Pink cactus flower with white center

Saguaro National Park 2: Critters and Flowers

Last week I took you on a virtual hike in the east unit of Saguaro National Park, where the desert is green and lush from all the rain we’ve had. This week we’re going to get up close and personal with plants and critters. But first: Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer! And since I have so many flower pics in this post, I’m also linking up with Cee’s Flower of the Day photo challenge.

Lace up your boots, pour your coffee in a Thermos, and let’s hit the trail!

Flora of Saguaro National Park

Unless you’re really new here, you’ll know I love to take pictures of flowers. In the immortal words of Goldmember, it’s kind of my thing.

And unless you’re really, really new here, you know that if I mention a movie scene, I’m going to embed a clip, so here you go:

This, kids, is what passed for quality entertainment in the early aughts. I know, I’m embarrassed too.

OK, where were we? Oh, yeah: plants in Saguaro National Park.

Cactus

I’m sure you’ll be shocked to learn that there are lots of saguaros in Saguaro National Park. I mean, who’da thought?

A live saguaro taunts the decaying corpse of its neighbor

I’ve thought about titling that photo, The Prick and the Dead.

Here’s some more Sonoran Desert vegetation:

The tall, vase-shaped thing to the right is an ocotillo. It’s wickedly thorny, but it isn’t a cactus. Their branches are often used as fencing because they’re abundant, and those thorns are basically nature’s barbed wire. Sometimes the branches root and start growing, which makes for some interesting-looking fences!

The prickly thing in the foreground is a prickly pear, and the stuff in the very foreground is probably the most unusual part of this picture–grass! We don’t have much grass around here except when it rains a lot. Long-Suffering Husband, who grew up in the very rainy Pacific Northwest, gets really excited when he sees grass down here.

Teddy bear cholla and brittlebush

Meet the teddy bear cholla. Don’t let the name fool you. Those things that make it look all soft and cuddly? Those are spines. Big-ass, wicked spines.

New growth on an old cholla

The cacti are happy with all the rain and in this case putting out lots of new growth. The spines on this sprout were still soft enough to touch without swearing.

Young prickly pear and pincushion cactus

Cactus Flowers

My favorite part of a cactus is the flowers. Most cactus flowers are spectacular.

Cholla flower (chainfruit cholla, I think)
Fishhook barrel cactus in bloom
Closeup of a fishhook barrel cactus flower

Other desert flowers

In addition to the big spiny things, a few other plants were also in bloom:

Blooming creosote bush

Creosote is responsible for the amazing wet desert smell after a rain.

Desert globemallow

I keep planting globe mallow in my front yard, and the rabbits keep eating it. *sigh*

Another mallow, not sure what kind
Coves’ cassia
Another unknown member of the mallow family

That last one looks like it’s growing out of a cactus, but it isn’t. Cool effect, though.

Fauna of the Sonoran Desert

People think of deserts as barren and lifeless, but that’s not true–especially not here. We see tons of critters even in our midtown Tucson neighborhood. The Saguaro National Park website has a great page with pictures of animals found in the park. They also have a citizen science program for tracking Gila monsters. Every time I go to the park, I hope I’ll see a Gila monster (because I’m enough of a weirdo to want to encounter a large, venomous lizard in the wild), and every time I’m disappointed. Ah, well. We still saw some interesting creatures:

Insects

Beetle on a cholla

Someone should really rename Tucson Beetle Land, because we have So. Many. Beetles – including giant palo verde beetles that fly about as well as a June bug (that is to say, they’ll fly into the side of your head). Oh, and they bite.

Anyway, the beetle in the picture above is not a palo verde beetle, because the palo verde beetles are gone for the year. They come out from underground every summer, mate, and die. They don’t even eat–just mate and die. [Insert joke about male humans here.]

Velvet ant

Sorry for the not-great picture, but velvet ants don’t stay still much, and I wasn’t about to get too close to a creature nicknamed the cow-killer for its painful sting. Apparently they enter nests of bees and wasps, sting the owner into submission, and lay their own eggs in the nest. You can learn more about these charming creatures here.

Moving on to something less ugly than beetles and ants:

Monarch butterfly on a creosote flower

I have issues with most of the insect community, but I LOVE butterflies, especially monarchs. We had tons of them last year–at work, in my yard, in the gardens at Tumacácori National Historical Park. This year I’ve seen maybe 3.

Desert Tortoise

The highlight of our desert animal-spotting was seeing this dude trundling along the side of the Freeman Homestead Trail:

Desert tortoise along the Freeman Homestead Trail, Saguaro National Park

Neither of us had ever seen a tortoise in the wild before. We made such a fuss taking pictures of him, he [I’m using the generic “he” here–I can’t tell from the pictures if it was male or female] probably thought he was a rock star by the time we were done.

And here he is, ready for his closeup.

Memes

The meme collection is small this week, because my day job has been cutting into my time-wasting on social media research for this blog. I hate it when that happens.

Went to grad school. Can confirm.

This one’s just here because I love alligators. This article about a man and his emotional support alligator made my entire week.

Let’s spice up the weekly memes with some gratuitous nudity:

And more gratuitous nudity:

That one made me snort-laugh.

I’m going to apologize for this next one up front.

You know me, always keeping it classy.

Have watched all 3 seasons of Mindhunter. Can confirm.

And finally:

Before you go…

If you too are a glutton for punishment, I’d like to ask you a favor…

Wait, that didn’t come out right. Let me masquerade as an adult for a few sentences.

Ahem.

Writers these days are exhorted to “build a platform,” preferably before trying to find an agent. A core part of a writer’s platform is their email list, a/k/a their newsletter subscribers. Well, folks, this weekend I’m going to create my first-ever email newsletter. That’s right, volume 1, issue 1 is about to come into being. And I’d love to send it to you! So if you want to see my ridiculousness in your inbox, drop your email in the Newsletter box at the top of the righthand sidebar. I’ll never share your email address, and you can unsubscribe anytime.

And there will be memes. I promise there will be memes.

That’s it for me this week. It’s Labor Day Weekend here in the US, so I get an extra day to avoid housework and weed-pulling. How about you? Whatcha got planned for the weekend?

32 Comments

  • Bobbiem91

    Great pics of the tortoise. I also love the cactus flowers. We don’t have many here bit they were all in bloom a couple of weeks ago. I’ll leave you to your 100+ temps and stick with the cooler temps and snow. My fav meme—the alligators. I’ve seen them up close and personal in FL. My most memorable encounter was on a golf course. I ball went down the embankment toward the water hazard. Normally hit my ball from there, but this time I said I got a free drop. They were teasing me until the saw my ball about 4 inches from the nose of a 8-10 ft gator dozing in the sun. I go my free drop.

    • Janet Alcorn

      Yeah, not worth retrieving that golf ball! I saw alligators in the wild in the Okefenokee Swamp many years ago, including at least one mama with babies. They are so cool!

      We’re back up to 100+ temps but low 100s, not over 110, so I’m not complaining.

  • Kelly Wellington

    I’d better be included. I’ve already started ripping off your memes and reposting them.

    “Letter rip,” got a guffaw outta me, too.

    • Janet Alcorn

      Of course you’ll be included (if you subscribed–I don’t think I have your email). And it’s only fair to rip off my memes, considering that I rip them off from other people.

      • Kelly Wellington

        Fair play, then. I’m glad you think so, I’d hate to start off with my usual…disagreement.

        I thought I had subscribed, and, it seems I’m being required to provide such, along with my name, for each post. Is that a flaw, or a feature, with this system?

        • Janet Alcorn

          The blog and newsletter are different. You can be subscribed to the blog and still have to add your info (unless you create a WordPress account). The newsletter is a typical email newsletter subscription entirely separate from the blog. It’s confusing, though if I ever find time to finish redesigning my website, it should be clearer.

  • Writing Sparkle

    Cactus fascinate me. I am embarrassed that the cactus plants that can be bought in the store always die in my care. I overwater them every time.
    Thanks for the virtual coffee, Janet.

    • Janet Alcorn

      Overwatering will definitely kill a potted cactus. I have one on my windowsill, and I water it every 2 weeks to a month depending on time of year. So far it’s thriving.

  • Marsha

    I love your take on bearable temperatures, Janet. Only the low 100s. In Prescott I complain about 80. I spent about 10 years in the Pacific Northwest, too and loved it. I’m not sure I could go back now, though after living here and in CA. Your cactus flowers are gorgeous and so varied. I enjoyed your alligators, too.

    • Janet Alcorn

      Thanks!

      Sometimes I think about returning to the Northwest, because I really miss green and water, but the near-constant cloud cover was tough to bear–and now that kind of weather makes my arthritic joints ache. So I think I’ll stay where the sun shines.

  • Gary A Wilson

    Okay – you got me with the velvet ant.
    Who knew such things exist. I just hope they’re not as big as your photo made this guy look. Our house was the scene of a huge ant party while we were doing our 7K mile tour of the US the past few weeks so out came the poison and now the party is over inside, but outside, it rages on with a couple of poison bars setup because ants just aren’t that picky about what the carry home during their food festivals. The will be quiet in the ant hive tunnels tonight baby.

    • Janet Alcorn

      Ugh, so sorry about your ant infestation! We have tons of ants here, but they stay outside, so I don’t care. The velvet ant was about a half inch long and maybe the width of my pinkie at the widest. Big for an ant but not 1950s-giant-insect-movie big.

      • Gary A Wilson

        Yo – That is one huge ant then.
        But, agreed. Outside and not causing mischief, I’m okay with most critters including those with 6 legs. Zooming up on them can almost always easily turn into a cult monster movie.

    • Janet Alcorn

      We do too! And the Princess Bride and the original Star Wars trilogy and Harry Potter and… yeah.

      Glad you liked the flowers!

  • trentpmcd

    Austin Powers movies rated – First: A-. The best Bond parody since Flint with references to the Beatles, the Avengers, etc., etc. What’s not to love? Second: D+. 90% is jokes based on the first movie, so if you didn’t see the first, you won’t get them, and if you did see the first, well, they were much funnier the first time around. Can’t get much worse. Third F—–. Oh ye of little imagination, not only did it get worse, it got much, much worse.
    Liked the photos. Maybe I will stay away from that velvet ant – thanks for the tip. Not only have I seen more monarch butterflies this year than usual (they must have all come up here this year), I saw the coolest monarch butterfly costumes of all times in the Edinburgh Tattoo (I posted photos a few days ago). Love the tortoise! (S)He (they?) -is- a rock star as far as I’m concerned!

    • Janet Alcorn

      I liked all the Austin Powers movies (though the first one was definitely the best), but then I have the maturity and sophistication of a 12-year-old boy, so…

      Those monarch costumes were amazing!

      I was impressed with how tolerant the rock star tortoise was with his adoring fans. He seemed entirely unbothered by us taking a zillion pictures of him.

  • Susanne

    I loved all your pictures, and the monarch butterfly is absolutely stunning! The velvet ant looks fantastic too. So many fascinating insects out there that I don’t know about! It’s interesting with a region with no grass – but it makes total sense with the climate you have there.

    • Janet Alcorn

      We have some native grasses, but they aren’t verdant green like lawn grass. A few people have lawns, and of course there are the golf courses, but otherwise not much grass unless we’ve had some rain.

      I’m creeped out by most insects but I still find them fascinating (at least until they get in the house. Then I find them annoying and tend to squash them.) We have some extra-weird, extra-creepy ones down here (Google “tarantula hawk” if you really want to be freaked out).

  • leannelc

    Hi Janet – I can’t say I’m a fan of cacti – but they do have beautiful flowers to make up for their big prickles. And I had a laugh at your naked memes.

    • Janet Alcorn

      Cacti are prickly but fascinating and sculptural. I was rarely around them till moving to Arizona, and now I’m fascinated by them. I’m also amazed at how much wildlife lives in and around them.

  • Kirstin

    I loved all those photos and info on the cactus and flowers. I would be excited for grass too, living in the PNW now I’m not sure I’d do well in those climates of Arizona, etc. I am NOT a fan of large or annoying, or painful and venemous insects. We have very few here to worry about and I like that.

    • Janet Alcorn

      Thanks! And yeah, the PNW isn’t too bad for bugs, though the mosquitoes can be awful. The bugs here mostly don’t bother me, and we only have mosquitoes during the rainy season, so that’s nice.