Why would anyone put up with a cactus that has this spiky appearance most of the year? The answer is their flowers that appear in the spring. Click on the image to enlarge. Click here to see their flowers.
First Saguaro Flower Opened Today
Well, last night, actually. When I went out front this morning, I saw that my first saguaro flower had opened overnight. The flower is up at about the eleven foot mark on the cactus, so I will be unable to get an image of it face on. Not to worry, though, there are plenty of buds on the lower arms that will continue opening this spring and summer. Click on the image to enlarge.
Prickly Pears in the Making
After these pretty flowers close up, the fruit of the prickly pear cactus will start to develop and eventually will provide nourishment and seeds for propagation. Click on the image to enlarge.
The Peanut Cactus in Arizona
I posted about this peanut cactus last month and said that we would bring it to the new place in Arizona. As you can see, it likes it here; it has five open flowers with more to come! Click on the image to enlarge.
More to Come
Now that this giant saguaro is in place, we are going to decorate our landscape with shrubs and flowering cacti that will complete our visualization of the way this dream house should look. Below the giant cactus, we will have some shrubs planted in the strip along the driveway down to the road. In addition, there will be some flowering shrubs to the left of the saguaro. This is, in effect, the ‘before’ picture. Click on the image to enlarge.
The Saguaro and Us
This should give you a pretty good idea of the height of our saguaro cactus. I’m 5’8″ and Verna is right at 5′ tall. The saguaro is at least 13′ and growing. Click on the image to enlarge.
