Low-Water Use Trees

5 Low-Water Use Tree Varieties: Desert Willow, Acassia aneura, Nerium, Green Hopseed, and Mesquite.

Trees Designed for Desert Life

Once established, the following tree varieties require minimal water to grow and thrive in your desert garden landscape. To learn how to ensure your trees develop a strong root system, refer to our New Plant Watering Guide.

A large, blooming Arizona Redwood planted near a house.

Arizona Rosewood

Vauquelinia californica is excellent for use in Xeriscapes, as a background or screen, an informal hedge, accent and more.

Form: This evergreen shrub grows slightly stiff and brittle
Growth Habit: Slow to moderately growing to 10 to rarely 25 feet tall (can be kept at 6-8 feet if desired with proper water and pruning). Size influenced by supplemental watering.
Foliage & Trunk: Medium to Dark dull green foliage, and gray stems
Flowers & Fruits: Persistent white flowers followed by small brown fruit—from April to May
Temperature: Tolerant of all temperatures below 110^oF (folliage begins to yellow in extreme heat)
Light: Partial to full sun; only moderatley tolerant of reflective heat and western exposures in the low desert
Soil: Prefers well-drained soil
Watering: Requires infrequent, deep supplemental watering in summer
Pruning: Lightly prune to shape only (do not shear)
Photo: Courtesy Civano Nursery

A blooming lilac chaste tree.

Chaste Tree

Because of its unique early summer flowers, the Lilac Chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus) is excellent for use as a large background accent shrub or as a small, multiple-trunk accent shade tree in mesic or oasis landscape designs.

Form & Character: This upright, arching and spreading tree has a winter deciduous habit
Growth Habit: Moderatley fast growing to 20 feet tall and wide. Growth rate and flowers impacted by moisture availability.
Foliage: Dull green leaves that can turn golden yellow in late winter (winter color varies from year to year)
Flowers & Fruits: Terminal spikes of intense white to violet blue flower plumes that attract bees. Fruits are small brown seed capsules that are persistent through the winter months

A large Chaste Tree near a door and stone wall, against a blue sky.

Temperature: Summer heat is required for the best flowering
Light: Full Sun
Soil: Tolerant of alkalline soil
Watering: Requires regular, deep but infrequent watering from April to October, but little to no water the rest of the year. The more water, the faster it will grow, but the fewer the flowers.
Pruning: Canopy can be trained to grow many different ways and to desired height. Pruning recommended while dormant—from December to early March.

Desert Museum Palo Verde Tree in Bloom

Desert Museum Palo Verde

This thornless, upright deciduous shade tree (Cercidium x 'Desert Museum') boasts long-lasting vibrant yellow blooms, is native to the Sonoran Desert and Arizona's official state tree! Great for firescaping or as a specimen or accent tree.

Growth Habit: Quickly grows to 25 feet tall and wide
Foliage & Trunk: Green foliage with a trunk and stems that remain green year-round
Flowers & Fruits: Showy yellow flowers that bloom in spring, and may re-bloom in summer with supplemental watering; produces very few seedpods
Temperature: Cold Hary Zones 8-9
Light: Full Sun
Soil: Prefers well-drained soil, and grows best with tree and shrub food
Watering: Once established, requires only occasional watering and is drought tolerant
Pruning: After flowering, prune for shape and structure
Photo: Courtesy Civano Nursery

A large desert willow tree in bloom with pink and purple flowers.

Desert Willow

This deciduous accent tree (Chilopsis linearis) attracts birds in summer and has many local varieties, some single trunk and others multiple trunk.

Form & Attributes: This woody, open and airy tree perennial can maintain its leaves up to 6 months (November to April), and is colorful during the summer. Displays woody, brittle sticks, and seeds in winter.
Growth Habit: Vigorously upright to weeting to 15-35 feet tall, with equal or greater width.
Foliage & Trunk: Pale to bright green leaves, and shaggy bark
Flowers & Fruits: Trumpet-shaped flower color varies by variety - petals range from white to pink to deep lavender and are lightly fragrant; long fruits are messy in summer and produce seeds
Temperature: Tolerant of a range of temperatures
Light: Full Sun
Soil: Tolerant of a variety of soils
Watering: For best growth and dense foliage, requires supplemental watering in summer
Pruning: Selectively prune to improve appearance

A Fruitless Olive tree planted in a desert landscape.

Fruitless Olive

The Fruitless Olive (Olea europaea - fruitless variety) makes an excellent choice for a xeric, Mediterranean or oasis theme landscape in the Arizona desert.

Form & Character: This woody, rugged tree is naturally round and shaggy
Growth Habit: This evergreen, perennial tree slowly grows to 25 to 30 feet tall and nearly as wide.
Foliage: The leaves are small, and gray-green on top and silverly white on the bottom. Leaves create a cloud-shaped canopy that casts deep to filtered shade
Flowers: This fruitless variety produces flowers; however, since they are imperfect and not designed to aid in the production of fruit, they release little to no pollen
Trunk: As it matures its grey trunk will become gnarled and knotted
Temperature: Heat-loving, and cold-hardy to 15^oF
Light: Full sun
Soil: Tolerant of alkaline soil
Pruning: Depending on how manicured you prefer your tree to be, regular removal of basal trunk suckers and water sprouts, crossing branches and misdirected limbs may be needed. Prune for desired shape, and crown raising and thinning as desired.
Photo: Courtesy Civano Nursery

Green Hopseed Bush

The Green Hopeseed Bush (Dodonaea viscosa) can be grown as a formal or informal hedge, multiple trunk small tree, a screen or accent.

Form & Attributes: Can be grown as an evergreen shrub or as a small multiple-trunk tree
Growth Habit: Can be grown as a perennial shrub to a small tree - moderate growth to 4 to 20 feet tall depending on frequency of watering and dryness of climate
Foliage & Trunk: Has willow-like green leaves, and shredding rich, dark cinnamon brown bark. Some varieties have purple foliage in winter.
Flowers & Fruits: Can be either male or female; female plants produce small fruits that look like Chinese lanterns that are light green at first and then fade to pink. Seed pods have several small rounded black seeds.
Temperature: Tolerant of a range of temperatures
Light: Full Sun; shade intolerant
Soil: Tolerant of fast-draining soils; does not want to be chronically wet
Watering: Watering greatly influences size; Water more for tree, little to no water for a small shrub
Pruning: Minimal to influence shape
Photo: Courtesy of Civano Nursery

Ironwood

An Olneya Tesota - Ironwood Tree in the desert.

The Ironwood tree (Olneya tesota) is native to the lower Sonoran Desert and makes a great accent tree or light shade tree in any desert garden or landscape.

Form: This rugged and twisting tree is briefly deciduous and grows in an upright, irregular form
Growth Habit: This woody, semi-evergreen perennial tree has a medium growth rate to 30 feet tall and wide, depending on irrigation.
Foliage: Has small, gray-green leaves
Flowers & Fruits: Pale purple rose to lavender flowers in 2-inch long raceme appear April through May; pod fruits 2-3 inches long and black seeds that shed in August.
Temperature: Tolerant of a wide range of temperatures
Light: Full sun
Soil: Tolerant of a variety of soil types
Watering: Requires no water to occassional summer watering to encourage strength and hardiness. However, it looks best with occassional, deep watering in summer.
Pruning: conservatively prune to shape, raise the crown, and remove occassional water sprouts and suckers
Diseases and Pests: None
Photo: Courtesy: Civano Growers

A lush desert landscape will a mesquite tree, a Mexican bird of paradise and other plants.

Mesquite

There are many varieties of Mesquite trees available. Some can be grown as a shrub, while others can grow to be trees over 50 ft. tall and 100 ft. wide. They prefer full sun. Once established, little to no water is required—depending on the variety.

Yellow flowers blooming on a Mulga tree in the desert.

Mulga

Acacia aneura can be used as a single specimen or planted in groups. Can also be planted as an informal hedge, a screen or a large background tree.

Form & Character: Very stiff and upright; rigid to spreading with age; brittle wood
Growth Habit: This evergreen, woody perennial slowly grows to 20 to 30 feet tall and wide
Foliage: Small grayish blue-green phyllodes that are initially bronzy-brown in color
Flowers & Fruits: Primarily flowers in the fall and episodically during the warm season; rod-shaped flowers with yellow stamens; fruits in spring - small flattened pods that mature from green to brown
Temperature: Heat-loving, and cold tolerant to 15^oF
Light: Full Sun
Soil: Tolerant of most alkaline soils
Watering: Once established, requires water only every one to two weeks during summer; additional watering will dramatically increase its growth rate and size. Drought and heat stree tolerant, once established.
Pruning: Prune to shape as desired

A flowering pink Oleander tree against a bright blue sky.

Oleander

This versatile evergreen shrub (Nerium oleander) can be grown as an accent, informal hedge, screen or as a tree, and is available in a wide number of cultivars/varieties.

Form & Character: This stiff, colorful shrub can be grown low, rounded and mounding, to a strong, upright and open tree.
Growth Habit: Moderate growing, vigor depends on variety - ranging from 4 to 25 feet tall.
Foliage: Green with prominent light green mid vein
Flowers & Fruits: Blooms range in color from white to pink, salmon to burgundy. The lighter the flower the more heat tolerant it is. Narrow, 5 inch long fruits, and seeds that are dispersed by the wind in fall and winter. Blooms profusely over a long period - from April to August.
Temperature: Cold hardy to 15^o to 20^oF; thrives in the hot summer in the desert
Light: Full sun (does not tolerate shade)
Soil: Tolerates all but highly alkaline soils
Watering: Drought tolerant, once established. Responds well to supplemental watering in warmer weather; no supplemental water is needed in winter.
Pruning: Prune dwarf varieties if needed in late February to early March to desired height. For best results, prune large cultivars in late February or August for rapid regrowth. Can be severly pruned once every two to three years. Shearing is not recommended and can damage tree over time
Learn more about safety concerns regarding this plant.

A Texas Ebony tree in a desert landscape surrounded by other desert plants.

Texas Ebony

This slow-growing and eventually large, upright shade tree (Ebenopsis ebano) is excellent in large xeric and oasis landscape designs. The Texas Ebony also makes a wonderful bonsai tree.

Form & Character: This stiff evergreen is briefly deciduous in late spring, followed by flowers if grown without irrigation; otherwise it is evergreen.
Growth Habit: This woody perennial tree slowly grows to 40 ft. tall and wide, with multiple trunks. The bark is smooth when young and becomes rough and fissured with age.
Foliage: Medium green small leaflets with stipular spines hidden underneath
Flowers & Shrubs: Produces small, musty, cream-colored flowers in early summer that are very attractive to bees. Can flower again after monsoons in early fall. Fruits are persistent, very large, dark brown, and curved or contorted pods.
Temperature: Tolerant of typical heat and cold in Phoenix, AZ. Sunscald is common on exposed southwestern sides of tree trunk. Will drop its leaves and go deciduous if air temperatures fall into the low 20^oF. Will have stem dieback if temps fall below 20^oF.
Light: Full Sun
Soil: Very tolerant of desert soils
Watering: Very drought tolerant, once established. Growth rate can be increased by providing supplemental water to young specimens.
Pruning: Crown raising may be desired given its dense native canopy. Sheering is not recommended.
Photo: Courtesy of Civano Nursery

A weeping acacia tree planted in a desert landscape with a short succo wall nearby.

Willow Acacia

This upright accent tree (Acacia salicina) can occasionally grow with multiple trunks. Makes a great patio tree, screen or xeric accent.

Form: Medium-size, weeping evergreen
Growth Habit: Vigorous and fast growing vertical form up to 50 feet tall and under a 50 feet wide
Foliage & Trunk: Phyllodes range in color from light gray-green to blue-green, trunk is grayish brown
Flowers & Fruits: Blooms yellow-green to cream flowers, in late fall/early winter. Fruits are 1-5 inch-long pods
Temperature: Heat-tolerant once established; cold hardy to 16^oF
Light: Full sun
Soil: Tolerant of most local soils
Watering: Infrequent, deep irrigations during summer. Does not require watering outside of the summer.
Pruning: Pruning recommended to prevent damage from Monsoon winds, and for branches with excessively acute angles when young to avoid furture limb breakage
Photo: Courtesy Civano Nursery

To Ensure the Success of Your New Tree

At SummerWinds, we have all the tools you need to plant your new tree—from soils and amendments, to fertilizers, stakes and more.

To learn how to plant your tree, check out our How-to Video: How-To Plant a Tree
Looking for low-water use shrubs for your desert garden or low-water use houseplants? Check out these plants that thrive with little water: Learn More

Learn how to establish a strong root system for your tree with our New Plant Watering Guide.

At SummerWinds, We Guarantee Success!