Love those Volunteer Plants!

Ah!  Springtime in the Desert Southwest.  Time to walk outside and discover new volunteer plants that have sprung up in the warmer weather.

I'm not sure if all gardeners call these types of plants 'volunteers', but I don't think I made up the term.  They are the wonderful baby plants that appear when larger plants reproduce themselves without me having to lift a hand.  The new plants often appear in the vicinity of the mother plant so that I can easily guess what they are.  At other times, I have to wait until the plant grows or even blooms before I can identify it for sure.

Misplaced Pomegranate Tree

Several years ago I transplanted a small green plant (they all look alike), thinking that it was a smallish crepe myrtle bush.  It took several growing seasons before I realized that it was a pomegranate tree. Now it is quite large and occupies a space that my husband assures me is going to wreck all kinds of havoc in its tight space.

Volunteer plants are like gifts from nature, but they don't always show up where you want them to. So if you are the type of gardener who has everything in the landscape planned out, then volunteer plants probably seem more of a nuisance than a boon to you. 

There is a volunteer salvia greggii in the front yard of our house that has been there for several years.  The mother plant is just a few feet away.  Because the baby plant is right up against the house foundation, I thought it would be best not to let it continue there.  I got the shovel and tried to dig it out by the roots.  It slunk back into the ground for a while but reappeared and even put on flowers to endear itself to me.  I may try to transplant it when it grows a bit larger.

Volunteer Salvia Greggii

Volunteer Bird of Paradise

After several failed attempts to get a purchased Mexican Bird of Paradise to live in a side yard, I finally got one to thrive.  My patience was rewarded. Now I not only have a large, showy plant but at least two other good size plants nearby that are already putting on big, tropical-looking blooms. 

Another wonderful mother plant in our yard is the Mexican Firebush.  It isn't blooming yet this year, but I have successfully transplanted two volunteers to another flower bed and one volunteer into a flower pot to see if it will survive there.  I can hardly wait to see all of them covered with red blooms later this season.

"Mama" Mexican Firebush

Then there is the sad tale of the palo verde trees.  Before the legendary freeze in our area in February 2012, we had several very tall palo verde trees in our front yard.   The freeze killed them all.  But the next spring, we found tiny palo verde seedlings all over the front yard.  Several of them we are encouraging with dreams of someday having a tropical paradise to view as we turn into the driveway.

Adolescent Palo Verde trees

As I'm sure you can tell, I love volunteer plants.  Discovering them is like receiving an unexpected gift.  Maybe they don't arrive at the right time, or aren't wrapped just right, or look like they came from the bargain store, but with care and attention, they can be the stars of the garden.