Fouquieria columnaris aka Boojum Tree

[Meangreen94z]

Here is more recently

[mcvansoest]

I left my in the ground Teddy Bear Cholla at the old house and tried to give the two I have in pots away to my cactus moving friends, but there were no takers. I have promised my significant other to not put chollas and prickly pears in the back yard to keep that area somewhat safe, but I may have to put one in the front yard. Managed to find my small boojum yesterday among all the other bare root plants currently suffering from the lack of my attention and managed to get it and about 20 other plants in the ground, so I made a small dent in the bare root stuff. And I managed to finally water my plants... It is getting there, slowly but surely,

[Bananaguy]

Glad to here things are coming along. Wish I was breaking ground with mine but plated a few fruit trees and the soil in my yard is clay and sand... here usually sandy soils or dark soils so not sure why new lot is this way. So have to bring soil in before I can plant any of my banana plants .

[Stan]

Nice collection. Everything there I wouldn't mind having in my garden. Large barrels that are not Golden Barrels are hens teeth in the bay area. Large columnar Cactus that are not T.terscheckii same deal.
Some cactus club members locally must have done it. I've just never seen it.

[Meangreen94z]

Thanks. A lot of the different barrel cactus I hunted down on the internet. Occasionally you come across a few oddities at local general nurseries/Home Depot/Lowe’s , but the place to go for xeriscaping is “Cactus King”. It’s in a terrible area of town(the KFC across the highway has bulletproof glass),somehow coincidentally cash only, and the prices are exorbitant but he has stuff I would have to otherwise drive thousands of miles to get. I usually stop by to get ideas, do some online research, and come back if there is no other option. The Ocotillo, larger columnar cactus’ , Yucca Torreyi ,and Teddy bear cholla among others came from him. He has several monster Ferocactus Gracilis I’m currently drooling over, but his inventory sometimes moves quick.

[Stan]

Bad news on my Boojum. I was raking fallen Magnolia leaves around it and just brushing up against its branches,it came right out of the ground. It looked like somebody had root pruned it to exactly the same length. Gophers.
So back into a pot.

[Meangreen94z]

That stinks. Mine has been dry enough recently that it lost its leaves for the summer

[Stan]

Warm weather is great. That Boojum in a pot is looking fine again. What its done the last few weeks is equal to many months at the wrong time of year.
I tell you for a calendar 10 month growing season,the reality is with warm climate plants I only have a window to get things done right.

[Meangreen94z]

Unfortunately mine became the victim of my pest issue. I noticed it dropped its leaves and didn’t regain them with wet weather as typical. I checked about 2 weeks ago and it’s base was infested, it was a goner. I have since seemed to gain control by treating the soil around plants with a termiticide. I havent lost anything since. Fingers crossed.

[Stan]

It happens. One minor bonus to living where summers are 77f? Tropical pests don't survive our cool winters followed by tepid summers. I don't think Aloe mite has got going here. Just on things brought up from soucal..and then stopped.
Disadvantage is growth is like molasses,and learn to accept that.

[Stan]

Your photos remind me. I dont think I've ever seen Ocotillo for sale in a bay area nursery. Ever. I have tried Aulladia..but that was a victim of me moving it here and then there..
But Ocotillo still has a nicer form between the two. Red flowers. Nice contrast from squat C&S.

[Meangreen94z]

Yeah you can find them a few places locally, in the Texas hill country (Austin, North San Antonio, etc.) you can find them at several nurseries. They are hardy to around 0*F. The ones you want to look for are the seed grown variety that have a root system. Locally they get them from West Texas or Mexico and chop them at the base. It can take 10 years, if ever to regrow a root system. In this condition they typically slowly fall apart, and struggle to produce leaves.

[Stan]

Hmm,THOSE wild ones would be best pulled out of the pot and put in pure perlite or pumice in a bright spot. They would probably regenerate new roots. But,if you get one and think plunking it in full sun,full winds bare root will work..too much stress.
I've learned that sticking right into the ground unrooted, only works for plants EVERYBODY knows can be treated like that.

[Meangreen94z]

There might be a trick to it, but I read an article about the fact they are basically unable to regrow a compete root system once they are of a mature size.i can confirm the larger ones of mine that I’ve had for 4 years have no root system. There is a grower out in the hilcountry near Fredericksburg, TX that grows them in dissolvable containers from seed. You put them in the ground and the containers decompose away exposing the roots. Cool concept.I plan on picking a few up next time.

[mcvansoest]

The people that I know that have successfully rerooted those bare root mature ones all tell me, they planted them in pretty much pure sand in quite a big hole and then proceeded to water the s%$t out of them for at least the first couple of years especially in summer. My experiment with one of those failed miserably, but I was unwilling to water them more than once per week in summer, which may or may not have been the issue.

I transplanted a mature one once helping some people who knew what they were doing and we essentially dug a pretty gigantic hole to get as much of the tap root as possible. The secondary roots are not as important, but getting as much of the tap root as possible appears to be the best recipe for success. So when looking for bare root ones, you want to find one that has the most complete large root system left to at least give you a shot.

[Meangreen94z]

Yeah, whoever dug mine up probably didn’t know or care anything about their survival. They were all chopped right below their base. The place I got them from kept them well watered in big pots of sand. They looked spectacular, full of leaves but after 6 months they struggle. We get constant rains(50”+ a year), they now only intermittently green. The last time I had them out of the ground, one of them had 1 weak root forming. The rest nothing. I bought small seedlings that have taken off and are in much better overall shape.