I can't say much has changed with the Arizona Rosewood tree since last month. I did clip the growth coming from the base, as well as a branch on the south side of the trunk. This is to keep it more in the mode of a small tree, eventually supplying some shade to nearby plantings.
It is still much too small to give much shade, but every bit helps and things around it are growing well. Primarily, this means the white lantana, which has spread from a tiny nursery pot to froth up around the rosewood's trunk.
The lantanas did suffer a bit with our late January cold snap, though temperatures hardly reached freezing and most plants were fine. But there are many blackened leaves on all of my lantanas, and this one will probably get a good trimming soon. As you can see, though, it wasn't really slowed down by the weather but is coming right back into bloom!
I've been looking down into the leaf clusters for signs of flower buds - none yet! Planted last year, it's not bloomed for me so far, and I'm unfamiliar with its blooming habits. Internet images show the flowers to be tight clusters of small, white, five-petalled blooms. As it is in the rose family, no great surprise. Though the stamens appear to be a bit elongated. Well, we shall see!
The foliage is beautiful with its many subtle hues.
I am still amazed that the trunk took so much damage last year with no signs of distress in the tree itself. They have to be rugged to last out here, and this is a true Arizona native, but still...!
Its location is in the White and Silver Garden, still quite a mess from our recent burst of opportunistic weeds. There is much clearing to do! This area is meant to be nearly care-free - if I can get the mallow weeds to stop sprouting! It was begun much more recently than the rest of the garden and is a bit more "on its own" though it will, of course, receive supplemental watering as needed. The difference is that it hopefully won't need quite as much water and tending, as I have utilized vigorous plants I already know to be extremely tolerant of summer conditions here: natives such as the Vauquelinia, plus Yucca, Agave, Artemisia x Powis Castle, and the cactus Trichocereus spachianus, among others. Very much a work in progress, but then, so is the rest of the garden!
It's really a marvelous plant, and I'm glad I picked it for the Tree Following meme. Please do check the other trees from around the world at Squirrelbasket!
Weather Diary: Fair; High: 76 F (24 C)/Low: 58 F (14 C); Humidity: 33%-84%
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Diana Studer (Sunday, 12 February 2017 01:50)
Those red-veined leaves would be appealing in a vase.
Pat (Sunday, 12 February 2017 06:41)
Lovely post! Those leaves are so vigorous - and I love the way they sometimes have very rough edges, but still lined in red.
Best wishes :)
Island Threads (Sunday, 12 February 2017 09:15)
I too like the red markings on the leaves Amy, the leaves look quite strong and leathery, silver and white will be a nice background to the leaves,
it is amazing what some plants can endure and yet sail along still growing, when others are so tender and/or tempermental they keel over for no apparent reason, local natives and plants from similar climates stand more chance, Frances
Kris P (Sunday, 12 February 2017 11:42)
It's a lovely little tree. If you figure out how to stop the mallow weeds, be sure to publish your solution! That's one of the most persistent invaders in my garden too.
Amy@smallsunnygarden (Sunday, 12 February 2017 15:38)
Diana - They would indeed! But I want to let the plant bulk up more before I begin cutting for vases... something to look forward to!
Amy@smallsunnygarden (Sunday, 12 February 2017 15:44)
Pat - The leaves are every bit as vigorous as they look - quite leathery and evergreen. A fascinating little tree... Thanks so much :)
Amy@smallsunnygarden (Sunday, 12 February 2017 16:02)
Thank you, Frances - I so agree about choosing native plants and those from similar climates - Australian plants also grow well here, so that extends the selection, fortunately. I am just now seeing how much color there is on those leaves :) They are very sturdy and apparently the trunk is too!
Amy@smallsunnygarden (Sunday, 12 February 2017 16:14)
I'll leave the same request with you, Kris! Mallow has been by far the peskiest weed for me - taproots from hell and seedlings so dense they look like a can of little worms when turned up :( I used a preemerge a couple of times to get one area under control, and it gave me the chance to pull and smother the rest with heavy mulch. But they're always coming back! The good thing is that they are so much easier to pull out now that the ground is moist ;-)
Hollis (Monday, 13 February 2017 10:37)
I was so curious about rosewood's habitat in the wild as it doesn't look like a "desert" plant--so leafy (relatively speaking). I googled around a little and stumbled upon a 1971 dissertation on ecology and morphology by KB Williams. He comments on how tough it is in the face of water stress, browsing, harsh habitat (rocks). Have you read it? It's long and filled with data of course, but the commentary sections are interesting. http://arizona.aws.openrepository.com/arizona/handle/10150/287698
It's big, 8Mb. I know you have slow or sometimes slow internet access. I can send you the Discussion/Conclusions if you'd like. Thanks for introducing me to this interesting plant! I'd like to see it in the wild sometime.
Amy@smallsunnygarden (Tuesday, 14 February 2017 10:06)
Hollis - Big thank you for the link! Our internet is good at present, so I went ahead and downloaded the file. Only just began looking at it, but I'm already intrigued by the fact that V. californica typically grows at higher altitudes than I expected. And the original identification as Spirea is interesting - though that was what I thought of when looking at photos of the flowers :)
BTW, I didn't manage to leave a comment at the time, but I really loved your post on the fallen Sequoiadendron!