Week 5: Adding Trees to My Phoenix Garden — Meet Bubba, Our Desert Willow

One of the best ways we’ve found to discover garden inspiration is by opening our door and taking a walk around. If it’s growing near our house, without an irrigation system in the middle of a wash with full sun, I feel like the odds are good that it can make it in our yard.

“I found the poems in the fields, and only wrote them down.”

-John Clare

Possibly – just possibly – we could find something that would survive even in the Pit of Despair. We’ve spent most of our time so far safely in the Hygge Garden, but we’ll have to face the Pit at some point. Last week, we took our first shot at making it a friendlier place.

Enter Bubba.

I did not name this tree. It is actually Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis) “Bubba.” Calling it Bubba seems natural, right? There are several of these desert willows blooming within 100 yards of our house. See? Not all native desert plants are cacti. They bloom in the spring and possibly more often if there is a good monsoon rain. The blossoms are pretty downturned bell-shaped flowers. I love this shape – it reminds me of the Canterbury bells that grew in our old backyard. A classic cottage garden plant. See? Not all native desert plants are cacti.

The flowers that taught me what ‘bell‑shaped’ should look like.

Anyway – the point about the desert willow is that it’s a tree. There are some varieties that will stay smaller, more like a large shrub if that’s what you’re looking for, but tall trees mean shade. And I really can’t overemphasize the importance of shade here. This is an inversion I’m still struggling to get my brain around. I have all the light in the world – too much at times – I need to make shade.

I did some research and found that late April was indeed a good time to plant, so I looked for my desert willow. Multiple online nurseries all read “sold out.” Multiple local garden centers were also sold out. I eventually found one, “Bubba,” and ordered it. I gave it some time to harden off gradually and get used to the sun here. And then I planted it.

In the Pit of Despair.

If you’re asking what Bubba did to deserve that, the answer is nothing. But I think Bubba may have a chance here, and there’s not much I can say that about. Because this is a raised concrete bed with a SSW exposure, it’s the hottest of hot spots. If the air gets to 120 deg F, the soil temperature in there could push 150 deg F. If we get there this summer, I’ll run outside, stick a thermometer in the ground, and run back into the air conditioning to report. For now, though, the multiple desert willows thriving all around our house (and some research) tell me that Bubba has a shot. I have to water every 2-3 days for the first two weeks, then less, and a little less. Like most plants here, the idea is to water slowly and give plants a deep soak so the roots dive deeper where the soil is cooler instead of spreading near the surface.

Besides the pretty flowers, Bubba grows relatively quickly for a desert tree. 1.5-2′ per year for the first year while it works on root development, then 2-3 ft per year. It grows 25-30′ high with a 20-25′ width canopy at maturity (7-10 years old). Does that math work out? I don’t know. If you do the calculations and find that it doesn’t, please don’t tell me. Due to its positioning, this means – SHADE IN OUR BACKYARD.

Also – SHADE IN THE PIT OF DESPAIR. Still very hot shaded, but a little less despair.

This is a really, really big deal.

I have another tree to tell you about next week. It’s a small, long-term investment, but it’s really sweet and her name is Jackie.

Once more unto the breach,
🌿 Ruby

P.S. from Humphrey

If you’re having trouble finding the inspiration to explore your neighborhood and find native plants, consider an Englishdoodle. They’re sweet, cuddly, and well-behaved – ESPECIALLY if they’ve had their early morning walk. Don’t worry about oversleeping. Your Englishdoodle will wake you when it’s walk time.