Another photo from the archives. This is from a photographic workshop I took with the photographer Mark Klett in Arizona. We spent a week camping in the desert and photographing each day. There were about 15 of us in total - Mark, and his assistant and one other person from the workshop organization. It was a great group of people with varying levels of experience in photography, but such a nice group to travel with, eat with, camp with, and learn from Mark. This is a photograph of a Saguaro cactus, and its nurse tree surrounding it. In the Sonoran desert, Palo Verde, Ironwood or Mesquite trees serve as nurse trees for young saguaro cacti. As the Saguaro grows and becomes more acclimated to the desert sun, the older tree may die, leaving the saguaro alone. In fact, as the Saguaro grows larger it may compete for resources with its nurse tree, hastening its death. Consequently, young saguaros are often seen near trees, but old saguaros are not.
4 comments:
I love this desert scene! Interesting facts about the Saguaro cactus and their desert life, too. Trace
What an interesting nature story. Yup! Learned something new today! Looks like the Saguaro in the distance doesn't have any trees around it. It certainly makes the desert scene even more intriguing. betsey
Love learning new things from your blog and interesting story. Interesting desert photo.
Joan
Thank you all for your comments! I am glad you find that it's fun, learning about Nurse Trees! I certainly was amazed when Mark, our workshop leader explained why the Saguaros were SO CLOSE to these Mesquite trees!
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