Drought tolerant, fast-growing trees that you can manipulate shape of easily?

I’ve seen photos of willows grown with the branches bent to make beautiful shapes, like domes to hide under. I live in zone 9b and we get an average of 24” of rain, most of it in the winter and none over the hottest months. Are there any similar fast growing trees that would be suitable for this climate?

Apples and pear are good trees for tree shaping.  I would suggest looking for local varieties that grow well for your area.

For folks interested in tree shaping:

https://permies.com/t/38438/art-tree-shaping

https://permies.com/t/170577/Bendy-trees-canopy

https://permies.com/t/51074/art/Grow-chairs

I find quince to be more drought tolerant than apple, and also very easy to start from seed.

Burra Maluca wrote:I find quince to be more drought tolerant than apple, and also very easy to start from seed.

I second it. From these three, the quinces are the toughest and seem unaffected by 40-42 C dry heat days. Pears are the weakest, but a lot depends on cultivar.
I would also add Persian mulberry - grows rather fast and seem fine with heat and dryness.

I'm very impressed with mulberry growth.  It's in the dry part of the farm and other than the first year, required zero irrigation.  It's been almost 10 years and this is going to be the second year I have to coppice the ones under the power lines.  

I haven't tried shaping other than pruning.  It looks like some verities would agree to it, but others like the Alba seem to resist too much human intervention in our climate.  They die back too much during the frost on a hard year and almost self pollard.  

Thank you everyone for the suggestions! I am unfamiliar with quince, but will look it up. I will also look more into mulberries and apple trees. I do have one apple tree that is growing well, but it gets regular irrigation in my little row of fruit trees. :)

r ranson wrote:I'm very impressed with mulberry growth.  It's in the dry part of the farm and other than the first year, required zero irrigation.  It's been almost 10 years and this is going to be the second year I have to coppice the ones under the power lines.  

I haven't tried shaping other than pruning.  It looks like some verities would agree to it, but others like the Alba seem to resist too much human intervention in our climate.  They die back too much during the frost on a hard year and almost self pollard.  

Which variety of mulberry is the one that's growing well and is drought tolerant? The only variety I have is Alba, and yes, it died back badly last winter with the atypical weather and didn't fruit at all, and I find it doesn't like the dry, but that may be the location they're in. I had read that they were originally a riparian zone plant, so I may be assuming that dryness is part of the issue.

Unfortunately you combined two conditions that are close to being mutually exclusive. Drought tolerant, and fast growing.  What kind of water supply, if any, can you supply to the tree? You indicated 24 inches. When does that come and in what form? Northern CA ok, but are you West of the Coast Range or East of it?

Hi Mark. I have municipal water that I can use as needed, especially as trees are getting established. It's 24" of rain falling from the sky, primarily during winter, and the rest during spring. No rain to speak of in the summer. I'm east of the Coast Ranges. Hope that helps.

I wondered if you were on the east side and it was in the form of snow, or at least winter (non-growing period). In order for you to get fast, plentiful growth on about anything, you are going to need to irrigate it from the time that snow melt moisture becomes 'minimal' to at least until trees that have determinate growth stop growing for the year, and then maintain soil moisture at a level for good bud development for growth the following year. If you are near a stream/creek, Populus trichocarpa (Black Cottonwood) May be in order, but its mature size is quite a bit bigger than a mature apple tree. On the other hand, It can be maintained in a shrublike status for a very long time with frequent clipping (ok, I'm thinking of 'browsing' as clipping)  I did my MS thesis on browse utilization and measurement and utilized cottonwood shrubs that were along side cottonwood trees that were 2.5 feet in diameter. This might not be the tree you want, but it does grow fast and can be shaped, in droughty areas, but requires well drained soil (almost sand) and requires lots of water.

There are likely other trees. All are going to require irrigation. There are others that I'm sure won't get this big at maturity. Not sure about growth rate as the cottonwood could put on 2 feet or more per year. (w/ right conditions)

Thanks, Mark. Sounds like cottonwood would not be a good fit - no stream or creek, and we have clay soils with crappy drainage, and that is too big for me! (Probably should have mentioned the clay in the first post.) I can provide some irrigation, but I'm not looking to plant trees that would require an extensive amount after their first few years.

This is just a fun idea, anyway. There are plenty of more important projects that need attending to first. :)