... its flowers were just starting to open at my favorite piece of Yavapai desert, located down by the Santa Maria River. Neighbors were kind enough to include me on an outing yesterday. (Yes, poppies and other flowers of all sorts are definitely open at 1800 ft. elevation.)
However, this brief blog post is dedicated to the ocotillo, a remarkable southwestern plant thatonly requires a short period of moisture for its "dead," thorny sticks to leaf out into green stalks, a feat that may happen as often as six times per year, according to some sources. Of course, the leaves dry out and drop as soon as the soil dries. Heading down the Bagdad road toward the river, one begins to see ocotillo at about the 3000-3500 ft. elevation level. The plants that I saw on this trip had leafed out, at all elevations.
I did discover something new about ocotillo yesterday: there's a curious spiral pattern to the outer surface of the canes, visible on the older, inner canes which grow fewer leaves.
As best I could divine from references at The Google, ocotillo blooms but once per year, in the spring. Just in time for the northward migration of hummingbirds, as a rule. A traditional folk use for the ocotillo is fencing. Upright cut canes are interlaced with wire or cord and set into a shallow trench; if watered properly, the canes will take root. Such a fence can be quite impenetrable, keeping rabbits and similar pests out of a veggie or flower garden.
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