Desert Willow Seedlings

A lot of the seeds we started in January are ready to transplant right now. I'm talking about perennials and shrubs that we're growing from seed, not annuals. Perennials are usually slower to germinate and slower to put on much growth as a tiny seedling. The time difference between transplanting an Indian paintbrush seedling and a tomato seedling is measured in weeks, not days. 

Chilopsis linearis, the Desert Willow, is native to New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, but not Colorado. Nonetheless, it thrives in Colorado, along the Front Range, and up to elevations as high as 6900'.  It is slow to leaf out in the spring, often not showing new growth until late May here in Rye.  It germinates readily, but then the little seedlings just sit there for a month or so. Here they are, ready to transplant.

Chilopsis is vulnerable to damping off, a fungal disease that attacks young seedlings, so it it important to wait until the little plants have at least one set of true leaves. We move them from the seedling flat to two and a half inch pots.  Moving a seedling to too large a pot makes the watering much trickier. It's very easy to overwater a seedling if you stick it in a gallon pot at this stage.  We were able to get eighty plants from the seedling flat! Here is a flat a few days after we transplanted:

The Desert Willow is a beautiful tree. Here is one in bloom.

Desert Willow provides nectar for hummingbirds and bees. It's a great tree for your xeriscape.