We just realized we’ve been hanging around southern Arizona for two months now – how time flies when you’re having fun with friends in such a beautiful place! Being here, you can’t help but take notice and admire the abundance of cacti, succulents, birds and other critters that make the this area unique. The area is generally recognized as the Sonoran Desert, and includes the southwestern third of Arizona, a small area of southeastern California, most of Baja California del Norte and the western half of Sonora, Mexico.
It is during our many hikes and drives around town that we encounter these desert beauties in their natural habitat or being used as landscaping ornaments. In particular, the ubiquitous saguaro, (pronounced SUH-WAR-OH) a large, tree-like columnar cactus that develop branches (or arms) as they age. The saguaro is the largest cactus in the United States and the most famous plant in the Sonoran Desert. It is closely identified with the imagery of the American southwest, and all of them are found exclusively in the Sonoran Desert. This cactus is so important that moving, harvesting or collecting is strictly regulated! Yet despite the saguaro’s popularity, the state plant of Arizona is actually the Palo Verde.
Some fun facts about this famous cactus:
It is slow growing and may take 10 years to reach 1 1/2 inches in height, and 30 years to reach 2 feet.
It begins to grow arms when it is between 50 and 100 years of age, although some never grow arms.
Given the right conditions it can live for 150 to 200 years.
It typically grows to heights of 40 – 60 ft.
It is more than 90% water content and when fully hydrated it can weigh between 3200-4800 pounds.
The saguaro’s blossom is the state flower of Arizona, they blossom once a year, and the flowers open at night and stay open only 18 hours total. Imagine how breathtaking the Sonoran desert would look with all of those blooms!
The woody ribs inside the plant have been used for fences and combined with mud and grasses to build homes.
Here are a few of the many desert cacti and plants:
The chirping and singing are everywhere with all these beautiful birds. Here are just a few that frequently visited us at Catalina State Park. Click here if you would like to see more of my bird pictures 🙂
Butterflies!
Lastly, when the sun is low here it gives a hue to the sky and mountains that is nothing short of spectacular.
Stay tuned as we return to Quartzsite to join the RV show madness!
Lowes Travels 
Spectacular photos! I wish I was there. Have fun!
Thank You, vista Arizona sometime.
ML – your “birdie” photos are wonderful! Also liked the butterflies. We still haven’t decided if we’ll delve into the madness of “Q” but if we do I’ll be in touch. -Maureen
Thanks Maureen. There is plenty of room here and the festive mood is in the air. Tomorrow we are going in for the madness.
Thanks for the beautiful post. My aunt lived in Yuma, and every summer my parents would pack us up (four kids) in the station wagon, drive all night and day from La., and we would vacation in Yuma. My mother loved the desert, and would haul us out at daybreak and sunset to take pictures. Great memories.
You are so welcome, I enjoyed and admired all the beauty of the Sonoran desert especial the sunrise and sunsets. Was in Yuma a couple of days and we hiked up in one of those mountains to the top of the tower.
Awesome photos!!!
I hope Sonoran Desert will be on our list right in the beginning once we get our full timing started. I lived for a short period in Phoenix, and didn’t really ever have a chance to travel in AZ, but still to this day it is in my memories the most beautiful state I have ever been. Dusty and terribly hot during the summer months… and most other months too, but absolutely breath takingly beautiful.
Wonderful pictures!!!
Thank you and indeed AZ has its own uniqueness of its own that we have seen so far in our travels.
Thank you Jerry.
Thank you.
You did such an amazing job on this post, I think my next posting will just be a link to yours with the word “ditto”. So not only do you have Javelina photos, you have all those beautiful bird photos…..I don’t think we can be RV blogging besties anymore….LOL.. Seriously great post!
Thank you, that is quite a compliment. We are even, we have not encountered our Burro nor the Big Horn Sheep. If you go to the Desert Museum its guaranteed you will see the Javelinas and the birds are waiting for you at CSP.
Your photography is stunning. Love the cacti photos, which bring back such great memories of our many years in AZ.
Thank you, lots of opportunities here to practice. And pretty soon you will be here to relive your memories.
The strong hue of orange … So hot! And when I say hot, I mean beautiful. 😀
And the saguaro, it’s interesting as it is so fascinating to look at esp. of its height!
You two have been to so many amazing places!
Yes indeed, hopefully thru our stories and pictures we can take you there with us.
Thanks for the compliment about my shots. I am still learning.
About you actually take me there. Give me a bed space in your RV! 😀 Joke.
Its not a question of space, its about weight. ha ha, thats how RVrs would think, space and weight requirements.
Great post, thanks for sharing. Love your photos too! We just finished seeing Saguaro National Park, loved the cactus on display there.
Thank you, there are so many beauties around here. Where are you at now and where are you heading to?
We are at Quartzsite catching the last few days of the RV show, then down to Yuma area for a while to see about getting some teeth fixed.
Oh, we just had our teeth cleaned too, two weeks ago.
You did such an amazing job of capturing all the beauty of the desert. Beautiful photos!
Thank you, I have so many photos to share that I have to write a blog about those beauties.