Desert Jewels Nursery

Desert Jewels Nursery specializes in plants for people who want to save water and still have a beautiful landscape. We grow hardy, locally adapted, and drought tolerant plants that can bring beauty while using minimal resources.

Environmentally conscious homeowners and landscapers, people who wish to encourage birds and butterflies, people on wells with low water availability, rock gardeners and collectors will all find something interesting and beautiful at Desert Jewels Nursery.

Former roadside “hell strip” planted with ‘Mostly Local’ Natives. Very low maintenance, very low water requirement. Desert Yellow Daisy, Blue Mist Penstemon, Barrett’s Penstemon, Hackelia, Desert Penstemon, Oregon Sunshine.

Desert Jewels Nursery grows plants for the rock garden, ground covers, and Xeriscape plants. We grow Penstemons, Desert Buckwheats, Sedums, and many native species that thrive on rocky soils. Some of these plants, including many Sedums, are also useful for green roof applications.

Xeriscape Plants

Our focus is on beautiful, flowering drought-adapted western native plants, including those native to the Columbia Basin. In addition to our regional natives, we grow some Southwestern species that are fully hardy and beautiful in a very low water planting.

Reduced Water Plants

Plants from the American prairie create a colorful home landscape with low water inputs. The first year prairie garden in the photo was watered once every two weeks through its first summer, in a summer with no rainfall.

All plants are grown at our nursery, many from wild collected seeds. In production now are 40 Penstemon species, 5 desert buckwheat species (including the bonsai ‘Ming tree’ - thyme-leaf buckwheat), dozens of Sedum and Sempervivum species, bitterroot, wild phlox, blanket flower, Oregon sunshine, spiny fameflower and Okanogan fameflower. Our gardens have Penstemons blooming from late April through hard freeze. These are the desert jewels our nursery is named for.

Driving Directions from I-90: Take the Argonne exit north toward Millwood & Mt. Spokane. Cross the river and turn right (east) at the first stoplight, on Upriver Drive. Our nursery is about ½ mile east, on the left (north) side of the street. Map