 The following is a production of New Mexico State University. Palo Duro Canyon, the Grand Canyon of Texas, marks an abrupt change of scenery from the plains of the Texas Panhandle. The canyon is approximately 120 miles long, 20 miles wide, and 800 feet deep. For a million years, river water has sculpted artful formations in the rock. The canyon's natural amphitheater resonates with sound on summer evenings as audiences enjoy the internationally famous musical drama, Texas. Nearly half a million visitors a year come for the entertainment, outdoor activities, and educational opportunities this state park and its cooperators provide. We're at the Interpretive Center at the Palo Duro Canyon State Park where Neal Henders, president of the Amarillo Chapter of the Native Plant Society is giving us a tour of the Native Plant Garden. Neal, what's this pretty purple flower you're looking at here? This is Tahoka Daisy. Native here? Yes, to this area. So in the canyon? Yes, in the surrounding area. So it's a native plant that people could use in their landscapes? Yes, that sure could. What is the purpose of this garden? The purpose is to demonstrate native plants that grow in the area and to let people see them through their blooming stages and hopefully see how they could possibly use them in their landscapes. In a cultured environment, they're pregnant a little bit better than they do in nature. Yes, we're adding a little water to this so that they will hopefully bloom a little bit longer. People can see them in bloom and see maybe how they would do. What are some of the other things you have here? I see a nice grass right over here. We have some Psytox groma that was started this year. Looking pretty healthy. It's doing alright. I know you've got some things over here too. Let's take a look. Yes, okay. Neal, here's a plant I recognize from New Mexico, paper flower. Yes, that's right. It does well here. It's really doing well this year. For some reason last year we didn't see it and this year it's all over the place. It likes the dry? Yes, something. It likes New Mexico and that's dry. And over here is another one. Yes. You probably call it Prairie Xenia. We call it Rocky Mountain Xenia. Okay, that's another one that we're familiar. It grows across a wide range of the Southwest. That's right. It does really well in the gardens. And over here is your garden annex. I see something I need to go find out about. Alright. Well, this plant that I saw over here is really interesting. It looks like it would be a great landscape plant, but it wasn't open a few minutes ago. No. It opens in the evening. It's stickly from the Xenia. It closes by midnight or so. And so it's got a real short, I mean, you have to catch the bloom on it. It's also called rattlesnake bush because when you shake the pods, when they're dry, they'll rattle. These have all gone now. And there's another variety of too of Xenia that would also do well in the landscape. There are a lot of native plants that would do good in the landscape. Yes. Just one example. Big, beautiful flowers like this. Right. Well, thank you for this tour of the native plant garden here. You're welcome. I was glad to do it. Now I'm off to see the native plants of Palloduro Canyon. We're here in the bottom of Palloduro Canyon with Heather Landman, park interpreter. Heather, what does Palloduro mean? That's a very good question. Palloduro is Spanish for hard wood. And that's in reference to the redberry juniper trees that grow very commonly out here in the canyon. They grow very commonly along the hills and also down here on the canyon floor. I'd like to show you this bush over here. That's pretty. This is a little leaf sumac. This grows throughout the Southwest. It's a good, tough, hardy plant. It certainly is. And the berries provide excellent food for wildlife. Even deer and antelope browse it. It's called buckbrush because of that. It's one of three different kinds of sumac that we have out here in the canyon. And they're not poison sumac, are they? No, they definitely aren't. They're great landscape plants. And they survive drought very easily. So they're good throughout the Southwest in the landscape for wildlife habitat, wildlife food, and pretty landscapes. Mm-hmm. Do you have some others like that? We certainly do. In fact, over here we have another bush. This one's not been used in cultivation yet, but may be a good one in the future. This is buckthorn, or otherwise known as zizifus obtusifolia. Zizifus? I know zizifus jujube or zizifus chinensis, which is the jujube. Uh-huh. But this is a native zizifus. Sure is, and it grows very commonly out here. It does have some thorns, which give it its name, but it's very good to resist drought. It's also a good living fence. Definitely. It's kind of stopped traffic moving across properties. And you don't have that much problem with wildlife browsing it. And you said you have something else to show us, too. I sure do. Let's take a look. There's a tree I'd like to show you. It's right over here. It's a Western soapberry. Look at the structure, nice bark. It makes a wonderful shade tree, and it grows very easily in this type of climate. Another interesting thing about this tree is you'll notice the berries at the very end. Those are the reason why we call this soapberry. They were used by the Native Americans to make soap. So they could wash their clothing and other things with the berries and water. So it's an interesting tree, a good landscape tree, historic, native, well adapted. It certainly is, and it is a beautiful tree. This kind of tree people ought to come see and see if they want it in their landscape. There are a lot of things here they ought to come look at, but they can't take them home with them, can they? They certainly can't. By protecting the plants out here, we are enabling people to come out for many, many years and enjoy them. So you all come on down and learn about it. The preceding was a production of New Mexico State University. The views and opinions in this program are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the NMSU Board of Regents.