Rewilding My Lot

Each January I take note of how my trees and shrubs are doing. Like children, when you see them every day, sometimes you don’t appreciate how much they’re growing.

This post addresses trees. There will a separate one to describe the shrubs that I have (here).

The measurements and photos were recorded on January 11, 2026, after a winter pruning session for some of the trees. Where applicable, I’ve included previous years’ photos for comparison (newest photo first). New this year is to record girth of the trunk (single-trunked trees only) for the larger trees.

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Live Oak 1 (nearest the street) — planted 2022

Of the two oak trees that our builder planted in front of the house, this one produces more acorns. It hasn’t noticeably grown in overall height in the past year, although the internal branches seem to have filled out a little. Once we get colder weather, I will prune this tree to eliminate any branches that might present a future problem.
2026: Height 8 ft, Width 5 ft, Girth 6 in
2025: Height 8 ft, Width 4 ft
2024: Height 8 ft, Width 4 ft

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Live Oak 2 (nearest the house) — planted 2022

The other oak tree has grown a little taller than its neighbor and its girth is greater. This also will get pruned once we get colder weather.
2026: Height 9 ft, Width 5 ft, Girth 7 in
2025: Height 8 ft, Width 4 ft
2024: Height 8 ft, Width 4 ft

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Texas Mountain Laurel (Dermatophyllum secundiflorum) — planted 2023

Texas Mountain Laurel was the first tree that I planted here. It had a slow start but in its third year has grown a lot. It also looks like this coming spring will be the first time for this tree to bloom, given the many bud structures that have formed. There was a major pruning session this month that made the trunk structure more obvious near the ground. At the moment, I have kept five trunks.
2026: Height 7.5 ft, Width 5 ft
2025: Height 57 in, Width 48 in
2024: Height 26 in, Width 38 in

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Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis) — planted 2023

Desert Willow is the tallest tree in the back yard. In its second year there was a high wind event that caused a split at a place where branches forked. Later in the same year, the tree began slowly falling over, perhaps because high winds were moving the tree above ground too much for the young roots to handle. Both of those issues were addressed with bandaging, pruning, and construction of a brace last year, but this month the brace was removed and the tree given a significant pruning which has left it somewhat lopsided for now.
2026: Height 11 ft, Width 10.5 ft, Girth 10.5in
2025: Height 9 ft, Width 9 ft
2024: Height 6 ft, Width 6 ft

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Mexican Plum (Prunus mexicana) — planted 2023

The Mexican Plum hasn’t grown much in overall size yet, but each year I’ve seen progress. In the first year there were leaves but no blooms. In spring 2025 there were blooms as well, and I also see new growth of twigs that emerge from the main branches. Two branches were removed this month, to eliminate competition for the leader.
2026: Height 66 in, Width 32 in, Girth 2.5in
2025: Height 65 in, Width 28 in
2024: Height 65 in, Width 28 in

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Mexican Olive (Cordia boissieri) — planted 2023

The Mexican Olive has been significantly affected by hard freezes in its first two winters here. Each time it has recovered strongly, but last year it effectively had to grow a completely new tree from the ground up (only parts of the lowest branch survived the freeze). So the fact that it has grown to its current size in only a few months is actually quite impressive. If we continue to get hard freeze events, this tree possibly may remain more of a bush. It has not been pruned yet this winter — I will wait until it’s cooler for that.
2026: Height 6.5 ft, Width 10 ft (new growth from ground)
2025: Height 4.5 ft, Width 7 ft
2024: Height 42 in, Width 30 in

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Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia) — planted 2024

This baby Red Buckeye tree was planted in the spring of 2024. It dropped its leaves during the summer, which was to be expected, but then it did not leaf out again the following spring. I thought the tree was dead, but weeks later two new shoots emerged from the ground and the original stem disintegrated. So what I have now is effectively an entirely new tree that has grown from the roots of the original. This one looks healthier and stronger. The leaf growth I see now is recent — we have had such a mild winter so far that it may think we’re in spring already.
2026: Height 8.5 in, Width 3 in (new growth from ground)
2025: Height 12 in, Width 6 in

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Mexican Buckeye (Ungnadia speciosa) — planted 2025

In this location I first planted a Mexican Buckeye that I had grown from seed myself. Unfortunately, that one did not survive, but I’ve planted a replacement seedling grown by my son.
2026: Height 7 in, Width 2 in

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Once my trees exceed about 7 ft in height, I estimate rather than measure. This is my estimation reference!