Blue Palo Verde
Parkinsonia florida
- Plant Form: Tree
- Water Use: Very low
- Mature Size: 20-30 ft. tall and wide
- Exposure: Full sun
- Bloom Time: Spring (March-May)
- Native to: California, Arizona, Mexico
- Hardiness: Cold hardy to 12°F
The beautiful green trunk of Blue Palo Verde is not only a striking sculptural addition to your landscape, but its green bark allows this drought-tolerant tree to keep manufacturing sugars for growth even if its leaves have dropped from lack of water in summer.
Blue Palo Verde is prized as much for its unique green branches and trunk as it is for the masses of lemon-yellow flowers that cover this fast-growing tree in spring. Its green limbs allow this graceful but thorny tree to continue to carry on some photosynthesis when its small leaves drop due to drought or cold. A popular hybrid of this species known as ‘Desert Museum’ has no spines. Palo Verde is so drought tolerant, it needs very little or no irrigation after becoming established. Prune to showcase its beautiful branching, but avoid pruning heavily at any one time to maintain its growth structure. Desert birds including hummingbirds and verdin love to nest and raise their young in Palo Verde trees. This extremely popular tree provides filtered shade all year, and can be used as a sculptural focal point or shade tree in many garden styles.
Check out our “Garden Tasks” for April
Winter brings with it the colorful red berries of our native Toyon, also called “Christmas Berry” (Heteromeles arbutifolia). Besides being an attractive, fire-resistant, evergreen shrub (or tree if pruned), Toyon produces clusters of bright red berries that persist all winter, providing perfect holiday decorations for mantels, wreaths, and centerpieces. We have been picking clusters from our yard the past few weeks to use for holiday arrangements, and are sharing them with friends for their decorations. We still have plenty to share with the birds who also love the berries.
Native American Indians used the cooked or dried berries for food and beverages, as well as for dyes and paints. If you have toyons in your yard, or have a harvesting area in our chaparral communities in the foothills or mountains of southern California, check now for the ripe berries in time for Christmas decorations. After the holidays, dry the berries to use for recipes later. Some of the traditional uses for the berries include:
Toyon fruit leather (fresh berries simmered, then blended in a food processor, sweetened, spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, then spread thin onto parchment and dehydrated)
Toyon “not-quite-cranberry” sauce (fresh berries simmered in apple juice, sweetened with honey, thickened with arrowroot, and spiced with orange zest)
Toyon berry spice (dried berries ground into a fine powder, then combined with other flours or used as a spice for a tangy, fruity taste)
Toyon cider (dried berries boiled in water while crushing them, then strained, and sweetening the “cider” with honey or agave nectar)
NOTICE:
Due to coronavirus restrictions, all of Robin’s upcoming workshops and eco-discovery walks have been postponed.
These events will be rescheduled
when we know it is safe to gather again.
***
Mar. 21, 2020 ~ Gardening with Native Plants: 12:30 – 4:30 pm
Mar. 26, 2020 ~ Eco-Discovery Tour – Andreas Canyon: 10 am – 12:30 pm
Apr. 4, 2020 ~ Gardening with Native Plants: 12:30 – 4:30 pm
May 6, 2020 ~ Making Native Desert Teas: 12:30-3:30 pm
See below for details on each workshop and tour
***If you are gifting a workshop or tour registration to someone, we can send an attractive gift card to your friend or loved one. Just email us, and we will send a personalized gift card to them!
Robin’s upcoming workshops
and eco-discovery walks
~ Reserve your space now for lots of fun later ~
Click on the date for class information
***
Feb. 8, 2020 ~ Healing, Helpful, & Edible Native Plants: 12:30-3:30 pm
Mar. 21, 2020 ~ Gardening with Native Plants: 12:30 – 4:30 pm
Mar. 26, 2020 ~ Eco-Discovery Tour – Andreas Canyon: 10 am – 12:30 pm
Apr. 4, 2020 ~ Gardening with Native Plants: 12:30 – 4:30 pm
May 6, 2020 ~ Making Native Desert Teas: 12:30-3:30 pm
See below for details on each workshop and tour
***If you are gifting a workshop or tour registration to someone,
we can send an attractive gift card to your friend or loved one.
Just email us, and we will send a personalized gift card to them!
Winter brings with it the colorful red berries of our native Toyon, also called “Christmas Berry” (Heteromeles arbutifolia). Besides being an attractive, fire-resistant, evergreen shrub (or tree if pruned), Toyon produces clusters of bright red berries that persist all winter, providing perfect holiday decorations for mantels, wreaths, and centerpieces. We have been picking clusters from our yard the past few weeks to use for holiday arrangements, and are sharing them with friends for their decorations. We still have plenty to share with the birds who also love the berries.
Native American Indians used the cooked or dried berries for food and beverages, as well as for dyes and paints. If you have toyons in your yard, or have a harvesting area in our chaparral communities in the foothills or mountains of southern California, check now for the ripe berries in time for Christmas decorations. After the holidays, dry the berries to use for recipes later. Some of the traditional uses for the berries include:
Toyon fruit leather (fresh berries simmered, then blended in a food processor, sweetened, spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, then spread thin onto parchment and dehydrated)
Toyon “not-quite-cranberry” sauce (fresh berries simmered in apple juice, sweetened with honey, thickened with arrowroot, and spiced with orange zest)
Toyon berry spice (dried berries ground into a fine powder, then combined with other flours or used as a spice for a tangy, fruity taste)
Toyon cider (dried berries boiled in water while crushing them, then strained, and sweetening the “cider” with honey or agave)
and California juniper.
Stroll along a one-mile journey under a lush canopy of California Native Fan Palms as Robin shares secrets of the same plants that sustained Cahuilla Indians who inhabited Andreas Canyon for centuries. Get exercise and learning in one adventure!
Eco-Discovery Tour of Andreas Canyon
with Robin Kobaly
Thursday, March 26th, 2020 | 10:00 am – 12:30 pm
2 1/2-Hour Eco-Discovery Walking Tour
Andreas Canyon in the Indian Canyons
…
Leader: Robin Kobaly
Botanist, Founder, and President of
The Power of Plants, and Executive Director of
The SummerTree Institute
Thursday March 26, 2020 – Tour to be rescheduled
10:00 am – 12:30 pm
Andreas Canyon
South Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs, CA 92264
With Robin Kobaly
Botanist, Wildlife Biologist
Tour registration: $25 for 2 1/2-hour adventure
~ Enrollment is limited. Please reserve early to assure your spot.
Like a walk back in time, this desert oasis offers a tranquil journey along foot trails through shady groves of native palms along a quiet stream, passing beautiful rock formations. Rock ledges have ancient bedrock mortars and metates used by Native American Cahuilla women centuries ago in food preparation. Follow along this easy footpath as Robin shares secrets of the same native plants that sustained the Cahuilla Indians who historically inhabited this exact site. Located on South Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs, this adventure is on land that has been treasured as a homeland of Cahuilla Indians for millennia.
On this 2 1/2-hour stream-side excursion, Robin will identify native plants, and describe uses of these desert plants for food, medicine, tools, clothing, and shelter. Edible samples of the same plants collected elsewhere by Robin will be shared along the route. You will hear about underground, unseen root partners that connect the plants in the community, which help to sustain the entire ecosystem. Robin will explain how migratory birds travel to and through the oasis in an intricate dance based on day-length cues, hormone changes, stored fat, night skies, and magnetic particles in their brains to arrive precisely at this site each year. Birds and other wildlife that may cross our path will be identified, and Robin will reveal fun stories about each creature. Each tour is unique, exploring different seasonal plants, birds, and wildlife. Please call or email to reserve your spot; enrollment is limited to 18 adventurers.
You may want to bring a box lunch to enjoy stream-side on the picnic tables under the native palms after our tour. You won’t want to leave…
The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians who manage this historic site charge an entrance fee (in addition to your tour registration). Canyons entrance fee (includes Andreas, Murray and Palm Canyons) – Adults $9; Ages 62+ and students $7; Ages 6-12 $5; Military with ID: free.
- Andreas Canyon, Palm Springs, CA
- $25 Tour Registration (plus entrance fee to Indian Canyons)
- For more information or to enroll, please call 760-363-1166, visit our website www.powerofplants.com, or email robin@powerofplants.com
To reserve your space, or for more information
about this event:
Call The Power of Plants (760) 363-1166
Or email robin@powerofplants.com
…
⇒ You may reserve your space and enroll now:
(Note: Purchases made with a non-PayPal credit card may post to your
statement as a purchase made in San Jose, PayPal’s corporate office)
…
You may also reserve your space and enroll
by sending a check for $25 per participant to:
…
The Power of Plants
P.O. Box 800
Morongo Valley, CA 92256
Note: Please call or email us before sending your check
to make sure we reserve your spot. Workshops fill up very fast.
Click here for our other events and workshops!
