Growing Native with Petey Mesquitey

Series produced by KXCI

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Petey Mesquitey is KXCI’s resident storyteller.

Every week since the spring of 1992 Petey has delighted KXCI listeners with slide shows and poems, stories and songs about flora, fauna, family and the glory of living in southern Arizona.


211 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
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We have had 4-wheel drive vehicles for many years and we’ve always found it to be a great tool that can take the worry out of some roads. I just ha...

  • Added: Dec 30, 2017
  • Length: 05:16
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I’m not sure I can add a whole lot more about jojoba (Simmondsia chinesis) other than what you hear in this show, except that it is now in its own ...

  • Added: Dec 22, 2017
  • Length: 05:20
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It’s true that life in southeastern Arizona is full of “behold!” moments. It is so exciting to live in such a diverse land, both in plants and anim...

Bought by KSFR


  • Added: Dec 22, 2017
  • Length: 05:07
  • Purchases: 1
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It is nice to have a yard full of native plants. Most of the time I have an idea what and where I want to plant things, but I confess to sometimes ...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Nov 30, 2017
  • Length: 04:48
  • Purchases: 1
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Well, the getting out of the growing business thing is not going well at all and I’ve had to come to grips with the fact that that I still need to ...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Oct 19, 2017
  • Length: 05:15
  • Purchases: 1
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The scientific name for jaguar is Panthera onca and these large wild felines range from Sonora, Mexico down to portions of central and South Americ...

  • Added: Oct 19, 2017
  • Length: 02:23
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Hmm, I sure talk about a lot of things in this show, but fall does this to me and it is the season of seasons that it has just begun. So the monsoo...

  • Added: Sep 20, 2017
  • Length: 04:55
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I like the title Wild Lettuce for this show. It seems incongruous, as in wild and lettuce don’t seem to go together.

  • Added: Sep 20, 2017
  • Length: 05:11
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It’s the way that folks at the Bisbee farmers Market say, “Oh, you grow the bellota.” that makes me think of that common name as an honorific name ...

  • Added: Aug 03, 2017
  • Length: 05:02
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This is all probably more than you wanted to know, but what the yucca moths tell us is that there are, no doubt, hundreds of thousands of pollinato...

  • Added: Aug 03, 2017
  • Length: 05:06
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I think I revealed most of my chicken history in this show.

  • Added: Aug 03, 2017
  • Length: 04:45
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Desert Rosemallow is the official common name I think, though I see it called Coulter’s Hibiscus as well.

  • Added: Aug 03, 2017
  • Length: 05:34
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Well, now you know about my personal gardening history. It’s not done. I mean there is history in the making in the garden just outside the front d...

  • Added: Aug 03, 2017
  • Length: 04:53
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The green dodo (Dodoneaea viscosa var. angustifolia) was a very common landscape plant around Tucson back when I first started working in a wholesa...

  • Added: Aug 03, 2017
  • Length: 05:18
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Though Sonoran Desert millipedes are nocturnal, this is the time of year when you see them out and about on muggy overcast days.

  • Added: Aug 03, 2017
  • Length: 04:56
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The common name of chocolate flower refers to the surprising morning fragrance of the flower.

  • Added: May 10, 2017
  • Length: 05:47
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In southeastern Arizona Datura wrightii is the preferred source of nectar for the moth Manduca sexta and you may also notice that the caterpillar, ...

  • Added: Mar 19, 2017
  • Length: 05:22
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Bush Muhly is the species Muhlenbergia porteri. There are over 40 species of muhlys found in Arizona and across the southwest.

  • Added: Mar 19, 2017
  • Length: 05:08
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I suspect I talk about point-leaf manzantia (Arctostaphylos pungens) every February, as it is the time of year when I’m feeling florally deprived a...

  • Added: Mar 16, 2017
  • Length: 05:08
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March 11, 2017 Inca doves are found all along the borderlands and southward into Mexico. The common name should probably be Aztec dove, as the Inca...

  • Added: Mar 16, 2017
  • Length: 05:26