I Bought Hope

In these uncertain times, it's good to have some hope. We need it. So I went out and bought some for $17. It was at the Waterwise August plant sale.

Yes, of course it's a plant; what else could lift my spirits so? It's Chilopsis linearis 'Hope' - a white flowered desert willow tree. 

Desert willow is not a true willow, not even related. It's a different plant entirely, with narrow wispy leaves and tropical looking trumpet flowers, usually pink or magenta, but there are a few that flower white.

I've wanted the white one for ages, and in 2018 I bought one, at the same plant sale as this recent purchase. It turned out to be mismarked, it was a magenta flowered variety and that's nice but not what I wanted.

For the past four years I've held out hope that I could find the white flowered variety and in that time I've dithered endlessly over where I might put one. This is a tree, small and easily pruned to a manageable size, but still, I have no room for trees. And it's kind of wild and coarse looking for a garden planting.

But the heart wants what she wants, so I now have 'Hope'. This time the little plant I bought had a few blooms on it already and they were discernibly white. 

My stepdaughter's name is Hope and I love the connection with her that I'll think of each time I see this desert willow. I need to put it somewhere easily seen. Birds and hummingbirds and bees are attracted to the big flowers in mid summer, so I want it close up to watch the activity.

Because it's a small tree and takes pruning well, it is recommended for a patio specimen, and can be grown in a pot. Lacking anywhere to put a tree in my garden, my hope for 'Hope' is that it will do well in this turquoise container on the patio.

Picture a well pruned willowy looking tree in that pot in a few (many) years. Can you see it?