(Photograph = Fouquieria splendens, Warren Lauzon)
Introduction
Fouquieria splendens is found over a large area from southern California, to western Texas and throughout parts of northern Mexico. It has a variety of common names such as coachwhip, candlewood, slimwood, desert coral, and Jacob’s staff, but it is most commonly known as ocotillo.
The Details
The 6-ft to 20-ft tall plant is dormant and leafless over much of the year, clothed in formidable spines. It can seem to be a bundle of viciously spiny dead sticks. But, with a little rainfall, leaves quickly sprout, and the plant may even bloom with hundreds of tubular, red-orange flowers.
The plants are popular in desert landscapes, and plants have been dug from the wild in many areas of the West. Like many places where cacti and other desert plants have been poached, the scenes may resemble wastelands and the land is scarred. In the wild, the plants are found in around the edges of desert valleys, on rocky hillsides and bajadas, and on and mesa tops
Wikepedia reports that the flowers add a tangy flavor to salads or that they may be dried and used in teas. Similarly, a tincture may be made from the bark.
Ocotillo grows from sea level in California to 5,000 ft in parts of New Mexico. Presumably the high-altitude plants of New Mexico would be useful in colder gardens.
Additional Information: Planting a Bare Root Ocotillo
Additional Information: Fouquieria splendens, Ocotillo
One of my favorite plants against our desert skies, on so many ridges where I live outside Las Cruces. Ocotillos from near High Rolls and N of Socorro may be slightly hardier to winter, but those locales are probably z 7. The Albuquerque area is the coldest place (and not usually very cold) I’ve seen ocotillos planted in gardens, growing vigorously to over 10 ft, but it’s also z 7b to borderline 8. Plants I’ve seen planted in Clovis aren’t so vigorous. Maybe someone can prove me wrong in Farmington, Santa Fe, or really crazy, Denver!