TREE OR SHRUB?
Ellen Wilde

Forestiera, otherwise known as New Mexico Privet or New Mexico Olive, is one of my favorite plants. It is very drought tolerant, long lived, and can be shaped anyway you wish, so it has many uses in the landscape. It has a pale trunk that shows off well against adobe-colored walls and small, bright green oval leaves that turn a vivid yellow in the fall and may grow up to 15 feet tall. The flowers are tiny but they are bright yellow and an early herald of spring. Male and female flowers grow on separate plants. The female flowers are smaller than the male ones and produce oval, almost black berries that are enjoyed by birds in the summer. It is a good idea to plant the female plants away from paving because they do make a purple stain when crushed .

The stems or trunks grow from a single point. It can become almost a small aspen clump if you allow just a few stems to grow and prune off the lower side branches as it grows. It may also be shaped as a bonsai tree from a single trunk. If you don't wish to do the regular pruning required to keep either of the above shapes, it will grow to an oval bush that can be as wide as 6 feet.

Forestiera mingles well with evergreens or can be used as a hedge, a focal point or a filler with other shrubs. It does well in native sandy loam without any soil improvement and will not need supplemental water unless the annual precipitation is below 12 inches. If you start it as a one or two gallon plant, you will want to give it extra moisture to make it grow faster the first few years.The fewer main stems allowed to grow, the faster it will reach its maximum height.

As with most native plants, it is slow to take hold but it is a reliable and durable addition to the landscape. It will take off the second year after planting. Over twenty some years I have planted more than thirty Forestieras at different times of the year and never lost any of them. Some years I noticed that the tip leaves of the branches became distorted on those plants that were placed where air currents did not move freely around them so I do go over those with a dormant oil spray in late winter. I have seen no other signs of disease or pest damage.

Forestiera is not a showy plant and, although it grows all over New Mexico, is seldom recognized as the landscaping gem it is. Do give it a place on your grounds!