Desert plants

[nachoman]

After the paint dried, I painted the branches with Acrylic Matte Medium using a soft bristle brush. It may help if the Matte Medium is thinned a little. While the Matte Medium was still wet, I sprinkled on some fine, green ground foam to represent the leaves. I took a pinch of ground foam between my fingers of one hand, held the armature horizontal with my other hand, and sprinkled on ground foam by rubbing my fingers back and forth while rotating the armature in order to apply a fine, even layer.

   

I decided to give this plant blooms, so I painted the ends of the branches with Floquil Caboose red...

   

...and planted it on my layout.

   

If you want to model an Ocotillo without leaves, I would make the same wire armature, and try spraying with some kind of gray speckled spray paint, or maybe sprinkle on brown ground foam instead of green.