Posted on 05/30/2021 5:11:03 AM PDT by blam
We’ve had a long and severe drought. I’d look at that as a possible cause.
Something I had not noticed before was how few of these Cactus are in Tucson until you get out into the outskirts where not much development has occurred. Pretty much what you'd expect from something that grows so slow.
Of course we need to take into account in our examinations that this cactus closes its blooms every morning — its blooms open at night. Up in the NW Phoenix valley. we had a long cool winter with some real significant rains during the winter. Of course it is still the desert, so rain later in the spring was sparse.
I have been all over the Saguaro National Desert areas outside Tucson over the last 25 years. The picture on the start of the thread is very non-typical for the extent of the flower buds down below the crown. Perhaps 250% of normal. Did you see such extensive buds on Grant’s Pass out west of town?
I have three saguaros in my yard and they are all doing this. I think they did it last year, too, so talk of a “climate change rash” caused by those evil Republicans and their SUVs is typical lunatic raving.
“”That’s a sure sign that the earth is warming due to man producing a green house effect. Let me explain. The dessert floor is getting so hot that the bobcat needs to find a perch where he can cool his paws. All these green house gases causing the extreme heat on the dessert floor are the result of Trump policies. After we get rid of all fossil fuel motors, turbines etc. the earth will revert back to temperatures that have remained absolutely constant for thousands of years!! -— sarc!!””
The squad of about a dozen angry Javalina’s probably had nothing to do with it. I believe it was Walt Disney produced a show called “Living Desert” and an angry squad ran a bob cat up a Saguaro.
Been a wet cool spring here in West Texas and we’re having a heck of a catus and wildflower bloom right now.
The Rhododendron are blooming like crazy in South Central PA. It’s 50 degrees F right now, heading to a blazing hot of 55 this afternoon. About the same yesterday. It rained yesterday. It might rain today. Supposed to be sunny and 74 tomorrow. I am so worried. I used to think that plants just bloom and some days are chilly and wet and other are dry and warm. Now I know I have been wrong all my life. The only think that will stop plants from blooming and to have normal weather is Marxism. Thank Gaia for giving me the signs. Hail Mother Earth.
It was 3 years ago. We are now all dead and living in hell.
If it ain’t climate change than most likely caused by Covid…
Thanks for the ‘on site’ report.
I drove West on Valencia until I saw the Sagauro covered hills then went up a little used road.
Bobcat on a Saguaro cactus
and Bats?
I saw a Blooming cactus
Near lake Pleasant Friday!
Love me some Desert.
Two Bobcats
In a Cactus!
.
There’s a joke
In here and it’s
A pancake and
A Bunny.
Considering we had 3 snow storms at 2600’ within the last 9 months and extensive snowfall and rain above 3000’ over the winter and spring, I suspect the cactus are expecting a wet year.
“If this event is such a terrible thing maybe the tree huggers should destroy all of the Saguaros and permanently put an end to it.”
Maybe they should try to live up to their name and actually hug cacti.
Go west out on Speedway Blvd and it becomes Grant’s Pass Road as it enters the National Park area. At the top of that small pass over the ridge line is a huge concentration of Saguaro that is a great visit. Continue on west and then turn North into the park area in general and you can visit the Saguaro Museum for a fee — well worth a day if you haven’t been there.
I notice that Yahoo (spit!) didn’t bother to interview one of the hundreds of very old Indian tribals that live in the vicinity of Tucson to determine if this is a recent phenomenon.
East of Tucson, I've seen even more extensive budding in the last three weeks. I’ve driven up the highway to Mt Lemon and also in the loop and to picnic areas/trailheads in the Saguaro National (Monument) Park (east). Most of the cactus had the top 3’ profusely covered in buds. Some had blossoms all the way to ground level. The blooms in the shadow were open even at 10am. It's been unseasonably cool, in the 90s only after noon.
The mesquite are unusually green this year too. Lots of volunteer desert plants in my front yard this year, tearing holes in the weed barrier and poking up through the gravel. Oddly not that many non-native weeds, we had a weed explosion in the back yard a year ago and it was a jungle until the dry season hit.
Can they not just pluck one of theses branches off, put it in a flower pot and grow their own Saguaros?
A few years back it was claimed Saguaros were dying out.
“Can they not just pluck one of theses branches off, put it in a flower pot and grow their own Saguaros?”
Illegal in Az without good reason and a lot of red tape...
https://cals.arizona.edu/maricopa/garden/html/plants/native.htm
You can harvest from private property with the owners permission though.
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