Desert Fern - lysiloma thornberi

[alisios]

Heya - Here's a tree that needs to grow a lot, but it is one of my favorites. It is a young Lysiloma Thornberi - Desert Fern - native of southern Arizona - It's deciduous and doesn't like low temps. I like how delicate the leaves are and how it already seems to dance. At the moment, there's a resident praying mantis living on it.

I don't really have plans for it other than to let it grow. I'll most likely put it in an oversized pot next season. This tree has been an inspiration to focus on local native plants, of which I have a few also developing...



its' leaves:

[Gnome]

alisios,

That is an interesting plant and it is a worthy effort to utilize your local species. Have you ever tried pinching back the individual leaflets? They might back-bud for you and increase the ramification.

Also I wonder if you could reduce the number of leaflets on a given frond to two, similar to how Pines are handled. This in order to establish a good underlying structure to build upon.

Just a few thoughts, If you don't want to mess around with this one why not pick a victim in the landscape and experiment? That way you'll have a better feel for them when it comes time to refine this one.

Norm

[sharon333]

That is a great looking plant. I love to have one in my garden.

[alisios]

They are nice trees. If I understand your profile, you are in Colorado, no? These trees will not be able to withstand freezing temperatures so you'll have to watch out for that.

I was able to find someone who has made a bonsai of one:

[chio88]

Good looking plant. It was nice of you to make use of your local native plants.

[alexinoklahoma]

Gnome, these types of 'leaves' are not anything like pines and their 'leaders'. Pinching them only stops them from further extending, making them look pretty blunt and odd-shaped compared to how they normally appear. I am pretty sure that no new growth comes off of pinnately compound leaves, but only off of 'trunk' wood. (ie the longish 'petiole' always falls off when leaf is expired)... They are almost impossible to ramify tightly with super-long leaves; root-restriction is practically a must for shorter mini-leaf appearance, I think (if its anything like Delonix regia and/or

Make sense? I am delaying germinating my tamarinds until next Spring as I missed 'em this year (hidden under too many other seed, LOL...oops)

These types of plants are fun to play with and can handle extreme trunk whacks, usually without any issues (IME anyways). This appears to be a great potensai of the species, IMO

Alex

[majed]

its nice plant..i have grown one in container and under training...but i have noticed the pale dotes on the trunk of my tree wot it should be? any help...?