You see them in the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote cartoons, and every Western movie ever made. They are almost a cliché of the American Southwest. But do you know what they look like on the inside? (Also, 10 points if you spotted the bird pecking a hole in that cactus up there)…
That is what the bones of a saguaro cactus look like. I always thought they were sort of like a watermelon, with a thick rind that held it upright and a juicy inside. But those ridges you see on them are actually part of their wooden interior support structure.
It almost looks as if someone took a bunch of thin wooden branches and made a cactus-shaped statue.
Anyway, I found it quite interesting. There is still a lot of moisture inside, but there is more going on than you might have thought.
All I do know is that the Southwest would not look the same without these magnificent, towering plants, and a lot of animals depend on them for survival.
Survival is not easy out here.
Plants actively protect themselves.
They don’t make it easy for animals to get at them.
The saguaro are the same way, but there is more space between the spines than on a lot of cacti, so small animals can get in there.
When ever we go back to Arizona to visit Jessica, there are always at least a few flowers blooming when we walk out into the desert.
These bursts of color are always an unexpected delight. But one of these days I am going to time it so that we get there when a whole bunch of the flowers are blooming.
I want to see this just covered with washes of red and yellow.
Pouring My Art Out 
Beautiful, your new camera is getting a good workover. When I end up over that coast eventually I will be visiting someone in Palm Springs, hope it is like that on the way
It is, and that is not too far from here
You were right! I assumed they all held some very nice juicy interior desperately guarded by the fierce exterior. Shame they are really hardhearted!
It explains how they get so tall
I guess. But, some other plants are very tall, yet not so hardhearted.
I cant think of a soft plant that gets that tall…
I guess.
There must be one…
Awesome.
you don’t have those things up there… ha
Pft want some snow?
mail it
It’s in the mail!
Did you pack it in ice so it doesn’t melt???
Yes
good
One of your questions is coming up on Monday. 😉
wheeeeeeeee
The best time to see flowers in the desert is just after a spring rain. The whole desert seems to come alive it’s amazing.
I will try to make it there then
Good luck, I will vicariously, enjoy the trip.
me too… ha
Me too too, says the cheerleader minion who got kidnapped by aliens but managed to escape to another blog site. Boo!
But… did they probe you before you escaped? HA!
That’s always the best part 😛
oh my