PlantFiles: Yellow Elder, Trumpet Bush, Yellow Bells, Ginger-Thomas, Esperanza
Tecoma stans

I just got this plant. Don't know much about it had a similar vine growing up with bigger flowers. Still in pot I will be planting it in the yard soon. Love the flowers they are so pretty. I loved reading about what everyone has written about this beautiful plant and flower.

I just received some seeds and will plant in a pot, so I can cut it back and bring it in over Winter. That said, it is so gorgeous and never stops blooming, takes easy water and hot days, bad soil. It just does not like long cold and wet winters. Great plant, long bloom season. My zone is 8b, hot, hot, cold, cold.

If there are others who live in Kamuela on the island of Hawaii there is a fine specimen of this small tree on Spencer Road in the middle of a private front yard.
It is the only one I have seen.

This lovely plant seems to be really at home in my Mesa, AZ neighborhood. We've cut ours back to keep it on the smaller size, but it blooms around this time (April) and keeps blooming well into the fall. I just love it.

Tecoma Stans had a wide Natural range, and a few varieties. The native TX variety (Tecoma stans var. angustata) has more slender leaves, grows a little bit shorter and is much more drought-tolerant and cold-tolerant. I only lose a few inches @ the tips in the winter, so have stopped pruning it back to the ground. Look for an angustata variety for the same showy blooms but more drought and cold-tolerance.

Here in Tucson, just a little lower than the native elevation for this plant, we expect the plant to go down to the ground completely in the winter if it gets cold or freezes. Pruning is simple--we either cut it to the ground or leave the sticks on through the winter and wait to see where they leaf out before pruning off the rest. Very drought tolerant, and will tolerate extra water to produce extra growth. Not picky about soils or exposures.

This plant does really well with little care or water once established. It seems to propogate very easily too. When pruning I accidentally left a peice on the ground in the flowerbed and I was pleasantly surprised to find it has become another plant with no help from me.

I live on the line of zone 8-9 in Texas. My Esperanza Yellow Bells has done very well here. Beautiful plant. Hardy. However, last winter during a cold snap my cover blew off a large plant in the ground on the north side of the house and it froze back and did not come back. I have other plants however. My plants get very tall. It is difficult to cover them in winter. I think I need to prune them, but not sure. If anyone knows about pruning and winter care of these plants I'd like to hear. I'm not sure what variety I have.

I love this plant! It has (so far) been trouble-free and thrives in our hot FL summer waether. The guy at the local nursery where I bought it told me to keep the seed pods clipped off to encourage new blooms.

I have not grown this plant; however, I have observed it growing in its native environment. Yellow Elder, Trumpet Bush, Yellow Bells, Ginger-Thomas, Esperanza (Tecoma stans) is native to Arizona, Florida, New Mexico, Texas, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. It was introduced to Hawaii and has naturalized.

I have 3 of these plants in my garden and am thinking of ways to use it more. It tolerates Houston's climate beautifully. There is one in the area between the side walk and the street in front of a restaurant growing in rocky, poor soil and no shade ever. I dont know if anyone ever waters it and it just looks glorious in the summer heat. I have seed for the orange variety and will root some seedlings to use in my garden along with the beautiful yellow ones. I grew all mine from seed and it was easy. A really wonderful plant. One of mine has an underplanting of bloodleaf, begonias and zinnias and the other 2 have under plantings of Plumbago.

Kept this plant in a pot last year and it bloomed beautifully. The hummingbirds loved it. I think I should have given it some winter protection. There are 3 seedlings that have sprouted in the pot. I hope they are the Yellow Bells. If I killed it off I plan on buying another.

I've grown this plant for a number of years in Houston. It's has not only survived our high heat and humidy, but it's thrived! It grows to between 8 and 10 feet tall and blooms non-stop until frost, survives drought and has no pest problems. I have it underplanted with blue plumbago and next to a picotee Duranta and the colors look wonderful together.

Perfomed very well for me in a container. Attracted both hummers and butterflies. I had the cultivar Esperanza and have collected seeds for next year and for trade. Will have to figure out a way to overwinter the mother plant which should not be difficult in zone 7b.