Days speed by, and saguaros

The days between blog posts are speeding by for me, unlike the summer when I was stuck inside by the oppressive heat and time dragged. Every day now I'm outside feeling exhilarated from the sunshine and clear desert light.

Today I had to return some books to the Oro Valley Library and I took a photo of the very large tree and book sculpture there. The pages have this poem:

"The more you read

the more you know.

The more you know

the more you grow.

Then after you grow

the stronger your voice

when speaking your mind

or making your choice."

Yesterday I took a picture of another tree while hiking -- a "nurse" tree sheltering a young saguaro. My hiking friend told me about nurse trees, then last night I found an explanation of them in a book about saguaros. 

It says that young saguaros generally need to grow beneath the cover of a "nurse" tree or a shrub. The protectors moderate conditions for the baby plants, decreasing extreme heat, retaining moisture in the soil, buffering against frost, and preventing most trampling by animals. It looks like this palo verde tree is wrapping its around the cactus in its care.

We also found a crested, or "cristate," saguaro, where the growing tip mutates into a fanlike crest. My book says that only one in roughly every 200,000 saguaros develops a crest. Scientists think a genetic factor may be involved, but they're not sure.

Look at how massive they are compared with my friend! My book says they weigh about 80 pounds per foot and generally grow 18-30 feet tall. A lot of the ones on our hike on the El Camino Del Cerro trail  in west Tucson looked at least 30 feet high. They often reach 50-60 feet, and the tallest one recorded was 78 feet.

And those arms give each saguaro its own personality. They don't start to grow arms until they're about 12 feet tall, or 40-80 years old. And they can live up to 200 years. Some never grow arms while others are covered with them.

It was a good hike, with enough stairs to make the climbing easier than scrambling up rocks. The views of Tucson were amazing. It was sunny and in the 50s, with enough of a breeze to make it energizing.

Today, however, I'm being lazy. After running a few errands, I had lunch in the sunshine on the back patio. Next I'll do a little sewing on the desert quilt.

Have a colorful day