My latest garden addition; suffering under rare desert snowfall (KGP)Despite a lack of posting, I am not dead, and I am still gardening. Last weekend, El Paso received a rare early snow storm putting the many of the area's trees that have not yet lost their leaves at risk of limb breakage. The tree pictured above is the latest addition to my garden, a Mexican Redbud (Cercis canadensis var. mexicana).
Like its more eastern cousin, the Mexican Redbud is covered with pink blossoms just before leafing out in the early spring. Its leaves are smaller than Eastern Redbuds and have curled margins, presumably making the tree more drought tolerant. Several sources online report that its wood can be weak, so I brushed off the accumulated snow shortly after this picture was taken and the tree looks no worse for wear. Other trees in our area were not so lucky; I saw limb damage on many trees, especially mulberries and rosewoods.
In the El Paso area, it appears the Mexican Redbud is appreciative of some afternoon shade, and its location on the east of the house will give it shade and protection from the prevailing west to east winds. I hope to grow my specimen as a multi-trunked tree, and I think it will make a good little patio tree.
----
Note: Blogger comments have changed and no longer allow those without Blogger/Google accounts to leave signed comments. If you do not have a Blogger account, please comment anonymously and feel free to include links in your comment.
Edit to add: In the comments, Pam notes that you can leave signed comments using the Nickname feature. I've tested, and the comment fields allow for html tags so it is possible to leave a signed comment with a clickable link by using the following code along with your comment:
<a href="URL for your blog">Your Name</a>
Pam has also given another work around in the comments that is far less vulnerable to impersonators.
4 comments:
Mexican Redbuds are beautiful trees, but here in Phoenix they must have some shade protection. I see them occasionally in backyard gardens in the older sections of town where they still have flood irrigation.
Glad to see you back. I do like to read about El Paso area gardening.
Aiyana
Blogger is frustrating many of us right now, but we can still leave signed comments by using the Nickname option. We just can't leave a link like the Blogger folks can. Which is driving me up the wall.
Pam/Digging
www.penick.net/digging
I hope you don't mind if I try out another solution to the commenting problem for non-Bloggers who want to leave a link when they comment. I've set up a "false-front" blog on Blogger that directs visitors to Digging. Let's see if it works. It will just require an extra click of the mouse.
So, how did your Redbud recover?
I have some scarier snow photos from Minnesota on my blog- I hope you visit.
From The Rock and Roll Gardener
Post a Comment