Pink Dawn, Green Stick

Pink Dawn Chitalpa blossoms

4/25/11

     These are descriptive, common names for two trees that grow in my yard.  Pink Dawn is a variety of Chitalpa tree.  I was not familiar with Chitalpa trees until I moved here a year ago.  It is a cross between a Catalpa tree and a Chilopsis (Desert Willow) tree.  My Pink Dawn Chitalpa  is just starting to blossom and will continue to blossom through the fall.  The flowers, a soft pink with a yellow throat, attract butterflies, bees and birds.  The tree has an open limb structure that gives it a lacy look, and it presents a graceful picture.  It is drought tolerant and cold tolerant to minus 15 degrees F, so it does well here in the desert.

Palo Verde blossoms

Palo Verde translated from Spanish means green stick.  The Palo Verde tree's trunk, limbs and branches are green.  My Palo Verde has been blooming for about two weeks.  It will be full of its lemony yellow flowers for a few more weeks.  These trees are breathtaking when grouped together along roadways or parking lots when they are in full bloom.  When their long, thin limbs move slowly and gently in a breeze, it seems like they are dancing to music.  Hummingbirds love to nest in this tree.  It is a most drought tolerant tree, that once established, needs no water.


Palo Verde tree



Chitalpa tree