Net-leaf Hackberry is a medium to large tree, growing to 15 by 25 feet with an unusual and scraggly but attractive form for a desert tree. It produces firm, purplish berries and provides a good nesting substrate, with whitish, knobby wood and leathery foliage that is eaten by many insects and caterpillars. This tree is deer resistant, growing in full sun and moist soils.
This perennial, deciduous tree is also known as Northern or American Hackberry, Nettle Tree, Beaverwood, and False Elm. It typically grows 60 to 100 tall with upright-arching branches and a rounded spreading crown. Along with rough foliage, this tree produces clusters of orange-brown to dark purple berries that attract many bird species. It tolerates partial shade and a wide range of soil conditions, including wet, dry, and poor soils.
Also going by the names Texas Sugarberry, Lowland Hackberry, and Palo Blanco, this is a deciduous tree that typically grows 60 to 80 feet tall with a rounded, spreading crown and curving branches. Insignificant flowers give way to often abundant, round, fleshy berries that are favored by many species of birds. Sugar-Berry grows in partial shade and in a variety of moist soils.
This medium-sized tree is also known as Shagbark, Carolina, Scalybark, Upland, or Shellbark Hickory. It is a deciduous, perennial tree averaging 70 to 80 feet in height, and 12 to 24 inches in diameter. It is probably the most distinctive of all the hickories because of its loose-plated bark. This tree produces thick-shelled, edible nuts, and its foliage turns golden in early fall. It grows in full sun to shade, preferring dry to moist, well-drained, fertile soils.
Largest of the hickories, this tree grows 70 to 100 feet tall. It has a huge trunk, stout branches and a symmetrical, oval crown. Its bark is slate gray and will remain smooth for years into maturity. The tree attracts butterflies and the sweet pecan nuts are a favorite for fruit-eating mammals and birds. Pecan grows in full sun and rich, moist, well-drained soils.
Also known as Musclewood, Ironwood, Blue Beech, and Water Beech, this slow-growing, deciduous, understory tree has an attractive globular form, reaching 20 to 35 feet in height. It is easily grown in average, medium moisture soil in partial to full shade, preferring moist, organically rich soils. Mature trees have smooth, gray trunks with furrows that give them a muscle fiber-like appearance, fittingly earning it the nickname, Musclewood.
This familiar cactus is composed of a tall, thick, and fluted columnar stem, 18 to 24 inches in diameter, often with several large arms curving upward in the most distinctive conformation of all Southwestern cacti. Saguaro, or Giant Saguaro, grows very slowly—about an inch a year—to a height of 15 to 50 feet in full sun and dry, well-drained, sandy or gravelly soils.
Also called Trumpet Vine, Foxglove Vine, and Devil’s Shoestring, this is a high-climbing, woody vine with aerial rootlets that allow it to climb and aggressively spread. It produces fruit pods up to 6 inches long, and waxy, orange to reddish-orange flowers that are broadly trumpet-shaped, clustered at the branch ends, and very attractive to hummingbirds. This perennial can climb up to 35 feet in height, and does best in full sun and in various dry to moist, well-drained soils, from sandy to limestone-based.
American Beauty-Berry, or French Mulberry, is a showy, deciduous shrub that grows to a height and width of 3 to 5 feet with long branches that bear yellow-green foliage and small, pink flowers. Beauty-Berry's most distinctive feature is its round clusters of bright, glossy purple fruit at leaf axils that grow during the fall and winter. This plant provides an important food source for wildlife, growing in partial shade and moist, rich soils.
Also going by the names Pink Fairyduster, Mesquitilla, and Mock Mesquite, this is a densely branched shrub that grows to 4 feet in height. Its eye-catching pink flower clusters are highly attractive to hummingbirds and butterflies, while its seeds attract birds like quail. This species is very hardy when established and is low in water use, growing in full sun and dry, gravelly soils.
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