I made some more plants. This time I got a tree, tulip, and a cactus.
I wanted to cover different types of terrains so it could reach people in different areas of the USA, for example people in Arizona would like the cactus one, etc. If you haven’t seen the Christmas tree one I’ve done that and an add your own plant version too that was my favorite one.
I liked doing that a lot. It does drive me nuts however to see it as so iconic it shows up in cartoons about the Middle East, when the real range is extremely limited even in N. American deserts.
We have a baby saguaro that our neighbor kids gave us when we moved. It was in a little 2" pot. It’s now in a 4" pot but still only about 6-8" high. We’ll be long dead and gone before it needs to be repotted. I did love driving through the saguaro forests around Roosevelt Lake, and we went to the Sonoran Desert Museum once. It was fun. I do think it’s funny when we see prickly pear cactus planted at some houses here in Tennessee. But they do grow here. I just don’t see why anyone would want to plant them! We moved here to get away from all the cactus!
There are cactus of that clade all over, We had some in our yard in Hawaii when I was about 3, with spines that were nearly invisible. Guess how I remember…
Ouch! They’re not as bad as the cholla though! There’s a reason those are called “jumping cactus!” Ocatilla also have very bad thornes. I think all cacti do. Heck, even aloe vera does!
Actually it was worse as the Cholla has very long spines that are impossibly thin at the tip, this was flat paddles with spots that I didn’t even know had spines like the last 1/8 inch of the jumping cholla, and did not even feel them immediately as I had great fun breaking the paddles off and watching them splash in the fish pond. It was only later that my hands felt like I was grabbing fire.
And Ocotillo has nothing on bougainvillea. Even in full leaf and flower, the spines are a strong warning. Bougainvillea is just gorgeous with bright flowers, and bright green leaves and it is only when you get close that it bites like a snake in a puppy outfit and like the cactus noted above sheds tiny fibers that stay in the wound after the tooth has been removed. Growing along a fence or wall is far more effective than the nastiest razor wire and all the time smiling sweetly.
According to the Sonoran Desert Museum, sagurros don’t start getting their arms until they’re about 100 years old. So I doubt you’ll see them on yours.
Like planting a forest of Lignum Vitae trees so they could be harvested for wood after the trunks were more than 3’ in diameter. Very much worth doing, but even your species might not be around when the time came.
