On my way home today from the post office, I drove past the
local nursery. Out front, in full glorious yellow bloom was the
most gorgeous bush I have ever seen. So, of course, I pulled
in and asked what it was.
The owner told me it's called Esperanza, and he would have
some in the Spring. As I was leaving, I stopped to smell the
blossoms. They have the most delicate scent, as if you were
smelling an open jar of honey. The plant is covered with clusters
of yellow flowers that bow their heads to the ground. STUNNING !
What I want to know is this : I've been here a little over a year now
and this is the ONLY ONE I have seen. Why don't more people
grow it? All I know is that when Spring comes, I will be first in line
when their doors open !!!
Saw an Esperanza today. WOW !!!
Have you been to San Antonio? They are all over the city. Most have been pruned to be trees rather than shrubs. Absolutely, beautimus!!!
Want to see some great shots, do a Google Images. Ck out the one the says 'Bexar, TAMU'.
This message was edited Oct 6, 2006 5:17 PM
Hi, Smockette - I tried the link, but only get a blank page, so I will
try About.com in a while and see if I can find it.
No, I've never been to San Antonio. If I had been, I'm sure I would never
have forgotten these plants. If they are pruned as trees, they must get
larger than the one I saw? The nursery owner told me they die down to
the ground in the winter, then come back in the Spring, unless that is
because Ft. Worth is farther North?
lol..I was going to say....come on over to San Antone....they're everywhere..! And soo pretty in the Spring and Summer... :) Alot are still blooming....
Melanie
I found a picture of it: for those who don't know what I'm ranting about:
http://www.plantanswers.com/arcadia_pages/plant_of_the_month/gold_star.htm
Haven't figured out yet how to post a link from DG here, sorry. :o(
Here is a link to Dave's, I think they are beautiful too.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/89729/
Thank you, Josephine. That is how the one I saw
today looked. Spectacular !
Everybody in Texas should be required by law to
have at least a bunch.
Love that plant too....did you check out the orange ones?
Haven't seen a big one yet, only the small one in another thread.
Mahnot, you have d-mail.
It's one of A&M's Texas Superstar plants. http://texassuperstar.com/plants.html
Thanks, Siggy. I'm sold on it.
Hmmm...orange ones? Sounds lovely.. :)
Melanie
I have two of the Esperanza I think they very easy to grow and they just keep blooms on it seems. Do they die back to root in the winter? Mine are still in the pots right now but I am transplanting them in the garden this week!
something elase I forgot the seed pods that come on the Esperanza has anyone tryed to plant them do we need to wait till they dry out on the plant before we take them off the plant?
Check you local Lowes or Home Depot, chances are they have a few Esperanza left. I planted one a few weeks ago, and am hopeful that it will overwinter here. If not, I will plant another one in the spring. The Bumblebees love this over everything else in my yard.
Carla
I have yellow esperanza seed if you are interested in seeds LMK.
Patty
I have esperanzas and just love them because they are so easy, pest resistant, need very little fertilizer or pruning and bloom almost 10 months of the year here. One of my favorite combinations in the garden is a fairly tall yellow esperanza with a blue plumbago in front of it. The plumbago fits almost the same description as the esperanza as to being carefree and has the same bloom time. They make a really striking combo and I have blue and yellow iris planted around them so that spot has the yellow blue combo nearly year round.
Oh Crow that sounds lovely. I adore tecomas as well. The orange one I have paired with white petunias, the yellow one with the Red Pacifica vinca, a variety with slightly larger flowers than your reg. vinca. Both are potted in large patio containers. If I grow a third pot of yellow tecoma next spring, I will underplant it with blue plumbago. ah! what a lovely combo.
My hummers hover around the esperanzas all the time, also bees
Last year I noticed somebody's garden with a living fence consisting of yellow esperanza, next to blue plumbago, next to dwarf pink oleander. The owner had lightly pruned all shrubs to the same height--it almost looked like a rainbow. So incredibly beautiful.
Vossner, do you keep your esperanza in pots permanently? Mine are in the ground and I've never had a problem. Of course, if you want one on a patio, that'd necessitate the pot, duh, pretty slow of me, huh? I too have a row of the "Petite Salmon" oleanders used as foundation plantings. The lady we bought this house from thought we were insane when she passed by and realized we'd pulled out nearly every plant she had in the yard. The place was bulit in 1970 and the plants were mostly what the builder had put in and they must have had a heck of a sale somewhere that year on ligustrums. We had close to thirty of them on this corner lot! We no longer have even one. I'm slowly (3 years here so far) getting the garden in shape and I'm really enjoying it and all the wonderful input from helpful DG'ers. I must be doing OK because 2 neighbors have asked me to do new landscape plans for their yards. My DH is happy that I can play with plants on paper and someone else has to pay for 'em and plant 'em!
wow you must be good.
I potted the esperanzas to add color around my patio area and to soften the harshness of the concrete.
My 'Yellow Bells' is in the ground here and does great every year. It dies back and returns. This year I got 'Texas Esp" with the orange/yellow blooms. It put out super folliage but very few flowers. Hopefully next year it will bloom more.
I'm not sure if the plant in your pic is same as mine but I've observed the oranges seem to bloom less profusely. However, it could be that my orange is a younger plant.
Sheila, that is really pretty.
Thanks for showing us.
My list keeps getting longer and longer. :o)
I'm still surprised that I don't see them growing
anywhere here. If the guy at the nursery didn't have
one growing right out front where you couldn't possibly
miss it, I may never have seen one. It's a shame.
Crowelli, Now tall does your plumago get in front of the esperanza? That sounds like a great combination, but I want to make sure I have enough space for both plants...I have an esperanza that I used to have in a pot and this was its first summer in the ground. it did great by itself in that part of the bed, but I like your idea....nancy
Yeah, me too. Sorry, I forgot to say that.
Thanks y'all. The esperanza is about 8 to 10 feet tall. I keep it slightly trimmed at the bottom and the plumbago is planted very close to it. The esperanza is against my back fence, so I can tie it for support if needed. The plumbago is about 3 feet tall. I trim on it ocassionally to keep it from spreading to far to the front of the bed. The front of the bed is edged with Stella de Oro daylilies. I also have a lot of blue louisiana iris and some yellow flag in this bed, a duranta erecta, a pink butterfly bush and some blue salvias. It's a really beautiful bed most of the time, but spectacular in spring and early summer.
Hello all ;
I have some questions about my Esperanza, I am about to plant it in the ground today. will this die back this winter to the root, and I want to trim it back to try to get to grow more like a tree than a bush but it has so many blooms still on it should I wait till spring or go ahead and trim it now?
Thanks
Jesse
If you prune now, you might get new growth that will get damaged from freeze (if we even get one this year). If you want to take off some limbs/shoots entirely go ahead. If you're trying for tree form, just be aware that a hard freeze will damage upper or tip growth and may require pruning. To get tree form, take off all but a few of the strongest looking shoots as close to the ground as you can get. They are pretty sturdy plants and should survive just about anything you do to them.
So does that mean that in the Houston area, they don't die down
to the ground in the winter?
Also, I saw someone said theirs is 10 Ft. tall. I thought they only
get to about 5 or 6 Ft. high.
Now I'm confused. (nobody say anything clever !!!)
I have seen them taller than 10' alone side a house! in Baytown just outside of Houston
Jesse
And they die down to the ground in the winter?
They only die back if we have a very hard freeze. Mine never even stopped blooming this year because last winter was so mild. They will get over 10 feet tall. I think it depends on the climate, soil, water, etc. If they're in a "really happy" location, they'll get that big. The first one I ever saw to know what it was, was in a bed in front of Cornelius nursery in Houston. It stayed there for several years and was pruned like a small crepe myrtle with lower foliage and small branches trimmed back. That's what I do to mine also, just to have room in front of it for the plumbago. Our subdivision has a huge round raised planting of esperanza ringed with pink Nearly WIld roses at the entrance to the subdivision. It looks good almost year round. They're really tough, trouble free plants. Good luck with yours. I'm sure you'll love it.
Thanks for the information, Crowelli. Who could help
but love such a beautiful thing?