Rewilding My Lot

This year, my Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis) tree produced a single seed pod. While recently pruning this tree, the pod ended up being cut down and it split open so I salvaged a few of the seeds. I don’t need any more Desert Willow trees here myself, but I’ve been experimenting with germination so it seemed like an interesting thing to try.

Desert Willow seeds are tiny and clearly designed to be dispersed through the air — they have hairs that presumably can act like parachutes. Each pod can contain hundreds of seeds, but I only collected 23, which seemed like plenty for this experiment.

As I have done with Texas Mountain Laurel and Mexican Buckeye seeds, I wrapped the Desert Willow seeds in damp paper towels and placed them in a plastic bag. That was September 11, 2024.

After only two days, some of the seeds had already sprouted little roots.

After five days, I placed the ten seeds that had grown roots into pots. I did this very carefully with tweezers.

Due to me not being smart about the timing of this germination project, when it came time to pot the sprouting seeds, I was actually away from home. So instead of the pots going into the more controlled environment of my “guest room nursery,” these went outside in Houston. After four days in pots, there were three little shoots.

And a couple of days later there was another green shoot.

So here are the numbers so far (after 13 days):

• 23 newly collected Desert Willow seeds from a ripe seed pod put in moist environment
• 10 seeds germinated (I am checking the others periodically but there’s nothing happening yet)
• 4 seeds sprouted