If I were a character on the TV show Pose maybe my name would be Esperanza Edition….
Today my friend and co-host of The Horticulturati texted me and said “also can you help me figure out Esperanza's? There's Tacoma stans with the skinny leaf (the Native?), and the one with the fatter leaves that you most often see in nurseries (the more profuse bloomer). I've been trying to figure out the difference.”
All I know is the native one has a thin leaf, smaller flowers and stays shorter. The tropical one that I always just referred to as “the tropical one” gets much taller and has bigger leaves and more flowers. Native Texas Nursery, a wholesale only-grower, exclusively sells the native one. More often you see the tropical ones at the nurseries. There are cool cultivars with orangey-pink flowers with names like ‘Sangria’.
I write these types of blog posts for my own future reference and maybe someone else will find them useful too.
Ok so seems like they are all Tecoma stans, but they are all different varieties and cultivars.
Texas A&M and the LBJWFC Native Plant Database explain that the common names for all of them are Yellow Bells and Esperanza. The botanical name for the native Texas one is Tecoma stans var. angustatum. The tropical ones are Tecoma stans var. stans. [Which reminds me of the late pizza mogul and republican presidential candidate Herman Cain and his infamous and laughable “Uzbecky becky becky stan stan” moment of condescension toward “insignificant countries”].
According to the LBJWFC Tecoma stans angustatum native to Texas and Northern Mexico, it “is shorter, more drought-tolerant, and more cold-tolerant than some of the tropical varieties sold in nurseries”. The A&M article talks at length about the cold hardiness. In my experience in Austin they tend to do fine if planted in the spring so they have time to get established before facing the cold. They also resent overwatering after they are established so make sure to let them dry out between watering if you are planting them in clay soil. I saw one growing in the median between I-35 and the frontage road in Buda right near Cabela’s once, I presume it was wild.
Ok that’s it for now.