I’ve been enjoying the beauty of the wild foothills palo verde (Parkinsonia microphylla) in bloom. So I decided to cut some stems for a vase today.
To be honest, the blossoms don’t seem at all amenable to being cut as they began dropping very, very quickly. I managed to grab a few pictures, but that was all.
They were simply gorgeous while they lasted, but it was brief! I’ll continue admiring them on the trees instead of bringing them indoors. They make a mass of pale yellow bloom across the hillsides right now.
I used my dark-glazed stoneware vase to emphasize the lightness of the blooms and stems.
Perhaps you can see the green hue of the stems in my photo. They produce chlorophyll as well as the leaves, allowing the palo verde to drop its leaves during the driest times of the year to avoid desiccation. Photosynthesis does not stop even though the small trees may be leafless.
From the gardener’s point of view, the soft green of the branches gives them a cooling, shady effect whether or not they have leaves. They really are one of the delights of desert flora.
Many thanks to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for so faithfully hosting the weekly theme In a Vase on Monday.
Lovely vase and photographed so beautifully (even under pressure of time!).
Really pretty. 😃 A shame they are so fleeting in a vase.