Neighbor's Saguaro

Our neighbors, Al & Mariam, have lived on their lot one year longer than we have, 11 years. They planted 2 saguaros about 5 feet high in front of their house. One of the saguaros did not last too many years. The other has flourished. I walk past the giant almost every day. When I sit on my deck, I often see the saguaro as I look out at the street.

 On March 25th I noticed a ridge of bumps on the saguaro from my deck view. Hmmmm....

A closer look showed many, many buds appearing.

They seemed to appear overnight. When Mariam and I visited she said it was the first time it has bloomed in 11 years. The buds are only on the ridges on the south side of the saguaro.

I checked the saguaro on the 28th and saw 3 open flowers. Woo Hoo!!!

the flower is similar to the flower of the Argentina Saguaro

but is smaller

Look at all those buds!

Interesting honeycomb/pineapple texture on the flowers

And the saguaro on March 28th...

the blooms are gone

NADA!

There will be more...

I guess they last only one day

It blows me away to realize how much this guy has grown in 11 years. It was originally about as tall as the 7th board on their house. There is a hole made by the cactus wren at what was its original height. I am looking forward to more white flowers in the next few weeks on this giant. I think it is blooming earlier because it has a good host...Al & Miriam's house. None of the other saguaros in the resort are blooming, although the cadon saguaro at St. George's has, but I haven't visited the Catholic Church yard this year.