What it is
Esperanza (Yellow Bells) (Tecoma stans) is in the Bignoniaceae family. Brilliant yellow trumpet flowers all summer on a heat- and drought-tough native shrub. Hummingbird favorite.
How to grow it
It wants full sun, water it low, and give it well-drained soil. Target a soil pH around 6.5–8.0. Space plants about 4 ft apart. Expect roughly Blooms first year. Tender native shrub.
How it's used
Esperanza (Yellow Bells) is used: ornamental; pollinator.
🔎 How to identify it
- Bright green toothed compound leaves
- Yellow trumpet flowers
- Long bean-like seed pods
Not for eating
How to grow & propagate esperanza (yellow bells)
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 esperanza (yellow bells)
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 esperanza (yellow bells) in Texas
Give it full sun and well-drained soil. Match the spot to the plant and most of the battle is already won.
This one thrives in heat that flattens other plants, so it earns its space through a Texas summer. Get it established before the worst of July, keep water steady, and it'll produce when little else will.
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 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.