Arid Zone Trees
© Copyright
2000-2008
Arid Zone Trees
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New and
Reintroduced Desert Tree Species
The hard work of many individuals and institutions are insuring that desert landscape designers will enjoy an ever-expanding palette of trees to work with The Desert Legume Program at the University of Arizona, Tucson, The Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, The Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Superior, The Phoenix Zoo, The Living Desert Preserve, Palm Springs, CA, and The San Diego Wild Animal Park, are just a few of the institutions that are exploring the other deserts of the world for tree and shrub species that are adapted to our southwestern desert conditions. Evaluating the horticultural properties of new species is a time consuming but essential task. Such evaluation examines the growth habits, general structure, rooting characteristics, cold hardiness, litter issues, rate of growth, flowering qualities and other factors that would influence their use and survival in landscape settings. Many new or introduced species have been the subject of research in their native habitats so that literature exists that details many of their horticultural qualities. It is still important to determine how these species will do under conditions found in the desert southwest where high and low temperature extremes, soil profiles and other characteristics vary widely. Some of the species listed below have been the subjects of previous issues of Arid Zone Times, while others will be covered in future issues.
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