Last updated on August 25th, 2025 at 06:47 am
The Palo Verde tree (Cercidium-Parkinsonia) is also known as the Desert Museum Palo Verde. It is an exceptional tree for the Southwest. It is a Hybrid of the common Palo Verde tree that is native to the Sonoran and Southwest deserts. Palo Verde Means Green Stick in Spanish.
Flowering Palo Verde
It produces a mass of beautiful small yellow flowers in late spring. They are native to the Sonoran Desert and thrive all around the southwest from southern California to southern Texas.
The Flowers
Once established, it will grow to about 30-40 ft. tall and 50 ft. wide. A drought-tolerant tree that is durable and, in fact, can live up to 400 years.
I love how this tree gives us a lot of shade when it gets really hot in the summer. If you live somewhere dry like me, you know shade is hard to find. That’s why I think this tree works so well for desert yards or places where it rarely rains.
It doesn’t need much watering, but it still grows big enough to let you sit under it and cool off. When I look around at neighbors’ yards, the ones with this tree always look cooler and more comfortable. If you want some relief from the sun without spending a lot of time or money, picking a tree like this just makes sense.
It gets its name from the year-round green bark on the tree. In Spanish, Palo Verde means “Green Stick”.
Pictures of the Desert Museum Palo Verde Tree
A magnificent Palo Verde at full colorful bloom.
The True Native Palo Verde
The Foothills Palo Verde (Parkinsonia microphylla) grows wild in the desert southwest. You will see them around arroyos and the foothills of many undeveloped neighborhoods. They are smaller in size, about 20 ft. tall and 20 ft. wide. The same small, yellow leaves will drop when temperatures drop below 32 degrees Fahrenheit.
Problems with the Palo Verde Tree
Spider mites love dry, hot conditions, and this is where most Palo Verde trees thrive. At the first signs of spider mite,s spray with neem oil to kill these small insects. The Palo Verde root borer is another pest that will damage this tree. The borer comes from a large black antenna beetle that resembles a cockroach. The larvae that will actually drill a hole in the tree and damage the tree and eventually killing it if not treated in time. A good borer insecticide will kill this insect. Learn more about Insects and Diseases on plants.
More Southwest trees for landscaping – Southwest Trees.
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