"escape" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 11 Apr 2005 09:50:50 -0500, "John"
opined:

Our next door neighbor had three of these..They are huge, and get really
big
leaves..They get nice green leaves in the spring along with the orchid
like
flowers..The flowers are short lived and turn to mush when they fall off
and
when it gets hot the leaves would shrivel up and look terrible..Maybe hers
were not well..The thing I hated about the things is the seed pods were
almost a foot long, and hard and about the diameter of a pencil..They were
impossible to keep out of our pool, and were constantly jamming the pool
sweep..Other than these things, they were pretty till they started to
wilt..And grew really fast..Guess your mileage might vary depending on
where
planted and how much water(she seemed to water a lot) and whether you have
a
pool nearby...But if your looking for quick shade, might be a good
choice...
John


Mine also wilts in heat, but that's what they do naturally to preserve
moisture.
As soon as evening comes the foliage plumps back up. I planted mine on
the far
corner of the property because they put in a street light which annoys the
shit
out of us when we're in the pool at night. This bright thing in our eyes
is not
my idea of a relaxing evening hot tub/cool pool.

It is a pretty messy tree so I would not recommend it by a pool. I have a
palo
verde right near our pool and it is a huge mess. I love the thing and it
flowers all summer long, but one of these days we are going to take it
out. I'm
waiting for the Mex.fan palm to grow, then it comes down.

V



I don't blame you for wanting to block out that darn street light..Those
things can really ruin your evening in the yard...
Sounds like a good useful place for one..My gramma had a house in Las Vegas
that had a beautiful big window over the french doors out to the patio from
her bedroom, but there was a street light behind it which shined in..My
uncle planted some sort of pine tree back there to block it off which it did
pretty fast..Over the years it practically took over the entire back yard!!!
I need to find some fast growing shade trees for my folks. We just moved
them into a house in the Pine Forest in Bastrop, but they have no trees in
the front and they face west and the living areas are on that side and they
get a bit warm in summer..Been looking for something that would grow
somewhat fast and not be too hard to keep up..Was thinking of Bradford pears
(?) but don't know how fast they grow..She wanted a china berry, but I told
her even though they were well loved in Las Vegas(they grow great there),
they don't like them here. There are wild ones all over the place out there
as they appear to easily reseed themselves..So I don't want to put an
invasive tree on purpose out there..Any recommendations?? I am all ears for
help for her yard..Could easily put two to three across the front to lessen
the sun bake in the summer...
Thanks!!!
John