About Marisa Thompson

Dr. Marisa Thompson
Extension Urban Horticulture Specialist
NMSU Agricultural Science Center at Los Lunas
email: desertblooms@nmsu.edu

As the NMSU Extension Urban Horticulture Specialist, Marisa Thompson is responsible for active extension and research programs in sustainable horticulture practices for New Mexicans. In addition to landscape mulches and tomatoes, her current research interests at NMSU’s Agricultural Science Center at Los Lunas include urban forest canopy health, urban landscaping for birds and pollinators, and abiotic plant stressors, such as wind, cold, heat, drought, and soil compaction. She writes a weekly gardening column, “Southwest Yard & Garden,” which is published in newspapers and magazines across the state and on this blog. Readers can access the column archives and many other hort-related resources at https://desertblooms.nmsu.edu/. Find her on social media: @NMdesertblooms on Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and (coming soon!) on Pinterest.

Marisa worked pairing plants and people at nurseries in Albuquerque before becoming an Albuquerque Area Extension Master Gardener in 2008 and a Las Cruces Tree Steward in 2014. Her M.S. in Horticulture involved a study of pecan orchard floor management and how weeds affect water status, soil nutrient availability, and nut yield of mature pecan trees. Marisa received a Ph.D. in Plant and Environmental Sciences in August 2017 for her research on pecan flowering mechanisms with a focus on plant hormones and genes that control floral initiation.

At the Ag Science Center Field Day in August 2017, Marisa demonstrated how researchers use a Scholander pressure chamber to measure water status of trees and other plants.



Extracting RNA from pecan leaf and bud tissues, Feb. 2016. Photo credit Sarah Wentzel-Fisher.




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Controlling Weedy/Invasive/Polleny Siberian Elm Trees

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LOOKING FOR IDEAS on   WHAT TO DO WITH  SIBERIAN ELMS AFTER REMOVAL?  I'll keep posting ideas HERE over time. 👍 Southwest Yard & Garden  by guest author Dr. Leslie Beck   &  Dr. Marisa Thompson   Additional Info On This Noxious Weed Below Siberian elm seedlings can have a taproot that’s longer than the above-ground parts. Try to get all or most of the root when you pull them. Photo credit M. Thompson.   Question : What’s the best way to kill Siberian elm seedlings? - Mellene Pablo, Los Lunas Answer: I’m glad you’re asking this question when these weedy, invasive trees are small and relatively easy to control (emphasis on the “ relatively ”). We all know how precious shade is in New Mexico, and we love our trees for providing it, but weedy trees like Russian olive ( Elaeagnus angustifolia ) , tree of heaven ( Ailanthus altissima ) , salt cedar ( Tamarix spp. ) , and the Siberian elm are real problems across the state. Several traits make Siberian elms ( Ulmus pum
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Southwest Yard & Garden by Dr. Marisa Thompson Zinnia showing off both disk and ray flowers at the NMSU Agricultural Science Center in Los Lunas. Photo credit M. Thompson     Question: I have a large monarch butterfly garden, and I gathered zinnia seed heads to plant next spring. Zinnia seeds appear to have two distinct morphologies. The ray flower seed is shield-shaped and the disk flower seed is smaller and flatter. Which of the seeds is viable? I have researched and found some who say only the ray seed, some say only the disk seed, and some say both. Please let me know which zinnia seed is most viable and why. -           Tim P., New Mexico Answer: I know exactly what you mean. I’ve had this question before myself. Zinnias were one of my first garden successes when I moved to Las Cruces in 2009. I too gathered the seed heads and I too wondered which part was the true seed that should be saved. That year I just saved the whole shebang
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Here Today, Gone Saguaro: Saguaros in New Mexico

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Southwest Yard and Garden By Dr. Marisa Thompson This six-foot-tall cactus in a Las Cruces yard is likely to be a Sonoran saguaro ( Carnegiea gigantea ), even though it has grown remarkably fast. Photo credit Mike B. Question: Is this a saguaro in my front yard in Las Cruces? I’ve heard that saguaros do not grow well in this area. I planted it in 2012 and it is growing about 1 foot each year. It’s currently close to 6 feet tall.             -Mike B., Las Cruces Answer: Yes, probably, but maybe not. When we talk about saguaros in the Southwest, we’re referring to the Arizona saguaro ( Carnegiea gigantea ) of the Sonoran Desert. But there’s also an Argentine saguaro or cordon grande ( Trichocereus terscheckii , aka Echinopsis terscheckii ) that looks remarkably similar and is known to be one of the cold-hardiest columnar cacti in the world, rated at USDA cold hardiness zone 8 (average annual extreme low temperatures reaching 10–20°F). The Sonoran saguaro is rate
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