Desert Messenger

10 www.DesertMessenger.com July 15, 2020 Gardening with Dennis Choosing trees RV There Yet? Facebook RVerTV YouTube's # 1 RV Channel RVerTV.tv RV There Yet? Email: rvertv@gmail.com CUSTOM TOOTH ARRANGEMENTS Life Time Warranty on Breakage Dental Laboratory Service, LLC Call: 623-444-4013 Goodyear, AZ http://www.DLSAZ.com FREE CONSULTATIONS Same Day Custom Premium Dentures and Partials • US Military Trained with 30 plus Years Experience • 1000's of Satisfied Customers • Extractions & Implants by Licensed AZ Dentist DENTURES Custom Premium Dentures By Alex Taft Any conversation with Dennis involving what trees to plant was usually a detailed undertaking. We would review the inventory of low- water -use trees fi rst. For those of you who are reading this ar- ticle, the Quartzsite Library has a pamphlet available for check out that lists most of the low- water -use trees and shrubs that thrive here. The pamphlet is also available online at www.amwua.org/ plants.The online version and the printed pamphlet have wonderful color illus- trations. The information included in the pamphlet is a chart of growth rate, wheth- er it is frost tender, how much wa- ter is needed, if it is deciduous and how big the tree or shrub is expect- ed to grow. Not surprisingly, Dennis knew more than what was printed in the pamphlet. For example, we plant- ed several chaste trees. They are deciduous and when watered cor- rectly grow to twenty feet tall and approximately twenty feet across. They have beautiful blue fl ower stalks. What is omitted in the pam- phlet is that the chaste trees will bloom again and again if you clip the fl ower stalks. Dennis grumbled about this because he did not have the time to clip the fl ower stalks and felt badly the tree wouldn't be at its best because of his busy sched- ule. I reminded him that the point of planting so many varieties of low water use trees was for people to see what was possible and they could clip their own fl ower stalks, or not. That seemed to give him peace about it. As an added benefi t, chaste trees have medicinal benefi ts and the herb is available in many health food stores. Another blue-fl owered tree is the Texas Mountain Laurel. It can be grown as a shrub or a tree and we did both. They have huge wisteria like fl owers that hang like bunches of grapes. The Texas Mountain Lau- rel can grow tall or wide, depending how you choose to prune them, or not. Without pruning, they grow like a shrub. They are slow grow- ing. Another tree/shrub that is very showy and low-water-use is the Texas Olive. It has dark leaves and white fl owers that bloom most of the year. For Dennis, there were no negative comments on this tree. For those of you who want in- stant trees, here are a few that are fast growing: Mesquite trees are very fast growing, regardless of the variety you choose. They thrive in this climate. Dennis's caution is that you have to be on top of prun- ing them because it is easy for the tree canopy to out-grow the root system and fall over or require ex- tensive staking. Mesquites are deciduous but only lose their leaves for ten min- utes – another Parks Department comment that is roughly accurate. They can be brittle in wind storms if the tree is unbalanced due to in- adequate pruning. Ditto for the Palo Verde, whether it is the Blue Palo Verde, the Arizona State tree, or the hybrid Desert Museum Palo Verde. Many of the hybrid Desert Museum Palo Verde trees are planted along the Plymouth Ave. walking trail. They have much bigger showy blossoms than the other variet- ies of Palo Verde. The sturdiest Palo Verde is a relative called the Palo Brea. Its beauty is in its trunk. It has a short boom- ing season. There are many planted on both sides of Cen- tral Avenue. It gets Dennis's seal of approval because it does not require much pruning. There are many trees that have not been dis- cussed and will be described in fu- ture articles. All the trees that are planted in the cemetery and the area by the parking lot at town hall were part of Arizona Urban and Community Forestry grants that provided the funds for the water system, iden- tifying plaques and books for the library. The trees came from com- munity donations. Each tree repre- sents an individual's contribution to the furtherance of low-water use trees and town beautifi cation. Most of the plaques have disappeared along with some of the trees, but the concept remains, of involving the community in learning about desert landscaping. Dennis thoroughly supported the low-water use tree projects we com- pleted and his insights offer aware- ness to the practical challenges in growing trees in the desert. The rewards are immense. Trees bring grace to an environment. They are also a witness to our history and as in the cemetery serve as a memorial to those we have lost. Chaste Tree www.amwua.org/plants

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