Bountiful Exotics Nursery
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Bored with ordinary? So are we. This is my state-licensed home nursery, test garden, and greenhouse, all based right here in Bountiful, Utah.
Welcome to Bountiful Exotics Nursery, where we challenge the phrase, "You can't grow that here!"
I'm Ken, a lifelong cold-climate gardener. My specialty is the 'impossible'—the rare and intriguing plants that THEY say can't thrive in a Utah winter. We don't just sell figs, pawpaws, bananas, and palms; we prove them in our own test gardens first. My goal isn't just to sell you a plant; it's to giv
06/06/2026
Hot weather advisory from Bountiful Exotics — this weekend is a stress test for new plants.
Today may hit 95 F in Salt Lake, humidity at 9%, winds gusting to 30 mph. Well above normal heat for early June on top of what has already been a dry spring.
If you picked up plants from us recently, here is what we want you to know.
Any plant in the ground less than 6 to 8 weeks still has a compromised root system. It cannot fully anchor and draw water yet. In normal summer heat that is manageable. In conditions like today — extreme wind driving transpiration, near-single-digit humidity, and well-above-normal temps — the demand on those roots exceeds what they can supply. Wilting is the symptom. It is the plant asking for help. Even if you just watered.
The National Weather Service has fire weather warnings posted for central and southern Utah through Sunday. Fire danger conditions and plant stress conditions are the same thing — extreme wind, extreme dryness, extreme heat. If you see a fire warning alert on your phone this weekend, think of it as a plant alert too.
Our recommendations for this weekend.
Water deeply early morning — before 8 am if possible. If you see midday wilt, move pots to a sheltered spot out of the sun and wind, but not somewhere that traps heat. A shade cloth or even a bedsheet might seem good, but wind can knock these over onto those babies- Ask me how I know! Do not fertilize until temps drop — no stress additions this weekend. Wilting that does not recover overnight is a warning sign worth acting on.
We watch conditions closely because it matters for the plants we grow and the plants we send home with you.
Questions? Reach out — we are here.
06/04/2026
I'll try this on my yard.
Thinking about removing some lawn? 💵
Front yard, side yard, or park strip — we’ve got an incentive for that!
The Landscape Lawn Exchange program is open, and now’s the perfect time to apply!
APPLICATION MUST BE APPROVED BEFORE REMOVING LAWN!
✅An incentive up to $1.25-$2.50/sq. ft. for replacing lawn with water-efficient landscaping (minimum 35% plant coverage)
✅ Break your project into phases — reapply each time! (Minimum 250 sq. ft. per project- except parkstrips)
🚨 Important: You must apply and be approved before removing any lawn!
📋 Apply online only:
🔗 https://weberbasin.gov/Conservation/Rebates
06/04/2026
Driven home in style with Cyndi Lauper singin' loud and a therapeutic scalp massage by Red Dragon Bamboo (Fargesia sp. 'Jiuzhaigou I')
That's how we roll at Bountiful Exotics. The name isn't marketing, it's a life choice.
Serviceberry first harvest at Bountiful Exotics Nursery, running early like everything else this season.
Worth talking about, in a way too long post, but why?
This Utah native came through the late frosts without missing a beat while traditional fruit trees across Utah took heavy losses.
It's drought tolerant.
Zone 3 hardy.
Genuinely unbothered by our alkaline soils.
No amendments, no coddling, no fighting the site.
Eight or nine common names depending on where you grew up. Serviceberry. Saskatoon. Juneberry. Shadbush.
I call it Utah blueberry because it earns every part of that comparison except the one that matters most in Utah, which is actually growing here without a fight.
(Looking at you, SNARKY Blueberry bushes.)
The taste surprises people every time. Cherry and apple family compounds give it an earthy, pea-like finish behind the sweetness. Think backup vocal in your jam or pie, not the headliner, but the reason the whole thing sounds better.
At my nursery, my test garden is my side yard in Bountiful. I grow things, I watch what happens, and occasionally I let a four-year-old put something in her mouth and report back.
Blackberries, thornless of course, were a home run hit. No surprise.
The 'serviceberry = blueberry' comparison did not, however, survive that review. She was unconvinced. I am cautiously optimistic more berries will go in the mouth that don't actually come back out as we both get used to them. This is the most honest product testing available to modern horticulture. You're welcome.
It grows wild in Utah canyons. You tried this berry as a scout at camp. Yeah, it is that berry.
Your yard is not that different from where it already calls home.
Here is what I am actually thinking about though.
Hotter summers.
Drier years.
Damaging frosts with no business showing up during blossom season.
A yard heavily weighted toward traditional stone fruit carried real risk this spring. Not a reason to grab a chainsaw. A reason to think about what grows next to them.
Serviceberry, figs, brambles, a pomegranate in a protected spot. When your apricots and peaches and cherries sit a year out, something else is still producing. Not a complicated idea, just a diversified yard. The financial sector figured this out. Now it's our turn as gardeners.
The more I garden, the less I want to fight nature.
Stop growing blueberries.
STOP IT.
Diversify your yard.
Try serviceberries.
The best time to plant one was twenty years ago.
The second best time is right now.
Grab a shovel.
Anyone else eating serviceberries right now?
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.
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.
04/27/2026
Utah has world-class fig growers, growing world-class figs.
Utah has zero fig tasting events.
Just WRONG on so many levels.
AMIRIGHT?
Drop a LIKE if you'd show up.
Drop an ANGRY emoji if Fig Newtons are enough for you.
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116 W 1950 South
Bountiful, UT
84010