What Are the Flowering Trees in Phoenix?

Situated in a low altitude desert, Phoenix enjoys cool winters with light frosts and brutally hot summers with high temperatures hovering at or above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Natural rainfall is low, so the hardiest and most water-wise flowering trees are those native to arid deserts. Trees must tolerate high temperatures, native Phoenix soils and survive with a minimum of 10 inches of rain annually, perhaps occasionally supplemented with irrigation.

Three trees known as orchid trees (Bauhinia spp.) are suitable to grow in Phoenix. Purple orchid tree (Bauhinia variegata) grows 20 to 30 feet tall with equal spread and blooms its pinkish lavender flowers from early March to mid-April, according to Arizona State University. Hong Kong orchid tree (Bauhinia blakeana) grows 20 to 40 feet tall and 15 to 30 feet wide. Its rosy pink flowers bloom from late fall to early spring. Texas plume (Bauhinia lunarioides), also called anacacho orchid tree, grows 12 to 15 feet tall and 10 feet wide. It bears light pink blossoms most heavily in early spring across the Phoenix metro area.

Not a true oleander (Nerium) that is more of a rangy shrub, yellow oleander (Thevetia peruviana) grows anywhere from 6 to 25 feet tall and 3 to 10 feet wide depending on how it is pruned over time. Fragrant, yellowy salmon flowers dot the leafy branch tips from spring to fall. The seeds are toxic, and chewing on the leaves would cause sickness, so this isn't a good choice for children's play areas.

A fickle tree in Phoenix, jacaranda (Jacaranda mimosifolia) becomes up to 50 feet tall and 30 to 40 feet wide when mature. It grows best if irrigated in Phoenix, and intense heat and sunlight can scorch the tree trunk bark. Deep blue-violet flowers appear in April and May, most consistently if the Phoenix winter is hit by ample rains. These rains (such as during El Nino years) lead to the best spring flower displays, according to Arizona State University.

According to Mountain States Wholesale Nursery, the palo verde is the signature flowering tree in downtown Phoenix. Palo verdes includes any of four species: Parkinsonia praecox, Parkinsonia floridum, Parkinsonia microphyllum and the hybrid Parkinsonia "Desert Museum." These wispy small trees grow to 20 to 25 feet tall and equally wide at maturity. In mid- to late spring, their wiry branches are lined with thousands of tiny pea-shaped yellow blossoms.

The carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua) is among the best evergreen shade trees for Phoenix, growing 30 to 40 feet tall and 40 to 50 feet wide. In late autumn, reddish flowers fill the tree and emit a musky odor. It tends to sucker weedy shoots from its trunk base, so pruning is necessary to prevent a thicket.

An open-branched, airy tree that is deciduous from November to April in Phoenix, desert willow (Chilopsis linearis) is a native plant. It matures to about 25 feet tall and equally as wide with an upright, multi-trunked structure and semi-weeping branches. The pinkish purple flowers with yellow-striped throats appear alongside leaves from late spring to early fall. Four cultivars are sold in Phoenix: Regal, AZT Desert Amethyst, Lucretia Hamilton and Art's Seedless.

Very lacy in folaige and airy in canopy structure are three species of trees all referred to and sold as sweet acacias (Vachellia spp., formerly in genus Acacia). From February to April, the thread-leaved branches display thousands of fragrant golden "puff ball" clusters. Growing 20 to 30 feet tall with a V-shape, the three plants called sweet acacias are Vachellia minuta, Vachellia smallii and Vachellia farnesiana. Other late winter blooming acacias in Phoenix are the twisted/Medusa acacia (Vachellia bravoensis) and feather/Sierra Madre acacia (Vachellia pennatula).