Cactus Blog

The Boston Globe travels to the California desert in Spring, and what do they find? Why, cactus!

Spring is to California’s southeastern deserts - Joshua Tree, Mojave, and Anza-Borrego - what autumn is to New England. From February to June, depending on rainfall and snow melt, the deserts are alive with color as flowers, cacti, shrubs, and trees come into bloom and migratory birds make their way north.

Those crazy Bostonians and their analogizing ways. Now, I’ve always felt that the desert in spring is like the glaciers melting in summer up in Alaska. Or, wait, maybe it’s like the pot-dens of Copenhagen in bud. Well, there you go, another Bostonian and his analogizing ways.

The Blue Mountains Courier-Herald from Thornbury, ON, Canada sends out travel writers to visit US National Parks on occasion. The Canadian travel writers don’t stay in lodges, they tent it.

Just got back from hiking and camping in the Grand Canyon Sunday night and I have to tell you the place is amazing….

Flowering cacti was the subject of our amateur yet brilliant photography.

Our eyes screened the rocky desert hoping to sight a blooming prickly pear cactus or the violet flowers peeping from a barrel head or hedgehog cactus. Although only April, pictures were snapped for our aspiring wall galleries at home.

It does seem to be a good year for cactus blooms everywhere. Even the National Parks are getting in on the act. And yet these Canadians didn’t publish any of this chap’s photos for me to “borrow.” How rude of them.

A local site that travels locally called California Travels - “We’ll be exploring Northern California places the crowds don’t find” is their motto - travels to Stanford and finds an Andy Goldsworthy wall and a cactus garden.

Now I know you’re wondering whether or not our weekend was pleasant, but the truth is often harder to discern after a couple shots of vodka. So I’ll just say that we were pleasantly surprised.

Do you ever receive press releases? This one was written by a hotel chain, trying to attract visitors to Sydney.

Now that’s an invitation to travel if I’ve ever read one.

I wonder why I posted this today? Oh yeah, it mentioned the cactus, of course. Anything to do with the cactus and there I am, passing out press releases like they’re candy.

Well, that was satisfying at last. Delicious like candy.

A reporter from the Vancouver Sun visits Barcelona and the Gaudi buildings in he area, and also, just on the side, sees a cactus garden in passing. Who knew there were cacti in Spain?

Now that’s what I call a vacation. Of course, I would have taken pictures, while this Canadian reporter did not. Really, now, who can visit the Sagrada Familia and not take pictures? It’s practically heresy. Well, here’s on for you that I found on wikipedia, by Shawn Lipowski.

In Phoenix, the Desert Botanical Garden is opening a new Cactus and Succulent Garden, years in the making. <a href="http://cactusjungle.com/archives/blog/exit.php?url_id=1919&amp;entry_id=1754" title="http://www.sltrib.com/ci_8420560" onmouseover="window.status=’http://www.sltrib.com/ci_8420560′;return true;" onmouseout="window.status=”;return true;">The Salt lake Tribune</a> is all over it.<br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The new Sybil B. Harrington Cactus and Succulent Galleries at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix will open in April, the first major milestone in a $16 million endowment campaign.</span><br /></div><br />Now, what I’d like to know is, how much does it cost to fly to Costa Rica, since we’ve reserved a condo for a week there next January.<br /><br />

While we’re talking about things to do in Phoenix, here’s a <a href="http://cactusjungle.com/archives/blog/exit.php?url_id=1894&amp;entry_id=1730" title="http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/articles/0225azjournal0225carraro.html" onmouseover="window.status=’http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/articles/0225azjournal0225carraro.html’;return true;" onmouseout="window.status=”;return true;">tour of a cactus garden</a> that is can’t-miss.<br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Saguaros, ocotillos and other survivors of a cactus garden planted decades ago frame Phoenix landmark Tovrea Castle today, reminders of a dreamer ahead of his time.<br />
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Italian immigrant Alessio Carraro, helped by one of his sons and a crew of about 20, built the castle and brought in Russian gardener M. Moktatchev to create the environmentally-compatible landscape that surrounds it….<br />
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Carraro Cactus Garden<br />
When: Guided 90-minute tours offered on selected Saturdays, usually three or four times each day.<br />
Where: Grounds outside Tovrea Castle, 5041 E. Van Buren St., Phoenix.<br />
Details: <a href="phoenix.gov/PARKS/tovrea.html">Registration required</a>. 602-256-3220</span><br /></div><br />I wonder if readers in Texas have already pre-voted, or are waiting to vote tomorrow. My sister pre-voted, but then she would. <br /><br />

<a href="http://cactusjungle.com/archives/blog/exit.php?url_id=1882&amp;entry_id=1712" title="http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/travel/destinations/africa/article3374694.ece" onmouseover="window.status=’http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/travel/destinations/africa/article3374694.ece’;return true;" onmouseout="window.status=”;return true;">Traveling in Africa</a> for a plant enthusiast can be very rewarding indeed. There are native succulents of the most spectacular types. Some may prefer the animal safaris, but what can beat the sight of a forest of aloe trees?<br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">We pick our way along vertiginous, boulder-strewn ledges and down slick limestone slopes where only the tiniest indentations give hoof purchase. At one point, a succulent aloe cactus proves too tempting for Seputsoe, creating multi-horse gridlock around a hairpin bend. By the time we splash across the river, there’s no doubt which of us is best qualified to navigate.</span><br /></div><br />OK, so the article from London was really about a trip on horseback across the highlands of southern Africa, where they did not come across any aloe trees at all. Still, I’m just saying, there are aloe forests in southern africa and they are pretty neat.<br /><br />

All the way from <a href="http://cactusjungle.com/archives/blog/exit.php?url_id=1860&amp;entry_id=1681" title="http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/letters/story.html?id=c4778f3b-3609-438e-ad5a-a3167c553203" onmouseover="window.status=’http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/letters/story.html?id=c4778f3b-3609-438e-ad5a-a3167c553203′;return true;" onmouseout="window.status=”;return true;">Canada.com</a> comes this travel letter. I don’t know why.<br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">While we enjoyed Tecate beer on the patio, we looked out at… (t)he prickly vegetation in the desert… the land of the giant cactus. Some were unbelievable, reaching several storeys high.</span><br /></div><br />Sometimes I look out my window and see all the stuff my neighbor with OCD is storing in his small front fenced-in patio.<br /><br />

Aunt Rachel sends us this photo of a wobbly-armed Saguaro on their travels in Arizona.<br /><br /><img width="432" hspace="5" height="325" border="2" src="/blog/uploads/cactus/AZ3006.jpg" /><br /><br />

Tourists flock to the state for the gardens. This article comes direct from the source, <a href="http://cactusjungle.com/archives/blog/exit.php?url_id=1846&amp;entry_id=1664" title="http://www.summitpacificinc.com/2008/02/kauais-north-shore-is-horticultural.html" onmouseover="window.status=’http://www.summitpacificinc.com/2008/02/kauais-north-shore-is-horticultural.html’;return true;" onmouseout="window.status=”;return true;">Kauai News</a>. I think they want you to print this article in your own local paper, to generate more tourists for the state.<br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Na ‘Aina Kai Botanical Gardens in Kilauea doubles in dramatic man-made landscaping and horticulture….<br />
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Had we been magically transported to the Sahara? I wouldn’t think a cactus could survive all the rain and moisture on Kauai’s north shore. But a huge array of succulents and cacti from around the world seemed to thrive in the artificially arid conditions.</span><br /></div><br />That’s all. Not much going on, I guess.<br /><br />

The <a href="http://cactusjungle.com/archives/blog/exit.php?url_id=1829&amp;entry_id=1650" title="http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/football/bal-sp.supervignette29jan29,0,5188069.story" onmouseover="window.status=’http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/football/bal-sp.supervignette29jan29,0,5188069.story’;return true;" onmouseout="window.status=”;return true;">Baltimore Sun</a> escapes the freezing frigid northeast to visit Arizona in winter.<br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">There are hundreds of varieties of cacti and succulents dotting the arid landscape that surrounds the Phoenix metropolitan area, including the classic saguaro cactus that can grow to heights of more than 50 feet. For some strange reason, however, cactus climbing has never caught on here.</span><br /></div><br />The travel reporter’s a comedian. We don’t feature too many cactus jokes here on cactus blog because most of them are pictures of saguaros that are, shall we say, rather Freudian in their implications. So here you go, a nice clean joke printed in a major newspaper.<br /><br />

The <a href="http://cactusjungle.com/archives/blog/exit.php?url_id=1822&amp;entry_id=1644" title="http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/travel/story.html?id=f80c8cdd-9e28-452f-9676-3123303844b0" onmouseover="window.status=’http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/travel/story.html?id=f80c8cdd-9e28-452f-9676-3123303844b0′;return true;" onmouseout="window.status=”;return true;">Montreal Gazette</a> visited Arizona and all they got was a lousy T-Shirt.<br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Visiting Arizona for the first time, I found the arid hot landscape as different from Canada as the surface of Mars and, initially, about as inviting….<br />
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As I peeled away the layers, the desert revealed itself as a place of delicate and unusual beauty….<br />
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The bleakness is punctuated by towering saguaro cacti whose limbs reach skyward as though calling for rain.</span><br /></div><br />I’ve been to Montreal and had a good time there. I wonder if the Phoenix paper has written a travel article about Montreal recently? I’d like to read that.<br /><br />

The <a href="http://cactusjungle.com/archives/blog/exit.php?url_id=1786&amp;entry_id=1594" title="http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/01/11/travel/escapes/20080111_AMERICAN_SLIDESHOW_index.html" onmouseover="window.status=’http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/01/11/travel/escapes/20080111_AMERICAN_SLIDESHOW_index.html’;return true;" onmouseout="window.status=”;return true;">New York Times Travel section</a> visits southern Arizona on a lovely drive.<br /><br style="font-style: italic;" /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><img width="432" hspace="5" border="2" src="/blog/uploads/misc/11amer.01.jpg" /><br style="font-style: italic;" /><span style="font-style: italic;">On a road trip along the borderlands of Arizona you’ll find vast open land, big Western sky and adventurous people ­ some who live there and some just passing through. At left, a visitor drives on Ajo Mountain Loop road in Organ Pipe National Monument five miles north of the Arizona and Mexico border.<br />
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Photo: Jeff Topping for The New York Times</span><br /></div><br />I always try to get out of the car too. Check out the rest of the photos, it seems they got out of the car too.<br /><br />

Things to do in <a href="http://cactusjungle.com/archives/blog/exit.php?url_id=1746&amp;entry_id=1549" title="http://www.shakopeenews.com/node/4491" onmouseover="window.status=’http://www.shakopeenews.com/node/4491′;return true;" onmouseout="window.status=”;return true;">Shakopee Valley</a> in the winter.<br /><br />1. Visit the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.<br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">“Desert Exploration,” a free weekend family activity, is offered from noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays in January in the Marion Andrus Learning Center. Depart winter for a desert adventure in the greenhouse and discover the amazing adaptations of desert plants. Zoom in with Scope-on-a Rope and see the spikes, spines, and inside of a cactus up close, invent your own survival adaptation while you <span style="font-weight: bold;">munch on an edible cactus</span> and pot up your own succulent to keep on your windowsill all winter long.</span><br /></div><br />I’m cold just thinking about it.<br /><br />