Ocotillo a desert staple

One of the most amazing of the many unique and unusual plants found in our Sonoran Desert is the ocotillo.

In the dry season, the ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens), with its bundles of gray, thorny stems, looks drab and totally dead. But, given the warmth and moisture of our summer monsoon, miraculously and seemingly overnight, the ocotillo transforms into a leafy green, orange-crowned flowering wonder.

This transformation from gray to vibrant green is one of the desert's best examples of drought avoidance.

When the weather warms up and there's plenty of rain, green leaves sprout to photosynthesize, and flowers emerge to create seed for the next generation of ocotillo. 

But when the rains subside in September, the ocotillo sheds its leaves and returns to its state of suspended animation, to wait out the dry months until summer's warm rains return.

Ocotillos grow naturally throughout the desert Southwest, Baja California and northern Mexico. They are frost hardy, and, of course, heat tolerant, growing in all areas of the low, intermediate and high deserts.

Colonies of mature ocotillo are impressive. Older specimens can reach heights of 25 feet, some spreading out more than 15 feet across.

Typically, plants growing in home landscapes range from 6 to 15 feet tall and 8 to 10 feet wide.

Until recently, most ocotillo available for sale were harvested from the desert by retailers. Now, however, to conserve native ocotillo and improve transplant success, more are being grown from seed in nurseries. 

These plants have fully functioning root systems, ready to grow out and establish once planted. 

However, transplant success is anything but guaranteed for harvested ocotillo, the ones dug from the desert. That's because they're often ripped from the soil, tearing off most or all of the plants' roots.

As a result, they must generate an entirely new root system.

Gardening

Advice by John P. Begeman

'container gardening'

"Patio Container Gardening" will be the topic of this week's garden demonstrations. They will be presented at 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Wilmot Library, 530 N. Wilmot Road, and at 1 p.m. Friday at the Oro Valley Public Library, 1305 W. Naranja Drive.