When I recently visited Arizona for a few weeks, it was a nice respite from frigid Grantham with lots of hiking opportunities and lots of cactus. My favorite cactus is the saguaro. I saw thousands of them and even hugged one. What I love about saguaros is that each one is different and has its own personality. The best time to take their pictures is at sunset so I made sure to visit saguaros every evening. Saguaro National Park has more than two million saguaros. I took pictures of about a million of them ;-)
A great place to see them is on Tumamoc Hill, a butte which looms over the city of Tucson. Hundreds of people walk the three mile round trip every day. Everyone is super friendly and shares information about the saguaros. That’s how I learned about 'Ramona,' whom I was told is the most loved cactus on the Hill. So many people have given her a hug that she no longer has spines on her lower trunk. It’s impossible to give Ramon a hug without smiling.
A threat to saguaros is the invasive buffelgrass. The volunteers of the Sonoran Desert Weedwackers meet three times a month to pull this highly flammable grass. These dedicated volunteers have cleared thousands of acres of buffelgrass over the past 25 years.
Here are some facts I learned about them from a park ranger on a sunset walk at Saguaro National Park:
Saguaros only grow in the Sonoran Desert and range from central Arizona to Sonora, Mexico.
To procreate, they grow large white flowers on the top of their heads and ends of their arms which are pollinated by bees, bats, and birds. The more arms they grow, the more flowers, the more opportunities to ensure their DNA continues into the future.
The next stage is a red fruit. People have eaten them for centuries. Tastes like chicken (only kidding:-)
If a seed is lucky enough to land in a suitable spot, it takes five years before a cute little saguaro can be seen.
They start producing flowers at around 35 years of age.
Arms start growing between ages 60 and 80. Most have two to six arms. The record holder is a saguaro named 'Shiva' that’s located in the Ironwood Forest and has a whopping 40 arms.
They live to around 150 years and can reach 30 or 40 feet tall. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, an armless saguaro grew to 78 feet.
Their roots are shallow but are as wide as the cactus is tall so that a lot of root.
A great place to see them is on Tumamoc Hill, a butte which looms over the city of Tucson. Hundreds of people walk the three mile round trip every day. Everyone is super friendly and shares information about the saguaros. That’s how I learned about 'Ramona,' whom I was told is the most loved cactus on the Hill. So many people have given her a hug that she no longer has spines on her lower trunk. It’s impossible to give Ramon a hug without smiling.
A threat to saguaros is the invasive buffelgrass. The volunteers of the Sonoran Desert Weedwackers meet three times a month to pull this highly flammable grass. These dedicated volunteers have cleared thousands of acres of buffelgrass over the past 25 years.
Here are some facts I learned about them from a park ranger on a sunset walk at Saguaro National Park:
Saguaros only grow in the Sonoran Desert and range from central Arizona to Sonora, Mexico.
To procreate, they grow large white flowers on the top of their heads and ends of their arms which are pollinated by bees, bats, and birds. The more arms they grow, the more flowers, the more opportunities to ensure their DNA continues into the future.
The next stage is a red fruit. People have eaten them for centuries. Tastes like chicken (only kidding:-)
If a seed is lucky enough to land in a suitable spot, it takes five years before a cute little saguaro can be seen.
They start producing flowers at around 35 years of age.
Arms start growing between ages 60 and 80. Most have two to six arms. The record holder is a saguaro named 'Shiva' that’s located in the Ironwood Forest and has a whopping 40 arms.
They live to around 150 years and can reach 30 or 40 feet tall. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, an armless saguaro grew to 78 feet.
Their roots are shallow but are as wide as the cactus is tall so that a lot of root.
A nice saguaro specimen on a picture perfect day in Saguaro National Park--My husband Bob is in the picture for perspective.
According to the park ranger, this guy is about 20 years old.
To me, this saguaro is waving 'hello.'
You can see different aged saguaros in this shot.
Some arms starting to emerge
A multiarmed behemoth in Sahuarita
My friend Laura is hugging Ramona while the rest of us wait our turn.
My turn (Photo taken by my sister Sandy :-)
'Old Man' at the top of Tumamoc Hill
A saguaro skeleton
Taken from Tumamoc Hill overlooking downtown Tucson