How to Plant Esperanza

Spectacular summer and fall color is the trademark ornamental feature of esperanza (Tecoma stans), also known as yellow bells. Esperanza grows natively from Central and South America into Texas and southern Arizona. The shrubs' lush green foliage and fragrant, bright-yellow trumpet flowers take center stage as many other Southwestern garden ornamentals fade in the heat. Some nursery-grown varieties are tropical and may require more water than Tecoma stans var. angustata, which is native to the southwestern United States.

Things You'll Need

• Shovel
• 9-15-9 fertilizer
• Organic soil amendment
• Bucket

Instructions

1. Choose a well-drained location in full sun for your esperanza plant. Esperanza remains evergreen and grows up to 15 feet high and 10 feet wide where temperatures remain above freezing. Plants exposed to mild frost may grow to 9 feet high before dying back. If you live in an area where winter dieback is a possibility, mix the esperanza among some winter-hardy ornamentals that will fill in until it re-emerges in spring.

2. Ready your planting site in winter or early spring by incorporating a time-release 9-15-9 fertilizer into the soil at the rate of 2 lbs. per 100 square feet. Improve site drainage, if necessary, by covering the soil with a 3- to-4 inch layer of organic material. Mixing it into the site to a depth of 8 or 10 inches.

3. Remove your esperanza plant from its container. Soak its roots in a bucket of water while you dig your planting hole.

4. Dig a hole double or triple the width of the esperanza's root ball and the same depth at which it was previously growing. Reserve the soil. Roughen the sides of the hole by scraping them with the shovel.

5. Center your esperanza over the planting hole. Untangle its roots so they spread easily. Place the plant in the hole with its roots spread.

6. Add enough of the reserved soil to fill the hole. Pack it firmly around the esperanza's root ball with the shovel.

7. Form the remaining soil into a circular ridge around the perimeter of the hole.

8. Water the soil around the esperanza thoroughly.

References

• Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Tecoma Stans
• Mountain States Wholesale Nursery: Tecoma Stans Yellow Bells
• East Texas Gardening: Planting Trees and Shrubs; Helen M. Smith, et al.
• Texas A&M Agrilife Extension in Bexar County; Plant of the Week 'Gold Star' Espranza; David Rodriguez; September 2006
• Floridata; Tecoma Stans; Linda Conway Duever; October 2003