Mollisons Desert Garden Plant Assembly

In his PDC DVD, Bill Mollisons takes about a garden he wanted to build, but would never get to do. A highly productive garden using Species of plants from the deserts of the world. He touches on foods that are abundant in various deserts like bulbs from the Kalahari, seed from Australia, cactus from Mexico..

I would like this thread to be dedicated to Desert trees, plants, bulbs, and berries along with their sources of seed or cuttings! Also, for sharing experiences of highly successful Desert plantings. All for the purpose of actually building Bills Desert Garden

Bill has an amazing ability to wonder off topic and I gathered and grouped video clips into a mostly coherent sequence from almost 3 hours of video..

I am thrilled by this topic! Some of my favorite gardens are desert gardens, particularly the Huntington Desert Garden http://www.huntington.org/desertgarden/ I would love to see a desert food garden with the beauty of the Huntington Desert Garden.

One of my favorite dryland plants is the Sotol, Dasylirion texanum, which was a staple carbohydrate of the native peoples here. So far I've not been able to cook it in a way which makes it palatable, but it can be made into a fermented beverage. Seeds available here: http://www.jlhudsonseeds.net/SeedlistDA-DE.htm I can send young plants to a project if it is in the continental US.

Another species of Sotol: https://plantsofthesouthwest.com/collections/trees-shrubs/products/dasylirion-wheeleri?variant=11501410309

Another favorite dryland plant is Buffalo Gourd, Cucurbita foetidissima, with tasty seeds. http://www.seedsource.com/catalog/detail.asp?product_id=3161

One desert berry I want to grow is Wolfberry, Lycium exsertum, a kind of goji. http://www.jlhudsonseeds.net/SeedlistLO-LZ.htm

Another species of Wolfberry: https://plantsofthesouthwest.com/collections/trees-shrubs/products/lycium-pallidum?variant=11501404485

Cholla cactus have edible buds and fruits: https://plantsofthesouthwest.com/collections/trees-shrubs/products/opuntia-imbricata?variant=11501340037

Pinon Pine has edible seeds: https://plantsofthesouthwest.com/collections/trees-shrubs/products/pinus-edulis?variant=11501371397

Yucca baccata has edible fruits: https://plantsofthesouthwest.com/collections/trees-shrubs/products/yucca-baccata?variant=11501532485

Bush Morning Glory has an edible root: https://plantsofthesouthwest.com/collections/wildflowers/products/ipomoea-leptophylla?variant=11501464389

Honeylocust seeds available here: http://www.jlhudsonseeds.net/SeedlistF-G.htm

I would include Scott O'Bar's book Crops for dry lands as a primer for world desert food plants...our own local boy from Santa Barbara:

His website also give out extensive scholarly PDFs for multiple plants:
http://cropsfordrylands.com/

I think finding sources for the plants will be the most difficult thing.

Tylosema esculentum. The marama bean bill talks about in the video that produces a huge edible buld and 1/2 acres sized high protein bean plant.

Tested at sul Ross university in the Chihuahua Desert. It take about 4 years for the tuber to get large enough to put out sizeable harvest. Making harvest of bulbs less likely a good idea unless you have an over supply of older plants growing.

I have been able to find marama bean seed on eBay fairly regularly. However, the price is often outrageous.

http://m.ebay.com/itm/World-rarest-plants-Tylosema-esculentum-marama-bean-green-gold-1-rare-seed-/171902966954?nav=SEARCH

Amazon, also..
http://www.amazon.com/Exotic-Plants-Tylosema-esculentum-Marama/dp/B00S6785CO

Are you aware of Bill Mollison Permaculture Lecture Series, On-Line

http://www.networkearth.org/perma/culture.html

There are two-three videos there dedicated to drylands, deserts, arid.