Bountiful Exotics Nursery

05/14/2026

The Utah Hardy Figs Community hit 700 members yesterday.

700 Utah gardeners who decided that growing figs in this climate was worth figuring out. That community exists because they showed up and kept asking questions and getting dirty.

If you're growing figs in Utah — or thinking about it — that's where your people are. Public group, free to join, 18 years of Utah-specific growing data behind it.

Search Utah Hardy Figs Community on Facebook.
Grab a shovel — feed your family — you belong here.

05/06/2026

The USU Botanical Center is such a cool space any day of the week.

Art, gardens, and live music all in one place though — "Community in Bloom" is exactly the kind of relaxing Saturday I need right now.

I can't wait!

New this year, Art in the Arboretum introduces a unifying theme: Community in Bloom—created in celebration of America 250 and the ways creativity continues to shape and connect our communities.

Artists participating in this year’s event were invited to interpret the theme in their own way, bringing forward pieces that reflect growth, connection, and the many ways we come together through shared experiences.

You’ll see it woven throughout the day—in the art, the gardens, the music, and the moments in between.

Join us May 16 from 10 AM–2 PM as the arboretum comes alive with color, creativity, and community.

Free and open to all.
Presented with support from Discover Davis, Goldenwest Credit Union, and USU Credit Union.

05/05/2026

Weber Basin Water Conservancy District Learning Garden has free classes this month — Organic Gardening, Container Gardening, Companion Planting. Top-notch facilities, practical instruction, and this drought year especially, nobody's better positioned to teach smart water use than the people who actually manage our supply. Register free at weberbasin.gov

We'll be out there in June with some things to plant. More on that soon.

05/02/2026

Should've woken up early yesterday (May 1st) and kept watch over the garden. 👀

(Actual wisdom from the Old Farmer's Almanac)

04/29/2026

We're participating in this fair!
Save the date and come visit us.

Spring Garden Fair – FREE Community Event!

Join us for a fun-filled day at our annual Spring Garden Fair—no registration needed! Bring the whole family and enjoy a day of learning, exploring, and celebrating water-wise landscaping.

🌿 Local vendors & shopping
🌭 Free food & entertainment
🚶 Garden & water treatment plant tours
🎁 Prize drawings
💧 Learn how to save water in your yard

🗓 June 6 | 8:00 AM – 2:00 PM
📍 2837 E Hwy 193, Layton
🚗 Overflow parking available at the Baptist Church

Come get inspired, have fun, and discover simple ways to make a big impact on your outdoor water use!

🌱 Hosted by our Learning Garden
📘 https://www.facebook.com/WeberBasinLearningGarden

📸

04/29/2026

Utah finally has its own fig variety.
18 years.
One mother tree in Bountiful.
Selected for Utah winters, Utah heat, and Utah drought.
Not a California variety.
Not a big box gamble.

A tree that already knows your climate.

Utah Heritage Fig™ — Ficus carica 'Chicago Hardy bEx'

Locally acclimated.
Utah's Own certified.
Limited availability.
Propagated right here in Bountiful by our state-licensed nursery.

10 plants available now.
More coming in a few weeks at peak planting time.

Stop watering grass you'll never eat.
The best time to plant a fig tree was 10 years ago.
The second best time is this May.
Got a shovel?

📍 Bountiful Exotics Nursery — appointment based, Bountiful UT
📲 801-923-8471 — call, text, or DM to reserve yours.
Pricing varies by size.

04/29/2026

Growing Pomegranates in Bountiful?
Yeah, me too!
This is my first harvest —
a variety with Utah connections called AC Sweet, and sweet it was!

Created by the founder of Valley Nursery in Uintah, Utah.
I bought it years ago from his grandson at Valley!

Soft-seeded, tasty, and organically grown right in my Bountiful side yard.

I'm growing the Dixie Sweet pomegranate as well (AKA Utah Sweet) that's been grown in Southern Utah since pioneer times.

Who said we don't have pomegranate heritage in this state?

I've got 100 Russian Pomegranates in the baby plant nursery looking for a good home as well.
Are you a good home?

Pre-orders opening soon for the Russian and the AC Sweet Pomegranates—
comment POMEGRANATE or DM me to get on the list first.

04/28/2026

Confession of a weather geek.
"I never trust a clear night."

People keep asking — can I leave the figs/pomegranates/tomatoes out now?
Can I uncover them?

My answer:
anything under 45°F with a clear, calm night puts leaf surfaces in danger of freezing.

Why?
Radiation freeze conditions.

On calm, clear nights, surfaces radiate heat directly to the atmosphere faster than the surrounding air can replace it.
Leaves, car windows, roof shingles, grass blades — they can run 4–10°F colder than the air at your thermometer.

Colder than the air.
Not the same as the air.

Your thermometer measures air temp at 4–5 feet off the ground.
Your plants are not air.
This morning my thermometer read 34.5°F.
Heavy frost on everything, too.

Above freezing.
But frost everywhere.
Exactly what radiation freeze looks like.

The photos here are from my own yard —
frosted leaves and "May 31st" written in frost on my car windshield.

Both captured when the thermometer read above freezing.
Same thing happening today.

I've been geeking out on weather for a long time, and I know 6:45–7:15 — just before sunup — is typically the coldest point of the night.
The panic period, if you've got plants at risk. And I always do...

So that frost didn't form at dawn.
It formed hours earlier, when surfaces were deepest into that cold deficit.

No cloud cover means no insulating blanket over your garden.

Clear skies are beautiful and brutal.

Dang.
Double dang.

The deal we made when we decided to grow things?
"Never trust a clear night."
Protect your plant babies.

Dang.
Double dang.