Esperanza means hope in Spanish, and the long hoped-for, recent rains have broken our summer dry spell. The landscape is rewarding us with new blooms.

Also known as Yellow Bells, Esperanza (Tecoma stans) is a native plant with a large natural range, extending from South Texas down to Argentina and in North America, from Arizona to Florida.

This specimen, in our back yard, stands about 9 feet tall and about 4 feet in diameter at its widest. It has just started blooming in the last couple of days and you can see that most of the early flowers are near the bottom.

Esperanza

Here’s a closeup of one of the flowers. The flowers are quite large, this one is about an inch in diameter and about 3 or 4 inches long. From this angle, you can’t see it’s length, but it has beautiful red veining along it’s throat. You can see many flower buds on the left, so I think it will be blooming for a while.

Esperanza Flower Closeup

Here’s another shot and now you can see why it’s also called a Trumpetflower. Again, there’s a nice set of flower buds still to open.

Esperanza Flowers Closeup

Esperanza has become very popular in the urban landscape. Not only is it a well-adapted native, but it’s quite pretty and drought-tolerant, as well. It attracts butterflies and hummingbirds and its leaves provide food for small mammals.