Desert Willow Tree Seeds | (Chilopsis linearis)

Not a willow at all. More spectacular than most things that are.

Chilopsis linearis, the Desert Willow, is one of the most beautiful and most drought-tolerant flowering trees in North America, a native of the Chihuahuan and Sonoran desert washes that produces large, orchid-like flowers in shades of lavender, pink, purple, and white from late spring through fall, blooming on and off across the entire warm season in a display that outperforms most temperate flowering trees by weeks or months. Despite its name it is not a willow at all but a close relative of Catalpa and belongs to the Bignoniaceae family, which explains the spectacular tubular flowers that look hand-crafted rather than grown. It tolerates drought, heat, alkaline soils, and neglect with absolute indifference once established. If you are looking to buy Desert Willow seeds or grow this extraordinary southwestern native from seed, this is the most spectacular flowering tree available to dry-climate growers.

• Large orchid-like flowers in lavender, pink, purple, and white blooming repeatedly from late spring through fall
• Among the most drought-tolerant flowering trees in North American horticulture, surviving on rainfall alone once established
• Attracts hummingbirds intensively, one of the most important hummingbird nectar trees in the desert Southwest
• Slender willow-like foliage giving a graceful, airy texture unusual in hot-climate trees
• Adaptable to extreme alkalinity, heat, and low water that would stress or kill most ornamental trees

Things you probably did not know about the Desert Willow

Hummingbirds prefer it over almost every other flowering plant in its range. The tubular flower shape, long blooming season, and abundant nectar production of Desert Willow make it one of the most intensively used hummingbird plants in the Chihuahuan and Sonoran desert regions. Black-chinned, Broad-tailed, and Rufous Hummingbirds visit Desert Willow repeatedly throughout the day during bloom periods, and the tree often hosts multiple individuals simultaneously competing for nectar.

The seed pods were used as a percussion instrument. The long, slender seed pods of Desert Willow dry on the tree through winter and rattle audibly in the wind, a characteristic that gave the tree musical utility. Indigenous peoples of the Chihuahuan desert used dried Desert Willow pods as rattles in ceremonial contexts, and the sound of a Desert Willow thicket in winter wind is distinctive enough to be used for navigation by experienced desert travelers.

It was the medicine chest of the Chihuahuan desert tribes. Desert Willow was used medicinally across virtually every Indigenous group within its range. The flowers were used as an antifungal treatment for skin conditions including athlete's foot and nail fungus, applications that modern research has partially validated with documented antifungal compounds in the flower extracts. The bark was used for cuts and wounds. It was one of the most medically versatile plants in the desert Southwest.

Each flower lasts only a day but the tree produces new ones continuously. Individual Desert Willow flowers open in the morning and drop by evening, a characteristic common in the Bignoniaceae family. The tree compensates by producing new flowers continuously throughout its blooming season, maintaining a consistent display from late spring through the first frost in ways that trees with a single annual flush of bloom cannot match.

Growing Details

• Botanical Name: Chilopsis linearis
• Stratification: Not required
• USDA Zones: 7 to 11
• Soil: Well-drained, sandy, rocky, or poor quality, tolerates alkaline conditions, does not tolerate wet or clay soils
• Light: Full sun
• Height: 15 to 30 feet
• Spread: 10 to 20 feet
• Growth Rate: Moderate to fast, 2 to 3 feet per year in warm conditions

Plant it in the driest, hottest part of your property and water it only until established. After that, let the desert do what it does.