SAGURO (pronounced saw--war--o) Accent on war

When I think of cactuses, okay, I guess it's cacti, but that sounds so effeminate to me, I always picture the saguro. Mainly because it's the coolest cactus.

It's the one with arms. It's the one in the Peanuts comic strip in Needles, Az where Snoopy's nephew lives. Or is it his brother, Spike? But I didn't know how rare they were.

They are only located in Arizona, Mexico, and a very small area of California. They weigh up to two tons. People have been killed by them toppling on them. Since we've lived out West, there's been at least one car fatality when a driver ran into one. Their guts, the cacti not the driver, are very woody. In fact, I have a wreath in my house made from the inside of a mature saguro and it looks like a wood carving.

They live to be hundreds of years old in some cases. They start growing an arm in their 75th year, so the one in my blog picture is quite ancient. They don't like a lot of water. Good thing.

The first one I planted died because of a water leak in our irrigation line. I currently have 4 in my yard but one is a baby. The tallest in a 6 footer, maybe a little taller. They bloom in early May with a beautiful flower. Most are white but some are red.


It's a huge fine for stealing them from the desert. I was supposed to get papers with mine, but I didn't.

This concludes my report on saguros. I hope you enjoyed it. I know I did.