Salt Cedar Tamarix ramosissima

Salt Cedar is a deciduous, thicket forming, flowering shrub or small tree, growing to 14 feet by 9 feet, and often found in coastal areas. The showy flowers last through spring and summer.  It has scaly gray-green juniper-like foliage but is neither a conifer nor an evergreen.  It produces true flowers which are pink and appear from June to August. Its branches are long, slender and arching and have an attractive reddish color. The common name salt cedar comes from not only the plant's ability to withstand saline conditions but to actually produce salt. 

The Salt Cedar grows well in full sun in most dry to wet well-drained soils, including heavy clay and alkaline soils. It cannot grow in the shade. Prune as needed in late winter to early spring. It can be pruned hard, as far as several inches above the ground to manage growth and keep the form compact.  Avoid excess fertilizer, this tree has a sparse root system.

This plant is an invasive species and should not be planted. It is listed as invasive in SC, and several central and western states. It has naturalized in floodplains, riverbanks, ditches, marshes, waste areas and roadsides in many areas of the West, Southwest and Great Plains.

There are plenty of native choices of trees and shrubs for planting along ponds and streams listed to the left.

Insects, Diseases, and Other Plant Problems: No known diseases or insect pests. Weedy