Garden Planner & Almanac The Cottage Garden Companion
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Palo Verde

Parkinsonia aculeata

Built for heat — it takes the sun bounced back off walls and paving, and wants watering only rarely.

Light Full sun, including the reflected heat off walls and paving.
Water Very little once established, and deep rather than often.
Height 8 m
Spread 23 ft
Spacing 700 cm

Spacing & sowing

Plant spacing
23 ft
In-row spacing
23 ft
Between rows
28 ft 8 in
Square-foot density
Not suited to SFG

Growing

Type
Tree · Perennial
Botanical family
Mixed / other
Sunlight
Full sun, including the reflected heat off walls and paving.
Watering
Very little once established, and deep rather than often.
Feeding
Rarely needed — young trees take a light feed, older ones nothing.
Frost tolerant
Yes
Flowering
April
Pruning
Thin the canopy lightly in late winter, and leave it alone otherwise.

Through the year

  • Mar–Apr Bud Break
  • Apr–Jun Flowering
  • Jun–Nov Fruiting
  • Nov–Dec Dormancy
  • Jan–Mar Dormancy

Pests & problems

Garden allies

Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. companion plant

  • Hoverfly Syrphidae
    Hunts Scale insects

    Bee-mimicking flies whose legless larvae graze aphid colonies clean while the adults pollinate. A ribbon of shallow, nectar-rich flowers kept in bloom all season recruits wave after wave of them.

    Plant nearby CalendulaChamomileFennelFrench marigoldPhaceliaSweet alyssum
  • Ladybird (lady beetle) Coccinellidae
    Hunts Scale insects

    The gardener’s favorite ally: adults and their alligator-shaped larvae each eat thousands of aphids, plus scale, mealybugs, and other soft-bodied sap-suckers. Grow flat, open flowers for the adults and never spray a colony that ladybird larvae are already working.

    Plant nearby CalendulaCilantroCosmosDillFennelYarrow

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