Xtremehorticulture

Gopher Plant Adds Interest to a Desert Landscape

Gopher plant adds a lot of interest to an otherwise boring desert landscape due to color and texture during bloom and even after bloom. Use it as a specimen (planted alone as the center of attention) or in masses if you have a large area. In masses, plant them two to three feet apart. When it is flowering (spring and fall) it will draw attention so put it where you want people to go or see. Flower spikes turn brown so you can cut them back to their point of origin when they no longer look attractive or leave them if that’s the kind of thing you like. I asked Andrea Meckley, a Certified Horticulturist with the American Society for Horticultural Science, the most prestigious organization for professional horticulturists in the United States.

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Poisonous Plants: Dose Makes the Poison

Q. I have a volunteer gopher plant in my front yard that I nurtured into a bush.  I noticed that something is eating its leaves.  We have a great deal of rabbits in our area. Can it be rabbits?  I thought that the Gopher plant was poisonous even to rabbits. What does gopher plant look like? A. I assume we are thinking of the same plant. It is a euphorbia with white latex sap coming from a damaged stem, similar to the white sap you see in poinsettia which is also a euphorbia. We tend to react to poisonous plants with fear but there are degrees of toxicity when we call something poisonous.             I watched a professor of mine in floriculture on television take a poinsettia leaf and eat it. He didn’t die or even get sick. He was demonstrating that the plant is toxic but it is the “dose that makes the poison”. If he had eaten many leaves the story would be different. Even table salt is poisonous if we eat enough of it.             So it is possible for an animal to eat “poisonous” plants and survive. I have heard that some livestock will eat gopher plant in the range with no ill effects. They just don’t eat a lot of it and only when browsing is poor. Just like us, animals like to eat things that taste good.

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