Tabebuia chrysotricha blooming

[bubba]

This has been going on for a couple of weeks and is moving past prime:

[Silas_Sancona]

5 minutes ago, bubba said:

This has been going on for a couple of weeks and is moving past prime:

Pretty sure that is T. aurea / caraiba:  Corky, deeply furrowed light tan bark, Leaf surface basically smooth / smooth, entire margin, slender / elliptical- shaped, often on a long leafstalk. No fuzz / covered in coppery hairs, and bluish green.  https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/169520-Tabebuia-aurea

Tab. chrysotricha /  **Now Handroanthus chrysotrichus**  for comparison:  Wider, rounder fuzz covered medium green leaves, often w/ serrated leaf margin toward the top, rarely smooth edged. Shorter leafstalk.  Bark is a different shade of tan / brown.. not quite as furrowed, though still  rough looking.
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/468336-Handroanthus-chrysotrichus
 

[bubba]

I agree and was uncertain. I appreciate your quick articulation! Thank you

[Silas_Sancona]

16 minutes ago, bubba said:

I agree and was uncertain. I appreciate your quick articulation! Thank you

Noticed bark texture, and the contorted, Oak - like branching silhouette were the easiest way to pick out T. aurea from the others around Bradenton and Sarasota.. That said, i think the Kampong has ( ..or had.., if it is no longer there < hopefully it is > ) a specimen of Tabebuia ..**Now Roseodendron**  donnel - smithii,  which looks like H. chrysotrichus < and H. >chrysanthus > on steroids.  Pods on it kind of resemble bumpy, thin cucumbers. Supposedly can get really tall.
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/284696-Roseodendron-donnell-smithii

Great trees, all of them..

[bubba]

Some additional T. aurea taken today:

[mnorell]

This is a very unusual Tabebuia and quite a striking and useful subject for landscaping due to its unique foliage color, corky bark and contorted form and silhouette. Also for the unique shade of yellow in its flowers. It has a bad reputation in Florida as being thrown over easily in hurricanes, though I have witnessed this being a problem only in recently transplanted, larger specimens. I noticed whole lines of these going down in Coral Gables after Irma, in contrast to adjacent, established trees that didn't suffer such a fate...and in fact plants that are well established are quite strong, as is one large specimen on Big Pine Key that shirked off the core of Irma with no problem. I now have a couple of them in our garden on Big Pine.

While, from my own experience trialing this species many years ago, it seems to be a terrible choice for cultivation in the cool coastal strip of California, it is I think a terrific candidate for the Sonoran desert, from Palm Springs to Yuma and Phoenix, wherever frosts are rare or light. I have never seen a specimen planted in the Palm Springs/Coachella Valley area, and I wonder if there are any around Phoenix or Yuma, and perhaps some of our AZ friends on the forum have some experience with it. I have a community pot of seedlings in Rancho Mirage that have made it through this past winter and are growing well...so at least initially the results are hopeful. I think they would tolerate the dryness (with some irrigation) and intense heat quite well.

This genus, as well as the huge and spectacular Tabebuia/Cybistax/Roseodendron donnell-smithii, is worth exploring as so few of them are cultivated, even in Florida. Seed of donnell-smithii is very hard to come by, even sourcing in Hawai'i, where the tree is planted regularly particularly in civic projects...though I recently found a forestry website there listing in its catalogue large lots of seed of this species. As many of you who try to grow Bignoniaceous flowering trees know, seed of many genera or species in this family, and particularly Tabebuia, has a narrow window of viability and much of the seed offered online is completely useless unless ordered during the collecting season or immediately thereafter.

[aztropic]

45 minutes ago, mnorell said:

While, from my own experience trialing this species many years ago, it seems to be a terrible choice for cultivation in the cool coastal strip of California, it is I think a terrific candidate for the Sonoran desert, from Palm Springs to Yuma and Phoenix, wherever frosts are rare or light. I have never seen a specimen planted in the Palm Springs/Coachella Valley area, and I wonder if there are any around Phoenix or Yuma, and perhaps some of our AZ friends on the forum have some experience with it. I have a community pot of seedlings in Rancho Mirage that have made it through this past winter and are growing well...so at least initially the results are hopeful. I think they would tolerate the dryness (with some irrigation) and intense heat quite well.
 

A local nursery brought in about 30 of these in 3 gallon size from Florida several years ago. I bought 1,but it froze and died on it's second winter planted in the ground.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[Silas_Sancona]

1 hour ago, mnorell said:

This is a very unusual Tabebuia and quite a striking and useful subject for landscaping due to its unique foliage color, corky bark and contorted form and silhouette. Also for the unique shade of yellow in its flowers. It has a bad reputation in Florida as being thrown over easily in hurricanes, though I have witnessed this being a problem only in recently transplanted, larger specimens. I noticed whole lines of these going down in Coral Gables after Irma, in contrast to adjacent, established trees that didn't suffer such a fate...and in fact plants that are well established are quite strong, as is one large specimen on Big Pine Key that shirked off the core of Irma with no problem. I now have a couple of them in our garden on Big Pine.

While, from my own experience trialing this species many years ago, it seems to be a terrible choice for cultivation in the cool coastal strip of California, it is I think a terrific candidate for the Sonoran desert, from Palm Springs to Yuma and Phoenix, wherever frosts are rare or light. I have never seen a specimen planted in the Palm Springs/Coachella Valley area, and I wonder if there are any around Phoenix or Yuma, and perhaps some of our AZ friends on the forum have some experience with it. I have a community pot of seedlings in Rancho Mirage that have made it through this past winter and are growing well...so at least initially the results are hopeful. I think they would tolerate the dryness (with some irrigation) and intense heat quite well.

This genus, as well as the huge and spectacular Tabebuia/Cybistax/Roseodendron donnell-smithii, is worth exploring as so few of them are cultivated, even in Florida. Seed of donnell-smithii is very hard to come by, even sourcing in Hawai'i, where the tree is planted regularly particularly in civic projects...though I recently found a forestry website there listing in its catalogue large lots of seed of this species. As many of you who try to grow Bignoniaceous flowering trees know, seed of many genera or species in this family, and particularly Tabebuia, has a narrow window of viability and much of the seed offered online is completely useless unless ordered during the collecting season or immediately thereafter.

Agree, i think it could be done, but, like AZtropic points out, T. aurea can be fickle.. I had a couple small ones in FL and lost both. That said, possible those grown larger might do better..

15 minutes ago, aztropic said:

A local nursery brought in about 30 of these in 3 gallon size from Florida several years ago. I bought 1,but it froze and died on it's second winter planted in the ground.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

If you can find it ( ..a nursery in Tucson has sold them ), Tab. < Well, Handroanthus now > chrysantha grows in the foothills just south of us and may work here, esp. if grown up a bit before planting, and sited out of afternoon sun in summer. . Think UofA has one ( or a couple, unless one < or both> are chrysotricha  in the Campus Arb. collection.. Tab. impetiginosa / H. impetiginosus, the version that grows in Sonora, has done fine in Tucson, even in some of the cooler spots.. though it isn't widely planted there, -yet..

[mnorell]

I think there might be a big size/hardiness correlation with T. aurea because of that floppy stem and weak wood until it gets older. Probably worth trying larger specimens or protecting while young in the low desert, to take that into account. Also I don't know where the "cutoff line" is for this species in Florida, nor at what temp the tree starts to have big problems.

I have tried to buy seed for both T. chrysantha (from Florida) and T. donnell-smithii (from Mexico/Central America) from either eBay or Etsy. In both cases the seed was rotten. I would like to try T. chrysantha as I know it is a Sonoran native...but seems tough to get ahold of.
 

[Silas_Sancona]

1 minute ago, mnorell said:

I think there might be a big size/hardiness correlation with T. aurea because of that floppy stem and weak wood until it gets older. Probably worth trying larger specimens or protecting while young in the low desert, to take that into account. Also I don't know where the "cutoff line" is for this species in Florida, nor at what temp the tree starts to have big problems.

I have tried to buy seed for both T. chrysantha (from Florida) and T. donnell-smithii (from Mexico/Central America) from either eBay or Etsy. In both cases the seed was rotten. I would like to try T. chrysantha as I know it is a Sonoran native...but seems tough to get ahold of.
 

As mentioned, a nursery in Tucson has sold chrysantha, both in 1 gals. and had a few 3s last year.. Hopefully they'll have more this summer. Bigger sized one is on my list for sure..

[bubba]

Enjoy it when we have discussions between Experts! Between mnorell, aztropic and Silas, that is a pretty heavy group. Would love to see RichTrav…

[Silas_Sancona]

2 hours ago, bubba said:

Enjoy it when we have discussions between Experts! Between mnorell, aztropic and Silas, that is a pretty heavy group. Would love to see RichTrav…

  Appreciate the hi five ..Until i have seen - at least the " local,"  Sonoran sp. in habitat, wouldn't consider  my personal knowledge of these trees quite at expert status yet though..  Still a great discussion. @richtrav  could definitely add some insight, having seen a few of these up close and personal, in S. America..  A couple other folks ..who don't ( ..but should ) be posting more have some great insight on some of the exceptional - looking crosses being worked with between -at least- 2 of the more common sp, impetiginosa / chrysotricha. 

Swaying for a sec . ..Rich,  Gono. and Chloroleucon seeds are starting to pop..

Ok, carry on..

[richtrav]

Well ok. Aurea has been used for many years down here, there are some old houses (1920s-1940s) that have some obviously old trees in their yards which have weathered many storms and freezes. They froze back some in ‘21 but recovered well, if the dead wood was pruned they look pretty normal. I don’t think they’re that hard to grow but haven’t tried one from seed. They do well here as long as the soil isn’t too alkaline; in fact, at the outlet mall there are some naturalizing:

The genus Handroanthus is occasionally used here, the pink ones doing better than the yellows. For me it’s hard to distinguish Argentine heptaphyllus from Mexican impetiginosus, they look very similar. Argentine impetiginosus is a different beast, it can be distinguished by its larger, darker almost toothless leaflets and the thick dark trunk. It’s also a tad more cold tender than heptaphyllus down there but may be a little more tolerant to the generally drier climate of western Argentina, it’s the most frequently seen tab in the western part of the country (aurea is surprisingly rare in cultivation down there). In Formosa and Resistencia there appears to be a finer form of heptaphyllus with smaller leaflets that give the tree a lacier look. That form looks like many of the pink tabbys seen around Orlando and what used to be at Oblate in San Antonio before ‘21.

In Harlingen a number of heptaphyllus were given to the city by a local businessman, they are planted around parks and public areas. Their hardiness was variable in 2021, the ones that were blooming or had leafed out lost smaller wood while the dormant ones were uninjured. The trees do well though they get tip burn if they’re dry enough to need irrigation. 

Then there is Tabebuia nodosa, which looks nothing like the others. It grows over a large part of northern Argentina, from areas that get less than 20 inches of annual rain to places that get over 50. It is also more tolerant to salinity and alkalinity, having zero issues here and is the most frost and drought tolerant. It is not a “Big Bang” bloomer like most tabebuias but instead blooms at intervals, usually right before or after rains. These are some trees in Formosa, blooming ahead of an impending front:

I have 7 of them in the yard but only one is what I’d call floriferous, I have no idea why. It started blooming at less than two years old. The other trees around it will occasionally bloom so I’m starting to get seed every year. 

 

 

 

[bubba]

Now this is what I am talking about! There may be more, but you are all superstars in my book!