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Re: Will the Deodar Trees grow in High Desert?




In article <MOD$971004.11145@rec.gardens.ecosystems>, "Leslie March"
<lesliem@brigadoon.com> wrote:

> These are very fast growing shade trees?  My mother lives in a High Desert
> climate. It is 100+ in the Summer and 11 degrees in the Winter.  She knows
> that these do well in the maritime climate of the Pacific Northwest but
> will they do well in the interior desert area.  She has plenty of water.

None of my tree books say how much water a deodar needs, just that they get
up to 75' wide and 150' tall (therefore unsuitable for small yards or near
buildings), and they are ok in USDA zones 7-9.  Oops, just remembered to
look in the Sunset Western Garden Book.  Says they are 'very drought
resistant once established', so it may be ok.  Temperatuer will be ok if
she's out of Sunset zone 1, which roughly implies temperatures commonly
well below zero and heavy snowfall all winter.

And some ecosystems musing, since this is an ecosystems group: if your
mother is in the desert, how does she have plenty of water?  Is she lucky
enough to be right on a reliable river or creek?  Or is the water taken
from somewhere else and piped in, thereby lowering the water level of a
salmon stream, or of a fossil aquifer that will take thousands of years to
refill?  Trees can use up far more water than one might think(*), so it is
important to look for species that match the climate and won't need much
(if any) input once established.  The tree will be healthier and happier,
and so will the local hydrology.

* In _Plantwatching_, Malcom Wilkins mentions that a mature silver maple (a
somewhat greedy species) evaporates 265 litres of water per hour in the
late afternoon of a sunny day.  This amounts to between 600-1000 gallons
per day throughout the summer, depending on how you estimate.  I have no
idea how a Deodar would compare to this; it's a conifer, and at least on
the wet side of cascades, conifers are active mostly in the winter, going
dormant in the dry season.  But never underestimate what something as
enormous as a tree might consider to be 'plenty of water'!
-- 
Allyn Weaks  allyn@u.washington.edu
PNW Native Wildlife Gardening:  http://chemwww.chem.washington.edu/natives/
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