My mother has slowly won me over. I now love plants. It fascinates me to see the variety of flora in different locales but also the similarities. I was surprised to see plants that I knew from Zimbabwe in Brazil. Arizona offered a wonderful array of plant life in its many landscapes. I particularly liked this pink-tipped grass, which I've learned is called muhlenbergia.

In Sedona, we saw prickly pear cacti, a familiar sight for this Zimbabwean.  We also saw century plants, agave americana. 

Prickly Pear

Century Plants

Near the end of the century plant's lifecycle (which is about thirty years, not a century as the American Pioneers thought), the plant grows a really tall stalk, which looks like a giant stalk of asparagus. This stalk can be up to 30 feet tall! That tall stalk you see in the picture below? Yep, that's a century plant!

Of course, one can't be near the Sonoran desert without noticing the incredible Saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea).  I did not expect to see hills covered with Saguaros, nor did I realize that they are so tall!!!

Apparently, the tallest recorded Saguaro was 87 feet tall before it was blown over in a storm. They don't grow arms until they are least 75 years old, and some never do! Most live about 150 years. Saguaros have expandable ribs to help them store water. A large Saguaro can store up to 6 tons of water, accommodated by expanding its ribs, but it can also lose up to 2/3 of its water and still live. I also learned from the Phoenix Botanical Gardens that Saguaros have "rain roots", which are additional roots that grow within an hour after rainfall to allow the Saguaro to absorb as much rainwater as possible. 

Val and I also learned about the relationship between the Palo Verde tree and the Saguaro cactus. Apparently (I wouldn't know), it was observed that a Saguaro often grew under a Palo Verde tree. Birds might have been feeding baby birds in the branches of the Palo Verde tree, and seeds dropped. The Palo Verde tree then acted as a "nurse plant" for the Saguaro. Eventually, the Saguaro might outlive the Palo Verde, because the Saguaro has a shallower root system and the Palo Verde will not get enough water. 

Palo Verde and Saguaro

Sometimes, noticing the plants had additional benefits...we saw a jack rabbit!