{"id":2128,"date":"2006-06-28T21:45:22","date_gmt":"2006-06-29T02:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.168.1.5\/gardens\/gardenlog\/?p=2128"},"modified":"2017-07-18T10:24:52","modified_gmt":"2017-07-18T15:24:52","slug":"retama-jerusalem-thorn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/plant-highlights\/retama-jerusalem-thorn\/","title":{"rendered":"Retama Jerusalem Thorn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Retama (Parkinsonia aculeata<\/i>) forms a small, airy, lime green tree that appears as fresh as spring on even the most droughty summer days. You can use it as a specimen plant or to create a vicious hedge. The smooth green trunks and branches are covered with serious spiny thorns hinted at by one of its common names, Jerusalem thorn. Retama can photosynthesize through its green bark; its Spanish name is palo verde (green bark). From a distance retama looks like it’s covered in stringy green streamers which cast a filtered shade. Having such very small leaves it loses little moisture to transpiration making it extremly drought and heat tolerant. Overall, it has a delicate, feathery appearance. Flowers are bright yellow.<\/p>\n

Latin names are a bit confusing as the Parkinsonia clan used to be called Cercidium. The common names are worse as nurseries in Austin usually sell this as retama but it’s not the same as weeping white broom, Retama raetam<\/i>. The City of Austin Grow Green site hedges its bet and calls it Retama Jerusalem Thorn.<\/p>\n

Perhaps, as one reader suggested, it is overused in Phoenix. I imagine that when people first brought it under cultivation in those desert towns they were thinking, “Green! Green! Green!” And it’s such a carefree plant that it’s perfect for those median plantings along highways and outside of subdivisions. However, in Australia it’s an introduced invasive weed.<\/p>\n

In addition to being spiny, retama has a reputation for being a messy tree. Mine is too small to make much of a mess. If you have small children, or a small yard, you might prefer to admire retama from the comfortable distance of your car. I’ve neither, so I’ve taken a chance with it. Give me another five years or so and I’ll tell you whether I think it’s a curse or a blessing.
\n<\/p>\n

Zanthan Gardens History<\/h4>\n

Friday October 24, 2003
\nPlanted a 1 gallon retama that I bought on sale from Barton Springs Nursery for $3.99.<\/p>\n

2006-04-26.
\nFirst flower of the season and ever on this plant which is about 5 feet tall. I have several plants half the size that I received started from seeds from Larvalbug<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2017-07-18.
\nThis is a terrible weedy tree. Do not grow it in your garden. It’s great for highway planting but in your garden you’ll have nothing but thorns and woe. It seeds like crazy and even the small seedlings are painful to pluck. Once you let it in your garden, you will have a difficult time getting rid of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"photo:
2006-06-28. A roadside planting of retama forms an airy hedge along a path in Sunset Valley, TX.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2128"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2128"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5340,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2128\/revisions\/5340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}