Palo Verde Seeds

Palo Verde Tree - Parkinsonia aculeata

Description: The Palo Verde tree is a deciduous tree. It is native to North America, especially the southwestern United States and Mexico. It is characterized by its distinctive appearance, with green, thorny branches, and very fine and delicate foliage.

DESCRIPTION OF PALO VERDE, ITS CHARACTERISTICS

The palo verde is a tree that we could call small, its height rarely exceeds 8 meters, the average being between 4 and 6 meters. It is very resistant to cold.

It has a short trunk, usually twisted, with a wide, parasol-shaped crown, where its hanging foliage stands out. The trunk has branches from very below. When the Palo Verde specimens are young, the bark is smooth and greenish in color, both on the trunk and on the branches. As the plant ages, the bark becomes dark and scaly in texture.

It has thin, green and zigzagging twigs, puberulent in its youth, but later they become rough and lenticelated. In each node you can see 3 spines, where the one that appears describing the median is nothing other than the petiole and rachis of the leaf. From this spine located in the center, markedly bipinnate leaves grow.

The flowers appear in inflorescences in axillary racemes. They are of an intense yellow color, which makes the palo verde highly appreciated as an ornamental plant. They are bisexual flowers, with a calyx arranged in the shape of a cup. 5 free oblong sepals and 5 free, rounded petals.

The fruit of the palo verde, in the form of a pod, is a linear legume, with marked grooves. Inside, the pod can contain from one to 5 seeds and when ripe, its color is dark brown.

CULTIVATION AND USE OF PALO VERDE

As we have pointed out, palo verde is a cold-resistant species. Due to its rapid to moderate growth that does not make great demands on the soil, it has acquired great consideration as an ornamental plant.

It is very important that the palo verde is previously formed in the nursery. This will prevent the tree from developing in a twisted manner.

The tree is intended to grow bushily to be used as hedges, and due to its thorns it becomes an impenetrable barrier.

Palo Verde reproduces by seeds, although it is advisable to first subject them to a softening treatment to promote germination.

USES OF PALO VERDE

At the beginning of the 20th century, the palo verde was introduced as an ornamental species or as a shade tree in gardens as a showy ornamental plant.

The ideal season for palo verde:
The palo verde blooms between February and May, with its yellow flowers. A curiosity about this flower is that one of the petals is red-orange in color, which, due to what nature knows, is how pollinators can identify it and stop to eat. The fruits are generally ripe between May and June.

How to grow a palo verde?

Be sure to plant the tree where it has room to grow as large as it can, that is, preferably in a garden where its roots can expand.

Limit watering this plant since it is accustomed to a desert climate.

You can control the size of the tree, depending on your space, this can be achieved with constant pruning of the branches.

Protect your palo verde trees from "witches' brooms," dense clusters of small branches that grow along the branches or at the tips.

Avoid * mistletoe* and weed infestations, since if you decided to prune a lot, your tree will be more vulnerable to these.

Remember to never remove more than 30 percent of the cover during the summer to protect the stems from possible pests.

If you follow these steps you will have beautiful palo verde trees all over your yard, ready to fill your home with beautiful, vibrant yellow flowers all season long.

Instructions inside the packaging.