Shade Trees for Palm Springs

Jun 30

If you’re looking for a small shade tree (25’ to 30’ tall) that won’t block solar panels, for instance, Texas ebony (Ebenopsis ebano) is a fantastic evergreen shade tree for our desert gardens. While it only needs water twice a month or so (once established), its small dark green leaves make it lush, a nice counterbalance to so much of our silvery-gray (olive, acacia, etc) foliage. My favorite thing about the tree, though, is the flower it produces in the summer. As you can see from the photos, they’re a creamy white…and the scent is subtly sweet. Bees can’t get enough! I also love that the annual summer cicadas absolutely love to hang out in this tree!

Fair warning, Texas ebony can be slow to mature, and, naturally, they’re happy as a large bush. But, they’re quite easy to prune as a single trunk tree…with a little patience. In their youth, and on tinder young branches, they have small, sharp thorns, so it’s probably best not to plant this tree right adjacent to sidewalks, etc. As the trunk and branches mature, the thorns go away, so the thorns are really only an issue when the tree is young. Most of the Texas ebony trees I see in the desert are in Palm Desert. Palm Springs needs more of them!