Went to the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix and completely changed my mind about succulents

I used to think succulents were boring, you know? Just a bunch of spiky green blobs that people put in mason jars at weddings. But I visited the Desert Botanical Garden last weekend and I don't know, something clicked. They had this whole section on agaves, and one of them was like 15 feet tall with these crazy curved leaves. The info plaque said it takes 10 to 30 years to bloom and then it dies. That really got me. Also saw a barrel cactus that was so perfectly round it looked fake. The docent mentioned how they store water for months in the wild. Now I'm looking at my sad little jade plant at home differently. Has anyone else had an "aha" moment about a plant they usually overlook?

3 comments

3 Comments

simonk987d ago

Read that the saguaro cactus doesn't even grow its first arm until it's like 50 years old. Makes you realize how much patience these plants have compared to us. Definitely gives you a new respect for something you just walk past at the nursery.

laura_black7d ago

That's a pretty common fact people throw around @simonk98, but it's actually more like 70 years before they start sprouting an arm in the wild. They can get impatient in good conditions though... I've seen some at nurseries with arms way younger than that.

noahgreen7d ago

Yeah my buddy watered his once and it grew an arm overnight...