|Tamarix ramosissima in bud|
Do you ever let your mind wonder? If you don’t, you should try it. I find when I do… sometimes I discover the most amazing things. Here is one such case. In Los Angeles it is rare to have cloudy day, but when we have one and the clouds are big and fluffy, it puts me in a daydreamy mood. On a recent cloudy day I was driving along, head in the clouds so-to-speak, when my attention was captured by a tree reaching skyward looking like a big ol’ carnival serving of pink cotton candy. It was a tree I had never seen before. Excitedly, I parked my car and ran over to investigate. What I discovered was indeed something brand new to me! I love those moments. The tree I was discovering for the first time is called Tamarix ramosissima commonly referred to as Tamarisk or Salt Cedar. It was covered in delicate plumes of rosy pink buds and flowers that seemed to have the bees going wild and my senses stimulated!
|Tamarix ramosissima in bloom|
Tamarix ramosissima is considered a deciduous shrub or small tree. It comes to us from Europe, Africa, and Asia where it is usually found thriving in dry desert or seaside conditions. It can grow to 15 feet tall and wide or sometimes larger. What makes this shrub/tree so distinctive is its foliage. It’s very conifer and scale-like. Reminds me of a juniper bush.
|Tamarix ramosissima flower + foliage + form|
In spring, at least here in L.A., it produces a bounty of buds that bloom and transform the shrub/tree into a dreamy ‘draizy’ cloud of pink cotton candy. Flowering is known to occur from spring through summer. So that’s the beauty part. The beast part is that this plant is highly invasive in certain situations. Tamarix ramosissima is resistant to salt, arid conditions, wind, and thrives in poor soils. When planted near waterways it can take over by reseeding and suckering up a storm.
On the plus side, this shrub/tree is tough! It can be kept as a stunning specimen as long as it is pruned regularly, after flowering or before new spring growth emerges, and given some watchful maintenance. It is great for desert gardens and can handle salty seaside conditions. Makes a great windbreak. It just needs full sun, well-draining soil, little to regular water, and is hardy down to -40 degrees fahrenheit and celsius! Tough as nails and as beautiful as spun sugar.
I am less enthusiastic about this plant. Here in the Rio Grande valley, it is a pest and a nuisance that is very difficult to eradicate. It spreads quickly, sucks up precious water, crowds out native species like cottonwood and willow, is too dense for birds to nest in, offers no nourishment for wildlife and has a really irritating pollen in the spring. The color’s sort of pretty and it can be used as a specimen shrub here and there, but on the whole we are better off without tamarix. Sorry.
Hi Susan,
I appreciate your feedback! I knew going in that this post might stir up a bit of controversy. I guess for The Plant Provocateur, my mission is to feature plants that I think are interesting, beautiful, and provoking. This post has received several comments regarding this plant’s invasiveness. However, I do find it interesting that in some parts of the world…it’s not invasive, it is treated like an exotic specimen, and thought of as a tough, sturdy, and yes, beautiful plant. It’s funny…in Michigan, Daucus caroto, commonly called Queen Anne’s Lace was considered a noxious weed when I was growing up. Now, I see it in florist shops and on sale at plant nurseries in California. It’s still an evil weed to me but somehow it has touched the hearts of many and become something celebrated. This forces me to revisit and, perhaps,change my perspective on it. My objective is to not promote invasiveness, but rather to encourage readers to look at the world around them and see what’s out there growing. I want non-plant people, as well as plant people, to rejoice in the awe and wonder, the good and bad, of plant life.
-Hank
You nicely extol the pluses of Salt Cedar…in the RIo Grande Valley from the Big Bend up to way north of Abq, they are unfortunately the most invasive plant we might have. But at least this drought is knocking even that tough on back!
I should freak out readers from my area by posting one, not even in bloom, in a dry front yard by where I once lived. It was the only plant, pruned into a 20′+ tree, and older than you and I combined!