How to Grow Turpentine Bush: the Desert Dazzler | Gardener's Path

A gift from the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts, sun-loving turpentine bush is native to the southwestern United States, including southeastern California, west Texas, southern New Mexico, and southern Arizona, as well as north-central Mexico.

And in addition to tolerating blistering desert heat, this tough evergreen shrub can also withstand temperatures as low as 10°F. Perfection!

Before we get too far, I know you’re wondering how the heck Ericameria laricifolia got its common name. Its foliage is covered in a resin that, when touched, smells like the stinky solvent.

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While you might not want to make perfume from the plant’s stems, the good news is that the stink repels would-be pests such as deer and rabbits.

Other names for this desert beauty include turpentine brush, narrowleaf goldenbush, larchleaf goldenweed, and in Mexico, aguirre.

It was previously known scientifically as Haplopappus laricifolia, and many people continue to refer to it as simply “haplopappus.”

As the plant ages, its lower stems may drop their leaves and become bare, but the upper stems are covered in dark green, needle-like — but soft— leaves.

In early autumn, the plant bursts into clouds of yellow flowers featuring attractive, straplike petals that wiggle out from a center cluster of smaller flower forms.

The yellow flowers morph into white, dandelion-like balls of fluff, and then fade to tan seed heads, providing a long period of landscape loveliness.

As we mentioned, this long-lived plant is found natively in southwest desert topographies including