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Mid May Flowers..


Silas_Sancona

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With the start of summer about a month away, and most of the cacti finished flowering, some of the other actors around the yard step on stage for their turn to put on a show..   No big surprises yet but might have more than one or two Plumeria flower this year. While i await them, some late spring color to share..

Whitebush/ Common Beebush, Aloysia gratissima: Tough, native member of the Verbena family commonly encountered in slightly cooler exposures along desert canyons on gravely soil. Grows as a somewhat open bush to about 6ft in height by 6ft wide. Flowers on and off through the year, primarily spring-fall and is very attractive to native bees, and other pollinators. Fragrance, of the flowers, is similar to.. if not slightly sweeter than the more commonly encountered Sweet Almond Bush.. which also can be grown here and can attain patio tree- size stature in the right spot. Unlike another native Aloysia, and similar-looking species of Lippia that occurs here and there across the region, don't think the leaves on this species can be used as a herb.
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Peruvian Four-'o-Clock, Mirabilis jalapa: Most people are likely quite familiar with this old time plant. Decided to try this salmon-colored cultivar this year. Like the standard varieties, quite fast growing and seems to handle the heat fine, if placed in some shade and provided regular water ( in a pot ) Flowers present that classic Orange blossom scent in the evenings.  Growing a couple other native Mirabilis, ( M. longiflora, and M. multiflora ) but neither should flower this year. 
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Uncarina peltata flowering just about on pace w/ last year atm. Never have had issues w/ it through the winters here.. Summer sun is more of a concern which is why it sits just under the canopy of the Mesquite. Still waiting for the other Uncarina i have to reach flowering size.. Need one of them to successfully pollinate this one and vise versa. Learned flowers won't self pollinate while attempting to do so last year.
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Southwestern Coral Tree/ Coral Bean, Erythrina flabelliformis: A pretty obvious link to the region's tropical heritage, and quite the stunner when larger flowering specimens are encountered in rocky canyons here and there across Southern AZ and neighboring Sonora ( Mexico ).

While speculative, on my part, thinking this is the species which may have been miss- identified as Erythrina coralloides, a similar -looking Coral Tree that was thought to have grown natively somewhere in far southeastern Arizona.. by some early explorers who'ed documented plants in the region.  When one looks at various maps of where E. coralloides is documented, it's known range is much further south and east in Mexico and, to my knowledge, it hasn't been documented -during more recent research- anywhere close to the Arizona ( or New Mexico ) border with Mexico in either Sonora or Chihuahua. 

E. flabelliformis is a pretty common component of the Tropical Deciduous Forest region across Sonora and neighboring Sinaloa. There, larger-sized trees can present vivid flashes of Yellow or Orange-ish Gold across the landscape as trees drop their foliage after the summer monsoon season has ended in the fall.  In the drier reaches of Southern Arizona, trees are typically much smaller and don't color up quite as nicely.

Was hoping most of the flower spikes that tried to form would have continued to develop, but tree isn't quite mature enough just yet.. Regardless, hoping the neighborhood hummingbirds will help pollinate it. Have another specimen that is still at least a couple years from attempting to flower.. 
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Mexican Yellow Show/ Saiya, Amoreuxia sp. **  Recently lumped into the genus Cochlospermum ** Another direct link to the tropics native to Southern AZ, parts of Mexico, and Texas. Mine always comes up earlier that they do out in habitat ( usually pops up once Monsoon season starts ) Entire plant is supposedly edible, and have seen pictures of it being grown as a crop in Mexico.
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While the original plant died out, it left a sucker to continue growing after rooting into the ground.  Just starting to flower after 2 years worth of growth. Princess Earrings, Dichrostachys cinerea.
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An update, just For Doug, @greysrigging.. Some of the Aussie Baob seed ( Adansonia gregorii ) coming up atm..
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^^ Well done Nathan..... the heat wont do them any harm. Keep them moist/well watered until the weather cools off/dries off come Fall. They will lose their leaves and appear to be dying.... but no, they go dormant in our 'dry' season ( your winter months ), so little or no water in winter. You will be surprised at the rate of seedling growth.....

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Couple extras to add today:
 

A plant that normally gets pulled whenever they come up in pots but chose to leave this Oxalis sp that had come up in this pot when i lived in Florida. Has actually survived in the same pot the entire time here.. First time it has put out a few flowers. Perhaps hard to see in the second picture,  new leaves present tinges of purple for a few days after opening.
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One of several " Rain Lilies " i have. Only one of 2 varieties that have been shy flowering here. Likely a form of Habranthus rosea, one of several similar- looking, pink flowered species which are often sold as Habranthus/ Zephyranthes grandiflora, which doesn't exist..
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And finally, Eucalyptus torquata in a friends garden this week.

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San Fernando Valley, California

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2 hours ago, Peter said:

Fernandoa madagascariensis blooming

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Peter: Great pictures! Does your Fernandoa madagascariensis typically bloom more than your F. magnifica? If so, perhaps it's better adapted to SoCal climate conditions?

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Couple extra shots for the weekend:

Little better display of flowers on the Princess Earrings. I know some people kind of dislike this tree, due in part to the thorns ( and unlike the original plant, this one has a few ), but it does provide interesting flowers which are mildly fragrant up-close also.
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Last of the flowers on the large Uncarina peltata. Smaller pair of U. decaryi and a possible U. stellulifera cross don't appear as though they'll try and flower this year.. The possible stellulifera cross is just starting to leaf out.  No worries. More time for them to gain some size, which = more energy for flowers later. ..somewhere where the heat is a bit less intense, and the flowering cycle might extend a little further. 
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The problem with magnifica is that it wants to bloom in the late winter/early spring, and while the tree itself is fine with our lower temps, the flower buds fall off when it gets below about 45d, consequently I haven't had a big bloom yet.  There's another PalmTalk member from SoCal with a bigger magnifica, and it looks like he will have a pretty good bloom this year.   F madagarscariensis doesn't mind and blooms just fine.  Neither has set seed here yet, although magnifica does form pods in South Florida I hear.

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San Fernando Valley, California

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My in-ground African 'pompom tree' (Dais cotinifolia) is steadily producing more blooms each year. As far as I can tell they don't have much of a scent. This tree does have nice red emerging leaves on each branch. It HATES hot, dry weather, so it'll probably never flourish where I live! :unsure:

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Chilopsis linearis 'Burgundy.' The 'desert willow' is a deciduous species native to the SW U.S. Has a very long blooming season. Can be grown as a large shrub or small tree. I also have the pink and the white varieties.

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6 hours ago, Hillizard said:

My in-ground Bauhinia macranthera ('Chihuahuan Orchid Tree'), raised from seed I got from a private grower in Texas, is finally producing flower buds after 5+ years! I'll post images when they open.
http://hardypalm.weebly.com/hardy-subtropical-plant-blog/cold-hardy-orchid-trees

 

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:greenthumb: Good to see this Bauhinia in your collection..  Supposedly will tolerate our heat, yet the only specimen i've come across locally is down in Tucson and it hadn't flowered yet from what i could tell. Tough to track down in any nursery either even though i have seen it listed in a few " preferred tree" recommendation lists. Started some seed last summer but didn't make it. Saving whats left ( seed ) for later.

Btw, sorta breaking my own " not gonna start much from seed this summer " rule and threw a few Psorothamnus arborescens and P. schotti down just to see if starting them out in the wash grit i collected provides an advantage to getting them past the germination stage. 

Also started some more Lonchocarpus hermannii, another nice ( and pretty much unheard of ) native to the same general part of Sonora as Guaiacum coulteri.. Going on how the biggest one i have has done thus far, could be just as adaptable. Flowers sometime between mid- April -June also. Performed extremely well at one of the trial plot sites the Desert Legume Program maintained in Yuma.

For research references:  https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/290078-Lonchocarpus-hermannii

Still hoping someone connected w/ a few of the forward thinking nurseries in Tucson brings back seed of this from down south asap:  https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/278554-Hintonia-latifolia
There's supposedly a specimen in the Desert Museum's collection, but not sure if it is still there.

 

Edited by Silas_Sancona
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1 hour ago, Silas_Sancona said:

:greenthumb: Good to see this Bauhinia in your collection..  Supposedly will tolerate our heat, yet the only specimen i've come across locally is down in Tucson and it hadn't flowered yet from what i could tell. Tough to track down in any nursery either even though i have seen it listed in a few " preferred tree" recommendation lists. Started some seed last summer but didn't make it. Saving whats left ( seed ) for later.

Btw, sorta breaking my own " not gonna start much from seed this summer " rule and threw a few Psorothamnus arborescens and P. schotti down just to see if starting them out in the wash grit i collected provides an advantage to getting them past the germination stage. 

Also started some more Lonchocarpus hermannii, another nice ( and pretty much unheard of ) native to the same general part of Sonora as Guaiacum coulteri.. Going on how the biggest one i have has done thus far, could be just as adaptable. Flowers sometime between mid- April -June also. Performed extremely well at one of the trial plot sites the Desert Legume Program maintained in Yuma.

For research references:  https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/290078-Lonchocarpus-hermannii

Still hoping someone connected w/ a few of the forward thinking nurseries in Tucson brings back seed of this from down south asap:  https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/278554-Hintonia-latifolia
There's supposedly a specimen in the Desert Museum's collection, but not sure if it is still there.

 

Nathan: We'll have to compare notes on our respective Psorothamnus germination attempts this year. I've never been able to track down seed of P. schotti, so good for you! BTW, I think my B. macranthera has a smaller one in the ground beside it. I'll check and let you know. Thanks for the links on the other species. The hotter and drier the West becomes, the more likely people will gravitate toward these desert species versus paying exorbitant water bills!

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7 minutes ago, Hillizard said:

Nathan: We'll have to compare notes on our respective Psorothamnus germination attempts this year. I've never been able to track down seed of P. schotti, so good for you! BTW, I think my B. macranthera has a smaller one in the ground beside it. I'll check and let you know. Thanks for the links on the other species. The hotter and drier the West becomes, the more likely people will gravitate toward these desert species versus paying exorbitant water bills!

Trust me, crossing my fingers i can get them up and going.. As far as i'm aware, don't think P. schotti has been offered anywhere both in CA. or AZ. Could be that no one has really tried to cultivate it, or maybe it's requirements are just too particular to handle life in a landscape.. Thought i saw an availability reference for P. arborescens in the Calscape database. but not sure how recent the info. is.  Also acquired ..and attempting ( again ) seed of a rare Hoffmannseggia  ( H. repens ) that's native to Utah and supposedly produces extremely fragrant flowers.. Looks like a Caesalpinia but grows no taller than about a foot.. More of a creeper than upright.

Future water woes is one reason i'm sniffing around for, and trialing stuff i can find that, at this point, might otherwise be rather obscure, but may offer some great options ..that won't break the bank water-wise.. and be quite attractive. Sure there are already lots of options, but why not add more, right?.. 

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