Here is a photo of our back garden Saguaro. A few years ago the top developed the "leans" and a year or two later it fell off and took one of the arms with it. I figured it was a goner but has recovered and is adding new arms.
Saguaros are very slow growing a 10 year old plant may be less than two inches tall yet by the time they put on arms around 100 years or so they can be 40 or more feet tall.
Saguaros define the Sonoran desert, it is the only place they grow. Basically if you see a Saguaro you are in the Sonoran Desert and if you do not you are in some other desert like the Mojave. Not totally true but close enough. They feed and shelter many of the desert critters including the two legged kind. Our saguaro has been the home of a nesting pair of Gila Woodpeckers for years.
Saguaros can live a couple of hundred years and after the die they are still useful. From the Desert Museum's web site: "After the saguaro dies its woody ribs can be used to build roofs, fences, and parts of furniture. The holes that birds nested in or "saguaro boots" can be found among the dead saguaros. Native Americans used these as water containers long before the canteen was available."
They flower in the Spring and are pollinated by birds, bees and the lesser long-nosed bat. Native Americans celebrate the start of their growing season with a drink made from Saguaro fruit.
A photo of a Saguaro skeleton MsBubba has covered in lights, I doubt you can make it out but there is also a "boot" in the middle of the shelf to the left of the skeleton.
One more photo. Looking to the West Northwest towards the Tucsons and Saguaro National Park from our back garden.
Click 'em to big 'em,
ken
I was amazed when I visited because where I was they were so thick it was like a forest. Magnificent.
ReplyDeleteAndy,
DeleteYou must have been in the Park. I think the Sonoran desert is the prettiest desert in the world mostly because of the Saguaros.
ken
Hi Ken
ReplyDeleteThanks for a great blog post.
These things to me are as exotic as martians.
It might be a weird question, but do they smell when the sun shines on them? I mean a pine tree smells distinctively of pine, and a spruce has a slightly different smell. Juniper is easily recognizable etc.
Best regards
Jonas
Jonas,
DeleteThanks.
Nope, no smell other than desert.
ken
#%@ ipad and blogger, grrr.
ReplyDeleteFunny, it usually work, but not with your blog, dont know why.
Meant yo say, i you dont see a Saguaro and you see cold white sand, you are in the Great White North, Heh!
Bob, on his phone..on the road again
Bob,
DeleteBoth iPads and Bogger are love/hate in my world. When they work they are great but....
Or New Mexico :-).
Have a good trip,
ken
Interesting, Ken. Was in AZ last year and visited the Desert Botanical Garden near Phoenix. Some really amazing saguaros there. Headed up to Sedona from there and went through a saguaro forest. But that forest changed as we gained elevation. I guess the saguaros like it best at certain elevations, perhaps some very specific conditions.
ReplyDeleteHere In Tucson we have a great drive to the top of Mt. Lemmon. Mt Lemmon is what is known as a "Sky Island". Sky Islands develop unique ecosystems because they are isolated by the desert floor much like a island is by the ocean. The Mt. Lemmon highway moves from the desert floor through a number of life zones from the saguaro and thorn scrub at the bottom through Hoodoos (wind formed rocks) to the Douglas fir forest at the top. It is a rare highway that does this in such a short distance. If you are ever in Tucson it should be a must do.
Deleteken