silly random question re: the Valley's trees (Phoenix: house, living in)

[bona0718]

So for some reason I'm really curious....how long are the decidious trees in Phoenix bare during the winter? I would think with the warm climate the leaves would only be gone for a couple of months at most (December, January)

One of the things I hate most about living in the Northeast is having bare trees from October until May!!

[Magnum Mike]

Originally Posted by bona0718

So for some reason I'm really curious....how long are the decidious trees in Phoenix bare during the winter? I would think with the warm climate the leaves would only be gone for a couple of months at most (December, January)

One of the things I hate most about living in the Northeast is having bare trees from October until May!!

I can't give you a very accurate answer, because I'm not really an expert on trees, but I'll say that Ficus niteda are the most evergreen trees that I know of here. Bottle trees are also evergreen and they don't shed too much during the cooler months.

[wit-nit]

When nightime temps start to drop below 65 degrees, decidous trees start their dormancy period and soon after they lose their leaves, when it starts to warm up again in the late winter early, spring as soon as the temps at night start rising abpve 65 degrees.

[miamiman]

Many trees here in the Phoenix area are not deciduous, so it's hard to tell. I know the deciduous trees in my yard lost their leaves around our first freeze in late December. Many of them didn't regain their leaves until late February and early March. Then again, I live in a colder area of the Valley, and we had numerous freezes until mid February. There are other trees the partially shedded some of their leaves, but were never completely bare, such as acacia, ironwood, mesquite, and palo verde. They regained all leaves by March, as well.

We do have numerous evergreen trees, including Ficus nitada, which doesn't do well in colder areas of the Valley, eucalyptus, citrus, jacaranda, and other Mediterranean and tropical plants, which don't lose their leaves. Luckily, those trees, along with palm, of course, predominate in the Valley, giving our area a green appearance year round.

[wit-nit]

Trees are classified as either decidous, semi-decidous, or evergreen. Depending on the type of tree will depend on when they lose their leaves. True decidous trees lose their leaves as the temps go under 65 degrees. Not all decidous trees lose their leaves at the same time. Microclimate areas have varying degrees of temps. Usually the outer areas will get colder before the inner urban areas.

[dbean]

Originally Posted by nitram

Trees are classified as either decidous, semi-decidous, or evergreen. Depending on the type of tree will depend on when they lose their leaves. True decidous trees lose their leaves as the temps go under 65 degrees. Not all decidous trees lose their leaves at the same time. Microclimate areas have varying degrees of temps. Usually the outer areas will get colder before the inner urban areas.

Yes, but it also depends on the amount of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) is received by the leaf. Of course in the winter PAR levels decrease as the N hemisphere tilts away from the sun. Not so much in the desert, but the absence of high PAR stimulates other pigments besides green chlorophyll (anthocyanin and caretenoids) to become active, hence the change in leaf color.

[joninaz]

Contrary to popular belief, if gets cold here in the winter - especially at night. Not as bitter as northern climes, but certainly sub freezing temps are not out of the ordinary.

Strategically planted, trees that drop leaves in the winter are a good thing. They provide shade in the summer, keeping AC costs down, but allow sun to hit the house in the winter, warming things up.

[miamiman]

Originally Posted by joninaz

Contrary to popular belief, if gets cold here in the winter - especially at night. Not as bitter as northern climes, but certainly sub freezing temps are not out of the ordinary.

Strategically planted, trees that drop leaves in the winter are a good thing. They provide shade in the summer, keeping AC costs down, but allow sun to hit the house in the winter, warming things up.

In some parts of the Valley sub-freezing temperatures are very out of the ordinary. Some areas see sub-freezing weather multiple times every year. Sky Harbor didn't even hit freezing last winter, and only dipped below 32 twice the winter before that, the first time since 2003.

So technically there are some areas of the Valley that have only seen temps 32 or below about 5 times since the turn of the century.

[wit-nit]

We had 3 nights of 17 degrees in a row last winter and also 3 nights of 17 degrees the year before in NW Phoenix.
The temps taken at the airport are in the warmest part of the valley just off the airport tarmac. Temps can run 5-10-15 degrees cooler in the outer parts of the valley.