This is my seed list for Desert Sense Nursery at Destination:Forever Ranch and Gardens, as of January 2024. There are several important notes about seeds I have available. The first is that not every species is likely to be pure, as my garden is open pollinated and I make no effort at controlling who breeds with whom. Insects will do their insect things without my approval or assistance. Therefore hybrids are likely, or even expected, although proportions of hybrid seedlings can vary from batch to batch.

Certain genera with high diversity in my gardens stand a greater likelihood of being crossed with another member of the same genus. This is particularly true in Opuntias, Agaves, and Ferocactus, especially when different species flower concurrently at the same time of year. Spring flowering barrels are likely to cross with other spring flowering ones, and those that bloom in the late summer are likely to cross with others in similar fashion. One thing that probably won’t happen is a spring flowering species crossing with a late summer species, however, so don’t necessarily expect random crosses between two types with very distinct and separate bloom times. If you have any questions about the likelihood of hybridization in a given species, you can ask and I will offer an opinion or chance of probability.

In the cases where I feel a hybrid is likely, as in agaves, I will list the seed parent which is known first, and the potential or presumed pollen parent that happened to be blooming concurrently nearby. I do not know if these are the actual hybrids that might result from the seeds, but since most agaves are not self-fertile if there are seeds between two species that flowered simultaneously, the odds are high that the cross listed is the one. In cases where there were two or more individuals of the same species flowering together, it is assumed that a large proportion of the seeds are the pure species, although hybrids may also be present in the same seed batch, due once again to open pollination dynamics.

On the issue of seed viability, I cannot make a claim about germination percentage rates whatsoever. Despite the fact that I sell seeds I have gathered off of my plants, or off of wild populations, I very rarely attempt to germinate any of them. This is for several reasons. One is that I lack a good facility to grow plants from seeds in – no greenhouse, shade house, or other means of protecting them from dehydration or temperature extremes. Second, I am limited in water to pumping only at most 200 gallons (~800 liters) per day, which has to operate the entire nursery and household and garden. I am also limited in time to care for fragile seedlings, again especially through temperature extremes of heat and cold as well as dryness.

Lastly, there are many ways for small seedlings to die out here in the rural Arizona desert, not least of which are numerous animals ranging from seed-eating birds to several species of rodents and insects. All of these factors combine to make seed growing too challenging for me to try, given all the other things I also need to accomplish. As such, I offer the seeds I sell without guarantees of germination rates or parentage. I do assure people that I do my best to offer accurately identified seeds however, and many species are precisely what they are listed as being, especially wild examples.

I generally do not offer seeds of any species that are likely to be considered invasive. There are a few exceptions that are worth noting for their potential to spread into a new ecosystem unaided, but these are relatively few and far between. Generally speaking, the slower growing a given species is and the longer its lifespan, the less possible it is for it to be invasive. While I am aware that a handful of cacti and succulents have proven to be invasive in some climates, I do not believe that any of them are on this list. Nor are most of the bulbs, trees, shrubs, perennials, or annuals likely to be invasive either, especially not in every place where they might be grown. If you are concerned, ask and I will be happy to assess the likelihood of them becoming a problem in your climate.

Just for information’s sake, most invasive plants include some or all of the following traits:

1. They are fast growing.
2. They reproduce early in life, and they often do it quickly and abundantly.
3. They have more than one mode of propagating (vegetative and seeds) and/or dispersing (animals, water, wind, human activity).
4. They are frequently habitat generalists that tolerate a wide range of conditions, rather than specialists with narrow requirements to survive.
5. And just remember that no plant is invasive in every climate on earth. Plants that can invade deserts are unlikely to thrive in forests, and vice-versa.
   

Most cactus and succulent seed packets will contain between 25 and 100 seeds. Some packets contain fewer than this, in which case I will generally mention this to the buyer requesting them, and a few species contain more than this, in which case I won’t always bring it up. Many species are in limited supply, and might be distributed rapidly. Other species are common or produce large numbers of easily harvested seeds, and those may well be offered in larger quantities.

Shipping is done by US Postal Service. I can send seeds internationally fairly easily, especially in small amounts. Postage and handling fees just to cover basic expenses are usually only a few dollars, but might be slightly more for large orders or certain international destinations.

Here are the 2024 seed offerings. Thank you for reading.

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Cactus:


Carnegiea gigantea – saguaro cactus

Cleistocactus strausii

Cochemiea setispina

Coryphantha macromeris

Cylindropuntia echinocarpa – white spines

Echinocactus grusonii
Echinocactus platyacanthus

Echinocactus polycephalus

Echinocactus texensis

Echinocereus coccineus – variable flower colors, hybrids w E. x roetteri
Echinocereus dasyacanthus – pink flowers
Echinocereus engelmannii ssp variegatus – mixed spine colors, highly variable, all attractive
Echinocereus engelmannii – black and white spines, “salt and pepper” look
Echinocereus engelmannii – long-gold and white spines, large robust plants
Echinocereus enneacanthus

Echinocereus x roetteri – large orange, pink, sunset-colored flowers
Echinocereus stramineus
Echinocereus triglochidiatus
Echinocereus triglochidiatus var gonacanthus – large stems, few spines, origin south-central New Mexico

Echinopsis hybrid – various flower colors
Echinopsis hybrids – named crosses from Germany, colorful selections
Echinopsis hybrid – E. huascha (yellow flowers) x E. ‘Flying Saucer’ (huge pink-orange flowers) – should produce some nice F1 seedlings

Ferocactus acanthodes
Ferocactus emoryi – red flowers, may be considered var. covillei
Ferocactus emoryi – yellow flowers, may be considered var emoryi
Ferocactus emoryi – yellow flowers, large robust plants
Ferocactus glaucescens
Ferocactus gracilis
Ferocactus gracilis x F. tortulispinus? – red flowers
Ferocactus herrerae
Ferocactus histrix
Ferocactus peninsulae
Ferocactus peninsulae ssp santa-mariae
Ferocactus peninsulae ssp townsendianus

Ferocactus pilosus – white radial spines, red-pink central spines
Ferocactus pottsii
Ferocactus pringlei – scarlet spines
Ferocactus rectispinus – long, straight spines

Ferocactus rectispinus x F. wislizeni – long, curved or slightly hooked spines
Ferocactus robustus
Ferocactus wislizeni ‘Luteus’ – yellow spines and flowers, “Tucson golden barrel”
Ferocactus wislizeni x F. robustus (?) – clumping plants, yellow-orange flowers

Grusonia invicta

Gymnocalycium saglionis

Leuchtenbergia principis

Mammillaria celsiana

Opuntia aciculata

Opuntia chlorotica

Opuntia clarkiorum – Baja California, Mexico
Opuntia diploursina – Meadview, Mohave County, Arizona
Opuntia diploursina x O. basilaris – natural hybrid, Meadview, Arizona
Opuntia erinacea – selected color variants (yellow, pink, double) from Music Mts, Mohave County, Arizona
Opuntia hybrid – erinacea x aciculata? Orange spines, bright reddish-pink flowers
Opuntia lindheimeri – medium-orange flowers
Opuntia macrocentra – long, orange spines and purple pads
Opuntia macrocentra – small pads, black spines with white tips
Opuntia “Mesa Melon” x O. erinacea?
Opuntia santa-rita – purple Santa Rita prickly pear
Opuntia woodsii – Opuntia phaeacantha x O. engelmannii, Gunlock, Utah

Peniocereus greggii

Stenocereus alamosensis

Trichocereus huascha – yellow flowers


Agaves, Yuccas, and Other Monocots:

Agave chrysantha

Agave deserti ssp simplex – Mohave County, Arizona
Agave lechuguilla – Franklin Mts, southern New Mexico
Agave lophantha x A. havardiana
Agave lophantha x A. mckelveyana? x chrysantha?
Agave mckelveyana
Agave mckelveyana x A. lophantha? x deserti simplex? x triangularis?
Agave rhodacantha – Las Chinacas, Sonora/Chihuahua border

Agave triangularis x A. mckelveyana? x lophantha? x. deserti simplex?
Agave utahensis x A. vilmoriniana (“utahctopus” – Utah x octopus agave 🙂
Agave vilmoriniana x A. utahensis?

Aloe aculeata x A. ferox

Aloe variegata (Gonialoe variegata)

Hesperaloe funifera
Hesperaloe parviflora

Nolina bigelovii – Yucca, Arizona

Xanthorrhoea quadrangulata – Flinders Range, South Australia

Yucca baccata
Yucca brevifolia ssp jaegeriana – “Sonoran Blue” form US Hwy 93, Arizona, blue foliage, clumping habit

Yucca harrimaniae ssp gilbertiana – Notch Peak, House Range, Utah

Other Succulents:

Euphorbia beharensis var guillemetii – 5 seeds

Fouquieria splendens – ocotillo (typical orange-red flowers)

Fouquieria splendens – ocotillo (rare, yellow flowers)

Perennials:

Acourtia wrightii – brownfoot, syn Perezia wrightii

Argemone platyceras – prickly poppy, white flowers

Argylia radiata – bright orange flowers, family Bignoniaceae – Huasco, Chile

Asclepias eriocarpa – San Diego County, 5000 ft Laguna Mountains

Asclepias erosa – San Diego County, 2500 feet, San Felipe Valley/Anza Borrego Desert

Castilleja exserta (Orthocarpus purpurascens) – purple owl’s clover

Enceliopsis argophylla – silverleaf sunray (Clark County, Nevada)

Ipomoea leptophylla – bush morning glory

Maurandya antirrhiniflora – vining snapdragon, Mohave County, Arizona

Oenothera caespitosa – stemless evening primrose

Oenothera hookeri – Hooker’s evening primrose
Oenothera rhombipetala – four-point evening primrose

Penstemon ambiguus – phlox or sand penstemon

Penstemon angustifolius – pagoda penstemon
Penstemon cardonalis – cardonal penstemon
Penstemon eatonii – Eaton penstemon

Penstemon palmeri – Palmer penstemon (one of very few fragrant flowered penstemons)
Penstemon pseudospectabilis – desert penstemon (Wikieup, Arizona)
Penstemon strictus – Rocky Mountain penstemon
Penstemon superbus – superb penstemon (coral flowers)

Proboscidea althaefolia – yellow flowers

Sphaeralcea ambigua – apricot desert globe mallow (orange)
Sphaeralcea ambigua “Colors” – desert globe mallow (mixed flower colors)

Stanleya pinnata – prince’s plume

Xylorhiza tortifolia (Machaeranthera tortifolia) – Mojave aster

Trees and shrubs:

Acamptopappus sphaerocephalus – rayless goldenheads

Brickellia incana – woolly brickellia

Calotropis procera – Sodom’s apple milkweed

Encelia canescens – Vallenar, Chile
Encelia farinosa – brittlebush – Yucca, Arizona

Gypothamnium pinifolium – very xeric purple-flowering Asteraceae shrub (Taltal, Chile)

Parkinsonia florida – blue palo verde
Parkinsonia microphylla – foothills palo verde

Plumeria alba (?) – white flowers, yellow center

Psilostrophe cooperi – paperflower

Psorothamnus fremontii – Fremont indigo bush, desert indigo

Sophora arizonica – Arizona mescal bean (purple-flowered clone)


Annuals:

Bouteloua barbata – six weeks grama grass, a summer-monsoon growing desert annual

Centaurea cyanus “Polka Dot Mix” – dwarf bachelor’s buttons

Cleome angustifolia – mouse whiskers (purple and gold flowers, Sossusvlei region, Namibia)
Cleome lutea – golden beeplant

Cleome serrulata – Rocky Mountain beeplant

Consolida regalis – field larkspur (deep blue-purple flowers)

Coreopsis tinctoria – dyer’s coreopsis, plains coreopsis

Dalea purpurea – purple prairie clover
Dimorphotheca sinuata – African daisy (yellow, pale orange, bright orange flowers)

Eschscholzia caespitosa – tufted poppy
Eschscholzia californica – California poppy (brilliant orange)
Eschscholzia californica – California poppy (mixed colors – orange, cream, yellow, white)

Gaillardia artistata – Indian blanketflower
Gaillardia pinnatifida – adobe blanketflower

Gilia capitata – blue gilia, blue field gilia

Helianthus annuus “Autumn Beauty Mix” – mixed color sunflowers

Kallstroemia grandiflora – Arizona summer poppy

Lesquerella gordonii – Gordon’s bladderpod

Linaria maroccana “Northern Lights” – Moroccan toadflax, mixed colors

Machaeranthera tanacetifolia – Tahoka daisy

Mentzelia lindleyi – Lindley’s blazing star

Nemophila insignis – baby blue eyes
Nemophila maculata – five spot

Orthocarpus purpurascens (Castilleja exserta) – purple owl’s clover

Pectis papposa – chinch flower, lemonscent daisy – strongly scented summer annual

Phacelia campanularia – California bluebells (deepest blue imaginable)
Phacelia parryi – Parry phacelia
Phacelia tanacetifolia – tansy-leaf phacelia (light purple flowers)

Ratibida columnifera – prairie coneflower

I can be contacted at Jan at DFRanch dt com for seed orders and questions. Or call at 928 766 2597. I do not have an automated order form, and handle all requests in person via phone, text, or email. Thank you.