Yellow Showers
My garden has been transformed with yellow showers of flowers, courtesy of my palo verde tree. It’s a delightful time of year with warm spring temperatures and colorful landscapes filled with flowering shrub, perennials, and trees.
However, nothing heralds the arrival of spring in the desert Southwest like the golden yellow flowers of palo verde trees. I have three ‘Desert Musuem’ palo verde trees spread throughout my garden – one in the front, in the side garden (our dog run), and in the backyard.
The flowers do spread everywhere, which bothers some people, but I like to focus on the lovely yellow flowers transform things in the garden, like my artichoke agave where the flowers nestle inside its rosette.
One of my favorite views of the garden is looking out the patio door to the side garden where the branches of my palo verde tree frame the view.
There are several different species of palo verde and each one has a slightly different color flower, form the pale yellow of the foothills palo verde (Parkinsonia microphylla) to the deep yellow of ‘Desert Museum’ (Parkinsonia hybrid ‘Desert Museum’).
Here is more information about palo verde trees from an earlier post. Do you enjoy the blooms of palo verde trees?
Noelle Johnson, aka, 'AZ Plant Lady' is a author, horticulturist, and landscape consultant who helps people learn how to create, grow, and maintain beautiful desert gardens that thrive in a hot, dry climate. She does this through her consulting services, her online class Desert Gardening 101, and her monthly membership club, Through the Garden Gate. As she likes to tell desert-dwellers, "Gardening in the desert isn't hard, but it is different."
No, unfortunatley, I cannot stand the mess. My neighbor has two huge Desert Museum palo verdes that drop their flowers all over my beautifully landscaped yard. Thankfully, I have a great landscaper, but he needs to make about 4 extra visits just to clean all of the mess.
Still better than cottonwoods! I’d love to have one of these – The garden center sells them but if you ask the Master Gardener if one of these will live very long here in southern UT, he looks up at the heavens and says, well????? !!
I think I’ll save the heartbreak and the cash and enjoy yours! So pretty!
Thank you, June!
Hi Theresa,
It’s hard when what our neighbor adds to their landscape has such an effect on our own.
I Love the Palo Verde blooms! One of my favorite times of the year when you get to see what I call ” Phoenix snow” all the pretty yellow flowers covering the ground.
Hi Winnie,
I love the term “Phoenix snow”, which is an apt description!
I am so happy to read that you and Winnie like the “Phoenix snow”. I was beginning I was the only one who thinks it is pretty. I also like agaves that have not been pruned so they look like pineapples and abhor shrubs that are pruned to muffin tops!