Springtime in the Sonoran Desert

Sd Best Saguaro Fruit

The fruit turn redder and redder under the hot, June sun and all wait for the gift of food that is about to be unleashed. During the hottest and driest time of the year, the fruits of the saguaro cacti give the creatures of the desert life-sustaining nourishment until the earth-soaking rains come again upon the annual monsoon winds.

Sd Food For Desert

The fruit splits open exposing a bright-red pulpy flesh that drops to the ground, assuring the survival of the many animal species. The wine-smelling liquid found within the fruit can be processed into an intoxicating drink. Within that pulp is found upwards to 2,000 pin-head-sized seeds looking for the right condition to sprout and begin their slow growth toward becoming a part of the next generation of the Sonoran Desert's Sentinels.

Sd Lush Sonoran Desert

This is only part of the story of springtime in the Sonoran Desert. It is a time of incredible floral beauty and magical lifecycles. By late July the deep green landscape filled with flowers of every color has dried up and turned back into many shades of brown. The desert will remain in its brownish hues until the winter rains come once again to set up another springtime explosion of colorful flowers from the amazing variety of indigenous plants that are found in the Sonoran Desert.