Yesterday I took a bus ride with about 2 dozen other landscape professionals. We visited and participate in several seminars presented by Armstrong Nursery, Ball Horticulture, and a couple other industry companies. I took the opportunity to take my sketchbook along and get some ideas on paper while we traveled from the Coachella Valley out to San Juan Capistrano.
Here is one drawing I liked, it was a planting idea for a residence I'm working on in design phase.
The Ocotillo... Several family and friends who have come to visit ask me, "What are those stringy looking cactus things that grow and have bright orange flowers?"
These magnificent shrubs, that look like cactus, are striking and indigenous to our valley! Specifically, they are seen in numbers growing native on the rocky slopes along HWY 74 which is a road I travel everyday! So, I have had the pleasure of watching them, after a period of rain, suddenly sprout all their dark green leaves between their thorns, and push out brilliant orange/red blooms atop their canes. Hummingbirds love these flowers! And conversely, after the next long dry spell (which the desert has many), they completely change, like autumn foliage on the East Coast- from green to gold to orange to brown and eventually defoliate and return to dormancy. This cycle can happen multiple times a year, as long as their is a period of rain!
They are, all too often, given way too much water in the residential landscape, but with a mindful eye on the irrigation, can thrive and be a great accent-they look so great when lit at night, and the shadows cast against a wall! Ocotillos are best transplanted when dormant however, they have a high mortality rate, because many are harvested in the wild where their roots are so extensive and so dynamically reaching for water through rocks, and crevices, that those harvesting them, often cut their main roots too short. These specimens look great because of the bulk of canes, but I'd hesitate. It is possible to find nursery grown stock, and clients should be patient through their growth spurts. Nursery stock tends to be much smaller and have less canes, but are likely to be better adapted to a controlled irrigation system and perform better in a residential landscape.
I love their authentic structure and admire their unique beauty.
Fouquieria splendens (Latin Name)
Ocotillo, Coach Whip, Vine Cactus, (Common Names)
