The Birth Of An Ocotillo

In May 2011, I had a nursery plant a bare root (no leaves, flowers or any real root system) ocotillo in my front yard. They told me it might be a year before it "took." Well, it never took. It died.

So I went to another guy who got me a bare root ocotillo that was tagged by the AZ Dept of Agriculture and this guy guaranteed it. It was planted on February 28, 2012. He said it could take an entire season to "take."

This photo shows the flowers that are now blooming on my own ocotillo. They are very small but they show that in just over one month, it has taken to my yard and started to grow. (If you compare this new growth to yesterday's blip you can see the difference between this and a mature plant.)

I am thrilled beyond belief! There are still no leaves on it - the spines are still bare and brown. But that will change. Now I know it will. I have hopes that some might grow during this monsoon season when the rains come. If not, I know I can count on some green next March.

I do get excited over some of life's smallest things, don't I? :-)