The landscape in Tucson this time of year always seems subdued to me—not in the gray-and-brown monochromatic way of climates further north, but in its own way, with duller shades of greens, yellows and browns. So I’m always happy to see pops of color in our landscape, including colorful skies and the pink & red fruit of Cholla cacti.
Speaking of cacti, in Spring of 2024 Hubby & I noticed that one of our mature Saguaros was leaking a black liquid, and quickly determined that it was suffering from bacterial necrosis 😕 (caused by the bacterium Erwinia cacticida, which I’m sure you wanted to know!). While a healthy Saguaro can seal off and contain the spread of this bacteria, our Saguaro did not. As a result, it continued to leak black liquid, turned brown in parts, and the top portion of the Saguaro started to lean a little bit.
I chronicled its progress in this November Perpetual Journal entry.
Hubby & I continued to monitor the Saguaro’s progress and last Friday afternoon, we saw that the top part of the Saguaro was leaning a lot more than just five days earlier (see left and middle photos below)…AND…we heard the Saguaro making creaking noises! Just an hour and half later, we saw why the Saguaro was creaking (right photo below).
Yup, the Saguaro had decayed enough that the top 4’ of it fell off! You can see the top of the Saguaro on the ground in the photo on the right. ☹️ Fortunately, we have dozens of other mature Saguaros on our property!
🎄 On a brighter note, ‘tis still the season for holiday-related quotes! Here are two quotes from one of Hubby’s and my favorite feel-good holiday movies and one of my favorite authors.
“No man is a failure who has friends."
- Clarence, Guardian Angel, It’s a Wonderful Life
and
“It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour."
- Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
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I'm sad to see one of your Saguaros has reached its end. Yet, seeing and remembering how art can encompass any part of life's journeys is good. Thank you.
Sorry to hear about your cactus. I was surprised to see from your earlier entry that you get Flickers there too.