Flora Fauna Farm and Nursery

01/10/2025

Sure is great to get a little moisture, scant as it was.

Here's a tree that we always grow a few of each year, which is most easily described as a tree form of arborvitae.

It is always curiously absent from local planting lists, but it's easy to keep happy, long lived, and super useful as a windbreak. Birds go wild for the seeds each fall.

It's from Manchuria and the Russian Far East and always look their best in the snow.

11/12/2024

Jujubes have entire shoots that are deciduous, not just leaves. These are the fruiting shoots, and they are formed a new each year. Because they don't overwinter their flower buds, they don't receive any sort of winter damage to them or have them bloom too early in the spring.

If you're looking for a fruit tree or NM adapted shade tree, it's still possible to purchase potted stock on the website. We also have newly available bare root stock available for pre-order now for the next month or so.

11/04/2024

I think I might be enjoying Osage Orange seed processing a little too much... It's a great day for tree seed processing ☺️.

We use these seeds to grow rootstock that we graft Che fruit, as well as fruitless thornless shade trees onto. 1 YO grafts are usually a little cold sensitive the first year after grafting, so I will hold on to them in a protected spot until spring and then might have a few for sale.

09/30/2024

Teapot Jujube 😍. It's that wonderful time of year when people text and ask "do you have jujubes" and I have no idea whether they mean trees or fruit. The answer is YES of course!

09/25/2024

Pomegranates take a little longer to fruit. Our jujube trees often attempt to fruit the same year we graft. I've been waiting 3 years to see even a single fruit on this pomegranate. Good things come to those who wait--this variety is supposed to have golden arils inside the red fruit! Bringing a Rannii pomegranate to market with us on Saturday.

09/24/2024

Inventory is getting a little tight but we are preparing for the downtown growers market this Saturday. Will have peach, apple, jujube, persimmon, climate ready and native shade trees, fig, pomegranate, and more! Also planning on bringing fresh jujube fruit 😋😋

09/23/2024

Another article from us about planting pomegranates and figs in New Mexico!

As irrigation access has become harder to come by and the summer heat seems to last longer than it used to, learn what type of fruit trees thrive in our hot and dry climate. https://www.505outside.com/2024/09/06/subtropical-fruit-trees-for-the-high-desert-pomegranates-and-figs/

07/25/2024

Zig. Zag. Fruit!
The contorted jujube variety 'So' is always one of the first to ripen.

07/24/2024

Late afternoon in this year's peach grove. We are growing out rootstock in between rows of permanent fruit trees.

Technically, I guess we should see some loss of production due to competition from the larger trees. In this harsh climate, however, I haven't seen anything but benefits from the protective microclimate they provide. Certainly makes it nicer to work in

07/22/2024

Having fun "June Budding" peaches in beautiful July. Sometimes being late is perfect timing.

07/19/2024

Jujube grafts are still leafing out for us. The first couple shoots that come out tend to be deciduous fruiting shoots (first pic). By clipping those, we tell the tree to send up a vigorous shoot that will become the main trunk (second pic).

Once we get a bit of growth, we stake the main trunk to make sure the vigorously growing top doesn't snap off at the graft when the wind blows through. I think we may have close to a thousand newly grafted trees growing this year 😳, so lots of staking happening!

If you're looking for a jjb tree we have some nice big ones available now in 15 gal. pots that are ready to start producing, and smaller ones too. Send a DM. If you are planting a larger orchard next year, or need jujube trees for your nursery, it may be getting time for us to think about wholesale pricing. Also send a DM.

06/09/2024

The bloom is on. Even a bit of fruit set. Last year Jujube production was a little lower on some varieties, I think because of the extended heatwave and the timing of its onset. I'm interested to see how things go this year.

While I don't love the worsening conditions, I do love observing how the plants best suited to our extreme environment perform.

We have in our neighborhood some established jujubes that have received no supplemental water for probably 3 years at least. The fruits have shrunk in size by half, but there is no sign of distress in the canopy so far. The leaves look as green and shiny as fake plastic house plants. Incredible. No other fruit tree would even be alive at this point.

Jujubes have been consumed by humans for 7,000 years, going back to the Neolithic. They have been cultivated for 3,000 years along the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River in challenging climates not unlike ours. They form the backbone of agriculture in these places, and I don't think it's inconceivable that they may eventually play an important role in New Mexico agriculture as well. In the meantime they are merely a novelty, and a joy to grow and observe.

06/07/2024

Everything looks so much more neat and tidy and under control from up on the roof. I think I'll stay up here for the rest of June.

06/01/2024

3 mulberries with 3 different characteristics.

I think dwarf everbearing is my favorite at the moment, because it is very easy to harvest, the flavor is phenomenal, and there are no issues with cold hardiness. We harvested over 15 lbs. in about 20 minutes this morning. Been liking it pureed and frozen in a deep purple ice cream.

You can get these varieties plus one more that I really like here: https://florafauna.farm/collections/mulberries

05/28/2024

Juneberry is such an underrated native plant for edible landscaping.

I have really come to value plants that fruit early in the season, when there's not much else to snack on. I also value plants that are not botanical divas 😆. This one fits the bill, and has a similar early ripening schedule with Nanking cherry, mulberry, strawberry, and goumi, three out of four of which are also pretty carefree backyard foraging plants.

If you haven't had it, I would say the taste is as if an apple was turned into a berry, with a hint of almond aftertaste. Mild, pleasing, kids and I both can eat buckets at a time 😋

05/20/2024

Graeme Davis is a contributing author in this month’s 505 Outside newsletter and is an ISA certified arborist and the owner of Flora Fauna Farm, a nursery that focuses on plants that grow well in the high desert. Have you heard of the native black currant, the clove currant, or the golden buffalo currant? This article discusses this local food source for both pollinators and people, and how it can be incorporated in your high desert landscape. >> https://www.505outside.com/2024/04/30/a-valuable-bosque-understory-shrub-clove-currants-for-the-birds-bees-butterflies-and-foragers/

04/24/2024

Osage Orange grown from seed. Makes a shady, tenacious street tree if grafted with a thornless/fruitless variety. Or it can serve as roots for an uncommon fruit tree known as Che fruit.

04/23/2024

Putting in the final rootstock of the season this week!