Roger's Tree Pick for July: Chitalpa

Chitalpa is the name given to the bi-generic cross between the desert willow (Chilopsis linearis) and catalpa (Catalpa bignoiniodes) from the eastern United States. The initial hybrids between Catalpa and Chilopsis were created in Uzbekistan in the early 1960s and introduced into the United States through the New York Botanic Garden in 1977.

Although cultivated in the United Stated during the 1980s, this hybrid remained unnamed until 1991, when Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden assigned them the name x Chitalpa tashkentensis. The botanic garden selected and named two cultivars, “Pink Dawn” with...