Important Things To Know About The Saguaro Cactus! Did you know a Saguaro Cactus Blooms? In fact the Saguaro Cactus Flower is the official State Flower of Arizona! The Saguaro Cacti bloom in late April through the month of May each year. A Saguaro Cactus will first bloom somewhere between the age of 30 to 65 years old.
The resulting Saguaro Cactus Fruit is very sweet! It can be eaten raw, or can be cooked and processed into a syrup or jam. The local Tucson Tohono O'odham tribe has for many hundreds of years dried the fruit then boiled it to make fermented alcoholic wine beverage. The Saguaro Wine Ceremony is still today an important part of Tohono O'odham ritual. Once the wine is made in June, they gather for singing, dancing and drinking to summon the Arizona monsoon clouds and rain to appear in late June.
Another Important Thing To Know About a Saguaro Cactus - A Saguaro Cactus grows its first arm somewhere between the age of 50 to 75 years old. It is dependent on how much rain the plant gets. In natural settings, if the Saguaro is situated in the foothills next to one of our mountain ranges in Tucson such as the Rincon Mountains or Santa Catalina Mountains, then it will receive more rain than a lower elevation Saguaro, and will likely grow its first arm at an earlier age. In the foothills of the Santa Catalina and Rincon Mountains and throughout the lower elevation Tucson Mountains visitors will find thick forests of the majestic Saguaro Cacti...it is truly awe inspiring to see, and I highly encourage visitors to explore Saguaro National Park on both the east and west sides of Tucson!
On our Strolls and Stories Tours we discuss Important Things To Know About The Saguaro Cactus PLUS all of our Sonoran Desert Vegetation found naturally in Tucson and Southern Arizona including Prickly Pear Cactus, Barrel Cactus, Cholla (including the jumping cholla cactus), the Arizona Organ Pipe Cactus and the majestic Saguaro Cactus. Book a guided walking tour at www.StrollsAndStoriesTours.com
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