For anyone who may not have read (or, like me, remember all way back to Week 4) it was about finding this marvelous native desert willow in bloom a hundred yards from our house on an evening walk and realizing that this tree wants to be here. Therefore, we should get one.
It wasn’t easy to find a specimen in late spring, but we finally did and got it planted. It has been our hope that this hardy native will be able to endure what we refer to affectionately as the Pit of Despair (a raised concrete bed in our backyard with a SSW exposure – sort of like an oven in a toaster).
But I like to do my research, and I knew I was a little late on my planting. So – genius idea (yes, this is sarcasm) – I got it a shade tent. Also, I read it should be watered deeply. So I dumped a lot of water on it with the hose on a high setting. It hasn’t been looking great, but I told myself that that’s just summer in Phoenix, just keep your head down and plow on.
Perhaps with my newly gained Wimbledon perspective from last week, I finally looked at it and realized: “This plant is dying. Like nearly kaput.” Back to research. What I learned was that I’ve done nearly nothing right with this plant. A shade tent was a nice idea for the first few weeks after planting, but a native plant does not want a shade tent. It wants…native sunlight.
Really – look at the state of this plant! Even Humphrey looks disappointed in me.
Also – major lesson here – deep watering does not mean dumping a lot of water on a plant. I don’t know why I couldn’t get it through my head but I finally saw an illustration that helped. Dumping a lot of water quickly results in the top few inches getting wet over a wide area. Dripping water slowly for a long time (the hose on as low as you can get for 2-3 hours) results in the soil getting water deeply over a small area. Because the roots will go to the water, the second scenario is what’s necessary. Roots in the shallow part of the soil are a bad idea in Arizona because that’s a pretty hot place. Deeper is cooler. Safer.
The good news is, unlike Walt Whitman’s Captain, Bubba is not dead. Bubba had dead leaves and a few dead stems, but the branches are definitely alive and still supple. I have a new appropriate watering schedule. And now Bubba has the light that it needs to recover from the challenging situation I’ve created almost entirely by myself (this is where I laugh at myself!)
My information tells me that Bubba will look worse for about 2 weeks, then develop new buds, then leaves, and eventually be fully recovered by September or October. We will see what happens. I’ll keep you posted. And don’t feel bad about any of your gardening mistakes, because honestly, the ones I’ve made with poor Bubba here would be hard to top! Hopefully I’ll have some lovely desert willow pictures to show you in October.
Once more unto the breach (and still laughing at myself),
🌿 Ruby