maybe You Should Take Up Horticulture!

Growing nopal cactus here requires much less effort than growing tomatoes, a tropical plant. Much more care is required of that tomato plant to get it to do what we want it to do than it does to grow that cactus. The problem becomes “What exactly does that tomato require to get it to perform to its maximum?” The cactus will perform to its maximum, growing and fresh vegetable and fruits, with less expenditure of time, energy and money.

Horticulture is simply the manipulation of plant traits (characteristics like size, shape, leaf and flower color, etc.) for hobby, profit or curiosity. The other sciences of growing plants like agriculture and botany, are less focused on plant manipulation than in horticulture. Those of us who call ourselves horticulturists enjoy or make money from our abilities to manipulate plants, getting them to do what we want them to do. To learn this requires patience, a basic understanding of plants, soils, weather and climate, water and irrigation, careful observation of plants, and acquired skills. Because of this, frequently horticulture is considered an “art” or skill as much as a science. But good horticulturists can get plants to do what no other plant scientist can and that is to respond to our needs and wants.

Asht Region in Northern Tajikistan. Looks like southern Nevada!

Our climate is considered a desert climate. Deserts have been defined as those climates with ten inches or less rainfall each year. Arid climates are more general in nature and typically meaning that they are incapable of supporting some form of agriculture without supplemental irrigation. Because we live in the middle elevations of the Mojave Desert (2000 foot elevation) and we have distinctive seasons, our climate could be considered a temperate desert climate.

We enjoy many different types of landscape plants that originate from various climates all over the world; cold northern climates, hot tropical climates, wet Marine type climates, Mediterranean climates, and others. When we select plants that originate from climates that are different from ours, these plants may behave differently when planted here and the management of them must reflect these differences and compensate for them.

-Bob Morris