Protective Jurisdiction

What would you do to save a precious plant in the garden?  Would you wrap yourself around it during a freeze?  Would you put an extra dripline around the base of the tree during the hottest summers to help it survive?  It was ill advised to put the plant in your garden space, but you didn't care because this plant mattered to you more than tacos and guacamole. And you, the gardener, master of your natural realm, KNEW better than to plant something that doesn't belong in your garden zone.....yet you did it anyway.  And so my story begins.....

My love for Jacaranda goes back to Mexico during my travels.  On an evening walk, I saw a very large and ferny Jacaranda waving in the hot summer breeze.  Two blocks from my house, this Jacaranda flourished and stood out among all the other desert trees.  It was tropical.....green.....and oh so lavender.

Taken at Monte Alban, Oaxaca Mexico

In the beginning of my landscape project, I prepared a space JUST for this Jacaranda.  Tucson has harsh freezes at times and those temps will kill the Jacaranda.  But I live in Midtown where the microclimate is a tad warmer.  It was possible.   And so I placed my Jacaranda into the landscape outside my garden window where birds would hide in its full ferny foliage. The first year it grew large.  There were no blooms at all.

Year two, the tree would bloom for the first time and make all the residents envious of the color.  I placed it between other trees to protect it during our frost.  I loved this tree so much, I purchased two more.  At the beginning of the 3rd year(last year), a historic week long freeze would destroy the few Jacaranda trees in the Tucson area.  Most would die.  Several had been there for 30 years!!!  I freaked out and became anxious the night before the freeze would hit.  I ran to my shed and brought out house insulation and wrapped the trunk of the tree  tightly.  The freeze happened and it killed two of my 1st year Jacarandas.....but not the sacred Jacaranda outside my dining room window.  If you are a Tucson gardener reading this blog for the first time, just remember that new Jacarandas are the most susceptible their first 2 years.  I only had enough insulation for one tree.  After the first 2 or 3 years, your Jacaranda will have a stronger resistance to a freeze.

Days later, it would start oozing liquid bubbles from the bark. I was saddened and worried that I had lost my precious Jack. I went to my neighbor with the large Jacaranda tree(suffered MAJOR damage) and knocked on his door.  He answered in his underwear and I was a little uncomfortable, but I needed to know.....What should I DO???!! He said wait and be patient. And so I did.  During the late summer, the Jacaranda would rebound after I gave it a "haircut".  His Jacaranda also came back from near death. 

While hummers prefer red and orange blooms, they'll also check out the purple blooms of the Jacaranda.  Just another reason for me to plant a Jac in the yard:)

Today both trees are happy and producing beautiful lavender blooms again. The tree has doubled in size and looks great.  Do you have a plant like this in your garden?  And if so, what is it?  And why is it important to you?:)  I love my gardens but if a plant dies, I go out and try another one.  But if my Jacaranda died, I would be extremely heart broken.  Today I have heaters and other things in place.....just in case.  What do you use to protect your plants?  More tomorrow....