Meet Mark

This is MARK!

Well, the little pictures are of the baby tree. The other pictures with flowers are what *Mark* will grow into!


Mark is a Cercidium hybrid ‘Desert Museum’ This semi-evergreen, Thornless, Palo Verde hybrid exhibits qualities found in
Foothill, Blue and Mexican Palo Verde, provides ample shade, distinctive rich green trunks and branches that, similar
to the Palo Brea, remain smooth as they mature, and abundant brilliant yellow flowers that appear in spring and intermittently
during the summer months.

And this is how he got his name:

In the late 1970's Mark Dimmitt with the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum (ASDM) began noticing Blue Palo Verdes that exhibited characteristics suggesting they were hybrids of other Palo Verde species. He collected and planted seeds from the assorted trees he had observed and began evaluating them. By 1981 he had identified a thornless seedling as clearly superior to the others collected. Careful evaluation of the genetic composition of this hybrid, named 'Desert
Museum', revealed it to be a complex hybrid having genetic characteristics from Mexican, Blue and Foothill Palo Verde.

This information came from Arid Zone Trees

I have never planted a tree before and Joe has only planted one a long time ago and a very different kind of tree.

Well, if you know me and know how I can research ANYTHING to death....Well, I can. It took a month or more for us to figure out what to plant. We wanted something light and airy, preferably flowering but not to messy. Not over 15-20ft high. Interesting branch structure and native to the desert. We had considered other Palo Verde Trees and although we both liked them they are normally VERY THORNY !!!! Bed idea if you ever want to touch or prune it.

We were wandering through the nursery the other day and Joe says....*How about this?* and poof Mark has a new home...

We will plant him as soon as the finishing touches of the fountain are done!

I am soooooo easily entertained these days! ;-)