What it is
Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis) is in the Bignoniaceae (Trumpet-creeper) family. Not a true willow but a small native tree covered all summer in orchid-like pink trumpets that hummingbirds can't resist.
How to grow it
It wants full sun, water it very low — xeric, and give it lean, well-drained soil. Target a soil pH around 6.5–8.5. Space plants about 12+ ft apart. Expect roughly Blooms first or second year. Hardy native.
How it's used
Desert Willow is used: not for eating.
🔎 How to identify it
- Long, narrow willow-like leaves
- Frilly pink-lavender trumpet flowers
- Long slender seed pods
Not for eating
How to grow & propagate desert willow
Everything I've worked out about starting this one, keeping it alive through a Texas year, and turning one plant into many — free.
How to propagate desert willow
Desert willow grows readily from seed collected from its long pods, and also roots from softwood cuttings taken in early summer. It's tough, fast, and forgiving once it's in the ground.
Growing desert willow in Texas
Give it full sun and lean, well-drained soil. Match the spot to the plant and most of the battle is already won.
Because it's a perennial, the work is mostly up front. Get it sited and established and it comes back on its own year after year — one of the best returns on effort in the whole garden.
Once it's rooted in, this is a low-water plant — overwatering does more harm than drought here. Water deeply to establish, then back off and let it prove how tough it is.
Harvesting
Figure on roughly blooms first or second year before you're harvesting.
Making more for free
If you want more, let your healthiest plants mature fully and collect the seed once it's dry on the plant — then store it somewhere cool, dark, and dry until next season.
Part of the free Texas Roots plant database, compiled by Jordan Polasek from his greenhouse in El Campo, Texas. Free to read and share. If it helped, the best thanks is to grow something.