The cactus doctor arrived Saturday evening to diagnose our fallen saguaro. He said it had been overwatered, got top heavy and crashed to the ground. Unfortunately, he said because of the trauma it suffered in the fall it wouldn’t survive being replanted.
Then he walked around our yard inspecting our other cacti. He drilled a hole in one saguaro and told us it had to be removed because it has bacterial necrosis. It’s leaning slightly and could crash into the house or damage the patio roof.
More bad news in the front yard. Our tallest saguaro with budding arms was declared dead. He said it died from vascular disease.
This is the saguaro with bacterial necrosis.Bacterial necrosis: this is where the cactus doctor took a chunk out of our cactus.
We learned that saguaros not only get water from their roots, but they have pores that open up in the day and absorb water from the air.
Another fact we learned was that a saguaro’s root system is twice the size of its height.
The doctor also told us how to spot native saguaro from ones that had been transplanted from other areas by the size of their bases.
This is already dead. See how the base is brown and shrunken?
Not the news we were hoping for. Now we need to hire someone to take out two saguaros and remove the fallen one. At least the rest are healthy. I’m thankful for all the healthy succulents and cacti in our yard and that the bacteria seems to be only in one saguaro.
What are you thankful for today?
I saw this saguaro skeleton Sunday on our walk. We may keep the fallen saguaro and the one in the front yard for their skeletons. They’d make interesting sculptures in our yard. The diseased one has to be hauled off.
I sat down to work yesterday at the small table in the casita when CRASH!
A shocking thing happened. I sat down to work at my laptop in the casita when I watched a saguaro quiver, shake and crash to the ground.
I measured the saguaro and it’s 9 feet 6 inches tall.
My husband called a cactus doctor. We don’t know why this guy fell. Its root system literally broke in half. I’ve googled causes and it could be too cold of temperatures (it was below freezing and snowed in the last two weeks.) Another cause is overwatering. (We’ve had a lot of rain.)
The scarier thought is a bacteria. I read this from a website called Gardening Know How:
What is Bacterial Necrosis? Saguaro cactus can live for 200 years and grow up to 60 feet in height. These monstrous desert dwellers look imposing and impervious but can actually be brought down by a tiny bacteria. Saguaro cactus necrosis can invade the plant in a number of ways. It eventually creates necrotic pockets in the flesh which will spread. These necrotic areas are dead plant tissue and, if left unchecked, can eventually kill these regal plants. Treating bacterial necrosis in saguaro in the early stages can give the plant an 80 percent chance of survival.
How scary if we have this bacteria in our back yard and our giant saguaro are at risk? I’ll be very cautious walking around the yard regardless what caused its premature death. Can you imagine if a spiny saguaro that weighs a few thousand pounds fell on you? I had no idea I’d have to worry about our cacti’s health.
It feels like we lost a friend.
It snapped at the roots.
Have you had anything unexpected happen to you lately? How did you react?
I’ve noticed a variety of toppers for cacti around our neighborhood. The purpose to top cacti is to give them a bit of insulation. They can die from the exposure to cold from the top down. I wonder if it’s going to freeze? Last January we got two days of snow. My iphone tells me the cold temps will be in the low 40s at night. Maybe that is cold enough to harm cacti?
This is all new to me at this end of the Sonoran Desert. Palm Springs, where I lived for 30 plus years, is the same desert technically, but it is so different with landscaped grounds with grass, ficus trees, eucalyptus and of course palms. It wilder where I am now.
Here are the cacti toppers in my neighborhood:
Our backyard. We went for the standard white styrofoam.Our neighbors went for the Santa look.I’m not a fan, but I’m sure it’s effective.Hmmm.Our homeowner’s association uses green cups. I’ve also seen red solo cups at a neighbor’s house, but I didn’t get a photo.My favorite are different sizes of weaved baskets. I may look into this for another year.
Which toppers do you like? Do you have any creative suggestions? It seems like this could be something to have fun with.
I can’t tell you why, but the past few days I feel better. I didn’t feel bad before, but my attitude has improved. I wake up with more energy and passion for the day.
What have I done to change my outlook?
First, I restarted the “Three Blessings” exercise. In the evening I write down three things that I’m grateful for that happened in my day. And why. According to Dr. Martin E. P. Seligman, he’s used this exercise at U Penn on his students and patients and found it to be as effective as anti-depressants.
So, it could be that.
Or, another change I’ve made this week is getting more exercise. I take my morning walk of about 45 minutes. When my walk is over, I either jump in the backyard pool and swim or I hop on my bike for a 20 minutes bike ride. I mix it up according to what I want to do. Yesterday after swimming laps, I treated myself to climbing on the float from Costco feeling the breeze on my wet skin and staring at the sky. It was heavenly.
Today, I biked and enjoyed the breeze and felt good about how much better I did climbing the hill to our house. Yes, I could feel my heart rate rise, but it wasn’t a struggle like it was earlier in the week. Also, I managed to stand up for a few pedals, which I couldn’t do last week. Those are tiny things, but the improvement felt monumental. On the bike, which I haven’t ridden in years, I feel like a kid. I’m not listening to headphones, I’m listening to nature. I get a bit smile as I coast down a hill, trying not to squeeze the brakes, but let myself fly.
Maybe it’s the hard labor I’ve been doing to fix up our rental house before the new tenants come in. Or, the good book I’m reading.
Whatever the reason is, which is most likely a combination of all the above, I like the way I’m feeling today.
I saw this woodpecker on a saguaro as I left my front door.
What improves your attitude? Have you noticed changes in how you’re feeling lately?
Olive is sound to sleep today on her pet grass next to boxes of grass I’m growing for her.
Yesterday as I recovered from my big day of DIY with sore muscles, I decided to put the harness and leash back on Olive, our 10-year-old cat. Olive used to spend half her time outside until we moved. Now that we’re living with a bobcat, hawks, coyotes and other wildlife, we’ve been advised to keep the cat inside.
I ordered a harness and leash online when a friend who lives nearby said it worked for her cat. I’ve tried it a couple times and it’s been a disaster. I don’t know why I thought about giving it another try, but I did.
Olive wearing the harness and leash.
Olive seemed more comfortable yesterday. She sat on my lap, nose sniffing, ears moving in rhythm with birds chirping. Her tail twitched. I moved from the comfort of the cozy outdoor chair at the table to our patio bar. There’s a saguaro with baby woodpeckers living inside across from the pool. They make loud chirping noises when their parents are gone and there’s also the excitement of the parents coming in and out to feed them. I thought it would be a lively place to sit with Olive to have an unobstructed view of the action and sounds.
Where Olive wanted to jump on the bar for a better view of the woodpecker’s nest in the saguaro.
She leaped from my lap to the bar. I grabbed her mid leap and ended up with a bloody scratch on my thigh. I don’t know why I didn’t give her the freedom to make the leap. She was on a leash after all. But it was my instant reaction to protect her.
We sat for a while longer and I think we both enjoyed the quiet time outside just listening and observing nature. At least I know I did.
Do you get outside to sit, listen and watch? I’m finding it very peaceful and entertaining. What are your favorite views?
I thought the blooms on cactus would be over. But we seem to be having another round. Living in the Sonoran Desert for the first time, I’m learning how each month or week brings new sites and new life.
Our yard is currently a mess. We had a broken pipe in the yard that formed a large pool of water. Then after that one was fixed, another one burst. So we hired our gardener to completely replace the entire system. Our yard is a criss cross applesauce mess of trenches and pipes laying everywhere. It’s been five days, it’s not done, and we are watering plants with a hose or watering can. I think I lost my gardenia plant.
My husband has gone full Bill Murray from Caddyshack. He comes in with hands and arms filled with almost invisible stickers after trying to stop the rabbits and chipmunks from eating our plants. They love to munch on cactus. Who knew it would be so tasty? He’s tried traps, solar zappers and smoke bombs. Nothing seems to help. They not only eat the cactus above ground, they burrow underground and eat the roots. We’re skipping the poison method because we don’t want to kill the hawks or our bobcat.
This blooming cactus is outside our front door.I was hoping for rain yesterday, but it never happened. Beautiful clouds though.
It’s an especially hot week in Arizona — and in Palm Springs — my old home. I’m talking high teens hot.
We splurged this weekend on two things. We rented a boat for a half-day and bought a new cooler.
View from the boat.
I hadn’t heard about YETI until I was writing an article for a trade magazine about top Christmas gifts at hardware stores. Exciting stuff? Eh. I got paid 🙂
I also learned something new. Everyone I interviewed mentioned YETI as a top seller.
“Can you spell that?” I asked the first time. “Can you tell me what that is?”
Then my son, his girlfriend’s family and my daughter went camping last summer in the Redwoods. My son said he bought a YETI cooler, the Tundra — which is the biggie. His girlfriend’s family are seven adult siblings who are athletes. They eat a lot — especially the youngest who is the only boy and is rowing in college. Hence the need for the largest YETI made.
My son said it was unbelievable — both the redwoods and the cooler. He said his ice lasted the entire trip of three days and all the food stayed cold.
I’ve wanted a YETI since he told me that last summer — the summer of lots of camping with his bubble during the pandemic shutdowns.
We rented the boat and invited new friends who are moving here from Seattle. They asked me if there was water around here and I told them about the lake. They currently live by Lake Washington and love the water. I told them next time they were in town, we’d show them the lake. They’re here visiting and we decided because of the heat and hours in a boat it was time to invest in a YETI.
I sent my son the photo of the new cooler and he gave me instructions on how to use it. He said the secret is to cool it down the night before by putting in a block of dry ice. That wasn’t going to happen, so I used ice from our freezer. He also told me to pack the cooler full, no empty space. So, I’m glad a got “The Roadie” model which is smaller than my son’s. The third secret he told me was to make sure anything I put in the cooler is already cooled. For example, if you put in warm water bottles they will absorb all the energy to get cold. To top off my son’s advice, he sent me a YouTube of how to pack my YETI! You’d think at my age, I wouldn’t need YouTube to pack a cooler! It was actually helpful.
We spent four hours yesterday touring Bartlett Lake by boat, dropping an anchor to dive into the water and cool off. It got unbelievably hot, which meant lot of anchoring and swimming. The YETI cooler was smack in the sun, but the sandwiches, water, veggies, watermelon and dips all stayed ice cold.
It was a beautiful day at the lake with our friends. One day, I hope to repeat the fun when it’s not quite so hot.
What is your favorite way to stay cool in the summer heat?
