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! 



It had been five years since I was last in the gorgeous Matopos Hills.  Two weeks ago, I made a trip back to what still feels like home to me.  I truly think the Matopos are one of the most beautiful places on earth.  It felt so good to climb about on the rocks again, although I know I'm a lot less agile on them than I was as a child!

 

 

 

For those of you who are also familiar with this gorgeous part of the world, I'm sure you can tell how badly they need rain.  The cattle's bones are all too prominent and the dam is very low.  On my last day there, we did get some rain, but they will need much more to last through the year.  If only some of the rain from Hurricane Sandy could be sent to Zim!  Please, keep praying for rain for Zim. 

Rainy Days of September

I have been in Moz seven weeks and yet this week has held all of the rain!  The rain was minimal until today, mostly just sprinkles lasting five minutes or less.  Today was an indoor day.  I stepped out onto the porch for a while to enjoy the sound of the rain on the tin roof.  Eventually, I got my camera and a brolly to try to get some rainy day snaps, but the strong wind made that quite a challenge.  

This bedraggled looking kitty doesn't belong to us but frequently takes residence on our veranda furniture.  He/she is very skittish and dashes off, even into the rain, whenever we repossess the veranda.  

The past week has been busier than most for my parents.  We have a couple visiting from the USA and my parents have been busy working with them on different projects.  I've declared it the perfect time to take life even easier, partly because it means fewer bodies fitting into the Prado.  Instead, I've taken up some of the house cleaning duties, read a number of books, editing and sorted some of my thousands of photographs, played Scrabble, and spent about an hour a day in the pool.  Sadly, my pool time was compromised today due to the inclement weather. I've also been doing a fair bit of research online for some future options.  No decisions have been made yet, but several serious options are emerging from my many daydreams.  

Windy Palms

Walking the beach today was truly rough.  The tide came in very high and the waves were violent.  We haven't had much rain, just showers of rain that last barely long enough to settle the dust, but the wind has been strong.  

Early in the day, we had been reading about Isaac reaching Louisiana.  I have never lived in an area affected by tropical storms and hurricanes.   The palm trees blowing and bending in the wind probably would have looked mild to a more seasoned pair of eyes.  As my mother and I observed how high the tide came just from this wind and recent full moon, we couldn't help but think about how much devastation would be caused by a cyclone.  There is something eerily beautiful about stormy weather at the beach, but it wouldn't take much for that beauty to become destructive.  Thankfully, the island of Madagascar helps to shield this part of Moz from some of the cyclones and tropical storms of the Indian Ocean.