The Mescal Bean Trees (Sophora secundiflora) are blooming!

One of the first trees to bloom in the Tucson area are the Mescal Bean Trees that I so adore. I noticed over the weekend that they are in full bloom right now so I had to go make a visit to the parent trees of the ones in my yard. My obsession with these trees goes back several years, to when I would encounter them on walks around a friends neighborhood. Sinking my nose into one of the blossoms gave me the most wonderful deja vu feeling. They smell like a cross between grape koolaid and lilacs and the smell seemed to transport me back to childhood. I found a small tree in the nursery last year, but even with babying it just hasn't done well. These trees don't transplant well so I decided I needed to start some from seed.
Last spring I collected seeds from the trees I found in the public areas in Tucson, and after several batches that didn't sprout, I was able to get 11 little trees growing in various parts of my yard. These trees are really slow growing though, so it may be many years before I get blooms outside my front door. Until then I will visit the ones in public areas to get my bean tree scent fixes! Here are some pictures of the trees in bloom this spring. Click on this first picture and notice the big black bumble bee enjoying it too.

The trees are just loaded down with flowers this year.

To see how I got mine started visit my early blog postings on Mescal Bean Trees here.

To see how my bean trees look today check out the slide-show in my sidebar.

Happy Bloomin Tuesday! For more Bloomin Tuesday posts visit Ms "Green Thumb" Jean.