Native Plants
Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
rate this answer
Monday - May 31, 2010
From: Phoenix, AZ
Region: Southwest
Topic: Trees
Title: Deadheading seedless desert willows for continued bloom in Phoenix AZ
Answered by: Barbara Medford
QUESTION:
We planted two seedless desert willow trees this spring. Both have bloomed nicely but we now have many stems with the spent flowers still on the tree. Your database for this plant says to "Remove spent flowers and seed pods to encourage continued blooming". Does this mean that the entire stem on which the spent flowers are located should be cut off? Or that just the spent flowers should be removed and the empty stems left on the tree? Similarly for the Tecoma Stans (Orange Jubilee and Sunrise) bushes we have recently planted. Should we remove the entire stem or just the spent flowers?ANSWER:
We didn't know there was such a thing as a seedless desert willow, but then found this High Country Gardens website seedless desert willow Chilopsis linearis 'Monhews, which means it is a cultivar or selection of native Chilopsis linearis (desert willow). This makes the removal of seed pods to encourage more blooming a little confusing. The purpose of any plant is to reproduce itself. It blooms to attract pollinators and then produces seeds. If you remove the bloom after it has faded, you will have thwarted the need of the plant to produce seeds, and it will bloom again. If your plant is truly seedless, we're not sure what effect that would have on re-blooming. However, acting on what we do know, we stopped at a neighborhood grocery store parking lot with blooming desert willows in planters. We examined the blooms, which of course, already had seed pods beneath them, as this was obviously a regulation issue desert willow. We observed that both the blooms and the seeds pods were on the end of a small twiglet. Our recommendation would be to sever that twiglet at the joint with the next biggest branch.
From our Native Plant Image Gallery: (these are NOT the seedless cultivar)
More Trees Questions
Privacy Trees for New Jersey
March 02, 2011 - My neighbor elevated a row of white pine between our houses at least 20 feet high leaving me with NO privacy and a row of ugly lollipops. What trees can I plant that will be fast growing and deer resi...
view the full question and answer
Toxicity of catalpa wood?
June 05, 2012 - Is the sawdust from cutting up a catalpa tree or the smoke from burning the wood toxic?
Thank you,
view the full question and answer
Oak bark problems from Stillwater OK
May 14, 2012 - In my clients large oak tree there is bark stripped from the limbs in small pieces. No piece is larger than 1 inch by 1 inch and occurs on limbs high in the canopy. It does not look like squirrel doin...
view the full question and answer
Anacacho orchid not leafing out in Georgetown TX
April 18, 2013 - February 2012 I planted 2 4-ft anacacho orchids which did well. This spring, they have yet to leaf out or even bud. There is green, however, when I scratch the stems and some suckers at the bottom of ...
view the full question and answer
Texas wild olive for Summerfield FL
January 17, 2013 - I want to buy a Texas Wild Olive for my home in Summerfield, Fl. My landscaper brought me a regular olive tree saying he had never heard of a Texas Olive Tree in our area. I have looked on line withou...
view the full question and answer
Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |