I used to marvel at the Ocotillo trees when visiting my parents home in Alamogordo, New Mexico. I was already aware of the tree because it sometimes played a staring role in author Louis L’Amour western novels. For instance did you know you can make a fire with seasoned Ocotillo that will not produce any smoke? But yet, if it was still green it smokes like mad! I have always thought they might make for a good Bonsai tree since starting Bonsai in 2009. The only problem was they grown down along the southern border of the United States from Texas out to California and down into Mexico. I google the American variety Fouquieria splendens and could not find any for sale. In Arizona it is illegal to collect them from the wild with out a permit from the State. I actually found one for sale right here in Denver, but its was a different species (Fouquieria macdougalii), but who cares. It looks pretty much the same to me. Thorns, thorns, thorns and red tubular flowers. I missed the boat on the first trees and they finally had some more. I bought one and it did cost a pretty penny. I brought her home and put her outside and did nothing with her except water her and occasionally fertilized her. I did bring her into the house for the winter and she stayed with the tropical in the plant room. By mid January she lost most of her leaves and that is the way it stayed until spring. Spider mites did attack the tree in the plant room during the winter. Several sprayings of alcohol/water killed them off. Over several years the tree was growing pretty fast on the eastside of my house and had gotten pretty tall, to tall for the plant room. I chopped it back last fall after bringing it into the house. This spring (2021) I placed the tree into a Bonsai pot. I was pleasantly surprised to find no really big roots to contend with. It was pretty easy to get into a nice sized Takio Earth Bonsai pot. I placed the tree outside and within two days the tree was producing buds all over. I have not seen any tree do that in that amount of time ever. So right now it looks like I am going to get a lot of ramification all over the tree. If you review photos of wild trees you see them pretty much growing straight up and out with little to no branching on them. So hopefully I will be able to keep on top of this beauty as it puts out new grown and start the process of turning it into a nice tree some day. I did cut a rather large branch growing down low on the tree. The spot where I cut if off collapsed inwards and then it heeled completely over in several years. You cannot tell where on the tree this happened now. I have no idea where!!
Names: Fouquieria – coachwhip, candlewood, slimwood, desert coral, Jacob’s staff, Jacob cactus, and vine cactus.
Fouquieria macdougalii – Mexico
Fouquieria splendens – Southern US and Mexico
This article will about the Mexican species.
Fouquieria macdougalii – Tropical Plant Catalog
Mexican Tree Ocotillo by Cactus Jungle
Mexican Tree Ocotillo by Desert Tropicals
MEXICAN TREE OCOTILLO by Horticulture Unlimited inc.
The Fouquieria Page by Succulent Plant Page
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Gallery 06-03-2021:
