How to Grow and Care for Desert Willow

Desert Willow Care

Besides finding the perfect location in your garden for the vigorous shrub and handling the pruning, this shrub will be as close to a set-it-and-forget-it plant as you can get. Here are its basic care requirements.

• Plant in the sunniest location you can find.
• Make sure your planting site is well-draining. The top area of a rain garden is perfect for this plant.
• Feed sparingly or not at all. Too much fertilizer will result in overgrowth.
• Water regularly during establishment and then occasionally during the summer months. Do not oversaturate.

Light

The desert willow’s natural habitat gets plenty of sunlight, so it naturally loves its rays and thrives in nothing less than full sun. To get the best bloom production, ensure that you place it in an area that receives a full six hours of direct sunlight per day. You will notice a marked lack of blooms in shady conditions.

Soil

It grows almost effortlessly in dry- to medium-moisture soil that is well-draining with a slightly higher pH; you can test your pH at home and amend the soil as necessary. When your desert willow establishes itself, it will become even more adaptable and tolerate a wider range of soil conditions, particularly when it comes to soil moisture.

Water

Once established, the desert willow can readily tolerate dry conditions and droughts with ease. It will look as if it is suffering then rebound after the next storm or watering. Watering then is advised times per month, but if it’s a particularly rough period and watering is restricted, your desert willow can make it through. This shrub is a great selection for xeriscaping.

Temperature and Humidity

As this desert shrub does best in hot, dry regions, it will do better in microclimates that mimic those conditions in your landscape even if your yard doesn’t exactly fit that bill. Consider mimicking these conditions with the use of pavers, stone, boulders, and soilless growing medium. Areas north of USDA region seven will have a tough time with desert willows, but if you are set on giving it a try, some hardier cultivars are available.

Fertilizer

Desert willow is one plant that you should not fertilize. Often when it comes to fertilizer, the advice is something like, “it’s not needed, but you can if you want”—this is not one of those situations. Giving your desert willow fertilizer may sound like a great idea to boost bloom production, but what will happen is it will increase vigor and speed up the growth of the limbs. Supplemental feeding on this shrub creates soft, brittle wood that is susceptible to breakage, especially with strong winds.

Types of Desert Willow

The desert willow, like many ornamentals, has hundreds of registered cultivars available that showcase different colors, shapes, and sizes. Some like ‘Lucretia Hamilton’ allow those further north in the U.S. to be able to grow this tree. Listed below are some well-known cultivars:

• Chilopsis linearis ‘Lopur’: This is an outstanding cultivar if you are able to find it. It shows deep, emerald green leaves that make a lovely background against velvety white buds. These buds open to exhibit dark, purple burgundy flowers.
• Chilopsis linearis ‘Lucretia Hamilton’: A cultivar known for its winter hardiness, this plant shows intense burgundy flowers and is smaller in stature.
• Chilopsis linearis ‘Warren Jones’: An extremely quick grower, it holds its leaves longer in the winter and produces a profuse amount of showy light pink flowers.
• Chilopsis linearis ‘Monhews’: This cultivar has an extremely long bloom season. Fragrant, tubular, burgundy and light lavender blooms appear in groups and do not set seed as other types do.

Pruning

Pruning your desert willow is a matter of keeping it tidy and cutting off dead growth to stimulate new growth. Leaving it unkempt is a possibility as well and would be much appreciated by wildlife, especially small mammals and birds who use it for shelter. The choice is all about the shrub’s intended function and your desired aesthetic.

Propagating Desert Willow

You can propagate desert willows by cuttings or seeds.

Propagating Desert Willow by Seed

Propagating desert willow by seed is the preferred and easiest method. It will take some time until you have seedlings ready for hardening off but it just takes a few steps. Here’s how:

1. Soak your seeds in a glass containing a solution of 12 water and 12 vinegar for four hours.
2. Prepare a seed flats or pots and fill with soilless seed starting mix. A good recipe for this can be found here.
3. Sow the seeds no deeper than ¼ inch in your pots or flats and moisten. Keep moist until germination.
4. Transplant your seedlings to a larger pot once seedlings produce two sets of leaves and are four inches tall. This pot should be big enough to allow space to grow.
5. Place outside for a month to harden up and allow to acclimate to the outdoors. You can then plant or keep in the container to allow to grow for the first year to plant the following year.

Propagating Desert Willow by Cuttings

While not as easy as the seed method the cutting method allows you to have plants that are already much more mature and exact clones of plants you already possess. This is great in cases of cultivars that do not produce seeds. Here’s how:

1. Cut a small branch of softwood desert willow closest to a leaf node.
2. Dip your cutting in rooting hormone. Follow the instructions on your specific brand.
3. Place your cutting in a jar of water and wait for roots to appear. If growth is slow, add rooting hormone to the water.
4. Transfer into a pot of soilless potting mixture once roots have developed and there are three to five roots. Let it grow from here.
5. Water the plant frequently and keep soil well-drained. After two-three months your plant should have established a healthy root system that will be able to survive planting.

How to Grow Desert Willow From Seed

Desert willow seeds will lose their viability quickly, so it’s best to get them in soil while their fresh to give them the best chance at success.

1. Soak the seeds in a bit of water for a few hours prior to sowing to help the process along.
2. Plant them about 14 inch deep in garden flats or pots.
3. Keep the soil moist until germination occurs hopefully in between one to three weeks.
4. Transfer to one-gallon pots full of potting mix once you see a set or two of leaves.
5. Place the pots in direct sunlight until the spring season when the conditions are right for them to be moved to the ground.

Common Pests and Plant Diseases

One of the truly wonderful things about the desert willow is that it is not particularly susceptible to many diseases or pests. Any ailments it does suffer from are not serious and will most likely not threaten the life of your shrub. The worst Insects that bother your shrub will be aphids, and they can easily be guarded against with a good burst of a hose. You will want to consider pesticide use carefully around the desert willow due to its importance as a source of food for pollinators and wildlife.

How to Get Desert Willow to Bloom

Bloom Months

Desert willow will typically bloom the most in the months of May and June. It is not unusual for the plant to continue to bloom for the rest of the summer and even into fall.

How Long does Desert Willow Bloom?

Individual blooms of the Desert willow will last for a day or two before deteriorating.

What does Desert Willow’s Flowers Look and Smell Like?

These plants are known for their showy blooms. They cluster on branch tips and vary in color from pinkish-white to purple. They can have yellow spots or stripes inside the blossoms, which are trumpet-shaped and about an inch long. The flowers have a fragrance described as sweet and attractive to bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.

How to Encourage More Blooms

Allow the plant to dry out between waterings to encourage profuse flowering. Avoid overwatering and do not supplement with fertilizer, as this will result in overgrowth but not more flowers.

Caring for Desert Willow After It Blooms

After the flowering season, trim back the plant by about a third to prepare it for winter dormancy. This will encourage more branching and blooming during the next season.

Deadheading Desert Willow Flowers

To encourage continued blooming, it is recommended to remove the spent flowers and seed pods.

Common Problems with Desert Willow

The hardiness of this shrub results in very few problems. If a desert willow is struggling it’s normally related to watering issues.

Wilting and Yellowing Leaves

This is a telltale sign that the shrub is receiving too much water. The soil should be dry to the touch and not holding water. This can lead quickly to root rot, so check for softening or darkening of the roots and any unpleasant odors. Allow the plant to dry completely before irrigating again and add compost around the roots to increase drainage going forward,